3 players to blame for NY Jets Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys

Coming off a big win against the Buffalo Bills, the NY Jets traveled to Arlington, TX, to take on the Dallas Cowboys. With the momentum that the Jets had last week after their electric overtime win, the Jets hoped to come into Texas and pull off the upset. Unfortunately, this was not even close to what happened.

On the game's first drive, the Cowboys marched down the field and scored a touchdown with ease. The Jets would be down 10-0 before they got on the board with a touchdown. Ultimately, the Jets would suffer their first loss of the season, losing to the Cowboys by a final score of 30-10.

While there were some positives, this game was about as ugly as it gets at times. Here are the three players to blame for this loss.

3. Sauce Gardner, CB, NY Jets

This one stings. Sauce Gardner put together a disappointing game in Week 2. Gardner, who won the Defensive Rookie of the Year last season, is still one of the best cornerbacks in football, but his start to the 2023 season has been less than ideal.

Unfortunately, despite what his numbers say on the stat sheet, Gardner did not have a great game this week. He dropped a big interception in a key spot, missed tackles, and simply wasn't as effective in coverage.

The Jets will hope to see Gardner turn things around next week.

2. Dalvin Cook, RB, NY Jets

I mean, there's not too much to say about this other than, what is the point anymore? Dalvin Cook was signed by the Jets to ease the workload until Breece Hall returned to form.

Cook's game last week against Buffalo wasn't his best, but it wasn't bad. He finished with 33 yards on 13 attempts and caught three passes for 26 yards.

Unfortunately, in Sunday's game, Cook couldn't get anything going. On four carries, Cook came away with just seven yards. He also added one reception for five yards.

However, the bigger deal here was, in the middle of the third quarter, when the Jets were down 21-10, they had a chance to bring the score to a one-possession game. Cook fumbled the ball, completely changing the momentum and tide for the remainder of the game.

While Cook is a decent running back, he's just not the player he was in his prime.

1. The entire NY Jets offensive line

If I'm Robert Saleh, I'm panicking about this offensive line. Going back to last week's game against Buffalo, the offensive line offered little protection against the Bills' defense. This is becoming all too common with the team's offensive line.

Zach Wilson was truly running for his life out there. Wilson didn't look awful, either. He finished the game with 12 completions out of 27 attempts for 170 yards and one touchdown pass. Wilson imploded in the fourth quarter, but his performance prior to that was passable.

Just about every play ended with Wilson getting chased around in the backfield with no help and having to just get rid of the ball. I'm not saying that it would magically fix everything, but if Wilson had some time to just plant his feet and relax, we could see much better results.