FRISCO - Over the past couple of seasons, the Dallas Cowboys have been one of the top-ranked NFL teams when it comes to getting turnovers while not giving the ball away.
But in 2024, the process appears to be broken, with the offense coughing it up at a record pace and the defense unable to stop drives with takeaways.
As a result, the 3-6 Cowboys' turnover differential is -10, with five coming against the Philadelphia Eagles in a 34-6 loss. Head coach Mike McCarthy knows that is not a healthy way to live in the NFL.
But how can the team get that spark back that made them one of the best teams in the NFL at taking care of the football on offense and that made them record-setting ballhawks on defense?
“The education process is there, the drill works there, but you can talk about [it] all you want but ... it's really about the results," McCarthy said. "So we just got to keep emphasizing it, keep working at it, I just believe in bearing down and staying after it. Our history here will speak to it, we've been very good in the area of turnover ratio. I mean minus-10 makes me sick, it absolutely does.”
So McCarthy is "absolutely sick" about the turnover differential. And when we reflect on the numbers from the previous seasons? "Big Mike" and Cowboys Nation will feel even worse.
Going back to 2021, the Cowboys on both sides of the ball were superb in turnover differential margins.
In 2021, Dallas' turnover differential was +14; in 2022 and 2023, it was +10. It is worth noting that in 2021 and 2022, the Cowboys' defense led the NFL in takeaways under then-coordinator Dan Quinn (34 and 33).
Additionally, on offense, the unit didn't have more than 23 giveaways for an entire season from 2021 to 2023. But this year, McCarthy's unit is already up to 18 - a statistical recipe for failure.
Even in 2020, McCarthy's first year as head coach, the differential was only minus-3 (26 offense, 23 defense), and we remember how poor that season was after Dak Prescott went down with an ankle injury.
So, that is a big swing from being one of the better teams in football regarding turnover margin to one of the worst, and unless something changes, the Cowboys will continue to lose big in games because they give the ball away as a habit while not being able to steal it back.
That is what makes McCarthy "absolutely sick'' ... and that is what gives Dallas its overall "sick'' results.
