DENVER — If Sunday’s Cowboys-Broncos game told us anything, it’s that a trade for a defensive player isn’t going to help.
For the team based in Texas, that is.
The Cowboys were beaten up badly, 44-24, at noisy Empower Field at Mile High. The same stories surrounding this group —poor defensive performances —continue to haunt them as we enter the last week of October.
Lack of a pass rush. Lack of run-stopping ability. Lack of playmaking in the secondary. The inconsistency of the Cowboys’ defense is maddening, and even team owner Jerry Jones doesn’t believe finding a player at the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
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“One player. Are we one player away on defense? I think we’re not,” Jones said. “We’re more than that away from what we’re closer to than it looks in my mind and that’s executing better on defense.”
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On Sunday, the Cowboys’ defense allowed 426 yards and five plays of 25 or more yards. It’s the second time in the last three games that the Cowboys’ defense has given up over 400 yards. Both were losses.
The Broncos offense averaged 7.5 yards per play and scored on seven of 12 possessions. There was zone coverage, man coverage, blitzing, hustling — even an interception on the first series of the game — but not enough stops.
Denver punted once in the first half and again with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter.
“When you look at it, I’m not just gonna start with the defense,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “I don’t think any of us coached or played well enough. We knew we had to come in and own the line of scrimmage and it started up front and you got to give Denver a lot of credit. They moved us around pretty good, had some big explosive runs.”
And just when you needed the Cowboys’ offense to respond in a game like Sunday, they didn’t.
Quarterback Dak Prescott threw two interceptions, his first since Week 2.
The run game, a positive for the Cowboys, averaged 3.5 yards per carry, almost two yards less (4.9) than what this team was doing coming in. Prescott lumbered around the field for 31 yards on six scrambles. Javonte Williams didn’t get much of a revenge game against his former team, as he gained 41 yards on 13 carries. Jaydon Blue, the fan favorite around here, fumbled and gained 29 yards on eight carries as the backup.
Even with things apparently going in the Cowboys’ favor early, they couldn’t take advantage.
Star corner Patrick Surtain left the game after six plays with an ankle injury. With Surtain out following a pass play to George Pickens in the end zone, the Cowboys faced a third and goal from the 1.
As part of the Cowboys’ problem, penalties arose. Tyler Smith was penalized for a false start, pushing the Cowboys back five yards.
On the next play, instead of targeting Surtain’s replacement Kris Abrams-Draine, Prescott threw at starter Riley Moss, who defended CeeDee Lamb. The third down pass landed incomplete. Schottenheimer, along with Prescott, didn’t second-guess the decision.
Both said it’s not easy to just target corners.
You can understand why because Prescott was targeting his No. 1 receiver in Lamb.
But when Surtain left the game again with a shoulder injury, missing the entire second half, the Cowboys’ offense just didn’t register enough production.
Prescott was picked off late in the first half when trying to find tight end Jake Ferguson. And then he was picked off again by linebacker Dondrea Tillman at the Broncos’ 9 in the fourth quarter. The Tillman pick, which occurred with 10:15 to go in the fourth quarter, sealed the game. Dallas was trailing, 37-17 at the time and needed a score badly.
With the turnover, the Broncos took care of business and got another score, this time a Bob Nix five-yard touchdown pass to RJ Harvey. That score, which made it 44-17, ended the afternoon for everyone wearing a star on their helmets.
But there were other key mistakes. A KaVontae Turpin drop with 3:25 left in the third quarter on a third and six that would have extended a drive proved costly. The throw was low for sure, but Turpin has to catch that ball, too.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Kavontae Turpin (9) reacts after failing to catch a pass on a third down play during the second half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Denver.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
This was not the time for the Cowboys’ offense to struggle, and yet here they were trying to find something of substance as their defense went back to their inconsistent ways.
So will a trade solve any of these defensive problems? It doesn’t feel that way.
“I hope, yeah, but then again, I trust and I like the guys that we have,” Prescott said. “I honestly do and that’s not just a political answer or whatever it is. When you see some of these games we’ve won and the tie and some of the games we’ve lost, our roster is OK. Can we do better? That’s for you guys to worry about and to judge. I trust those guys, we got to be better in everything we do.”
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