3 questions raised from Cowboys’ loss to Ravens

For only the third time in 15 years, the Cowboys have started their season with a 1-2 record. But if the losing wasn't enough, Dallas' ineptitude on defense and slow starts on offense have left everyone grasping for potential solutions. With their NFC East game against the New York Giants looming on Thursday night, this team is swarmed with questions and lacking for answers.

Is there any fixing the run game? If so, it will have to come from the offensive schemers and the blocking up front. The current backs aren't going to get any better, and even throwing Dalvin Cook out there won't matter with the play-calling and offensive line performance we've seen so far.

Pass protection is one thing. We knew Tyler Guyton would have growing pains as a rookie left tackle, and it's never really been Terence Steele's forte. But the hope going into the year that the rookie additions, plus a supposedly healthier Steele, would boost the run blocking from a year ago appears to have been misplaced.

While Guyton and Cooper Beebe will get better with time, it may not be fast enough to solve these issues. Dallas now has to look to Mike McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer to start drawing up plays that mitigate the weak points, and that's a level of creativity that we haven't seen from them yet.

What about the other running problem? If Dallas' own running attack wasn't impotent enough, its run defense is even worse. The Cowboys are getting dominated on the other side of the ball, and it doesn't matter who's out there. We saw Jordan Phillips doing nothing before he landed on IR, Mazi Smith and Linval Joseph have been useless, and even Osa Odighizuwa can't do much right now.

Dan Quinn took a lot of criticism on his way out the door, and rightfully so given how badly the defense played in the playoff loss to Green Bay. Questions about Quinn's true value were raised given how much the defense has relied on star players like Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, and DaRon Bland. But even if Bland was playing, it wouldn't matter as the inability to stop the run takes their greatest gifts off the table.

Quinn had it easy when he arrived in Dallas. The bar was set low by Mike Nolan's work in 2020 and then a generational talent in Parsons fell in his lap. But even if Mike Zimmer can't make the same immediate improvement, what we're seeing right now is far from growing pains. It's starting to look like the Cowboys have the wrong guys for the job, both on the field and on the sidelines.

Is Mike McCarthy going to make it to December? Speaking of coaches, McCarthy is facing more outside heat than he's ever had since coming to Dallas. But is it the same inside the building? As much as you might assume that the Jones boys are upset with their head coach, let's remember what's gone on over the last eight months.

All offseason long, we've told you the Cowboys didn't seem invested in going all out this year. It was evident in their approach to free agency and even the draft, making more future-minded picks than ones that would help right away. And the decision to keep McCarthy after all of the postseason flops also felt like another surrender for 2024; retaining him as a mere placeholder during a transition year.

You'll never hear Jerry or Stephen Jones admit to this, but the evidence is hard to dispute. So if that's been the mentality since they decided to keep McCarthy, why fire him now? There's no Jason Garrett waiting in the wings. The closest thing might be Al Harris, but he's never even held a coordinator job yet. Unless the Cowboys would bump Zimmer to the head job and make Harris the DC, just to see how that they like him in that role, there doesn't seem to be much impetus to send McCarthy packing.