The Dallas Cowboys’ defense showed way too many flaws in Week 1, but there’s a worrisome one that’s close to unfixable
The Dallas Cowboys defense showed way too many issues to expect it getting better soon. But there’s one flaw that they might not be able to solve.
If you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan, you should be seriously worried about the state of the defense based on what we saw from Week 1. This was much more than just a bad game.
In Christian Parker’s debut, the Cowboys managed to look even worse than the historically bad 2025 defense.
Now granted, it was one game. Time will tell if things will get better or if once again, the Cowboys failed to rebuild a defense scrambling to be decent since the end of the 2023 NFL season.
I expect some things will be fixed with time. Parker will likely get better as he learns to call plays in an NFL setting and adjust to his opponents’ tendencies (the Giants attacked the flats all night on Sunday). Communication issues should diminish as the defense plays together over the length of the season.
But there’s one significant flaw that quite frankly, might not get better anytime soon: pass rush.
The Cowboys could not get to the QB
I’ll do my best to get through this article without bringing up Micah Parsons, but the Cowboys’ failure to rush the passer with four is still a thing. More so than it was in 2025.
In 20 plays rushing the passer with four players only, the Cowboys recorded two QB pressures, according to NextGen Stats.
It was their lowest pressure rate since 2021. When the Cowboys did blitz, the Giants usually had the right answer. Whether it was Dart taking off himself or him finding an open target down the field.
The Cowboys may be able, with time, to mask their deficiencies in coverage through Parker’s split-field scheme derivative of Vic Fangio’s. But they don’t have the horsepower at cornerback to overcome the lack of consistent pressure on four-man rushes. And based on what we saw on Sunday night, if they don’t blitz, they’re allergic to getting close to the QB.
The biggest concern is that this is a problem that is talent-based. And when you consider in back-to-back offseasons, the Cowboys dealt away Parsons (whoops, I failed) and pass rushing DT Osa Odighizuwa, it’s not great. It’s very tough to hide the fact that you don’t have the players upfront to generate pressure without needing to blitz.
They paid the price for it in Week 1. Unless this year’s players improve quickly or the Cowboys make an unexpected addition soon, I’m not sure that gets any better.
And that’s something I’m not sure Parker will be able to fix regardless of how much he spends in the film room or how hard he coaches the young players on the team.
