The Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals as 11.5-point favorites. Vegas obviously wasn't preparing for the Cowboys' disappearing act.
Dallas, minus three starters on the offensive line (Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz and Zack Martin), got smacked by the lowly Cardinals, 28-16 on Sunday.
There are several reasons why the Cowboys were upset on Sunday, starting with the penalties. Dallas had 10 penalties accepted against them in the first half of Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, tying them for the most penalties committed by an NFL since the 49ers had 11 on Oct. 16, 2011, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reported. In total, Dallas was flagged 13 times for a grand total of 107 yards. By comparison, Arizona was penalized eight times for a total of 69 yards.
After dominating the New York Giants and the Jets in the first two weeks of the season, the Cowboys' defense, minus Trevon Diggs, was gashed on the ground and through the air by the Cardinals. Arizona, led by James Conner, rushed for 222 yards. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs threw for 189 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 55 yards, including a 44-yard scamper on the first drive of the game that led to a short field goal by Cardinals kicker Matt Prater.
Lastly, the Cowboys' red zone woes continued for the third straight week, as they only scored one touchdown in five scoring opportunities. Two of the chances resulted in short field goals by Brandon Aubrey, one resulted in a turnover on downs, and the last resulted in Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott's first interception of the season.
Prescott struggled behind the makeshift offensive line, completing 25 passes on 40 attempts for 249 yards. He threw a touchdown pass to backup running back Rico Dowdle and ran for 24 yards, but was mostly quiet on Sunday.
The Dallas offense was led by Michael Gallup, who had six catches for 92 yards, and Tony Pollard, who had 122 yards on the ground.
Dallas will look to right the ship next week when they face the New England Patriots at home.