ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Even before the Dallas Cowboys lost to a winless team with an undrafted rookie quarterback making just his second start, coach Brian Schottenheimer said the defense had to stop letting opposing QBs be so efficient.
To say the problem persists is probably an understatement.
After Jalon Daniels and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went home to Florida with a 24-16 victory, they left behind just the second team in NFL history to allow each
of the first five opponents to complete at least 70% of its passes without throwing an interception, joining the 2012 Oakland Raiders, according to Sportradar.
The Cowboys overhauled the defensive roster and tried to revive a moribund unit behind the energy of a 34-year-old, first-time defensive coordinator in Christian Parker. Matt Eberflus was fired after one season, when one of the NFL's worst defenses — and one of the club's worst defenses ever — finished with a franchise-low six picks.
Now Dallas is the only NFL team without an interception this season — and last in the league in rushing defense.
“We are still, in my mind, right where we started relative to our defense,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said.
The Cowboys (2-3), who have a mini-break before playing at Green Bay on Oct. 18, were without one of the pieces they added to try to fix the defense. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was a late scratch with an illness after making his Dallas debut last Sunday, just three days after joining the team in a trade with Pittsburgh.
The usually high-powered offense went silent between Dak Prescott's opening 70-yard TD drive and a 99-yard march in the fourth quarter that kept Dallas in the game.
The Cowboys have alternated wins and losses this season. In their first season under Schottenheimer a year ago, a three-game losing streak followed their only three-game winning streak. And now Dallas is working on three years since it was more than a game over .500, with its most inexplicable home loss in at least that long.
“I feel like this game was similar to the Cardinals game last year, and I feel like I could probably pick another one from the year before,” Prescott said, referring to a 27-17 loss that was Arizona's only win in its final 15 games. “It’s these kind of games that you feel like you should just walk in and win. And I guess that some of us may feel that way, that we’ve got to find a way to make them mean just as much as the big games.”
The fourth-quarter efficiency of the Dallas offense is among the best in the NFL, bolstered by a 99-yard drive when the deficit was two touchdowns against Tampa Bay. Schottenheimer, who has been under fire for his game management, chose to try the 2-point conversion after George Pickens' TD catch. It's a popular move for the analytics crowd. But it will lead to more scrutiny for Schottenheimer. Prescott's pass was incomplete, leaving the deficit at eight. Dallas never got the chance to see whether that decision would matter.
Prescott let a “rabbit ears” moment put him in a place where he had to acknowledge being irked over hearing a third-party contractor say “embarrassing” as the quarterback walked toward the locker room after the game. Prescott turned toward the person, but he said the person turned away. “Feel free to speak your mind, just speak it, don’t cower away from the reaction that you’re going to get,” Prescott said. “Hate it that it’s even being talked about, to be honest with you.”
Porter's value grows by the game with the rest of the defensive backs mostly unable to break up passes without committing penalties. CB DaRon Bland, who set an NFL record with five interception returns for touchdowns three years ago, dropped an easy pick-6 that would have given Dallas a chance to tie on a 2-point conversion late in the fourth quarter.
TE Jake Ferguson had one of the worst games of his five-year career. The last of multiple drops was a pass that went through his hands and off his shoulder, resulting in what ultimately was a clinching interception for the Bucs with Dallas trying to rally in the fourth quarter. He finished with three catches for 19 yards.
LT Tyler Guyton's back will be the biggest issue going into the mini-break. He was forced out of the Tampa Bay game because of it. There will be hope that LB DeMarvion Overshown and CB Cobie Durant can return from hamstring injuries that have sidelined each for multiple weeks.
168.8 — The average yards rushing allowed per game by Dallas through five games. It's the second-most in franchise history, behind the gaudy 186.8 allowed by the expansion team of 1960, which went 0-11-1.
The Cowboys are 1-10-1 in their past 12 meetings with the Packers. That stretch includes three playoff losses.
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