AT&T Stadium (Dallas) — It didn’t seem like the Dallas Cowboys’ defense could play any worse than they did in 2025. They’re putting that theory to the test through the first five games of the 2026 season, though.
The Cowboys had the NFL’s worst defense last year, giving up 30 points a game, but that was supposed to change. The talk all summer was that new defensive coordinator Christian Parker would turn things around. Trading for edge rusher Rashan Gary and linebacker Dee Winters, signing safety Jalen Thompson and edge rusher Von Miller, drafting safety Caleb Downs and edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, this was going to be a new, improved Cowboys defense.
It just hasn’t happened.
Dallas is somehow giving up 18 yards per game more than a year ago. It’s giving up a league-worst 168 rushing yards per game. The Cowboys have yet to intercept a pass after five games — even the Jets, who had none in all of 2025, got a pick before the Cowboys did. Last year’s worst third-down defense is now giving up even more third-down conversions.
In primetime on Thursday, facing a winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, Dallas had a chance to get right on national TV to show the NFL that things had changed. Instead, the Cowboys let an undrafted rookie quarterback grind the Tampa Bay offense on a 15-play drive that took 10 minutes and 58 seconds off the clock. The Bucs, who had totaled six points on four opening drives, got seven, and the tone was set.
“We were gassed,” Buccaneers offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs told me of the long drive, “but seeing them, they were tired, too. They weren’t expecting us to come out like that. That felt really good.”
The Buccaneers, who were eight-point underdogs on the road on a short week, went on to get a humbling 24-16 win, and the Cowboys dropped to 2-3. Owner Jerry Jones called the defensive shortcomings “mind-boggling,” saying that side of the ball was “right where we started.”
How much is the defense holding the Cowboys back? Dak Prescott and the offense are averaging 27.6 points per game, and only four NFL teams have scored more. But those four teams — the Bills, Ravens, Lions and 49ers — are a combined 16-4 this season, while Dallas is 2-3, looking up at the Giants in a very flawed and winnable NFC East.
And if they needed a reminder of what their defense isn’t, the Cowboys this week go to Lambeau Field to face the Packers, who acquired All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons from the Cowboys before last season. Parsons is still recovering from a torn ACL from last season, hasn’t played this season and won’t play Sunday, and Green Bay still has 14 sacks without him; Dallas has five in five games, with no player having more than one. The Cowboys, in a show of desperation, already gave up a 2028 second-round pick to acquire corner Joey Porter from the Steelers, and he could provide help once he’s settled in.
Jones has already been asked about staff changes, and rather than fire Parker, Dallas took the awkward step of bringing in veteran coach Mike Pettine as a new consultant. Pettine gave Parker his first NFL job when he was the defensive coordinator in Green Bay, so it’s a familiar voice brought in to help him get more out of his defense. It’s the NFL coaching equivalent of fouling off a third strike, staying alive but knowing the count is badly against you.
If the Cowboys went to Green Bay and beat the Packers, it would mean something, even if Parsons is just watching on the sideline. Green Bay just put up 31 points on Chicago, and they will be plenty motivated to show Dallas they can win without Parsons. From there, Week 7 brings a Monday night game at Philadelphia, where the Eagles are struggling, scoring 24 points or fewer in all five games in their own disappointing 2-3 start.
Lose both of those, especially if you’re continuing to give up a ton of points, and that could mean an early end for Parker, who still must face the 49ers, Seahawks and Jaguars this season. If the Cowboys miss the playoffs and finish with a losing record again, would Brian Schottenheimer be safe from the same fate?
A Modest Proposal
Speaking of NFC East disappointments, Sunday’s Commanders-Giants overtime fiasco has me asking a polite question: Why does the NFL still have ties? What’s gained by a game finishing without any winner, however fitting that might seem?
I say abolish the tie. Get the overtime period back to 15 minutes, and if they’re still deadlocked after that, play another overtime. I get that playing indefinitely messes with TV windows and can be physically taxing, but nobody is happy walking out of a stadium with a tie. If it helps expedite things, require NFL teams to go for two after touchdowns once you’re in the second overtime.
Sunday’s tie was just the second in the NFL in four seasons, so the existing rules do a fairly good job of limiting how often we’re subject to such a no-win outcome. Once every two years is still too often, clunky in the standings and worse in perception, on TV or in person.
An Imperfect Season
The Miami Dolphins are known for popping the proverbial champagne each year when the last unbeaten team has fallen, preserving the 1972 Dolphins as the NFL’s only wire-to-wire unbeaten team. This year’s Dolphins are in danger of the opposite extreme, off to an 0-5 start with a league-worst minus-62 point differential.
In the franchise’s history, the Dolphins have won fewer than three games just once, going 1-15 in 2007, but it’s hard to imagine Miami getting to three wins with the way it’s been playing. Going into the season, it looked like the Dolphins’ two best chances were divisional games against the Jets, including next week’s showdown on Sunday afternoon. Even New York has two wins already, so even that seems unlikely.
Quarterback Malik Willis is in a tough spot, playing without any legitimate threats at receiver, with running back De’Von Achane out for the season with a torn ACL. Willis is trying to use this year to show the Dolphins they don’t need to use their high first-round pick on a quarterback, but he hasn’t made much of a case. He has two touchdown passes in five games — of the 34 seasons a Dolphins quarterback has thrown as many as Willis has in the first five weeks, none has ever produced fewer touchdowns, nor has any had a worse quarterback rating since the NFL/AFL merger.
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