YES, it’s only week five, but it could be time to start asking if the Dallas Cowboys are already cooked for the 2025-26 season?
What’s been a hair less than a full quarter of the NFL regular season seems like years of material collected from “America’s Team”. And the material is currently reading that it may not just be their Texas counterparts who are in the pot.
A tumultuous (to say the least) offseason of negotiations with the club’s best player & one of the NFL’s truly elite defensive players ended in one of the most memorable trades in recent NFL history.
Micah Parsons & his 52.5 career sacks in four years headed to Green Bay in a deal that would net defensive tackle Kenny Clark & 2-1st round picks. He was immediately signed to a well-deserved record-breaking deal & the saga was put to rest (not for me).
Since dealing Micah, the Boys’ have resigned a couple of stars in corner Daron Bland & guard Tyler Smith to long term pacts. They also recently signed veteran QB hunter, Jadaveon Clowney. Great moves, right?
Maybe, but not enough to overcome what they’ve lost.
“Dem Boyz” walked into the fourth week of the season 1-2, good for third in the NFC East. Only the winless (at the time) Giants, whom they barely escaped in overtime in Week 2, are owners of a worse record through three weeks. Up to that point, Pro Focus Football had the team’s defense ranked 31st in the league while bestowing the same ranking upon the run defense as they’d resembled nothing close to the ball-hawking speed demons that flew around the field wreaking havoc & causing turnovers during most of Parsons’ tenure.
Who was waiting for them that week?
None other than the Lion & his new look Pack.
Many questions were tossed around heading into this matchup but one of the most common was: “How many sacks will Micah have?”
The answer would end up being 1, but it was probably the biggest play of the game.
Lined up on the Green Bay four-yard line on third down with 5:33 to go in overtime, Dak Prescott escaped to his left & steered upfield for what immediately looked like it was destined to be a touchdown. The only problem was, Micah Parsons was now wearing #1 for the opps.
Parsons beat tight end Jake Ferguson off the right side & turned the jets on to catch Prescott before he was able to cross the line of scrimmage, resulting in Brandon Aubrey coming on & putting Dallas up three before kicking off to the away team.
Green Bay would use the remaining game clock to march down the field, ending in them kicking a field goal to tie the game as time expired after some questionable clock management from their coach.
Dallas vs Green Bay ended in a 40-40 tie.
Big D’s defense surrendered 489 total yards, with 164 of those coming by way of the rushing attack. Pro Bowler Josh Jacobs led the way with 86 yards & two touchdowns. The rush defense that was supposed to be fixed by the trade heard around the NFL was consistently leaking all night. Why so?
Kenny Clark, the player Dallas received in the swap, was taken 27th overall back in the 2016 draft by the Packers out of UCLA. Since then, he’s become a three-time Pro Bowler & earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen. This was supposed to at least set the team on the path to cure all that ails them on that side of the ball, so what’s the issue?
Jerry, in all of his infinite football wisdom, made a move to “fix a problem” & instead cut off the head of the snake.
The offense has looked good thus far, ranking 4th in the league heading into Week 5. Rayne Dakota Prescott has been playing some of the best ball of his career through four games, leading the league in passing yards (1,119) & big-time throws (12) thus far & parlaying that into the third best passing grade among QBs per PFF.
RB Javonte Williams has been running & running with authority, often looking even better than he did during his peak Bronco days.
George Pickens has been as advertised with his latest game resulting in 8 catches for 134 yards & two trips to the endzone. He’s been making highlight reel plays on the ball or drawing penalties when targeted & will continue to receive opportunities to show why he deserves a lucrative extension from some team (maybe Dallas?) with CeeDee being out for the foreseeable future.
All of this, though, & the defense has looked lost. Trevon Diggs (knee) is still rounding into form after dealing with multiple injuries. Bland (foot) played his first game since Week One & showed signs of a bit of rust, playing in coverage on 33 snaps & recording a 48.1 grade for his efforts. DeMarvion Overshown, the team’s young up & coming linebacker, hasn’t stepped on the field this season after tearing his ACL, MCL & PCL in his right knee on December 9th of 2024 against the Bengals, although recent reports suggest the future star is inching closer to a return to action.
The offense has scored the 5th most points thus far (114) but the defense has given up 132, good for 31st in the league. The special teams unit hasn’t provided a spark, either, ranking 17th.
It just feels as though this precipitous drop has the Micah trade to thank centrally. You traded a strength to fix a “weakness” & ended up with two weaknesses.
Now, you have the recipe for a 1-2-1 team coming off a tie that, if #1 for Green Bay was instead still donning 11 for the Star, might’ve ended in favor of the home team.
Truly DELIGHTFUL work, Mr. Jones.
