Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys continue downward trend in Thanksgiving loss to Las Vegas Raiders

Updated Nov. 26, 2021 1:31 p.m. ET

Skip Bayless spoke for millions of Dallas Cowboys fans without saying a word.

The ‘Boys –– winners of six of their first seven –– have suddenly watched their season do a 180. Thursday’s 36-33 overtime defeat at the hands of the Las Vegas Raiders equaled Dallas' second loss of the week (they fell 19-9 at Kansas City on Sunday) and its third in the past four games.

And now, Bayless isn't sure that the Cowboys' promising start will lead to anything other than disappointment, with a difficult schedule remaining across the final six weeks of the season.

Bayless could be onto something.

Four of Dallas' final six games are on the road, where the Cowboys are 3-2 on the season and essentially playing their opponents to a stalemate, having scored 113 points on the road and having allowed 112.

Conversely, Dallas will have two more games at home, where it is outscoring opponents 213-138 (that 43-3 win over Atlanta in Week 10 certainly helped).

The Cowboys will set sail on a three-game road trip starting in Week 13 at New Orleans, before traveling to take on Washington in Week 14 and the New York Giants in Week 15, two division rivals.

In Week 16, Dallas will host Washington before welcoming Arizona in Week 17 –– the team with the best record in the NFL –– and closing the regular season at Philadelphia.

As of Thursday, both WFT and the Eagles trail the Cowboys by two games in the loss column, meaning each division game in the NFC East will be equipped with playoff ramifications.

Dating back to 2016 –– Dak Prescott's first season as the starter for Dallas –– the Cowboys are 8-7 on the road in division games.

But back to Thursday. What went wrong for the 'Boys?

Well for one, they didn't find much success on the ground.

Only once this season has Dallas won without rushing for 100 yards or more –– a narrow 20-16 victory at Minnesota in Week 8, where Dallas only tallied 78 yards on the ground.

In losses to Tampa Bay, Denver, Kansas City and Las Vegas, the Cowboys rushed for 60 yards, 78 yards, 72 yards and 64 yards, respectively.

The Dallas defense has also struggled dating back to Week 6, specifically when it comes to stopping the run.

The Cowboys have allowed at least 100 yards on the ground in six straight games, after allowing an opponent to rack up 100 rushing yards just once through the first five weeks.

Dallas gave up a whopping 190 yards on the ground in a Week 9 loss to Denver, before giving up 126 against K.C. on Sunday and 143 to the Raiders on Thursday.

There's also the quarterback.

Prescott found some individual success on Thursday, completing 32 of 47 passes for 375 yards and two scores, but he wasn't his normal accurate self and hasn't been in Dallas' recent losses. He is completing 60.6% of his passes in Dallas' three most recent losses, compared to 74.4% of passes in the Cowboys' wins.

And then there was also a little thing called penalties, which wrecked Dallas on Thursday.

The Cowboys were flagged 14 times for 166 yards against the Raiders (L.V. had 14 penalties for 110 yards), far surpassing their previous high of 12 penalties for 115 yards against New England in Week 6.

Dallas has now lost three consecutive Thanksgiving games for the first time since losing four straight from 1986-1989.

In other words, Turkey Day is no longer a friend of the Cowboys.

And on Friday's edition of "Undisputed," Bayless wasn't in much of a friendly mood either, pointing to his fandom during the glory days as a Cowboys fan as the reason why he was so disappointed with Thursday's loss –– because he remembers vividly the best of times for the Dallas franchise.

"I took last night very hard. … I have been a fan of this football time since 1961. …. Last night was the single most gut-wrenching game I have ever watched because of how much I thought of this team. … The other team came in teetering on collapse and all you needed to do was take care of business right out of the box.

"We had to win this game yesterday because it's a gimme. Now it gets tough. Now it gets dicier and dicier because they have played no division rival on the road yet."

Skip Bayless: "My Cowboys loss to the Raiders was the most excruciating, painful nightmare I've ever witnessed" I UNDISPUTED

Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys came up short on Thursday. Skip Bayless breaks the biggest reason his Cowboys lost and why it is the 'single-most gut-wrenching game he has ever watched.'

"Gimme" games don't come often in the NFL, and haven't come often this season. Remember when Jacksonville beat Buffalo and Houston beat Tennessee?

However, the Raiders were indeed struggling coming into Thursday, losers of three straight, two of which were at home.

"In the end, when I sat back, what did I see? I saw a bad football team," Bayless added.

Shannon Sharpe didn't go as far as to call the Cowboys "bad," but he did take the Dallas defense to task, saying it can't just be good when it racks up turnovers.

"[The Raiders] were 3-of-13 on third down and somehow they still managed to get over 500 yards of total offense. … What happens when you don't get four turnovers? You don't get pick-sixes? You don't get scoop and scores? Or when you don't win the turnover battle? … That's what happened [on Thursday]."

Dallas won or tied the turnover battle in Weeks 1-6, going 5-1 in that time span, and its 14 turnovers forced were second in the NFL in the first six weeks.

But in Weeks 7-12, the Cowboys have forced just five turnovers, good for 19th in the NFL. They are 2-3 in that window and have lost the turnover battle in three of their last five games, going 1-2 in those contests.

We'll see if Dak & Co. can turn over their fortunes in Week 13.