Blogging The Boys
So much for trying to carry momentum in the next year. With the final score of 34-17, the Dallas Cowboys’ 2025 season is now over. The New York Giants, with nothing but pride to play for, soundly beat the Cowboys to send Dallas into the offseason with a whimper. After a comedy of errors in the first half, the Cowboys opted to sit Dak Prescott in the second half, likely to protect him from any unnecessary injuries. With the loss, the Cowboys fell well short of expectations and to a 7-9-1 record.
The Cowboys have battled their demons of poor fundamental football and a lack of cohesion on the defensive end. The changes coming in the offseason will feel like a much-needed exorcism of sorts. In the big picture, the Cowboys helped their draft positioning. However, losing is never fun or easy, even if there are benefits in the long run. Let’s lay a few roses on the ground as we lay this dreadful season to rest. Here’s how the Cowboys fell flat against the Giants.
We know that personnel is a problem. The Cowboys don’t have enough talent, particularly in the back seven of the defense. That said, that doesn’t excuse them from playing with proper technique and tackling in space. Corey Ballentine had an opportunity to get the defense off the field on 3rd and 11 when Jaxson Dart threw a short pass to Darius Slayton. Unfortunately, Ballentine was unable to make the open field tackle, and Slayton got away for 17 yards and a first down. Later on in this series, New York would score a field goal that wouldn’t have happened if Ballentine had made the stop. The same applies to how the Cowboys struggled to contain plays to the outside against New York. On one occasion, Caelen Carson was supposed to keep containment to the outside of the play, but instead lost his leverage and allowed Tyrone Tracy to get to the edge and pick up a critical first down. Then there’s the unbelievable masterpiece of poor angles and effort:
There’s no way that this should happen. Everyone on defense needs to take the proper angles so that Daniel Bellinger doesn’t have an easy outlet to the end zone. Watch the clip a few times and count out how many defenders could have been in a better position to make the tackle before Bellinger runs into the end zone. Entering this week’s game, the Cowboys have missed 106 tackles this season, the eighth most in the NFL. Tackling has been a season-long issue for the team that gave us one last ugly reminder in the season finale.
Joe Milton has a lot of talent that would entice many offensive coordinators in the league to work with him. He’s got a cannon for an arm and mobility. However, the rest of his game still needs to be developed. His interception to Bobby Okereke is...
