{"id":93854,"date":"2025-09-16T09:30:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93854"},"modified":"2025-09-16T09:30:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:30:55","slug":"stephen-jones-provides-disappointing-update-on-cowboys-cb-daron-bland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93854","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 DALLAS SETBACK: Stephen Jones just dropped a gut-punch on the Cowboys \u2014 CB DaRon Bland\u2019s status took a disappointing turn, throwing the secondary into chaos and putting massive strain on a defense already juggling rotations. This isn\u2019t a tweak you patch over, it\u2019s a hole that changes matchup math, blitz timing, and the confidence of the entire back end. The real drama now: can Dallas survive with their ballhawk sidelined, or does this crack in coverage become the flaw that unravels their playoff push?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2192541798.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2192541798.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2192541798.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2192541798.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Stephen Jones Provides Disappointing Update on Cowboys CB DaRon Bland\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Sam Hodde\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland appears to be unlikely to play in Week 3 against the Bears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>While the Cowboys hope to improve on that, it won\u2019t be easy. Next Sunday, they\u2019re expected to again be without All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland.<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The FAN that Bland is \u201cprobably a long putt\u201d to suit up in Week 3, as Dallas visits the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n<h2>Bland\u2019s Injury Stems From Practice<\/h2>\n<p>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\u2019s believed to be serious enough to keep him out multiple weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Complicating matters, it comes as fellow cornerback Trevon Diggs ramps up from offseason knee surgery.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, Bland signed a four-year, $92 million extension in August that included $50 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p>He played well in the Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, allowing only two catches for 11 yards.<\/p>\n<h2>Cowboys\u2019 Defense Draws Scrutiny<\/h2>\n<p>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\u2019Dale Robinson added eight catches for 142 yards and a score.<\/p>\n<p>Even after a win, the Cowboys\u2019 porous defense was a hot-button topic Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky ripped the unit on X (formerly known as Twitter), calling its game tape a \u201cdisaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScheme, Communication, Execution, Leverage, Discipline. About as bad as can be,\u201d Orlovsky wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Orlovsky\u2019s colleague Stephen A. Smith also unloaded on the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe statement that (the Cowboys) made (in Week 2) is that their defense is trash,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s the statement that they made. Did you see how Russell Wilson looked? We didn\u2019t expect that. \u2026 Dallas\u2019 secondary, my Lord. What the (heck) is going on there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, of course, offered a much more subdued take, saying the team has \u201cthings to clean up\u201d ahead of Week 3.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was not the standard. I think there\u2019s a lot of things we can clean up. I think that\u2019s what I\u2019m excited about is that this is not a multiple week thing. This is something that we think we can correct,\u201d Schottenheimer said, via the Cowboys\u2019 website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like it was a lot of different pieces, a lot of different parts that did those. It wasn\u2019t one person, it wasn\u2019t one type of coverage. When you\u2019re going to be multiple the way that we are, we have to communicate better. I didn\u2019t think our communication was to the standard that it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Douglas Bonjour is a breaking news contributor covering the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and WNBA for Heavy. He is also a contributing writer for The Associated Press and has worked for Point Spreads, the Connecticut Post and Hearst Connecticut Media as a reporter and editor. More about Douglas Bonjour<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Cowboys<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cowboys may have to go at least another week without All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland because of a foot injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":93856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 DALLAS SETBACK: Stephen Jones just dropped a gut-punch on the Cowboys \u2014 CB DaRon Bland\u2019s status took a disappointing turn, throwing the secondary into chaos and putting massive strain on a defense already juggling rotations. This isn\u2019t a tweak you patch over, it\u2019s a hole that changes matchup math, blitz timing, and the confidence of the entire back end. The real drama now: can Dallas survive with their ballhawk sidelined, or does this crack in coverage become the flaw that unravels their playoff push? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93854\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 DALLAS SETBACK: Stephen Jones just dropped a gut-punch on the Cowboys \u2014 CB DaRon Bland\u2019s status took a disappointing turn, throwing the secondary into chaos and putting massive strain on a defense already juggling rotations. This isn\u2019t a tweak you patch over, it\u2019s a hole that changes matchup math, blitz timing, and the confidence of the entire back end. 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