Getty Michael Irvin
While fans and prognosticators question the Dallas Cowboys‘ defensive effort, or lack thereof, Michael Irvin is turning attention to the team’s testicular fortitude. Or lack thereof.
“Cowboys are out there playing that Oprah Winfrey defense, ‘You get 40 points! You get 40 points! You get 40 points!’ It is absolutely sickening…People are trying to say, ‘I don’t think it’s a manhood thing.’ Yes it is. It’s about your manhood,” the Hall-of-Fame wide receiver said Thursday on NFL Network, via The Athletic.
Dallas’ defense has come under collective fire following last Sunday’s 49-38 defeat to Cleveland, in which 307 rushing yards were surrendered and, as starting safety Xavier Woods astonishingly admitted, plays were taken off.
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Unable to master fundamentals such as tackling and coverage, the Cowboys are ceding a league-worst 36.5 points per game, on pace to give up a franchise-record 584 in 2020. They rank 31st against the run (172.5 yards per game) and 30th in total yards (430.5 per game). They’ve recorded just eight sacks (tied for sixth-worst) and one interception (t-second-worst). Opposing passers boast a sparkling 114.3 cumulative rating (third-worst).
Et cetera.
This is a historically futile and injury-ravaged group largely responsible for the club’s 1-3 record, marred by consecutive losses. And they’ve been in everyone’s crosshairs, including Cowboys legend Troy Aikman’s.
“To me, I’d be embarrassed as a player to put that kind of performance on film,” Aikman said of the Browns game, via USA Today. … “I just didn’t think the effort was there. Over the years, you could always point to the way the Cowboys played defensively. They played with great effort and always flew around 11 guys. Didn’t always play great, but it was always there on film as far as the effort level.
“[Sunday], I didn’t see one guy on defense that I’d say had a good game. The last touchdown that Odell Beckham Jr. scored when they cut it to 3 points—[Dalllas] had all the momentum. If they make a stop there defensively, they probably win the game.
“It’s just not very good.”
That’s one correct characterization, as is “sickening” and even “Oprah Winfrey” in a … strangely accurate way. Stuck to the tenuous fabric that is the Cowboys defense are unabashedly ugly labels and, hyperbole aside, they’re absolutely warranted.
Whether the players possess enough of the aforementioned fortitude to shed said labels will be evident in the first quarter of their Week 5 home meeting with the winless Giants.
No-show once more, this time against a hated rival, and public slander will be the least of their concerns.
Stedman ain’t walking through that door.
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Cowboys DC Nolan Fires Back at ‘Soft’ Insult
Respectfully, Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan disagrees with his $100 million pass-rusher. Made available to the media Monday, Nolan pushed back against defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence’s charge that the Dallas defense is “soft,” a claim uttered in the moments following Sunday’s embarrassing defeat to Cleveland.
“It was an emotional loss for everyone,” Nolan responded Monday, via the Dallas Morning News. “I would not call this group soft, I would say we played very poorly.”
To save a season once brimming with championship aspirations, the Cowboys must employ a winning brand of football when the 0-4 New York Giants come to JerryWorld for the first two of two divisional showdowns this year.
Emerge the victors, and everyone’s seat — Lawrence’s included — becomes a little cooler. As will the prevailing heads in an increasingly vexed locker room.
“You have to stay the course, work on the things we need to get better at. … There have been no effort issues, in my opinion,” Nolan said Monday, via The Athletic. “We played very poorly. I hope we don’t have to live through another one of those.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL