The Dallas Cowboys overcame a poor showing on defense to even their record in Week 2, outlasting the New York Giants 40-37 in a wild overtime finish.
While the Cowboys hope to improve on that, it won’t be easy. Next Sunday, they’re expected to again be without All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The FAN that Bland is “probably a long putt” to suit up in Week 3, as Dallas visits the Chicago Bears.
Bland’s Injury Stems From Practice
Bland, 26, is currently sidelined with a left foot injury stemming from an incident in practice on Sept. 8. While the injury is unrelated to the foot issue that limited Bland to seven games last season, it’s believed to be serious enough to keep him out multiple weeks.
Complicating matters, it comes as fellow cornerback Trevon Diggs ramps up from offseason knee surgery.
In 2023, Bland set an NFL record with five interception returns for touchdowns and led the league with nine interceptions overall. He missed 10 games last season with a stress fracture in his right foot.
Despite that, Bland signed a four-year, $92 million extension in August that included $50 million guaranteed.
He played well in the Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, allowing only two catches for 11 yards.
Cowboys’ Defense Draws Scrutiny
The Bland-less secondary was picked apart by Russell Wilson, who threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns went to Malik Nabers, who had nine catches for 167 yards. Wan’Dale Robinson added eight catches for 142 yards and a score.
Even after a win, the Cowboys’ porous defense was a hot-button topic Monday.
Former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky ripped the unit on X (formerly known as Twitter), calling its game tape a “disaster.”
“Scheme, Communication, Execution, Leverage, Discipline. About as bad as can be,” Orlovsky wrote.
Orlovsky’s colleague Stephen A. Smith also unloaded on the Cowboys.
“The statement that (the Cowboys) made (in Week 2) is that their defense is trash,” Smith said. “I mean, that’s the statement that they made. Did you see how Russell Wilson looked? We didn’t expect that. … Dallas’ secondary, my Lord. What the (heck) is going on there?”
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, of course, offered a much more subdued take, saying the team has “things to clean up” ahead of Week 3.
“That was not the standard. I think there’s a lot of things we can clean up. I think that’s what I’m excited about is that this is not a multiple week thing. This is something that we think we can correct,” Schottenheimer said, via the Cowboys’ website.
“I felt like it was a lot of different pieces, a lot of different parts that did those. It wasn’t one person, it wasn’t one type of coverage. When you’re going to be multiple the way that we are, we have to communicate better. I didn’t think our communication was to the standard that it needs to be.”
