ARLINGTON — Mike McCarthy is absorbing this loss. The L is on his ledger.

But if you want to point the finger, don’t start with McCarthy.

Start at the top.

The fingerprints of Jerry and Stephen Jones are all over the Cowboys’ latest loss. The owners’ refusal to address a glaring need at running back in free agency or the draft, their refusal to upgrade the run defense, and their willingness to let CeeDee Lamb miss the offseason and training camp all shone through in this 28-25 loss to Baltimore.

Let’s start with Derrick Henry. Seems like a reasonable place to start, considering the Ravens’ veteran running back has led the Dallas defense for 151 yards rushing, 23 yards through the air, and three touchdowns.

With Henry seeing the Cowboys drop below .500 for the first time in 36 games, Jerry Jones was asked if he regretted not signing the veteran in the offseason.

“I don’t know, why can’t you buy a mansion when you live in a different kind of house,” Jerry Jones replied. “We couldn’t afford it. You can’t make it all fit.

“It’s that simple.”

It’s as simple as this: Henry signed a two-year, $16 million contract with $9 million guaranteed with Baltimore. Ezekiel Elliott signed a one-year, $2 million contract with $1.62 million guaranteed in Dallas.

Henry rushed for 25 times as many yards as Elliott on Sunday (six yards). How much is that worth?

To be clear, Henry was never an option, even though he has a home here and would have been perfectly fine with ending his career with the Cowboys.

“Not really,” said Jerry Jones. “Not really.

“Hats off to him, he had a great day today. I have all the respect in the world for him. That’s what happens when you don’t sign good contracts, they can come back and play a great game against you.

“The bottom line is we couldn’t do Derrick Henry.”

What Dallas did was let Tony Pollard go in free agency, sign Elliott, and not use a draft pick at the position. The committee of Rico Dowdle, Elliott, and Deuce Vaughn combined for 13 carries for 43 yards in the loss.

Overall, the Ravens rushed for 274 yards. The Cowboys countered with 51 yards. Dallas had just 16 attempts on the ground compared to 51 passing attempts for Dak Prescott.

So much for balance.

“I think (after) the last two weeks, it’s going to be a clear target on us,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got to stop it.

“Our defense and our offense efforts are clearly not where we need to be.”

Now a little more about that run defense.

The Cowboys have allowed 464 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground in their two losses in eight days at AT&T Stadium. New Orleans rushed for just 89 yards in Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia after drilling Dallas’ defense for 190 yards last week.

Mazi Smith has been handed the starting nose tackle role by default, despite struggling as a rookie and missing the entire offseason training camp program while recovering from shoulder surgery. Veteran Johnathan Hankins has been the team’s best interior run stopper the past two seasons.

Dallas let him leave in free agency to Seattle on a one-year, $2.05 million contract that guaranteed Hankins only $300,000. Veteran Linval Joseph was signed at the end of training camp and Carlos Watkins was drafted from Washington’s practice squad.

Lamb is a bit trickier. While he and his agent were in no rush to make a deal, Jerry and Stephen Jones said on multiple occasions that they weren’t particularly bothered by him missing camp because it kept him from getting hurt.

Jerry Jones reiterated that after Sunday’s loss.

“I’m just happy to have him back out there healthy instead of being completely exhausted from camp,” the owner said.

Well, a healthy Lamb had four catches for 67 yards and no touchdowns. He also had two drops and a penalty eight days after he and Prescott missed a touchdown against the Saints, a play Lamb admitted was his fault because he wasn’t in training camp.

Lamb had just one catch for 9 yards in the second half of Sunday’s loss to Baltimore and left without speaking to the media. His body language on the field was as bad as it has been since a loss to San Francisco last season, a performance that led to a sit-down between the receiver, Prescott and McCarthy.

“Reading body language, I’m not really into that,” Prescott said. “I just want to make sure he doesn’t put himself down. The body language, whether it’s good or bad, is irrelevant.

“There is his ghost.”

Put this loss in McCarthy’s column. But there are plenty of others who own a piece of what happened against Baltimore.

And it starts at the top.

Tune in every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. ET to hear David Moore and Robert Wilonsky co-host Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) through the Super Bowl.

X/Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN

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