‘All-Time Choke Jobs’: Rex Ryan Rips Dallas Cowboys After Overtime Loss To Arizona Cardinals

FRISCO, Texas — Rex Ryan called the Dallas Cowboys’ 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals “one of the all-time choke jobs in the history of football” on Monday’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up. Dallas led 24-10 with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter Sunday at AT&T Stadium and did not trail until overtime.

The loss dropped the Cowboys to 3-5. Before Sunday, Dallas was 202-0-1 at home when leading by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter, including the playoffs, CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell reported. Arizona has won five straight regular-season meetings between the teams and is 5-0 at AT&T Stadium since the building opened in 2009.

During the segment, Ryan asked to see Get Up’s stat on the Cowboys’ record a second time. He coached the New York Jets from 2009 to 2014 and the Buffalo Bills in 2015 and 2016.

“This, you’ve got to be kidding me here,” Ryan said. “And your stat, can we see that stat again? 202-0-1. I mean, well, I mean, no wonder. What’s that, like 50%? Are you going to give that game up? Oh, my God.”

Rex Ryan Points To Gardner Minshew II, Jalon Daniels After Dallas Cowboys’ Overtime Loss

Arizona trailed 17-3 with 1:35 left in the third quarter when Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur pulled Jacoby Brissett for Gardner Minshew II. Brissett had gone 10-of-23 for 119 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception, and Dallas sacked him 4 times. On Minshew’s second snap, Tyler Allgeier broke off a 63-yard touchdown run. He finished with 11 carries for 147 yards and 1 touchdown, plus 5 catches for 44 yards and 1 touchdown.

Minshew went 17-of-23 for 188 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions, and all three of his scoring passes came in the fourth quarter. From that run on, the Cardinals scored touchdowns on four straight possessions to close regulation. When Brandon Aubrey’s 41-yard field goal put the Cowboys up 30-24 with 1:09 left, Minshew needed 8 plays to take Arizona 80 yards without a timeout. Michael Wilson caught the 13-yard touchdown with 6 seconds remaining. Wilson caught 8 passes for 111 yards and 1 touchdown.

Chad Ryland had the chance to put Arizona ahead in regulation, but he pushed the extra point wide left. Dallas won the overtime coin toss and kicked off. After both teams punted, Ryland came back out with 2:53 left and made a 42-yard field goal. Arizona outgained Dallas 467-261.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer called it a tale of two halves Monday at The Star. Consistency is the word he keeps landing on when he reviews the film, he said.

“I thought this game was a tale of two halves. First half we played well, 14-3 lead, coming out of halftime, but we weren’t able to finish the game,” Schottenheimer said. “So I always have the real conversation with those guys, and the word I keep coming up with as I look at it is consistency.”

On Oct. 8 at AT&T Stadium, Jalon Daniels made his second NFL start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 24-16 win over the Cowboys. Daniels, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas, went 19-of-25 for 189 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions while filling in for Tampa Bay’s injured starter. Ryan grouped Daniels with Minshew as he went through the quarterbacks who have beaten Dallas this season.

“This is atrocious,” Ryan explained. “I mean, this is absolutely atrocious. And you know what’s atrocious? How about this little tidbit? … Jalon Daniels. That’s not the kid from Washington, right? All right, the rookie undrafted guy. Gardner Minshew, who’s absolutely … I mean, these guys are stellar quarterbacks.”

“So they gave up … 75% completions, four TDs, no picks against these guys,” Ryan continued. “But they did have two sacks. Like, this team is great on defense. I don’t know what the hell … I mean, they stink.”

Ryan Says The NFC East Is ‘Right There’ For Cowboys

Coming out of their Week 8 bye, the New York Giants lead the NFC East at 4-2-1. Dallas sits second at 3-5, ahead of the Washington Commanders at 2-4-1 and the Philadelphia Eagles at 2-6. The Giants beat the Cowboys 28-20 in the Sept. 13 opener at MetLife Stadium, and Dallas won 38-21 at Philadelphia on Oct. 26. Even at 3-5, Dallas could still take the division by default in Ryan’s view, with the rest of the NFC East down to backup quarterbacks.

“How in the hell do you not win this division?” Ryan said. “Like right now, they may very well, because by default, right, everybody’s on their second, third quarterbacks. But it’s right there for you, and you come out.”

Early Sunday, Dallas stopped Arizona on fourth-and-1 at the Cowboys’ 1-yard line with 6:17 left in the first quarter. On the Cardinals’ next drive, linebacker James Houston IV sacked Brissett for a 3-yard loss. Shemar James picked off Brissett on the very next snap and brought it back 33 yards to the Arizona 5, and two plays later, Dallas scored on a fumble recovery in the end zone.

The Cowboys led 14-3 at halftime, and Arizona had 136 total yards before the break and 286 after it. Quinnen Williams finished with 7 tackles and 2 sacks. Dallas sacked Arizona quarterbacks 5 times for 42 yards. Ryan went back to that first-quarter sack and the tackles Dallas made in the backfield.

“And I’ve got to say this,” Ryan said. “Did you see them first quarter of the game? Oh, they’re beating us. They’re playing so good. They’re fearless on defense. They got a sack. They were making tackles, a couple of tackles in the backfield. Oh, my goodness.”

“We are the most improved team,” Ryan added. “We’re kicking some serious … You stink on defense. Stop.”

Cowboys COO and executive vice president Stephen Jones pointed to that same stretch Monday on 105.3 The Fan’s “K&C Masterpiece”. Dallas limited Arizona’s run game and got pressure until late in the third quarter, according to Jones.

“Defensively where I saw improvement is we were able to really limit their running game early on in the first half and first drive of the second half,” Jones said. “We were able to limit their run. We actually did a good job getting pressure through that period of time. I think we had a couple of sacks. We held them to three points and very few yards through basically through almost three quarters. And if you can play defensive football like that, then great.”

Ryan was on the Jets’ sideline on Sept. 11, 2011, when Dallas led 24-10 early in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium and lost 27-24 on a 50-yard field goal with 27 seconds left. His twin brother, Rob Ryan, was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator that night.

Former Cowboys quarterback Ben DiNucci called Sunday’s loss “absolutely embarrassing” on CBS Sports HQ. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after the game that a coaching change was “not in my mind at this time.” Dallas is 10-14-1 under Schottenheimer, who is in his second season.

The Cowboys visit the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX.