Two things are very true right now about the 2025 Dallas Cowboys. On one hand, QB Dak Prescott is playing the best football of his career. On the other, he’s trying to overcome the worst defense he’s ever been saddled with. This dichotomy is what’s led to the Cowboys’ 2-3-1 record after six weeks, and is on pace to throw Prescott’s MVP-worthy performance right into the garbage along with the rest of Dallas’ season.
Give the Cowboys at least a semi-capable defense, and it likely swings their Week 4 game against the Packers and last Sunday’s in Carolina to victories. Even that Week 3 game against the Bears might’ve gone differently if the defense hadn’t given up two 30-yard bombs on Chicago’s second drive. The offense didn’t help: Javonte Williams’ early fumble and CeeDee Lamb’s injury also gave the Bears momentum. But instead of rallying behind their teammates, Dallas’ defense only further opened the wound.
Even without that result changing, you’d still be looking at a 4-2 record. That would have Dallas tied for first place in the NFC East and with solid positioning in the wild card race. While MVP is an individual award, team success is a heavy factor in who eventually wins it. It usually is at least a division winner, if not the number-one seed in a conference. Generally, it’s at least a team that rolls into the playoffs as a clear favorite.
If the Cowboys were just on the right side of .500, many might still make the case for Prescott. Not only would he be leading his team to wins, but the offense would be doing the heavy lifting. New head coach, offensive coordinator, missing offensive linemen, an injured franchise receiver, and Jerry Jones as the ever-maligned liability: people are ready to name Prescott or anyone else a superhero for leading this team to success. His résumé is undeniable.
But alas, even the greatest heroes don’t go unbeaten. Dallas’ defense is back to Doomsday level, but only because it’s killing a Superman season from QB1.
Prescott is too good a man and a leader to play the blame game. Even after this loss to the Panthers, he focused on where the offense failed to convert in the redzone or had too many three-and-outs. One thing he said in the postgame comments summed up his attitude nicely.
“You gotta look at yourself and fix that first.”
That is the kind of generosity that makes someone a Walter Payton Man of the Year. Yes, the Cowboys’ offense left points on the Panthers’ field. There’s no denying that. But they shouldn’t have needed more than that to beat Carolina. They shouldn’t have had to answer 239 yards of offense from Rico Dowdle or a three-touchdown game from a borderline first-round bust in Bryce Young.
It’s one thing to carry the load for your buddy. It’s another thing to drag his dead carcass along, too.
There’s a healthy debate right now about who’s most to blame on defense between Matt Eberflus and the players. The scheme isn’t that hard, but that doesn’t mean a coach shouldn’t make adjustments when it’s so flagrantly ineffective. But it’s also evident that Dallas’ minimalist approach to defensive improvement this offseason, coupled with the Micah Parsons trade, has left them woefully thin on talent at every level of the depth chart.
Sadly, there’s no mid-season fix for this bad a defense. Maybe if the front office were willing to unload its draft pick stockpile with trades, but even then, you have a big question mark about the guy running it. All you can hope for now is modest improvement, which at least helps take some pressure off the rest of the team. Maybe you get it when some injured players return, but it also has to come with better utilization by Eberflus.
While it’s not fair to ask the offense to do more, at least they may be capable of it. Getting Lamb and KaVontae Turpin back, plus Cooper Beebe and Tyler Booker on the front line, should add more explosiveness to all attacks. Unfortunately, it also comes as the Cowboys’ schedule gets a lot tougher than the likes of the Giants, Jets, and Panthers.
While Dak Prescott’s MVP chances aren’t the objective in 2025, they do illustrate just how unfortunate this defensive disaster is. His incredible play so far this season, along with George Pickens and others, is being sabotaged by the other side of the ball.
Leave it to the Cowboys to find a way to screw up a great thing. They’ve been doing it for 32 years.
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