The Dallas Cowboys have one of the worst defenses that the franchise has ever seen. Statements like this are often made in frustration and sound hyperbolic, but the reality of who the Cowboys are in 2025 is that this is true.
There are still a pair of games left before they will pack it up, but what we have witnessed is near the very bottom of every defensive group that has ever worn the uniform. Shout out to Stathead and Pro Football Reference who help make cross-referencing all of this information much easier.
30-point games are happening left and right
The Cowboys had such hope around them when they went to Detroit a few weeks back. They were never really in that game, and like the two after it, they let things get too far out of hand to be competitive.
Something those games have in common is that Dallas allowed 30 points in all of them. This current streak is only the 10th in franchise history where the defense has allowed 30 points in at least three straight games.
You can see that we have highlighted a second streak in the group. We have done this because the other streak also happened this season. For real.
The Cowboys have had two separate three-game streaks of allowing 30 points, something that only the 2010 group managed to also accomplish. For what it’s worth that team saw its quarterback injured for the season, but more notably also saw its head coach fired midway through the campaign. It was hardly the same as this year.
Seriously… 30 points has happened a lot
A moment ago we discussed streaks involving 30-point games from the opposing offense, but what happens if we look at the number of times it has occurred in general? All told, the Cowboys have allowed 30 points to be scored against them eight times this season.
This is tied for the most games of such kind in a season in franchise history. Congratulations to 1961, 2010 (if not obvious), and 2020 for now having a fourth member of the party.
December has not been kind
When this month began the Cowboys were on top of the world. They had won three straight games, the final of which was an epic Thanksgiving Day showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs.
All of that has burned up rather quickly. Dallas has lost three straight December games, something the franchise had done only six times before.
It had been a decade since the Cowboys were this moribund while Santa and his elves were working in the eleventh hour. Not anymore.
A top quarterback season has been wasted
Dak Prescott is not at fault for, um, (gestures around at everything) this season. On Sunday we saw Prescott eclipse 4,000 yards on the season. This season is now officially the eighth for the Cowboys in which the team’s starting quarterback hit 4K and also had 25 passing touchdowns.
Half of these belong to Dak while the others belong to his predecessor in Tony Romo. This list is pretty damning as they are not even all playoff appearances for the Cowboys. Only 2007, 2009, 2021, and 2023 were for those unaware.
Think about that in and of itself. Obviously the NFL is a much more prolific passing league (as evidenced by this list in general), but 4K and 25 TDs is top production from your quarterback, or at the very least enough for everything around the all-important position to work. The Cowboys couldn’t even make the playoffs more than half of the time where this occurred? Seriously?
Things get even more sad if you ask which of the years featured a Cowboys playoff win as 2009 is the only one (although they did earn the first-round bye in 2007 which should be noted in that kind of context).
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