The Dallas Cowboys did not get off to the sort of start they were hoping for in Week 1, as they suffered a 28-20 loss at the hands of the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. While the offense wasn’t necessarily firing on all cylinders, all anyone could talk about after the game was how bad the defense looked in this one.
Simply put, the Giants‘ offense was in control of this game from the jump, and the Cowboys had no answers for them on defense. It’s only one game, but the alarm bells are already ringing in Dallas, with one anonymous executive blasting the team for its lackadaisical outing on the defensive side of the ball.
Cowboys’ Defense Gets Called Out After Ugly Outing vs. Giants
Dallas has been struggling to find its way on the defensive side of the ball since it inexplicably traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers right before the 2025 campaign. The front office has made some big moves in an effort to shore things up on defense after losing Parsons, but it is still searching for answers.
Against Jaxson Dart and the Giants’ high-octane offense, the Cowboys looked lost. In the air, Dart frequently utilized passing concepts that Dallas was struggling to defend, with one possession seeing him consistently find running back Devin Singletary in the flat for big gains. And whenever Dart didn’t have an open man downfield, he would simply take off on the ground and pick up some yards himself.
New York clearly has a talented offensive group, but the team’s inability to slow it down was concerning. Things are only going to get more difficult for the Cowboys moving forward, as another tough divisional matchup against the Washington Commanders is on the slate in Week 2. With that in mind, this executive’s blunt assessment of Dallas’ defensive play will surely worry fans.
“(It) looked like they had an intern calling plays on defense,” one personnel exec told NFL insider Jason La Canfora of casino.org.
Cowboys Need to Find Answers on Defense, and Soon
No team is going to be perfect in Week 1 of the regular season, but a concerning trend of defensive struggles have continued for the Cowboys to begin the year. After seeing how things unfolded last year, Dallas can’t afford to wait for answers to come to it in this department; it needs to figure things out, and fast.
The Commanders feature a quarterback in Jayden Daniels who has a similar playstyle as Dart, so if the Cowboys don’t find some answers on defense soon, it could be in for another long game in Week 2. Kickoff for this contest is scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET on Sep. 20, and all eyes will be on Dallas’ defense to see if it can start to get its feet under it.
Anonymous NFL Exec Puts Cowboys Defense on Blast After Week 1 Loss