The Dallas Cowboys’ defense hasn’t played the type of football it was expected to enter the season, despite some of the questions they had coming off the edge. After moving on from Micah Parsons, there were obvious concerns about how the Cowboys would look on that side of the football, but for the most part, this has been a team that’s figured things out defensively for much of the past few decades.
Allowing 37 points to a below-average New York Giants team is never going to be a recipe for long-term success, despite coming away with the win. If the Cowboys want to be the team they expected to be, they’ll have to improve on that front moving forward.
Taking on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, a team that hasn’t done much offensively throughout the early stages of the campaign, the Cowboys have an excellent opportunity to figure things out. When speaking to reporters, head coach Brian Schottenheimer stated that the team didn’t play well enough on defense, sending a strong message to the players on that side of the football.
“We didn’t play well enough on defense last week. We understand that, we own that. This is a new week and a new challenge,’ Schottenheimer said on “105.3 The Fan.” “Whatever we emphasize, [our players] usually do a great job of.”
Cowboys Need Trevon Diggs to Find Past Form
There are a few reasons why the Dallas Cowboys haven’t played well defensively, and the most obvious answer is due to moving on from Parsons. However, it’s also fair to note that Trevon Diggs is returning from an injury and hasn’t exactly lived up to the typical Diggs that everybody expects. In the first two games of the season, he’s posted five tackles, but he also doesn’t have his feet underneath him yet.
“He’s getting back into it and the thing about Trevon is he didn’t go through training camp,” defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said Thursday, per CBS. “So this is basically his period where he’s learning the defense and, again, it comes down to the functional ability to execute on the field, and it’s time on task. We’re working with him extra to get him up to speed, getting as many reps as we can during practice, and then coaching him up in between when the offense is up there. It’s all the above.”
Dallas Could Be Leaning Too Much on Trevon Diggs
Because the Dallas Cowboys went into overtime against the New York Giants, Diggs had to play much more than he was expected to. That’s something the organization has to be mindful of this weekend, too, given that Daron Bland is out. Bland is the other top defensive back on the Cowboys roster, making things even more difficult for Diggs moving forward.
“I think it shows the competitiveness of Trevon, and the fact of how much he’s enjoying playing football. That was not the plan, but he was feeling good,” Schottenheimer said. “The game, of course, was 70 minutes long, and so there’s a lot of plays. But yeah, I think it speaks to Trevon and how much he loves playing football. Again, you’re talking about a guy that’s lost that ability a lot over the last couple of years. So I think it’s a testament to him, and I would say that now the restrictions are probably off.”
Diggs will be needed this weekend, as the Cowboys‘ defense has plenty to prove.
Cowboys’ Brian Schottenheimer Has Message for Defense Ahead of Week 3