They say home is where the heart is. So far this NFL season, I beg to differ. Around here, home is where the frustration is, home is where the disappointment is, home is where the losing is. The Cowboys record since moving to Arlington is 80-57. That means that they have won just over 71% of their home games at AT&T Stadium. An old sports adage states that if you win two out of three at home and fifty percent of your road games, your team will be very successful. The Cowboys have not been. At least not by America’s Team standards.
This year they enter November with an 0-3 record at home. Two of those losses were blowouts. The Saints put a 44-15 whipping on the Cowboys back in September and the Lions opened a can of whup-ass last month sending the Cowboys into their bye week with thoughts of a 47-9 home loss lingering for two solid weeks. Mix in a three-point loss to the Ravens and you have a team that was winless at home for the first two months of the season.
Now here is the weird part; the Cowboys were undefeated at home during the regular season last year. If you go back to 2022 and add up the record at home this team was 16-1 over a two-year span. In fact, they won 16 straight home games. Arlington had become a house of horrors for opposing teams. So what happened? That’s a good question but also a loaded question.
The short answer is talent. The Cowboys did not do enough to replace the talent that they lost during the off-season. They lost two offensive linemen, including 8-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith. Running back Tony Pollard, who was the starter last year, left for Tennessee. Thus hampering their already unproductive running game. They let four defensive linemen walk, thus crippling their already suspect ability to stop the run.
General Manager Jerry Jones would have you believe that they did enough during the off-season to replace these losses. They took two offensive linemen high in the draft. But both Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebe are playing positions they have never played before at any level. Both may be good someday, and they may even be great, but they are rookies now, and it shows. To replace Pollard, the team went back in time, trying to resurrect the career of Ezekiel Elliott. They were right the first time with him. They let him walk after the 2022 season because his productivity was on the decline. They did not do much to offset the losses in the defensive line except cross their fingers and hope that Mazi Smith would live up to his draft status. He has not.
Now, this should be good news, but given the home record this year, maybe it is not. There are six home games left. With the 17-game schedule, teams get nine home games in alternating years. This year, the Cowboys have nine. Three of those are in November, including back-to-back home games that could determine the fate of the rest of the season. They host the Eagles and Texans on consecutive Sundays. If those games go the way of the Saints and Lions games, fans may not be giving thanks when they arrive for the Turkey Day game in fact, they may not give a damn.
There is still time to turn it around; the Cowboys have played only one of their six division games so far this year. The other five will be played in November, December and January. The NFC East is not a good division this year so with two left vs the Eagles and Commanders and one against the lowly Giants the Cowboys could still rise from the ashes of an 0-3 start at home.
Teams that have a talent deficiency can win. To do so they must rely on identity and culture. Unfortunately, neither of those things has been well established. None of the teams is remarkably more talented than the Cowboys so at this point, it is all about intangibles, and especially at home it is all about heart.
Sports columnist John Rhadigan is the host of
The Rangers Podcast on DLLS Sports.
