Rico Dowdle’s revenge game, plus a positive for Dallas

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Yes, the Cowboys’ defensive performance in Sunday’s 30-27 loss to the Panthers in Carolina looked as dismal from the sideline as it did on your television screen.

Here are some notes from the sideline of Bank of America Stadium:

Say what?: As you may have heard analyst Babe Laufenberg say on our Dallas Cowboys Radio Network broadcast, Rico Dowdle is the first former Cowboys running back to rush for 100-plus yards against Dallas and his former Cowboys teammates. There are many notable running backs who had great careers/seasons in Dallas, but none of them accomplished what Dowdle accomplished Sunday. Tony Dorsett never played against the Cowboys after signing with the Broncos. Emmitt Smith ran for minus-1 yard as a Cardinal in his Dallas homecoming. Zeke Elliott totaled only 16 yards on 6 carries when he played for the Patriots in 2023. DeMarco Murray came close to 100 yards (83) as a Philadelphia Eagle in 2015.

Looking at the list of running backs who have struggled in their so-called “revenge” games against the Cowboys makes Rico’s numbers even more notable.

Cowboys

Rico striking it rich?: When the Cowboys allowed Dowdle to walk in free agency, the running back signed a one-year deal with Carolina for $2.75 million guaranteed. But after dicing the Cowboys defense, he’s nearly halfway to the first of several generous incentives. Dowldle will earn $500,000 for reaching 800 scrimmage yards. Add his 239 total yards versus Dallas with his 234 yards the previous week versus the Dolphins and – in just the past two games – he’s well over halfway to $500,000.

According to Spotrac.com, Rico also has incentives for 950 scrimmage yards ($500k), 1,100 scrimmage yards ($500k), 1,350 scrimmage yards ($1m), six TDs ($250k) and eight TDs ($250k). He has a great opportunity to cash-in, especially considering he earned a total $4.28 million in salary in his five years in Dallas.

If you wondering how Dowdle’s compensation in Carolina compares with Javonte Williams’ in Dallas, Williams signed for one-year deal with a $3 million cap hit. Williams’ incentives include $250k for 1,250 scrimmage yards and $250k for 12 TDs, according to Spotrac.com. Through six games, Williams has 559 scrimmage yards and six TDs.

Tyler Smith’s return: Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith’s availability was a gameday decision. Smith (knee), who missed the previous game at the Jets, worked out for Cowboys director of rehabilitation Britt Brown for about 20 minutes before teammates came onto the field for pregame warmups. After giving the thumbs up, Smith started the game alongside LT Tyler Guyton who returned to action after also missing the Jets game due to a concussion.

Even though two starters returned to the O-line, the rushing attack struggled mightily and totaled only 31 rushing yards on 19 carries. That is a putrid average of 1.6 yards per rush. Dallas’ longest run of the day was 6 yards. There was nowhere to run and very few yards after contact.

And here’s what is interesting about that stat: in the Week 5 win over the Dolphins, the Panthers’ defense allowed an average of 1.36 yards per carry with a long of 6 yards. Cue the eerie music. The Panthers’ run defense entered Sunday ranked 14th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed and will certainly move up the rankings after corralling Williams (13 carries for 29 yards) and Jaydon Blue (3 carries, 0 yards).

From my perspective on the sideline, that was the biggest difference between this game and the first five weeks of the season: the running backs were not falling forward and piling up YAC (yards after contact). They weren’t getting through holes and getting to the second level. They didn’t have anywhere to run.

One of the Williams’ strengths is turning a 3-yard gain into a 6-yard gain, or a 1-yard loss into a 4-yard gain. Credit the Panthers defenders: they wrapped up when tackling and limited extra yards. The Panthers won the battle at the line of scrimmage. Once contact was made (with a few exceptions), the runner was down. It was a physical defense.

Same thing on the other side of the ball. The Panthers’ O-line won the battle in the trenches, plain and simple.

The Cowboys’ defense barely managed to get the Panthers to third downs consistently because Carolina’s offense was having success on first and second downs. Carolina faced only eight third-down conversions and one fourth-down conversion in the entire game, not just the first half. Yowza!

Another definsive line change: Mazi Smith was a gameday inactive in favor of rookie DT Jay Toia. The decision was not injury-related. Toia was active the first two games of the season before Smith got the nod in Weeks 3-5. But for Week 6, Smith was inactive again. Toia was credited with one tackle in his backup role.

Special teams shuffle: One of the best plays on Cowboys special teams was made in punt coverage in the third quarter by rookie S Alijah Clark who, after Bryan Anger launched a 51-yard bomb into the wind, wrapped up returner Hunter Renfrow for no gain. An illegal block on Carolina pushed the ball back to Carolina’s 7-yard line. Clark looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he sprinted downfield.

Clark got the assignment to join CJ Goodwin as gunners on punt coverage because WR Ryan Flournoy, first-team punt gunner, is needed for extra snaps at receiver as CeeDee Lamb (ankle) and KaVontae Turpin (foot) missed their another game with injuries. WR Jalen Brooks, who was elevated from the practice in Week 5 and played gunner, was not available due to a knee injury.

Wind was a factor: Anger’s long punt into the wind was the result of a veteran taking advantage of pregame warmups to assess the way the wind/rain would affect game conditions. In pregame, Anger figured out that when he was kicking into the wind toward the north end of the stadium, if he elevated the punt high enough, the currents would carry the ball deep like a jet stream. He was right.

Sunday was the first Cowboys game this season in which the weather played a factor. Luckily, the rain held off with only a few intermittent showers, but the wind was 14 mph with even stronger gusts. When the Cowboys went for it on fourth and 4 at the Panthers’ 30-yard line with 4:44 remaining in the second quarter, it was likely because Brandon Aubrey would have been kicking into the stiff wind. Dak Prescott hit George Pickens for 8 yards. Two plays later, Jake Ferguson caught a 19-yard TD pass.

The wind was blowing hard enough that the goal posts in both end zone were swaying. And the flags atop the stadium were blowing the opposite direction of the flags atop the uprights.

Avoiding injuries: This is the first “Sideline Exclusive” of the season that does not include a long list of injuries that occurred during the game. The only player to visit the blue medical tent on the Cowboys’ sideline during the game was rookie LB Shemar James who underwent a cognitive evaluation early in the second quarter but cleared the tests and returned to action in the next defensive series.

Touchdown celebrations: Was Ferguson doing the Ickey Shuffle following the TD? It sure looked like former Bengals running back Ickey Woods’ old dance which he debuted in 1988. Everything old is new again, I guess.

Speaking of old … not too long ago Pickens’ TD celebration on Sunday would have drawn a penalty flag. In case you missed it, after Dak’s 34-yard scoring strike to Pickens gave Dallas a 24-20 lead late in the third quarter, Pickens ran to the back corner beyond the end zone and curled up in the fetal position with the football as his pillow. That would have drawn a penalty for using the football as a prop in the not-so-distant days of the NFL being the No Fun League.

And somebody please check the PSI of the football after Hunter Luepke’s left-handed monster spike following his 3-yard TD catch on the first play of the second quarter. It was Gronk-like and the football must have bounced 15 feet in the air.

Gift for a billionaire?: While interviewing Jerry Jones during our weekly Owner’s Box pregame interview on Cowboys Radio, I jokingly presented him with a pair of mittens so that, if he were to make a hand gesture during the game, he would not get fined another $250,000 from the league for showing the wrong finger to fans. Always willing to poke fun at himself, he took the gesture in good humor and said the mittens were a better idea than the one he planned to use: taping his fingers together.

Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this column for The Dallas Morning News after each Cowboys game.

Kansas City WR Rashee Rice eligible to play after suspension ends