The Dallas Cowboys’ defense through the first six weeks hasn’t been good, and truthfully, it has been one of the worst in football.
Allowing over 30 points per game (ranks 31st), Matt Eberflus’ defense can’t stop the pass or the run with the unit giving up over 378 total yards in their last five games, and what’s more, the pass rush with Sam Williams, Dante Fowler Jr., Osa Odighizuwa, Marshawn Kneeland and Co. have barely been able to get to the quarterback with James Houston being the best of the bunch.
If only there were a generational pass rusher to help get to the quarterback, which would then, in turn, help a secondary that gets gashed on nearly every play.
But would having Micah Parsons on this defense make this unit better? Head coach Brian Schottenheimer isn’t sure.
“I don’t really know,” Schottenheimer said. “Micah’s a great player, we’ve got other great players, but it takes 11 on defense, that is the thing that again, nine, 10 guys on a football team, offense, defense, special teams, if one of those is a little off with their assignment, a little off with their alignment, then plays happen. I think it’s more about the guys that are here, continue to impress on them the importance of doing their job and doing it correctly and with the right fundamental and technique.
“That’s really what we’re focused on.”
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No doubt Micah would help defense
One of the reasons we were told that Dallas traded Micah was to help the run defense with Kenny Clark coming the other way, but the Cowboys’ defense, in the last three games, has given up at least 144 yards on the ground.
Oh, and Rico Dowdle rushed for 183 by himself on Sunday, so there’s that.
With the secondary struggling to cover, the pass rush hasn’t been consistent, and it allowed Bryce Young to sit back, take his time, and deliver the ball to any part of the field he wanted to.
That shouldn’t happen.
And when answering the question of whether having Parsons would make this defense better, the answer, for me at least, is an overwhelming yes.
