Cowboys face crucial test against Chargers, former OC Kellen Moore
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) – If you think things can't get any worse for the Cowboys, think again.
It's one thing to get beat, 42-10, by the 49ers, arguably the best team in football. But what if they lose to the Chargers on Monday night?
It can happen. The Chargers have won two games in a row, have the fifth ranked offense in the league and are coming off a bye week. They likely are getting RB Austin Ekeler and S Derwin James back from injuries.
But, of course, what makes this week most intriguing is the Chargers play caller. That would be former Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who found this job with the Chargers about five minutes after Jerry Jones told Mike McCarthy he could start calling plays in Dallas.
You can make the case Moore has more to work with in LA than he had in Dallas. For starters, he has QB Justin Herbert, who at 6-foot-6, 235, has prototype size and arm strength. He also had 4,739 yards passing last year. And, he has a new five year, $262.5 million contract extension.
Moore was also excited about this job because he had offensive weapons like Ekeler, who gained 1,637 yards from scrimmage and 18 TDs last year, and WRs Josh Palmer, five-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen, and Mike Williams, who each had 63 or more receptions last year.
Williams was lost for the season to a torn ACL in a Week 3 win at Minnesota. In that game, Allen had 18 receptions for 215 yards and threw a 48 yard touchdown pass. Meanwhile, CeeDee Lamb has a total of 16 catches in four of the five games the Cowboys have played.
For McCarthy, coming off a dismal performance by his offense against San Francisco, this is a treacherous time to be matched up with Kellen Moore and the Chargers.
The good news is the Chargers pass defense is ranked 32nd out of 32 teams in the league. So, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense might have just found the tonic to cure all that ails them.
But if not, the bad news is that the Dallas bye week is next week. Talking heads from sea to shining sea will have two full weeks to be unmerciful.
So, if you thought the 49ers game was big, this one could be bigger.