Dallas Cowboys run defense rears its ugly head

The Dallas Cowboys had a tough loss to the Packers as they drop their third game of the season.  With Aaron Rodgers seemingly on his last legs and no weapons to throw to, expectations were not high going in for the Packers. Yet, Christian Watson made his presence known today with three scores, two of which were of 50+ yards.

But the passing game was not the problem in todays contest.

The Dallas Cowboys have continued struggling against the run game.

Every elite unit has it’s Achilles Heel and the Dallas Cowboys defense’s is clearly the run game and has been for the last four weeks. Sunday, the three-headed monster of A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones feasted upon the shotty rushing defense of the Cowboys. Between the two of them they had 203 yards with 138 of them to Jones, along with a touchdown, and 65 going to Dillon

Based upon EPA (Expected Points Added) the Dallas Cowboys defense was the 4th worst run defense of the week (.148) before the Sunday night game. There were holes throughout and the Packers game in with a plan to establish the run and continue to. Aaron Rodgers never had less then 25 attempts in game until Sunday where he attempted just 20 passes.

There is no reason the Packers to have deviated from that strategy or have any prior indication that it would not work. Here are the Dallas Cowboys last four games in terms of rushing yards allowed: 206, 240, 117, and 136.

An adjustment has to be made on that side of the ball or the Cowboys can kiss any championship aspirations goodbye. It’s not like they don’t have the talent to step it up they do. There are three players in the top-50 of Tackles For Loss in Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Dante Fowler.

The secondary is strong enough already, I have been loving the way Diggs and Brown have been playing and Kearse has been helpful in forcing the issue on the ground and in the air.

"“Until we (put) out this fire, we’re gonna keep seeing it. If people want to keep doing their own thing, we’re gonna deal with this all year. We have to be accountable. We have to stay in our gaps, gotta stop the run. Until we do that, it’s gonna be a long year.” – Micah Parsons"

If the defense stays one dimensional it will be a playoff liability. Currently each team in the NFC playoffs has a formidable run game: Eagles have Hurts, Giants have Barkley, 49ers have McCaffery and Deebo, Vikings have Cook, Buccaneers have Fournette, and the Seahawks have Walker III.

The run game is a hole that they can’t afford to keep plugging with duct tape. Need something more like Flex Seal, and it isn’t going to come from the outside anymore. Dan Quinn needs to make an immediate adjustment.

With the passing defense their strong point, it’s time to focus elsewhere. Maybe this includes dropping a safety into the box or getting Micah in more of a linebacker position so he’s able to more effectively stuff a gap.

Another test of the run game will come in the form of the Minnesota Vikings who just scraped out a big win Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. Both Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison are solid NFL RBs with Cook being one of the best in the last in five years.

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I’ll be excited to see what adjustments, if any, are made in week 10.