Dallas Cowboys' 'Good, Bad & Ugly' Ahead of San Francisco 49ers Showdown: FISH PODCAST

The Dallas Cowboys entered NFL Week 4 by admitting its to "three blinking lights'' as problems that needed to get solved against the New England Patriots. The final score tells a "Good, Bad & Ugly'' story that now must travel to the San Francisco Showdown - FISH PODCAST

ARLINGTON - "Three games in, stats clearly don't tell the story,'' Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy told his team inside the meeting room at The Star a week ago as they were reeling from an upset loss at Arizona. "But they give you the things you need to look at. And we have three blinking lights as a football team right now.''

Now we are four games in to the 2023 NFL season. The Cowboys rebounded in NFL Week 4 with a resounding 38-3 home win over the New England Patriots ... and those "blinking lights'' - "Team penalties, red zone offense and run defense," - McCarthy said - feed in nicely to our "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'' review ...

Which also comes with a fully-loaded "Fish Report'' podcast! Click here to listen in!

Cowboys Dak Prescott vs. Patriots / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Good: That first "blinking light'' The old issue of penalties popped up last week as Dallas was flagged 16 times, with 13 accepted calls for a total of 107 penalty yards. This time? The Cowboys had just five penalties - and coach Bill Belichick's team was worse, with six. It should be taken as a sign of discipline and intensity that this area got repaired.

Said defensive leader DeMarcus Lawrence: “Last week, we played a huge role in beating ourselves. We made sure we came out this week more focused, more confident in our ability, and we had fun. You prepare the right way, it should turn out this way.”

#Cowboys Turpin asked for the ball this week. His result here is … eventful! pic.twitter.com/yAPJ3OyNwi

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) October 1, 2023

Penalties can be about "little things.'' Last week, a big KaVontae Turpin punt return was erased by a needless earned flag. Compare that to this week, when Turpin got a carry on a misdirection play, sprinted way downfield, fumbled ... but breathed easier when a hustling Sean McKeon, trailing him, fell on the loose ball.

Little things mean a lot.

The Bad: That second "blinking light'' The Cowboys have labored to remake their run-stopping style, keyed by the first-round draft selection of rookie Mazi Smith. None of it was enough in Arizona, as in the first half alone, the Cowboys allowed a ridiculous 181 yards on the ground.

But here? In part due to game script, the Patriots running game - even with the emotionally-charged ex-Cowboy Ezekiel Elliott involved - accomplished nothing. Really, what was made to look "bad'' was Patriots coach Bill Belichick's reported master plan to use Zeke to help slow down the game and eat up clock.

Instead, Dallas allowed just 53 rushing yards. Zeke had just six carries for 16 yards. The run was stopped, forcing QB Mac Jones into throwing ... and that resulted in two defensive touchdowns for "Doomsday.''

Make Bill Belichick - who suffered his worst-ever loss here - look so bad that "Fire Bill!'' is trending on social media? That's good.

The Ugly: That third "blinking light'' The much-ballyhooed red-zone offense issues still linger. Last week, the Cowboys scored just 13 points on five trips to the red zone in the loss at Arizona, low-lighted by a second half in which the Dak Prescott-led offense plunged inside the 10-yard line four times ... only to come away with just two field goals and one ugly interception.

Here, Dallas continued its frequent trips toward the goal line (the Cowboys are tied for No. 1 in the NFL in such trips) ... but didn't get it quite right, finishing 1 of 4 on the visits.

Some of that is situational. Example: Rookie Luke Schoonmaker opened the game by dropping a potential TD pass from Prescott; make that play and the numbers get pretty'ed up.

“Pretty efficient,'' Dak said in summarizing the scoring offense on this day. “Still not up to our standard, honestly.”

Indeed, Dallas in its last three games is 4 of 15 in the red zone. So yes, if the "standards'' are high? That's still "ugly.''