Cowboys report card: Grading Week 3 vs. the Ravens

The Dallas Cowboys came within a few coaching decisions of being 2-1 instead of 1-2. In the NFL, margins come down to a few plays and a couple of bounces of the ball. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer has had a historic start to his head coaching career from a scoring standpoint, but none of that matters if he can’t beat the good teams on the schedule.

If the Cowboys scored on their final drive and went for the win instead of the tie, fans would be singing his praises and looking at the Ravens game as a defining moment of his tenure with Dallas. Now, it leaves questions about his ability to make the right calls in big moments.

Despite the loss, a handful of players had strong performances that make you feel good about where the season can go if the team stays healthy long enough.

Here is the Week 3 report card.

Over the last three weeks, no one has played better on defense than Jaishawn Barham. The rookie third-round pick has exceeded expectations since DeMarvion Overshown went down with his injury. To not only wear the green dot and command the defense, but also do that away from AT&T Stadium against Lamar Jackson was impressive.

His two key fourth-down stops could have earned him an A-plus grade on their own. For years, the Cowboys defense would have buckled in that situation and would have been pushed back off the ball. Instead, Barham showed instincts of a long-time veteran at the position and did everything he could to get the offense the ball back. Impressive stuff from the young player.

When CeeDee Lamb dropped passes in training camp and had inconsistent days in Oxnard, questions started about what kind of year the star wideout would be in. It turns out there was nothing to worry about, and Lamb looks as good as ever.

Lamb sits fourth in the NFL with 309 receiving yards and was outstanding against a Ravens secondary that was being pushed around. In the past, the Cowboys offense hasn’t fully capitalized on favorable outside matchups. That wasn’t the case against Malon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins. Lamb should be in line for another career year.

When Dak Prescott was asked to make the big play on Sunday, he delivered more times than not. There were a few drives where he left things on the table to Lamb and George Pickens on the outside, which is why he gets an A instead of an A+.

Yes, Prescott is a seasoned vet who deserves the chance to call his own plays at the goal line if he doesn’t agree with what the head coach is saying, but he’s never been like that—at least vocally. Rest assured, if the Cowboys have an opportunity to take the lead late in the fourth quarter five yards from the endzone, he’ll do the right thing and go for the kill shot instead of going for the tie.

Second to Jaishawn Barham, Caleb Downs has probably been the defense’s second-best player on the field. His pass coverage is the only thing not yet on full display this season, but as a run defender, Downs has been everywhere.

Both Downs and Barham each have 20 combined tackles in Weeks 1-3, tying Leighton Vander Esch for the most among rookie defenders in team history during that span, per Stathead.

Downs’ aggressive, no-fear approach has really helped improve Dallas’ run defense this year, and it showed up against a formidable running back in Derrick Henry.

The Cowboys offensive line got a ton of push in the run game, which led to Javonte Williams having his best outing of the season on the ground. Starting with the opening drive, Williams looked unstoppable. Even though the Cowboys didn’t run the ball as often, their bell cow looked like his old self.

On a fourth-down run call at midfield in the second quarter, Williams had the chance to bounce the ball to the outside for a first down and a big gain, but instead fumbled the ball and fell short of the line to gain. It would have given Dallas’ offense the momentum needed to score points after Baltimore had scored 14 unanswered.

After back-to-back weeks of limited involvement in the offense, George Pickens had a nice day, catching seven passes for 82 yards. His grade would have been even higher if the critical third-down catch had held up in the third quarter, when Dallas was down 17-13. A Terence Steele penalty moved the Cowboys offense back, and the drive ended with a blocked field goal.

Pickens feels on the verge of a breakout game after a solid outing against the Baltimore secondary. He’ll need it this week as the Cowboys face a Houston Texans defense that’s desperate for its first win of the season.

After two weeks of criticism, the entire defensive tackle room made their presence felt. Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark looked like their old selves, and Otito Ogbonnia, along with Jonathan Bullard, were really good against the run.

Derrick Henry did have his wins against Dallas’ front, but the Cowboys tackles were just as important on the fourth-down stops as Jaishawn Barham. One positive to pull from the loss is the much improved run defense.

The Cowboys just need more from their outside rushers. Von Miller got some key pressures against Lamar Jackson, but like Donovan Ezeiruaku, no one could finish or get close to bringing down the Baltimore quarterback.

Miller said he was able to roll out of bed and get eight sacks this year, but maybe the expectations were too high considering he didn’t have an entire offseason with the Cowboys. Even for a future Hall of Fame player like himself, it could take a few weeks to knock off the rust.

If the Cowboys’ outside linebackers are going to break out of their funk, this weekend is their chance to do it against a weaker Houston offensive line.

The Cowboys hoped for a solid edge player when they traded for Rashan Gary, but he’s provided no juice on the outside as a rusher and got caught a few times not setting an edge in the Baltimore game.

Since last season, Gary has failed to record a sack or tackle for loss in 13 consecutive games. For a player who had such a hot start to his 2025 season, it’s crazy to see how far he’s fallen off from what he was. Sure, he’s a great leader in the locker room and for the young players, but Dallas needs more production from someone who’s supposed to be a starting defender.

When the Cowboys moved Markquese Bell to linebacker in 2023 out of necessity, he looked like a different player. Sure, he was playing out of position, and it was unsustainable in the playoffs, but during the regular season, Bell played with confidence.

The player who took the field against the Ravens is a shell of what he’s shown he can do in the past. Bell is a nice special teams player, but he’s shown he’s unreliable as a defender. When the Cowboys had their ace teams player in C.J. Goodwin, Dallas never had to worry about him playing on defense. Watching Bell play on Sunday gives you an idea of what Goodwin would have been like if he’d played a game in a true position.

The Cowboys moved up and down the field against Baltimore, but in critical situations, they couldn’t rise to the moment. The head coach gave himself an “F” grade for his play calling, so that’s where it lands on the report card.

Again, if Dallas finds a way to push the ball into the end zone on third or fourth down in the final possession of the game, this grade shoots up to a B+. That’s why it’s so important to capitalize on the moment and momentum and know the temperature of your football team. The Cowboys defense was beaten up and almost broken by the end of the game.

There should have been no need to play for overtime. You either go for the win or take it on the chin and lose as a team, but at least you could justify it by saying you went down swinging. Dan Campbell, Mike Macdonald, Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson, and Sean McVay have a history of going for it in those situations. Schottenheimer needs to be less conservative and lean on his offense.

After the healthiest training camp in recent history, here are the players who missed time due to injury: Marist Liufau, Tyler Smith, DeMarvion Overshown, Malik Hooker, Cobie Durant, and P.J. Locke. You can add Jonathan Bullard, Jalen Thompson and Shavon Revel Jr. to the list after Sunday’s loss, as they also left with injuries. Bullard and Thompson will miss multiple weeks.

The only player with a small chance to play is Revel, who got a positive update from the head coach on Tuesday, but there’s no guarantee, and Dallas may be cautious about forcing him back on the field too soon. Over the last five years covering this team for BTB, I don’t remember a start to the season like this, with so many key players missing games.

The old saying in football is that the healthiest teams are usually the ones in the mix at the end of the year for the playoffs. Well, whatever Dallas’s record is, if they can’t stay healthy, they have no chance of making a strong push for the postseason, let alone a Super Bowl.