Cowboys Remember When DEFENSE Was the Cowboys’ Biggest Problem???

The Dallas Cowboys ain't it right now. That was Rich's verdict on Monday, and the numbers from Sunday night in Green Bay backed him up.

This was supposed to be the season. Dallas handled its business in the draft and in acquisitions on the defensive side of the ball, all with an eye on reaching the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 30 years. And on the other side of the ball sat what Dak Prescott himself has dubbed the greatest offense there is.

Rich had a problem with that label. If people are going to give JJ McCarthy grief for calling himself "nine" before anyone handed him a nickname, he argued, then "our friend Dak deserves some because this is not the greatest offense there is at all."

The offense started off like a house on fire, then came the eggs. Dallas rolled the Texans in Houston, a performance that had the Houston head coach announcing he was taking play calling back. Four days later the Cowboys laid an egg against Tampa. After the mini bye, they went to Green Bay and laid another.

The figures Rich ran through were ugly. It marked four straight games with one passing touchdown or fewer for the Cowboys, the first such stretch since weeks 3 through 6 of 2023. Prescott averaged 4.8 yards per pass attempt, his fewest in a game since week 15 of 2023, and it was his first game with fewer than five yards per attempt and multiple interceptions since a 2018 trip to Seattle. There were 14 incompletions targeting CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, the most in a game since they became teammates last season.

TJ noted the defense came out more aggressive, though it still gave up a touchdown to open the game. Rich marveled at how Jordan Love managed over 100 passing yards on a 90-yard opening drive thanks to penalty yardage. Dallas did grab its first interception since week 15 of last season and nearly took it to the house. But the Packers converted 11 third downs. Eleven.

The final was 23-13, and Rich said it felt like a 40-point blowout, partly because Love kept hitting receivers in the hands in the end zone without them hauling it in. Brian Schottenheimer didn't sugarcoat it afterward. "The effort is right. The fight is right, but mistakes are killing us," he said. "Five turnovers in two games, you know, not very good. We're in a hole. Put ourselves there."

Here's the thing that keeps Dallas alive: the NFC East is wide open. The Eagles lost Lane Johnson to retirement and now Jalen Hurts to blood clots in the middle of the season, and they're starting offensive linemen who need name tags. The Giants are down. The Commanders, in Rich's words, "can't tell time." It's right there on the doorstep for Dallas.

The problem is the next stop is a Monday night in Philadelphia, where the defense is top five and championship quality, and where Jalen Carter is, as Rich put it, playing like the defensive player of the year. "This is a game they got to win. It's just that simple," Rich said.

TJ, the resident Cowboys fan, agreed the door is open, but pointed out the Eagles' backup has already done damage. The last time Tanner McKee played the Cowboys, "he put up 41 on us." Rich added that last week it was Jalon Daniels, an undrafted free agent, and next week it's a quarterback pressed into service like never before. TJ's reply: "but already holding a dub over us."

And then there's the text chain. TJ apparently left the show's guillotine league group text again, around 11:45 Sunday night, "like a thief in the night." Someone in the chain asked what the word was for this loss if last week's was embarrassing. The reply in the chain summed up the whole Dallas mood in one word: typical.