The Dallas Cowboys have been atrocious on defense through the first eight weeks of the season, and there are no signs that things are going to get any better.
In fact, just last week against the Broncos, the defense surrendered a season-high 44 points and 426 total yards of offense to Denver in a blowout loss at Mile High Stadium.
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However, for some reason, in his Tuesday interview with Shan and RJ on 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemed to believe that things on defense aren’t that concerning at all.
And that’s a problem.
The Dallas Cowboys bench in the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Jones said. “But it also has a lot of room for improvement for us to be where we want to be on defense.”
Not as bad as it looks? Ok, let’s examine.
So far this season, the Cowboys rank 31st in the NFL in yards allowed, giving up 404.6 yards per game. They also rank second to last in the NFL in passing yards allowed at 258.6 per game, and 29th out of 32 teams against the run, surrendering 146 yards per game.
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And if that wasn’t bad enough, they also sit 31st in points allowed at 31.3 per game. Not only that, but through eight games, Dallas has given up 30+ points in five of their contests and have yet to hold an opponent to less than three scores.
From even a novice’s perspective, that seems to actually be much worse than it seems.
Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown looks on before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
To make things even more concerning, Jones seems to be under the impression that getting back a couple of players from serious injury is going to magically fix things.
“Help on the way is important. We do have, as we look ahead, two or three key players,” Jones said. “And we’ll start getting healthier at safety, which we’re really, right now, suffering from our depth at safety. We’re having to play some players that are a little unfamiliar compared to the veteran players we thought we’d have back there.”
Of course, when Jones refers to “help on the way”, he isn’t referring to a trade or a star player coming off of suspension. He is referring to DeMarvion Overshown and Shavon Revel – two players who are coming off of major knee injuries, and haven’t played a competitive snap on the football field since 2024.
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He is also seemingly referring to Malik Hooker, who was injured in Week 4 against Green Bay. The Problem with counting on that, is that Hooker was already a full part of the defense that gave up four scores to Philadelphia, 37 points to the giants, 31 points to the Bears, and 40 points to the Packers.
Revel, Overshown and Hooker are all talented players, of course.
But to assume your defense will be in a place that it can compete, but returning three players from injury – two of which had extremely serious surgeries and intense rehab, and the other already on the back end of his career – is about as delusional as it gets.
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