LOS ANGELES — The Dallas Cowboys defense gave up an average of 94.6 yards per game on the ground in the 2018 regular season. Including their stalwart performance against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Wildcard Round of the playoffs, that average was even better -- 93.3 yards per game.
And the Los Angeles Rams went out and tripled that, amassing 273 rushing yards behind a two-headed monster that will haunt the Hot Boyz for the entire offseason.
Todd Gurley ran for 115 yards on just 16 carries -- good for 7.1 yards per carry. That by itself would've been a problem for the Cowboys, but potentially could've been overcome, if that were all.
Tack on backup running back CJ Anderson going for 123 yards on 23 carries -- a still impressive 5.4 yards per carry -- and the Cowboys defense was left reeling for the entire first half... and most of the game.
Only once did the Cowboys force the Rams to punt. Beyond that, the only Rams possessions that didn't end in points were a missed 63-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and a kneel down to end the game.
The Hot Boyz had nothing on Saturday. Nothing nothing.
"It was a combination of things," defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford said. "We weren't ready for it on the field. Throughout the week our preparation was good... [but] we messed some things up, we didn't play our style of ball."
Of the 273 rushing yards the Cowboys allowed, 170 came in the first half.
"We beat ourselves a little bit in the first half," linebacker Leighton Vander Esch said. "It's the playoffs, you can't take the first half off."
In addition to the run defenses woes, the pass rush was similarly paltry. Jared Goff was never sacked, and the Cowboys only hit him one time all game, thanks to Jaylon Smith.
In the end, what nobody would've predicted to be the Cowboys undoing, was. And now the Hot Boyz have nine months to figure out how to get cookin' again.
