Cowboys beat themselves again

Arlington – The Dallas Cowboys embarrassed themselves at home again, this time losing to the Tennessee Titans 34-27.

The Cowboys dominated all the statistical categories, but the Titans dominated the scoreboard.  Dallas fell quickly behind 17-3, but came back to tie at 17, then again at 20 and 27, but they could not match the Titans final touchdown with just over 3 minutes left in the game.

The Good

Miles Austin.  The Cowboys receiver caught 9 passes for 166 yards, including a spectacular 69 yard touchdown where he snatched the ball out of the waiting hands of two Titan defenders.  7 of his receptions resulted in 1st downs.

The Bad

Dallas again found ways to lose.  Poor execution on special teams, mistakes on offense, and inability to make big plays on defense resulted in another Cowboys loss to an inferior team.

The Ugly

In a repeat of every game this season, Dallas had an excessive amount of penalties.  The Cowboys were penalized 12 times for 133 yards.  The defense was flagged 3 times on the Titans opening drive, setting up the first score of the game.  Early in the 2nd quarter, it appeared Tennessee would be forced to punt when Demarcus Ware sacked Vince Young for a loss on 3rd and 7, but a penalty on Stephen Bowen gave the Titans a first down and led to another Tennessee score.

3 of the Dallas offensive linemen had multiple penalties, continuing to be the most penalized unit in the league.

A quarter of the way through the season, Dallas is the NFL’s biggest disappointment.   Unless they can deal with their own mental errors, it will be a very long season.

View our Cowboys-Titans photo gallery.