How the Baltimore Ravens handed the Dallas Cowboys their second straight loss

New week, same result. While the 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was a little more digestible for Cowboys fans than last week’s thrashing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, the same problems gave way to a similarly disappointing loss.

Here are the five takeaways from a loss that kicks the Cowboys down to 1-2 on the season:

Opposing identities impose themselves on the Cowboys

Whether it’s New Orleans unleashing its newfound electric offense under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak or the Baltimore Ravens getting back to what they do best defensively, opposing identities have willed themselves on the Cowboys in the last two weeks.

As for the Cowboys’ identities, it’s tough to find anything positive on either side of the ball that defines their play style, physicality or tradition.

A lack of a run game and a defensive approach that gives up chunk play after chunk play has halted any progress toward solving critical issues early in the season. With a game just four days away in New York, you can only wonder if the Cowboys can work toward finding their own identity or let the Giants build on their own.

Changes are coming, but how long will it take?

Just look at the schedule, it doesn’t get much better from here on out. After a road contest in New York, which feels like less of a given win than it did before Sunday, the Cowboys will go through a gauntlet that includes traveling to take on a currently undefeated Pittsburgh team, coming home to take on Detroit before a bye week gives way to a daunting trip to San Francisco.

With the way the Cowboys have played through three weeks, it’s realistic to expect a losing record coming out of that stretch. Will it be at that point when Jerry Jones acknowledges critical issues in the run game or his defense’s ability to stop the run? Will it matter enough to make a move at that point?

“I like our personnel,” Jerry Jones said when asked about potential midseason upgrades. “I don’t see personnel changes happening. I see everybody doing better, that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

We’ll see if that rhetoric holds if the personnel does not in fact do better in the coming weeks.

Brandon Aubrey is off to a record-setting start to his sophomore campaign

Let’s break up the unfortunate reality with some slight optimism, shall we? When special teams coordinator John Fassel made an incognito trip to Birmingham, Alabama to scout an unknown USFL kicker in the late spring of 2023, even he could not have predicted the weapon he had stumbled upon.

After setting the NFL record for consecutive makes to start a career last season (35), Aubrey is on a record-setting pace to potentially eclipse the most field goal makes for an entire season. Through three games, he has booted 10 kicks through the uprights — tied for the most in the NFL and on pace for 56 makes in 17 games. If that number holds pace throughout the year, he would best the current record of 44 made attempts in one season. Additionally, his 65-yard field goal in the first quarter is now the longest in franchise history, as it extended his NFL record of 15 consecutive makes from 50-plus yards to start a career.

“Nothing different,” Aubrey said of his 65-yarder. “That’s a range we’re getting comfortable with, going out there and kicking it from just about that range. I know I can do it and the coaching staff knows I can do it, so they will keep calling it.”

A rare statement to call 65 yards a “comfortable range,” but Aubrey has proven early on in his NFL career that he is a rare breed.

After CeeDee Lamb, where is the offensive threat?

Sure, the running game is about as bad as you could’ve expected it to be coming into the season. But even in the passing game, rhythm is off, timing is putrid and a threat of playmakers is blatantly evident.

Jake Ferguson provided a shred of reliability over the middle of the field on Sunday, but if he plays the rest of the season battling his knee injury, is he who the team wants to rely on when it needs a big play? Lamb needs help, Prescott needs help.

KaVontae Turpin did provide a spark late with two big catches for Dallas, including a touchdown grab that cut Baltimore’s lead to three points.

That said, it’s no one’s fault other than the front office’s that they don’t have that help right now. The only question that remains is if that help will come.

The interior defensive line problems are only mounting

After a day that saw the Ravens rush for 274 yards including 151 from Derrick Henry, the problems up front are only growing more concerning after the Alvin Kamara show a week ago.

“Right now, we’re just not in unison,” defensive end Micah Parsons said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, we win the game. At what cost are we going to just continue doing this to ourselves?”

There’s not much that can be done, either. The personnel that defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has available has been worse than bad, and it’s not like there is a game-changing defensive tackle that can be acquired midseason to fix these problems.