ARLINGTON, Texas - Starting quick was a key piece of the Dallas Cowboys' arrangement going into Sunday's amusement against the Los Angeles Rams. Completing was the issue in their 35-30 misfortune.
A barrier that was playing without its pioneer, Sean Lee, got uncovered as the amusement continued, surrendering scoring drives on five straight belonging in the second half.
Out of the blue since Week 3 last season, the Cowboys' offense scored on its initial four belonging, giving Dallas a 24-16 halftime lead, yet then the offense went stale. It ran 16 plays on its initial four belonging of the second half and grabbed only two initially downs. The Rams transformed that deficiency into an eight-point lead.
The final product was a guard that was exhausted. Todd Gurley turned into the second running in three amusements to scramble for more than 100 yards against Dallas. Jared Goff was sacked just once. What's more, the Rams did to the Cowboys what the Cowboys need to do to their rivals: pound the clock to bits.
"The edge is so little in this class," tight end Jason Witten said. "You have drives that way, you have an opportunity to put them away and we couldn't do it."
Various plays emerge:
Two Cowboys' unique groups miscues prompted 10 Los Angeles focuses. Ryan Switzer's mishandled punt changed the tenor of the amusement in the second quarter, with the Rams replying with a touchdown that slice the Dallas prompt 17-13. A 66-yard kickoff return prompted a Rams field objective prior.
On the principal play of the second half, DeMarcus Lawrence constrained a strip sack of Goff, yet Tyrone Crawford was not able concocted the free ball. The Cowboys never sniffed a turnover.
After the offense woke up with a 75-yard scoring drive, Travis Frederick was hailed for a holding punishment on what might have been Dak Prescott's amusement tying two-guide change with 7:11 toward play.
After the Rams were called for holding, the Cowboys' third opportunity to tie it up finished when Prescott's go to Terrance Williams was marginally diverted and tumbled to the ground.
After that drive, second-year cornerback Anthony Brown dropped a beyond any doubt block attempt that enabled the Rams to kill four more minutes off the clock to set up Greg Zuerlein's seventh field objective.
The Cowboys' odds for their second win in eight days finished when Prescott's fourth-down checkdown to Ezekiel Elliott came up a yard short with 27 seconds to play.
"There was one person for Zeke to beat when I tossed the ball," Prescott said. "I felt like he would do it. I figure I can without much of a stretch say now that I could've broadened it and completed it, yet from my perspective I imagined that Zeke could influence that person to miss and go get it, yet we didn't."
There would be no impossible rebound, only a huge amount of inquiries for an offense that vanished in the second from last quarter and a guard that couldn't make a play when it made a difference and missed Lee.
Exacerbating the situation for the Cowboys is one week from now's guest is the Green Bay Packers, who finished Dallas' 2016 season last January.