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Tag: Cowboys defense

  • The Dallas Cowboys hit their lowest low point in the 21st century

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    The Dallas Cowboys played a season where their starting quarterback not only started all 17 games but enjoyed one of the best statistical years of his career, and it finished with a losing record with no playoffs.

    Even if you are not the president, or member, of the Dak Prescott Fan Club, and believe some of his numbers are not a true indicator of how both he and his offense played this season, for their starting quarterback to do this much, and the team achieve so little, in 2025 is depressing.

    Try as they may, the Cowboys can’t expect to build an entire team around a kicker.

    Following a loss in New Jersey on Sunday against the New York Giants, another Cowboys season is mercifully over, and this is the worst this franchise has been this century. Year 1 of Brian Schottenheimer netted a losing record, the second consecutive for the Cowboys. Unlike the last time this team finished with a losing record in consecutive years – 2001 and 2002 – at least at the end of that ‘02 season there was the hope with the arrival of head coach Bill Parcells.

    Today the only expectation sold as “hope” is that defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus will be fired after an evaluation that should require 10 minutes rather than 10 days. When your defense is one of the worst in the history of professional football, like the Cowboys here in 2025, that normally gets you canned.

    Year 2 of ShoddyBall should be better than Year 1, but the 2025 team revealed so many weaknesses, needs and holes that axing a defensive coordinator is only going to get you so far. One offseason can’t do much more than maybe resulting in this team making the playoffs in 2026. That’s if everything goes right.

    “I can promise you this. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’re going to work our asses off to figure it out,” Schottenheimer said in a press conference after the season-ending loss on Sunday in New York. “We’re going to adjust and make changes that we need to do to help.”

    The 2026 Dallas Cowboys: We’re going to get to the bottom of it.

    Let’s make it easy for you: The defense is horrific. The offense is overrated. The special teams isn’t good, either. They were damn lucky to finish 7-9-1.

    Stop the nonsense that “If they hadn’t tied Green Bay, they would have won the NFC East!”

    The Cowboys lost to the Giants and Cardinals, two of the worst teams in the NFL. The Cardinals’ win against the Cowboys on Nov. 3 in Arlington was Arizona’s last win of the season.

    As feared, the trade of defensive end Micah Parsons days before the start of the season effectively destroyed what was already a weak defense that the arrival of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams two months later in a deal with the Jets could not adequately fix.

    The Cowboys allowed an average of 30.1 points per game, worst in the league. There is one offense that could have kept pace with that defense; the L.A. Rams led the league in points per game, 30.5.

    The Cowboys offense had the seventh-highest scoring offense in the NFL, and it wasn’t nearly enough. A sub-average defense would have pushed the Cowboys to a few more wins, and maybe the playoffs where they would not have advanced beyond the divisional round.

    Which is the depressing part. The Cowboys are not that far from making the playoffs, because in this version of the NFL most teams are close; even if the Cowboys successfully address some of their issues on defense this offseason, they’re still not that close to contending for a spot in the NFC title game.

    The Cowboys are now defined by their inability to reach not the Super Bowl, but the game before the Super Bowl. For the kids in the audience, the last time the Cowboys played in an NFC title game was Sunday, January 14, 1996; a 38-27 win against the Packers at Texas Stadium.

    The Cowboys’ starting fullback that day was Daryl “Moose” Johnston. On Sunday, Moose celebrated his 25th season of calling NFL games for Fox Sports. Moose was in the Fox booth for the Cowboys’ season finale on Sunday, and he is like so many former players who are no longer mystified but saddened by the continued state of the team.

    Because whether you’re a former player, a fan, or even a member of the media that covers the Dallas Cowboys, it’s just depressing.

    Mac Engel

    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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  • Why the Cowboys defense improved against the Jets and if it can be sustained

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    Through the first four weeks of the season, the Cowboys were at the bottom of just about every defensive metric under first-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

    Total yards allowed, 32nd. Pass yards allowed, 32nd. Third down conversions allowed, 32nd. Points allowed, 31st. Sacks, 30th.

    The list goes on.

    But against the New York Jets in week five, the Cowboys defense responded in areas that they had been struggling in to start the year. They allowed a season-low 22 points and got back in the takeaway column with a forced fumble in the redzone.

    In all, the entire defense can hang their hats on an improved effort that helped power the team to a blowout win, but it really started with the pass rush.

    After notching just four sacks in the first four games of the year, the Cowboys accounted for five sacks in the win over the Jets. The pass rush unit generated 25 pressures on Jets quarterback Justin Fields, a season-high for the group against an opposing quarterback.

    “We all came out, hitting hard, playing fast,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said in the locker room after the game. “No matter what the situation was, I think we did a really good job … If we can get guys in more dropback situations, you’ll see us rush more and get more opportunities. Today, we got the opportunity and took advantage.”

    When talking to Cowboys defensive linemen about the switch flipping for them, they credit the performance to a boost in their communication skills from the backend with the safeties all the way to the trenches where they reside.

    “I just feel like we got on one page,” defensive end Sam Williams said. “You could tell with the pass rush with the communication from the backfield to the trenches, we were all on one page and ready to go.”

    “Guys were just rushing together,” defensive tackle Solomon Thomas said. “Communication was great. They were just rushing to get home and hit the quarterback. It was a great rush game for us. We just got to keep building on it.”

    Throughout the season, Clark has preached that the Cowboys would get home when quarterbacks start dropping back on them. Instead, opponents were running play action and quick routes to get through Dallas’ pass rush. He wasn’t wrong, as the numbers back it up.

    The Cowboys are top ten in the NFL in pressures and quarterback pressure rate with veteran Dante Fowler Jr. leading the way with 16 pressures. Eleven of those have come under three seconds which is sixth among all players in the NFL entering week six. Donovan Ezeiruaku is second among all NFL rookies with 10 pressures despite not yet getting home for a sack. James Houston, who leads the team with 3.5 sacks, is 14th in the NFL in sacks and sixth in quarterback pressure rate. Jadeveon Clowney is fifth in the same category.

    The numbers tell us that generating pressure hasn’t been an issue for the Cowboys this season. It’s been about getting home.

    For a defense that has struggled mightily on third down and allowing big pass plays downfield, getting sacks on opposing quarterbacks had been a small factor in the defense’s lack of success through four weeks. It was arguably its biggest factor toward finally finding success against the Jets.

    Heading into a game against a Carolina Panthers offensive line that has allowed just nine sacks on the season, it will be crucial for the Cowboys to continue finding paydirt in their pass rush efforts. If they don’t, it shouldn’t be a surprise if some of the issues prior to the Jets game start rearing back around on Sunday afternoons.

    Nick Harris

    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.

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  • Six takeaways from Cowboys’ tie with Packers: Dak, Pickens shine; defense falters

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    ARLINGTON

    Despite being big underdogs in front of the home crowd at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers to an unusual 40-40 tie Sunday night.

    The result was representative of how both sides of the ball performed, as the offenses were unstoppable from the second quarter on, and the defenses could not buy a stop.

    In one of the more unique games in the Cowboys’ franchise history, here are six takeaways from the result:

    Without a defense, Cowboys will continue to falter

    When the second half became a heavyweight fight with haymakers being thrown by both sides, the Cowboys’ defense just needed to find one stop any any point with how the Dallas offense was performing behind Dak Prescott and George Pickens.

    Instead, Green Bay scored points on every possession after the halftime break, including the game-tying field goal in overtime.

    With the offense scoring points in flurries and keeping Dallas in games, it won’t matter if the defense cannot stop a nosebleed. That proved evident Sunday night.

    With three of the next four opponents having offenses ranking in the bottom 10 in yards per game, the time is now for the Cowboys’ defense to figure out its issues before the gauntlet that awaits in November and December. If it doesn’t, this will be a season wasted for an offense that simply deserves better.

    Dak Prescott carried this team

    This offense has had to play at an elite level to get a win and a tie this season with a supporting defense that, well, doesn’t support. But with Dak Prescott at quarterback, the Cowboys continue to find the timely plays in big situations to hang with opponents.

    Statistically, Prescott is in the upper echelon of passers in the league through four weeks, and his timely play on Sunday night gave Dallas the plays when it was needed. In the second half, Prescott threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns to power the Cowboys to a tie. As he puts the team on his back — so much so that he was actually getting his back treated in the second half after taking a hard hit — he continues to find tight windows and open receivers in the smallest of fractions.

    This defense may not do Prescott any favors all season, but in a season where his experience is really paying off in a league starved for consistent quarterback play, it could lead to an historic season for the 10th-year signal-caller.

    Every team needs its gamer. And with Prescott, you can’t ever really count this team out from contention.

    Brian Schottenheimer put his money where his mouth is

    Throughout the week, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer mentioned that changes would be coming on the defensive side of the ball after a putrid couple of weeks defending the pass, and we saw some of those changes from the start.

    Cornerback Trevon Diggs did not draw the start, as DaRon Bland’s return saw Diggs get exchanged out of the starting lineup instead of slot cornerback Reddy Steward. Also, rookie linebacker Shemar James was made active for the first time in his NFL career in place of Damone Clark. Marist Liufau drew the start instead of Clark and played his most snaps of the season.

    It was a big change for a defense that was in dire need of something, anything, different after a really bad couple of weeks from defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ group. We’ll see how many of the changes remain going into Week 5 at the New York Jets.

    George Pickens is showing his value

    With wide receiver CeeDee Lamb out for multiple games, this will be Pickens’ best opportunity all season to prove his value ahead of an offseason where he will be clamoring for a new contract. With his rookie deal expiring at the season’s end, the Cowboys could franchise tag him or re-sign him to a new deal.

    On Sunday, it took Pickens until roughly the five-minute mark of the second quarter to get his first reception, but the production came in a flurry afterward. In the final five minutes of that first half, Pickens hauled in five receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown in the final seconds from Prescott to give Dallas its first lead. In the final minute of regulation, a huge catch and run gave Dallas a 28-yard touchdown and the lead with 43 seconds remaining.

    He’s not Lamb, but the Cowboys don’t need him to be. With his big play ability and strong hands, the Dallas offense showed that it can still move through his services while it awaits Lamb’s return.

    Micah Parsons goes quiet in return

    In what was hyped up as arguably the most intriguing return of a former player of the Dallas Cowboys in franchise history, Packers defensive end Micah Parsons was held relatively quiet in his first game at AT&T Stadium as an opponent exactly one month after being traded.

    The Cowboys dedicated blocking help to his side throughout the night, as he failed to generate consistent pressure on Prescott. The game finished with Parsons technically getting a sack on a Prescott scramble that got back to the line of scrimmage.

    Parsons briefly left the field in the third quarter and went to the medical tent with a back issue that he’s been battling since his time in training camp with Dallas. He returned and recorded just one tackle in the fourth quarter.

    Coaching staff hires paying off up front

    On the offensive line, the Cowboys were down two starters against the Packers as Brock Hoffman and T.J. Bass got the starts at center and right guard, respectively, because of ankle injuries to Cooper Beebe and Tyler Booker. As the Cowboys have heavily relied on the interior for running lanes through three weeks, they kept with the same game plan and continued to find success.

    The Cowboys rushed for 117 yards and did not allow a sack against a ferocious Green Bay front. With so much working against the offensive line group, Dallas still found rhythm up front, something that has to be attributed to the insight and game-planning from offensive coordinator Klayton Adams and offensive line coach Conor Riley.

    Both came in with a wealth of experience in creating running lanes with varied offensive line movement in their recent stops, and that has carried over in their first year with the Cowboys. When it comes to building a coaching staff that complements what he does as a play-caller, Schottenheimer hit a home run this offseason.

    This story was originally published September 28, 2025 at 11:27 PM.

    Nick Harris

    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.

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    Nick Harris

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