Derrick Henry latest to gash Cowboys; defense ‘not in unison’

ARLINGTON, Texas — When Derrick Henry was a free agent last March, many thought he would have been a perfect fit for the Dallas Cowboys, especially since he spends his offseason in the area.

The Cowboys had a running back need after losing Tony Pollard to the Tennessee Titans, but there was never a real consideration of adding the hulking running back, so he joined the Baltimore Ravens.

On Sunday, Henry ran for 151 yards on 25 carries with two touchdowns in the Ravens’ 28-25 win against the Cowboys, but Dallas owner and general manager Jerry Jones had no regrets.

“Hats off to him. He had a great day today. Have all the respect in the world for him,” Jones said. “And so that’s what happens when you don’t sign good ones: They can come back and have a great game against you. But bottom line is we couldn’t afford Derrick Henry.”

Henry signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens that included $9 million in guaranteed money. He has a $5.1 million salary cap figure, but the Cowboys could have structured a contract in a manner that would have made that figure lower and still been able to sign Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to the lucrative extensions they received recently.

“Why can’t you buy a mansion when you live in a different kind of house,” Jones said when asked why Dallas couldn’t sign Henry. “We couldn’t afford him. We can’t make that all fit. That’s as simple as that.”

The Cowboys have opted to go with a running back by committee with Rico Dowdle, Ezekiel Elliott and Deuce Vaughn. On Sunday, they combined for 43 yards on 13 carries. For the season, they have combined for 167 yards, not much more than what Henry had against the Cowboys.

“Attempts. We don’t have enough run attempts,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “It’s 20 pass attempts at halftime. We’re definitely down the road that I didn’t want to be in. I thought our guys, for the looks that they had, I didn’t feel discouraged about the run game at all.”

The Ravens had no reason to be discouraged either, just like the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.

Baltimore finished with 274 yards rushing on 45 attempts. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had the game’s first rushing touchdown and finished with 87 yards, or 1 fewer than what Dowdle has this season.

“Now we got people trying to be Superman,” edge player Micah Parsons said. “People just got to do their jobs, bro. We don’t need everyone to be Superman. We don’t know Supermans at all. We just need 11 guys playing together, and right now it’s just not in unison.”

Per ESPN Research, the Cowboys have allowed 557 rushing yards, the most through three games since 1963. They have allowed 5.4 yards per carry, the worst average through three games since 1979. They have given up eight rushing touchdowns, the most in franchise history through three games.

Combining the Ravens’ 274 rushing yards with the 190 yards given up against New Orleans, it’s the Cowboys’ third-worst two-game span since Jones became owner and general manager in 1989. The other two came in 2020, McCarthy’s first year.

“We’re not having our stuff together on defense where we’re playing 11-man football,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “It’s all frustrating. Having a game plan, but not following the game plan. It’s the small things. So once we get out of playing little league football and get back to playing pro football, we’ll be all right.”

How do they fix it for Thursday’s contest against the New York Giants?

“Play pro football,” Lawrence said. “Do what your coaches teach you to do. Play your gaps. Play your blocks. Stay in your gap. And I’m included in this. I’m not skirting from this at all. Just the small things that we got to get back to and we’ll do it this week.”