The frustration has settled in for the Dallas Cowboys.
It was bubbling after back-to-back home losses to the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens, and it began to boil after the 47-9 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Lions before the bye week.
After a 30-24 loss to a similarly down-on-their-luck San Francisco 49ers squad on Sunday night, the emotions are now clear as day.
Shortly after the game, Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs exited the locker room — still in uniform and pads — to confront a reporter about a post he made on social media criticizing Diggs’ play. Diggs laid an expletive-ridden tirade into the reporter for all to see.
Diggs’ off-field display came only 12 days after Jerry Jones similarly went after radio hosts for asking challenging questions that would’ve required Jones to speak on his own shortcomings over the offseason. It’s not far removed from CeeDee Lamb showing emotions mid-game against the Baltimore Ravens last month.
It’s created a pattern of a consistent display of emotion that shows what the feelings could be behind the scenes. While quarterback Dak Prescott and other team leaders are trying to right the ship, they can’t help but feel the emotions too.
“I’m personally frustrated, frustrated with myself about my play,” Prescott said postgame after throwing two costly interceptions. “I imagine the rest of the guys are frustrated about not getting a win…Frustration is high, but it’s a long season.”
Well, in a lot of ways it’s felt like a long season already. The Cowboys have played seven games and have yet to put together a four quarter showing on both sides of the ball. It’s led to inconsistent play and a reality of being under .500 heading into November for the first time since 2020.
“Take it one [game] at a time, simple as that,” Prescott said. “We’ve been here before. We know what it takes in this league. You get high and you get rolling, it’s all you’re looking to do.”
“It sucks when you put in the work and you don’t reap the rewards,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “We got a good veteran group. We have a lot of guys who have been here, been worse. We’re just going to keep going at it.”
While the leaders up top can inspire confidence with 10 games left on the schedule, the question is if players such as Diggs can tune out the noise to focus on the task at hand.
As with most problems that the Cowboys have faced this season — rush defense, pass protection issues, lack of skill production — it will take a complete group effort to put the emotions aside and to put that energy into fulfilling assignments, making plays and winning games.
And if that doesn’t happen, things will only snowball from here. With Atlanta, Philadelphia and Houston on the horizon, the challenge only thickens for a Cowboys team that is reeling for answers to issues on both sides of the ball.
“We can get hot, that’s the plan,” Prescott said. “We just gotta keep building. That’s how this league works.”
“This is frustrating, but nobody is giving up.”