The winning streak is over. All good things must come to an end and for the Dallas Cowboys https://www.dallascowboysfanshop.com/Larry-Allen-Jersey , that meant it was their day to not play good football. During the five-game winning streak, the team has put together a strong defensive squad with the occasional pop of offensive goodness. Well, none of that was on display on Sunday in their 23-0 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Here are 10 thoughts on the Cowboys loss to the Colts.1. You’ve been EberflusedBeing familiar with another team’s personnel has its advantage and it was as if Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus was inside the Cowboys huddle. Dallas only had 292 yards of total offense which ties for their second-worst performance of the year. But more than that, the Cowboys offense was shutout for the first time in 15 years. What’s strange is this dismal offensive performance comes immediately following the team’s highest yardage performance in 40 years.For an offense that has had problems scoring points this season, this performance certainly doesn’t make fans feel good as the team prepares for a post-season run.2. Mack AttackStopping the run was going to be a point of emphasis today, but most people expected the runner to be Ezekiel Elliott. Instead, it was Colts running back Marlon Mack that couldn’t be stopped. Mack carried the ball 27 times for 139 yards for 5.1 yards per carry. The 139 yards rushing is a career-high for him.The Cowboys entered the game with the best rushing defense in terms of yards allowed per carry, but just couldn’t fill the gaps and stop Mack.3. Red Zone woes continueThe Cowboys offense has been dreadful in goal-to-go situations this season, but they never had such an opportunity against the Colts. They were close though. On the teams second drive of the game, they had a 1st-and-10 at the 12-yard line. And true to form, they couldn’t punch it in.So, what was the reason this time? Well, this opportunity was foiled by the inability of fullback Jamize Olawale to catch an uncontested pass for a walk-in touchdown. The Olawale drop occurred on third down, but Jason Garrett chose to go for it on fourth down. I applaud the decision, but Zeke was hit in the backfield on the next play causing them to come up empty.It’s mind-boggling why the Cowboys offense completely stink it up when they get deep in their opponents territory.4. Missed chancesIt felt like the Colts offense was hardly on the field in the first half. That’s because they weren’t. The Cowboys held the ball almost twice as long as the Colts did in the first half, yet they trailed at halftime, 10-0. Why was that?It started when Brett Maher kicked his field goal attempt into the armpit of Colts defensive linemen Denico Autry. Indy then got a short field and it took them less than four minutes to score the games first touchdown.The Cowboys second possession consisted of a 15-play Bob Lilly Jersey , 70 yards drive that ended with no points after the Cowboys couldn’t convert on fourth down at the Colts three-yard line.5. Defensive let downThe Cowboys defense didn’t let the Colts walk all over them, but this unit didn’t look anything like the team that held the New Orleans Saints to 10 points. And after the Philadelphia Eagles moved the ball rather easily against them in the second half last week, the defense has suddenly started to demonstrate some shakiness.The biggest concern was how poorly this group tackled. The Cowboys have been pretty solid in this department, swarming to the ball and wrapping up, but they had all types of issues on Sunday. Chidobe Awuzie had Mack dead to rights, only to let him scamper off a big gain. Jaylon Smith had clean shot at Nyheim Hines, but completely whiffed on the tackle. And Byron Jones was right on top of Ryan Grant, but one quick cut and he was left in his dust. This was a reoccurring theme on Sunday.Even when they were getting the job done on early downs, the Cowboys couldn’t close the deal. The Colts were 8 for 12 on third-down conversions.6. Cowboys WR M-I-AThe Cowboys only had 208 yards passing, which is not good, but even more surprising was how much of it came from their wide receivers.Wide Receivers = 97 yardsTight Ends = 68 yardsRunning Backs (Zeke) = 41 yardsNot only was Amari Cooper held in check (four catches for 32 yards), but rookie receiver Michael Gallup never even got a target.7. Another linemen downThe Cowboys already were without Zack Martin for this game as he is still recuperating from a knee injury, but the offensive line took another hit when backup left guard Xavier Su’a-Filo exited the first half with an eye injury. The team resorted to backup backup guard Adam Redmond to fill in for Su’a-Filo. It was a valiant effort by Redmond, but he was no match for a player like Denico Autry.The good news is - it doesn’t look like the team will be without Su’a-Filo very long.The Cowboys offensive line continues to have to fight through injuries this season and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier for the home stretch. This is their first game without Martin and it didn’t go well. Not only are they now 0-1 without him, they couldn’t even score a point. Let’s hope that trend doesn’t continue.8. Penalties continue to be a problemLast week the Cowboys were able to overcome a sloppy performance in terms of penalties when they were flagged 11 times for 110 yards against the Eagles. This week, the laundry kept coming as the Cowboys got flagged nine times for 74 yards against the Colts.Tyron Smith’s giant knee brace must keep getting caught on his opponent’s jersey because he continues to get rung up for holding. Everyone on the offensive line is holding. Even the never-flagged Joe Looney has fell victim to penalties as of late.And it’s not just the offensive line that likes to hold. The defensive backs are getting into it as well. Anthony Brown has been grabby, Byron Jones now feels like he has to grab arm now Jay Novacek Color Rush Jersey , and whenever the Cowboys defense got a chance to get off the field, a defensive hold gave the Colts a new set of downs.Even long-snapper L.P. Ladoucer got called for holding. I mean, why not? Everyone else is doing it.9. No pressure on LuckIt wasn’t going to be an easy task to get after a quarterback who gets rid of the ball quickly, but the Cowboys defensive line came up empty on Sunday. The Colts offensive line was able to keep Andrew Luck’s jersey clean as they didn’t allow a single sack. Luck was also allowed to escape the pocket to complete passes and was able to gain 20 yards rushing himself.The Cowboys defensive line has done a great job creating pressure on the quarterback in recent weeks, but they just didn’t have it this game. It was the first game all season that the Cowboys defense didn’t register a single sack. The only thing positive about not getting to Luck is that at least Randy Gregory didn’t get close enough to get a roughing the passer penalty.10. No clinching this time aroundIf you had your “NFC East division champs!” hats out on Sunday, well - you can put them away now. There will be no celebrating this week. A Cowboys victory would have sealed up the division and make the final two weeks of the season a free-roll. But that didn’t happen. The Cowboys also could’ve taken down the East if they could get loses from both Washington and Philadelphia. But that also didn’t happen. The Eagles surprised everyone and were able to beat the Rams on Sunday night and the Redskins were able to pull out the win against Jacksonville.Not that a division-clinching day would have taken away the agony our eyes witnessed on Sunday, but it just means there’s more work to do for Dallas before we can count our playoff-bound chickens.The Chicago Bears also beat the Green Bay Packers, putting them in the driver’s seat for locking down the #3 seed so the Cowboys are essentially locked into the #4 spot now. How do you give the ball away three times in an NFL game (against only one takeaway) and still come up with a win? While also drawing 11 penalties for 111 yards? It takes something pretty special. In the thrilling, exasperating 29-23 overtime victory by the Dallas Cowboys over the Philadelphia Eagles, they came up with not just one special thing. They had a bunch.Individual records. Franchise records. Even a league first. It was a remarkable performance. Let us count the ways.Amari Cooper’s career game.He wasn’t worth a first-round pick, they said.Yep, his best game ever (the three TDs are a record for him, too). And this is just the start of his Dallas career. (Memo to Jerry: Do. Not. Let. Him. Go.) The debate about whether he was worth that 2019 first-round pick was already being drowned out by the crickets before this game. This puts an end to it. Without him on the field, this almost certainly would have been a loss for the Cowboys - and probably not a close one.He is a receiver that can take over a game now.Oh, and that first-round pick he cost just keeps sliding later and later in the round, too.Dak’s redemption.I observed in the third quarter that Dak Prescott was on the verge of giving this game away, all by himself. He threw two picks and lost a fumble. And then he caught on fire.Stop just a minute and look at that. 455 yards. This is the quarterback that has been so heavily criticized for not being able to put up big numbers https://www.dallascowboysfanshop.com/Bill-Bates-Jersey , for struggling at times to even break 200 yards passing.455 is rarefied air. That is the kind of number you expect from Patrick Mahomes or Jared Goff. But on this Sunday, Prescott bested Mahomes, who had 377 yards and two touchdowns. And we won’t even talk about Goff. Or maybe we will, since he was held to 180 yards and threw four interceptions against the Chicago Bears.This is not to say that Prescott is as good as those two, game in and game out. But he is capable of putting up some impressive numbers when he has to. And don’t forget, the previous week he outplayed one Drew Brees.Dak is still young. He was a fourth-round pick. Yes, he makes mistakes. But when that pressure comes on, he is one of the best there is. With less than three full seasons in the league, he already has 13 game-winning drives under his belt. And he has also etched his name in the team’s record books.But it’s really all about the team.Don’t forget the guy who has often carried this team on his back before, Ezekiel Elliott. All he did was touch the ball 40 times and put up 113 yards rushing (including one key fourth-down conversion in OT to keep the game winning drive alive) and 79 yards receiving. And that’s not something that happens very often for any team, either.Zeke, of course, has been doing it all season.Even Brett Maher set a team record.He missed a field goal in the first half, but came back as time was running out before halftime.I don’t want to look like I’m piling on Dan Bailey here, but it is clear that the team made the right decision in keeping Maher over Bailey. There is no doubt that the 62-yarder was beyond Bailey’s range. And without it, this game would probably never have made it to overtime.But wait! There’s more!Blake Jarwin had seven catches for 56 yards. Dalton Schultz three for 37. Not a big deal, you might say.But those were career highs for both of them. OK Charles Haley Jersey , we’re talking really short careers so far, but more importantly is that, when you throw in Rico Gathers’ one catch (which lost a yard, but saved a much bigger loss), Prescott completed eleven passes to his tight end committee - which was every single ball he threw their way. And 92 yards from the position is certainly a level of production the team can live with.It may not have been a record, but did you notice the time of possession in OT?The Cowboys won the toss for the overtime, and of course elected to receive. The new OT is only ten minutes long. The Cowboys proceeded to mount an eight minute and five second drive on the way to the touchdown that ended it all.And if they had not gotten the deflection off Rasul Douglas that Cooper took in for six, they would have kicked a field goal and left the Eagles with less than two minutes to respond. Sure, given the way Philadelphia marched up and down the field in scoring their last 17 points, that was certainly a risky proposition. But it would have just taken one stop. It certainly was an impressive drive, but using up so much time had to have been madly frustrating for the Eagles offense and staff. There was nothing they could do but hope for their defense to get a stop - which, of course, they didn’t.There was another kind of first as well.Yep. For the first time since it was adopted, the NFL rule on leading with your helmet was called against a ball carrier.I won’t go into how this was maybe a bad call, since there were some much more egregious errors both ways in this game. Although, let’s face it, the Cowboys probably benefited more than the Eagles overall with the odd decision on the fumble on the opening kickoff and the phantom offensive pass interference call that nullified a touchdown. That is balanced by Dallas having far more flags thrown on them for the game.But why does this kind of thing always seem to involve the Cowboys? You might even wonder if L. P. Ladouceur Color Rush Jersey , for some unknown reason, the league has a desire to target Zeke for meting out punishment. That’s just a silly idea, of course. Right, Commish?The big picture, though.The Cowboys have improved to 8-5 and swept the Eagles. They have a two-game lead over Philadelphia and Washington for the NFC East lead, and hold tiebreakers over both. Heck, they even shored up their wild card chances just in case (although that probably becomes meaningless next week). And even though this game was a lot harder than it should have been, it kept the five-game winning streak alive - now the longest win streak in the NFL.Did anyone really give Dallas a chance to pull this off when they were 3-5? I will freely admit I was ready to start arguing about who the new head coach should be. Now, we all are wondering if this team can keep the winning going into January. It was an incredible win, with a bunch of landmark performances. And it beats the heck out of losing. Right, Eagles?