Through their first four games of the season, the Dallas Cowboys have won just one, lost two, and most recently tied 40-40 with the Green Bay Packers. There still aren’t many positive things to be said about a defense in its first year of Matt Eberflus’ scheme. The state of this team coming off a Scorigami-setting tie in primetime is very hard to piece together, because the offense was able to go toe to toe with every Packers scoring drive even without two (and at times three) starters on the offensive
line, and no CeeDee Lamb.
The best thing the Cowboys have going for them is yet another number one offense being called by a new voice in Schottenheimer, which has instantly brought a new level of legitimacy to their offense as a whole with more matchup based game plans, motions, and formation complexity. The worst thing they have going for them is easily a defense still fishing for any concrete answers about their identity. Now sitting at 1-2-1 well behind the 4-0 Eagles, the time is now for the Cowboys to find out if they can get back to any semblance of complementary football with an offense that’s humming. To do so, the defense will literally have to crawl out of being ranked dead last in the league after Sunday night, but that doesn’t mean all hope has to already be lost.
As preposterous as it sounds, coming off a game where the Cowboys defense allowed five straight scoring drives from the start of the second half through overtime, not everything was as bad as it could have been for this defense in the tie. Coming off a loss to the Bears where the defensive effort felt much more like rock bottom, the bare minimum sign of any turnaround against the Packers had to be better play calls that put players in better positions to make plays. The Cowboys certainly didn’t do this against the Bears, but they also didn’t really do so against the Giants either, lucky to escape with an overtime victory 40-37 in week two. This created a concerning trend going into the Packers game, a team that made scoring 48 points in the last playoff meeting between these teams look horrifyingly easy in the 2023 Wild Card round. The Cowboys defensive game plan was much more layered on Sunday night though, closer resembling the effort they had in their other primetime game at the Eagles in week one.
The Cowboys still stuck with plenty of zone looks in that loss, but mixed in different blitzes to get to Jalen Hurts and effectively closed the running lanes on Saquon Barkley. Against the Packers, the Cowboys defense was even more multiple, playing both zone and man, rotating cornerback Trevon Diggs on and off the field, as well as linebacker Marist Liufau. They had Jadeveon Clowney make his team debut at defensive end, Juanyeh Thomas came off the bench for the injured Malik Hooker at safety, and DaRon Bland was back on the field.
None of these “kitchen sink” types of things the Cowboys threw at the Packers created any long-term success, but the fact they were at least willing to change up their looks forced Green Bay to play the chess game and Jordan Love to hold the ball a few times. One of these instances helped Dallas grab the lead for the first time, when James Houston’s strip sack was cashed in on one play by the offense for a George Pickens touchdown. With the way the Cowboys offense proved themselves capable of scoring on any given drive, any extra possessions the defense can get them are going to be vitally important. The opportunities to do so didn’t stop after Houston’s splash play, a much needed win in a pass rush situation for a Cowboys defense that hasn’t affected the quarterback nearly enough in these first four games. This is the next area to look closely at and see some hope for the future in this defense.
The first instance of this happening came in the second quarter, with the Packers leading 7-0 and both sides trading punts. The Cowboys ability to stay patient with their run game offensively was hanging in the balance before they realized airing it out was their only hope much later on, but on a 3rd and 4 Love’s pass was seemingly intercepted by Trevon Diggs. Unfortunately, the Cowboys had 12 players on the field, and the interception instead became a Packers first down. The defense rallied to force another third-down attempt that Josh Jacobs picked up on the ground, and later a 2nd-and-19 that Jacobs converted with a 28-yard catch and run on a screen. This proved to be the backbreaking play as Romeo Doubs scored one play later to make the score 13-0, and create plenty of early doubt the Cowboys were going to be competitive in this one. Of course, just one more snap after this was the blocked extra point returned for two Dallas points by Markquese Bell, opening the door for Dallas to fight from here on out, but the defense having a takeaway voided by penalty and a 28-yard gain on a screen simply can’t happen. Understand we are talking about baby steps here, but when it comes to coaching points that should be most easily corrected, penalties and tackling are constant points of emphasis, and looking for the Cowboys to make real progress here is reasonable.
The self-inflicted, but again correctable mistakes, by this Cowboys defense didn’t stop here either. The Cowboys offense didn’t immediately wake up after the special teams got the team on the scoreboard, in fact they had likely their worst drive of the night right after with three penalties and a third-and-long run to Hunter Luepke to punt it right back to the Packers trailing 13-2. The defense was once again in a bind. Although they came up with a rare stop on the ensuing drive, it didn’t come without a play that’s unfortunately overshadowed an otherwise strong game by rookie defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku. Tackling fellow rookie wide receiver Matthew Golden for a loss of seven yards, Ezeiruaku punched Golden while he was on the ground after the play, drawing a personal foul and giving the Packers an automatic first down. If not for the penalty, Green Bay would have been facing a 3rd-and-15, the exact type of situation this defense needs to put opposing offenses in more consistently. Eberflus’ defense has proven even one tackle for loss or negative play of any kind is enough to quickly get off the field at other times this season, so missing out on an opportunity to do so in a big spot against the Packers was a swing in momentum.
Even with this inexcusable “rookie mistake” by Ezeiruaku, the third-round pick actually looked like he can be part of the solution and not the problem for this defense. When Jerry Jones mentioned favoring the numbers they got in return on the Micah Parsons trade, Ezeiruaku is worth a mention even though he was drafted prior to the trade. Reason being, this is a versatile defensive end that already has the ability to make those around him better. New additions Solomon Thomas and Kenny Clark have made plays all season as a result of Ezeiruaku setting the edge or getting penetration. The Boston College draft pick has shown more than arguably any other DE on the roster the versatility to line up on the weak side and rush with speed off the edge, get push into the backfield against the run, or hold up against both the run and pass as a strong side end.
As the Cowboys get more out of Clowney and possibly James Houston or Sam Williams, Ezeiruaku has a strong chance to continue proving his value, and despite the penalty actually proved he’s a reason for hope in this Cowboys defense against the Packers.
The final penalty that proved costly, and also came on a drive following a Cowboys punt where they couldn’t get anything going out of the half, was Sam Williams sacking Jordan Love by the facemask. Williams knew right away he made an illegal tackle against Love, and as the flag flew in it turned a 3rd-and-1 sack into a first down. As it turned out, the Packers would have had a first down no matter what on the play, as Diggs was also called for holding. These types of untimely, and frankly unnecessary, penalties have unfortunately plagued Williams before, making his return from ACL and MCL surgery that cost him all of 2024 this season. Williams was one of the players seemingly in line to benefit the most from playing with Parsons, but now is being asked to be a starting caliber player on his own.
The Packers retook the lead on another 3rd-and-1 from the goal line, setting the stage for the wild back and forth second half that led to overtime and a pair of field goals to tie. Williams still figures to be an important part of the pass rush equation with how desperate the Cowboys have been up front, but with Clowney now in the lineup, Payton Turner potentially on the way back soon, and Ezeiruaku progressing nicely, a more situational role later in the season could suit both Williams and Dante Fowler better.
The Cowboys opened up their playbooks on both sides of the ball to come within a handful of plays of beating a conference contender for the second time this season. While time is running out to praise the moral victory nature of these things, the offense has no reason to think it won’t remain a juggernaut with Lamb expected back in a few weeks as well as Booker and, later on, Beebe.
The defense did its best to get over the hurdle of needing an entirely new approach compared to week three, and not only have new looks to improve in, but further help on the way too. We mentioned Payton Turner, but the Cowboys also have Shavon Revel, Caelen Carson, and Josh Butler on injured reserve waiting in the wings to potentially help this defense as well. Again, the goal doesn’t need to be anything close to fielding a Doomsday defense here in year one of yet another new scheme for the third season in a row. Simply getting out of the statistical basement, forcing a few more field goal attempts instead of allowing touchdowns, and continuing to hunt for takeaways that create short fields for the offense could be all the Cowboys need to remain firmly in the playoff hunt, with their next two games against opponents with losing records.
So, did the Cowboys tie against the Packers feel more like a win or a loss? A closer look between the lines would say a win, but the cold hard truth of the short NFL season says the 1-2-1 Cowboys must start to put it all together right now to actually get in the win column against the Jets and Panthers coming up. The defense was one second away from sealing a win in overtime against the Packers, but also one play away from losing this wild game several times as well.
As the Cowboys sift through both the good and bad defensively from this game, they’ll do so from the point of view of a tie and not a loss that would have created a frenzy at 1-3 that’s hard to overcome for any team – yet alone one with so many new coaches. The Bears loss can firmly be thrown out as a poor effort at this point, as much more stands to be learned from the way the Cowboys competed until the very end against the Packers, primarily on defense where much more fixable mistakes and a better game plan provided the first signs of things to build on for Eberflus.
