Cowboys’ ‘shocking’ defensive letdown leads to surprising Week 3 loss, unit heads back to ‘square one’

The Dallas Cowboys entered Week 3 undefeated and flexing the NFL’s best possible protection. All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons was once the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week, and the Cowboys had led the league in virtually each and every key defensive metric: issues allowed (10), takeaways (seven), general yards in line with recreation allowed (193.0), yards in line with play allowed (3.5), pink zone landing proportion allowed (0 p.c), sacks (10, tied with the Commanders), quarterback power fee (63.6%) and passer score allowed (34.2). 

However, on Sunday, they appeared like a suffering unit. In the wasteland towards the in the past 0-2 Cardinals, Dallas permitting the Joshua Dobbs-led assault to rack up issues on six of 9 drives. If you consider that the 9th power concluded with kneel downs, it was once if truth be told six of 8. The Cardinals surprised the Cowboys and their vaunted protection with a wire-to-wire 28-16 win.  

The protection made positive to take numerous blame for his or her contribution to the defeat, in particular for now not stepping up within the run recreation.  

“I think we just beat ourselves,” Parsons said postgame on Sunday. “We put ourselves behind the eight ball a couple times. It just wasn’t championship football. It was just us not executing and being flat…The outcome was definitely shocking. It definitely hurts…. I take full ownership becauseI feel like I give the team a lot of energy and I feel like I got to give more energy, I got to bring these guys together. We got to come together so we can play better on defense. I take full ownership.”

Parsons had challenged groups to run at him and Dallas once they held the Jets to 64 dashing yards in a 30-10 Week 2 win. 

“Extremely proud,” Parsons stated following their Week 2 win about he and his teammates skill to close down the Jets’ flooring recreation. “I think this season we all committed to saying ‘we’re going to make these guys pass the ball.’ We’re going to force them to let us rush and when we come out, we come down and set the tone saying ‘you won’t run on us’ and then we go get our sack, now that’s what changes everything. To all the teams with them game plans, c’mon. Run at me. Run at whoever.”  

The Cardinals obliged, racking up 222 dashing yards, with two in their 3 touchdowns coming the bottom by the use of a 45-yard dash by way of broad receiver Rondale Moore and a five-yard plunge by way of operating back James Conner. Conner completed the sport with 98 yards at the flooring and the ranking on 14 carries, averaging seven yards a pop. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs, making his 5th occupation get started, collected 55 dashing yards on six carries — the primary of which being a 44-yard scramble — as well as to 189 passing yards on 17 of 21 passing. Sunday marked his first occupation victory as a beginning quarterback. 

The 180 dashing yards the Cowboys allowed within the first 1/2 had been probably the most allowed by way of any crew in a primary 1/2 this season, and probably the most the Cowboys have allowed in a primary 1/2 since no less than 1991. Dallas’ first-half run protection was once the worst because the Lions 240 dashing yards to the Panthers within the first 1/2 of a 37-23 loss in Week 16 closing season. 

“It’s just a game where it never came into our favor,” Parsons stated.  “He [Joshua Dobbs] could have done whatever he wanted, the playbook was wide open. It’s hard to play against, hard to play from behind after a slow start. That’s just the reality of football.”

The Cowboys’ 222 dashing yards allowed was once their second-most surrendered in a recreation beneath defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who got here to Dallas in 2021. Their worst run protection took place in a 49-29 blowout victory over the Bears in Week 8 of the 2022 season. 

“Our message is never stress, never worry and let’s just get better,” Parsons stated. “It’s still early in the season. This is the tough part about playing in the National Football League. Every team has its day. The last two weeks we were on fire and today we came out and we got lit. … We got to take on every game like it’s the Super Bowl. We got to play up to our standard. We can’t play down to [our opponent], and that’s what I felt like we did today.”

Cowboys protection this season

* Led NFL

“I think the real problem is that we were too antsy, eager to play,” Cowboys Pro Bowl defensive finish DeMarcus Lawrence said postgame on Sunday. “Gap schemes, man, we got beat on a couple of fits. It’s just all about us learning from our mistakes and getting better. … There wasn’t real dropback passing, it was really all outside the pocket passing. I feel like we still rushed good, he [Dobbs] got the ball out quick. This is a lesson learned. It’s still early in the season. Ain’t no need to panic or nothing like that.”

The greatest panic second defensively got here on a protection bust within the fourth quarter. Dallas close out Arizona within the 1/3 quarter, which allowed them to get inside 5, 21-16, thank you to two box targets by way of rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey. The former MLS and USFL athlete advanced to 10-for-10 on box targets in his temporary, three-game occupation drilling 3 on Sunday. Following Aubrey’s ultimate box target, the Cardinals’ first play from scrimmage went for 69 yards. Dallas had a protection bust, permitting Cardinals third-round, rookie receiver Michael Wilson to spring WIDE OPEN over the center of the sector with no person in his zip code. 

“That’s just communication from top to bottom,” Cowboys protection Malik Hooker said postgame Sunday. (*3*)

The lack of Trevon Diggs to a torn ACL in apply Thursday seemed to play an element within the communique around the board on that play, however the Cowboys protection is taking a look ahead to re-establishing their duties at the back finish going ahead. 

“It’s definitely surprising given the way we worked this week,” Hooker stated. “We have been facing adversity since the beginning of the week from Tre[von Diggs’ tearing his ACL in practice on Thursday], obviously Tyler [Biadasz] and Zack [Martin] being down this week. We have been facing adversity all week. We can’t let up. We have to keep working and getting better. We just have to do our job. That’s just communication from top to bottom. As far as the safeties go, we base that off of us. We did a poor job with communication. We have to all get on the same page, get back in the books and start back with square one on Monday.” 

Three performs later, Arizona’s best wideout Marquise Brown, age 26, blew previous 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year cornerback Stephon Gilmore, age 33, for a two-yard landing on third-and-goal. That put the Cardinals up 28-16. 

“It’s a good wake up call, and I still feel like we’re a good football team,” Lawrence stated. “We have to eliminate the mistakes, learn from them and get better.  It’s actually good for us to see what it’s like. Being on top of the world in Week 3 ain’t going to get us nowhere. So being able to have an uncommon opponent and come out not satisfied, I feel like we’ll be more hungry.”