Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys will play on both Thanksgiving and Christmas this season in the coming months, but through six games, the only thing fans know for sure about this team is they have a defense more suited for the upcoming holiday of Halloween – one sure to provide scares, spooks, and frights to followers of America’s Team. The scariest thing of all is the type of season on offense this defense is already on the verge of totally ruining, with Dak Prescott returning to MVP-level performance immediately in Brian Schottenheimer’s offense.
Schottenheimer’s scheme has proven to be a natural fit for veterans, recent draft picks, free agent acquisitions like Javonte Williams, trade pieces like George Pickens, and most of all, Prescott. As for the defense? They are much more of Frankenstein’s monster going through the same type of personnel and scheme shifts simultaneously under the coordination of Matt Eberflus.
The third defensive coordinator in Dallas in three seasons, Eberflus was dealt a tough hand in a lot of ways, not just the departure of Micah Parsons at the 11th hour before week one in Philadelphia. There is a reason this hasn’t excused Eberflus’ coaching with the currently 2-3-1 Cowboys in any way though.
While players like Kenneth Murray and Donovan Wilson have also caught their share of criticism, the entire operation on defense isn’t aligning itself with competing in, or much less winning, football games. The Cowboys only wins are against the Giants in overtime when they still allowed 37 points, and a Jets team that has proven to make anyone look good against them this year as the last winless side so far in 2025. The Cowboys were one defensive stop away from having a more hallmark win against the Packers, but that 40-40 tie instead became their first game in well over a decade where scoring 40 points did not result in a win.
A full autopsy is needed to understand how and why this defense is failing so much, the type of which seems destined to wait until after the season. The Cowboys have already proven time and time again in recent history they aren’t afraid of philosophy changes on defense, but doing so with a coaching change midseason is not their thing. A defense this bad has little hope to improve now no matter what is done at this point in the year. The returns of players like Caelen Carson, rookie Shavon Revel, DeMarvion Overshown, and Malik Hooker all from injury may help a little, but the sad truth is that it’s still the offense with more to look forward to in this regard. An offense already putting up scoreboard-breaking numbers will likely welcome back Tyler Booker at right guard and CeeDee Lamb at wide receiver this week versus the Commanders.
The thought of Dallas getting even better on offense by getting healthier is a scary one for opponents, but the thought of the defense still being putrid enough for it not to matter in the...
