FRISCO, Texas – It's been a tale of two stories for the Cowboys when it comes to coming out of the locker room – on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the Cowboys have not scored a touchdown to open the first or third quarters this season. They've scored just 18 points on 12 opening drives, and the furthest they've traveled down the field is 54 yards.
On the flip side, Dallas' defense has allowed 61 points on opening drives, 11 out of 12 of which have resulted in scores for the opposing team. The lone non-scoring drive was a punt for the Cleveland Browns to start the third quarter in the opener. It's not a formula that will lead to success, and it starts with the Cowboys not beating themselves.
"We shot ourselves in the foot a bunch of times in the redzone," Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle said. "Just taking care of the ball, I think that has something to do with it."
The red-zone inefficiency only adds to the problem, as the Cowboys have scored touchdowns on just 37.5% of their trips inside the opposing 20 yard line, the second worst rate in the league. They're also minus six in turnover margin, a glaring issue that's apparent to this entire team, even those who haven't been able to play.
"We're defeating ourselves, we're not creating enough turnovers, we're not getting the ball back enough and we're not capitalizing off the turnovers we do get," Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons said. "So I think collectively all around we have to do better."
It all goes back to the complementary-football formula that Mike McCarthy and every football coach in the world wants to adhere to, but the Cowboys simply haven't been able to stack things together that help both sides of the ball, and even while being sidelined Parsons knows his unit's side of the deal has come up short.
"You got to be in position, you got to tackle well, you got to rally well," Parsons said. "We got to get guys running to the ball more and obviously we got to put up more points."
On the offensive side, the offensive line and running backs need to find their compliment for one another too, whether it be on an opening drive or not. Despite early struggles and a lack of opportunities on the ground, Dowdle still believes everyone can find a rhythm.
"Everything pretty much plays hand in hand, we got to help them out and they got to help us out…" Dowdle said. "We're going to make a few a changes as far as scheme and what we do on a couple things, but I think everything will be all good."
Looking at San Francisco's opening drives, the offense has scored 41 points and turned the ball over twice, and the defense has given up 21 points and forced three interceptions as well as a turnover on downs. The Cowboys will be looking to end their streak of giving up ten straight scoring drives on Sunday night.
