Ezekiel Elliott: Mike McCarthy Says Cowboys Have 'A Lot to Clean Up'

Mike McCarthy might have undersold it.

Ezekiel Elliott told reporters after the game the Dallas Cowboys head coach said his team has "a lot to clean up" following a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

McCarthy himself acknowledged just how bad Tuesday's game was:

The gap between the two teams felt bigger than the 17 points that were ultimately the difference. Dallas allowed Baltimore to gain 294 yards on the ground. The Ravens also averaged 7.4 yards per play, according to ESPN.

By the fourth quarter, Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. sought out a cameraperson in the end zone and shouted "easy money" after J.K. Dobbins scored on a five-yard run:

Saying the Cowboys have a lot to work on implies to some extent that they might soon find a solution. There are four games left in the season, and Dallas is two games behind the first-place New York Giants in the NFC East.

The simple fact is, the Cowboys aren't very good, and it's not all because Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending injury in Week 5. Their defense is among the worst in the league, and McCarthy hasn't changed much despite his crash course in analytics.

Needing to score relatively quickly to close a 17-point gap with 5:25 remaining, McCarthy called three straight run plays after getting a 1st-and-goal at the 1-yard line. By the time Amari Cooper hauled in a two-yard touchdown pass, 3:59 was left on the clock.

Dallas isn't as hopelessly inept as the 0-12 New York Jets, but the Cowboys' performance continues to be more stunning because they entered 2020 with hopes of reaching the Super Bowl.

As Tuesday's game drew to a conclusion, even legendary Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was at a loss on the Fox broadcast to figure out where the franchise goes from here.

There is indeed "a lot to clean up," and that process can't truly begin until the offseason.