Dallas Cowboys: 5 Keys to Loss vs. Arizona Cardinals

Regardless of the fact that the Dallas Cowboys have been viewed as the favorite heading into their last six meetings with the Arizona Cardinals, they've only came away with a victory in one of those contests, most recently losing to the Red Birds in overtime today.

Strange things seem to happen whenever the Cowboys visit the desert—like seeing the Cardinals defense give a once rolling Dallas offense fits all day long, holding them to just one touchdown.

Here are the five keys that lead to Big D's first loss in over a month.

Abandoning the Run

After bursting onto the NFL scene in Dallas and racking up over 700 rushing yards since Felix Jones' injury, want to know Murray's stats for the Cardinal game?

Answer: 12 attempts for 38 yards. That's it.

Praise deserves to go to the Arizona defense; they came to play and really took it to the Cowboys especially where they are the weakest—the offensive line.

Murray just never had the holes to make the big plays 'Boys fans have come accustomed to seeing partly because the Arizona defensive line was in the backfield before he could make his first cut.

I understand head coach Jason Garrett's thought process in turning the ball over to the passing game and accepting today wasn't their day on the ground, but that decision made the 'Boys offense one-dimensional and took away any thoughts of using play-action.

Poor Play by the Offensive Line

Between the poor protection and penalties, it was just a horrible showing by the big men on the offensive line today.

Murray received no help in the blocking department, and there were just too many false-start penalties that derailed the Cowboys' offensive momentum.

Phil Costa was giving Tony Romo high snaps from the shotgun all day long and didn't get the memo to snap the ball to the quarterback before the play clock expired on a crucial late drive for America's Team, resulting in a delay-of-game penalty.

They also allowed Romo to be under pressure all afternoon, making the Cardinals look like the Baltimore Ravens' defense out there. Arizona sacked the Cowboys field general five times on the day—their highest output for the 2011 season.

Dallas went into the season with an unproven front line and have seen moments of brilliance from the big men but more often than not have had to try and win in spite of them.

Penalties

It wasn't just the offensive line racking up the penalties, unfortunately, it was a team effort to shoot themselves in the foot.

Terence Newman specifically comes to mind with his pass-interference penalty late in the second half and the block in the back on Dez Bryant's big punt return didn't help the team either.

Dallas has always been notorious for penalties, and today was a perfect example of just how easily a team can defeat themselves by committing too many mistakes.

Dan Bailey's Missed Field Goals

Rookie kicker Dan Bailey is about to realize how quickly you can go from being a hero to a zero in the Lone Star State.

Bailey was riding a perfect streak of converting field goals in his first NFL season, only to miss two crucial 53 and 49-yard field goals that ultimately cost Dallas a win on the road.

Sure Bailey made the would-be game-winning field goal at the end if not for a timeout, but that doesn't excuse his earlier 53-yard miss. Sure, that's not exactly "chip-shot" territory, but if the rookie converts on that attempt, the Cowboys are able to play a whole different kind of game in the fourth quarter and just focus on keeping Arizona out of the red zone.

Then, there's the field goal that wasn't. He had the chance to be the hero for his team for the second straight week, if you make the first field goal you need to make the redo.

Easier said than done of course, but the second kick was accurate enough, just not enough power behind it, and that's something Bailey should have had plenty of considering he was well aware that last drive was most likely going to come down to a field goal attempt.

Jason Garrett's Last-Second Timeout

Jason Garrett is still learning the whole head coaching thing, but what was he trying to gain by calling that last-second timeout in the fourth quarter that ended up costing Dallas the football game?

Bailey should have made the redo kick, but it shouldn't have come to that in the first place. Taking a last-second time out is what the other team's coach is supposed to do Garrett, not you.

Taking that time out does nothing to benefit the Cowboys as a team, the team was riding some momentum with some nice plays that lead to a chance to win the football game, only to see it all washed away by...themselves.

Luckily for Dallas, the New York Giants were made victim No. 12 of the Green Bay Packers' undefeated season, but the 'Boys need to pick themselves off the mat and play better when the G-Men come to town next week.