Dallas Cowboys stock report after Bengals loss: Rise of Rico Dowdle and Micah Parsons

Monday night was a different kind of frustration for the Dallas Cowboys. Unlike any other loss this season, the Cowboys came out strong against the Cincinnati Bengals. I dare say they lasted almost the entire distance before finally being defeated.

Obviously, Amani Oruwariye’s situation highlights the game and the day in a way that makes everything else seem rather insignificant. When it comes to competition, “close” only counts in horseshoe form, and having the Cowboys “close” to victory doesn’t help them actually get a win.

Luckily, we can provide a little more context in our assessment of the game. This was the “best” loss of the season for Dallas as they looked competitive the entire time, meaning we have some offense and weakness to deal with.

Welcome to our post-disaster stock report on Monday evening.

Stock up: Rico Dowdle

It was absurd for the Cowboys to approach the running back position the way they did in the first half of November. The fact that Rico Dowdle appears the way he does only makes this absurdity worse. Dowdle looks incredible having received a legitimate amount of touches, which further calls into question the way the front office and coaching staff evaluated this thing from the start.

Keep in mind that Dowdle’s performance was just the fifth leaguewide this season in which a player averaged 7.3 yards per carry, with at least 18 to his name. The cowboys didn’t tell us!

Stock up: Micah Parsons

We’ve talked about this a few times since he said it, but that Micah Parsons has done everything in his power to try and move this Cowboys team forward after he said he wouldn’t tank and that he believed in her is a very impressive thing.

Parsons didn’t quite come home Monday night, but he was an absolute threat. He was emotional after the game, partly due to the devastating effects of the DeMarivon Overshown injury, and even if you think he should have done this or that, I would say a player who shows that kind of passion , a good thing for that is team.

Parsons does everything he can and more.

Filling in: Trevon Diggs

Trevon Diggs deserves a similar level of support after Monday night. Diggs returned from injury and did everything he could to help the Cowboys slow down Ja’Marr Chase. On the whole, these efforts were inadequate, but not because Diggs specifically failed to advocate for them.

To get a game like that from one of the leaders in defense, who is already on his second contract, that’s the right thing.

Stock up: CeeDee lamb

Did you know that CeeDee Lamb is third in receiving yards this season? It’s notable that CeeDee Lamb hasn’t given up despite the dysfunction that has surrounded this Cowboys team for some time. He kept fighting.

Lamb was mysteriously ignored for most of this second half (after being quite productive), which will never make sense. But he definitely did his part when he was involved.

Stock up: Marist Liufau

The Overshown injury was and is devastating, but the Cowboys obviously had to finish the football game after it happened and were close to winning it. Marist Liufau was a big reason for this.

We talked a lot about how the Liufau selection could/should have been a running back for the Cowboys. But his best work came when he was called upon in a moment of need Monday night. He was spectacular.

Stock Up: The Makeshift Offensive Line

Our final compliment goes to the Cowboys offensive line as a whole because they did an incredible job of surviving.

The group had already defeated Zack Martin and lost Cooper Beebe before the game was over. The fact that they were able to make something happen with so many backups is a real testament to the discipline of the collective.

Stock Down: Amani Oruwariye

Nobody wants to overturn the situation, but we have to acknowledge it. Amani Oruwariye made a mistake that is trained in the early days of learning to play football. There are certainly some interesting ways to explore what might have been going through his mind as he tried to throw the ball downfield after Dallas blocked Cincinnati’s punt attempt, but ultimately he was the culprit who touched it, brought him to life and opened the door for disaster.

That can’t happen.

Stock Down: John Fassel

Some people agreed with Juanyeh Thomas returning Washington’s onside kick attempt when the Cowboys won there a few weeks ago. If you think it was a good decision for Thomas, you can also acknowledge that he fell down after winning the ball technically to make the right decision. Understood? Cool.

If you can actually come to terms with the Thomas situation, then the Oruwariye situation represents a second sense of common sense that the Cowboys’ special teams group has had for three games. How is that possible?

We’re not talking about overly aggressive fake punt attempts, which in themselves are worthy of debate and potential criticism. What we’re discussing here are fundamental things the Cowboys are doing wrong. John Fassel is either not teaching his unit the literal rules of the game or his message is not being fully understood.

Be that as it may, things cannot continue like this.

Stock Down: Jalen Tolbert

So much has happened to the Cowboys team this season and it has made the offense difficult to evaluate. That’s fair. But didn’t we just see CeeDee Lamb succeed above? He’s obviously CeeDee Lamb, but why can’t Jalen Tolbert find a similar path to success?

We’re nearing the end of Tolbert’s third season with this team and aside from the game-winning touchdown in Pittsburgh (which was very impressive), he hasn’t really made an impact yet. He had three targets in this game and couldn’t catch a single one of them.

Stock Down: Marginal playoff hopes

Most had already given up on the idea of ​​the Cowboys making the playoffs long before Monday night’s game even began. That’s okay and understandable. But we can all admit that the little winning streak was nice, right? Aside from the goals to contend with, it was great to see the Cowboys put together two games in a row and come out victorious.

They were on the verge of scoring their third goal in a row. Had they done so, they would have hit .500 at Carolina (where they are already underdogs). All of this was right in front of them.

Phew. It’s gone now.