Cowboys Bench Struggling Defensive Starter vs. Browns

If a dumpster fire had a dumpster fire, it would be the Dallas Cowboys defense.

And Darian Thompson was incinerated.

Thompson, a starting safety, was benched in the first quarter of Sunday’s home game against the Browns after Cleveland scored a 37-yard touchdown on a trick pass from wide receiver Jarvis Landry to WR Odell Beckham Jr.

Sophomore Donovan Wilson replaced the fifth-year veteran in the starting lineup.

It did not seem to do much good. The Browns lead the Cowboys, 31-14, at halftime. Baker Mayfield and Co. have piled up 333 total yards and 24 first downs on six drives, slicing and dicing through the hapless Dallas secondary.

Exploiting a defense down two starting linebackers (Leighton Vander Esch, Sean Lee) and two starting cornerbacks (Chidobe Awuzie, Anthony Brown), Mayfield has completed 14-of-23 passes for 132 yards and two TDs — a sparkling 105.7 passer rating.

Perhaps most disconcerting, the Cowboys are getting gashed on the ground. Nick Chubb (six rushes, 43 yards) is averaging 7.2 yards per carry. His backup, Kareem Hunt, is averaging seven yards on six totes (42 yards). And his backup, D’Ernest Johnson, leads all RBs with five attempts for 52 yards (10.4 YPC).

Now, the Cowboys’ offense is complicit, having committed eight turnovers over the last three-and-a-half games. But the defense is simply incapable of getting off the field, and aside from Aldon Smith and Trevon Diggs, there is nobody providing hope of a turnaround.

Win or lose, the calls for defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s head will begin to intensify. Nolan was supposed to be a monumental upgrade on predecessor Rod Marinelli, but the unit is playing just as poorly, if not worse, than in years past.

No edge containment. Weak tackling. Zero gap containment. These are all earmarks of shoddy coaching. But Nolan can’t possibly succeed leaning on the likes of Daryl Worley, Joe Thomas, and Brandon Carr.

It might be time for Jerry and Stephen Jones to swallow their pride and open their collective pocketbook. It might be time to bring in Earl Thomas for a visit or seek outside help via trade.

Because a once-hyped season is quickly spiraling, and through little fault of popular whipping boy Dak Prescott. For yet another year, the offense is forced to pull double weight while the defense collapses under itself.

And, as I write this, the Browns hit pay dirt — again — to start the second half. This, after losing Chubb (knee) for the afternoon. Thirty-one unanswered points. Thirty-eight-plus points allowed for the third week in a row.

Bad to worse to God-awful.

“Everybody needs to be held accountable,” FOX announcer and former Cowboy Daryl Johnston said in the third quarter of the broadcast. “It’s a breakdown in fundamentals, it’s a breakdown in want-to.”

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