We had hoped that the Dallas Cowboys defense would bounce back in Week 3.
Russell Wilson and the New York Giants tore them apart in Week 2.
And somehow, the defensive performance this week was even worse.
The Cowboys slipped to a 31-14 defeat to the Chicago Bears.
Making Caleb look like a star
The Cowboys made beleaguered Bears quarterback Caleb Williams look like he was back torching defences in PAC-12 shootouts for USC.
This was the first NFL game in which Williams has not been sacked.
He had been sacked 74 times in 19 NFL games before Sunday. That is an average of 3.9 per game.
Therein lies the root cause of the Dallas Cowboys defensive woes.
Creating their own problems
In trying to fix the wheels, they have broken the engine.
The justification behind trading away Micah Parsons was that the Cowboys needed to stop the run better.
A superstar pass rusher, such as Parsons, cannot help you win games if opposing offenses are sitting on a lead and running the ball down your throat all game.
Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones assured us that they were happy with the pass rush depth on the defense.
That is the problem. The collection of edge rushers the Cowboys have assembled are all depth and rotational pieces.
However, they are able to get real success when an offense has to focus its attention on an elite, pass-rushing game-wrecker like Parsons.
Without him, offenses are finding it far too easy to block four rushers and give their quarterback time to throw on the Cowboys.
I would go as far to say that any combination of defensive backs from across the NFL would struggle to hold up in coverage for as long as the Cowboys’ secondary is currently being asked to.
Scheme does not fit the players
The Cowboys are playing almost exclusively zone coverage on defense. This goes against the strengths of their secondary and linebackers.
When they can get them on the field together, both Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland thrive in man coverage. They undercut routes and make huge, game-changing plays.
The linebackers that have been brought in, Kenneth Murray Jr and Jack Sanborn, are much more suited to playing downhill.
Their game is stopping the run game and making mischief at the line of scrimmage.
At the moment, they are being mismatched and woefully exposed when covering the middle of the field in the passing game.
Help is on the way
Reinforcements are coming for the Cowboys defense that should hopefully help fix some of the issues.
Bland is due back from injury on Sunday. Third-round rookie cornerback Shavon Revel is due to return from a knee injury that has delayed the start of his NFL career.
DeMarvion Overshown is making quicker-than-expected progress in his rehabilitation, and Jadeveon Clowney should give the pass rush a boost as he makes his Cowboys debut this week.
Talk this week has been of simplifying the defense.
They are going to need to do that – and a hell of a lot more – to stop the Green Bay Packers, who are looking to bounce back from a shock loss to the Cleveland Browns.
