The Dallas Cowboys walked out of Week 1 with the kind of defensive performance that raises alarms fast: missed tackles, busted communication and both the run and pass defense looking out of sync. But Jerry Jones isn’t ready to treat one ugly Sunday night as a sign the whole plan has gone sideways.
Speaking Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan, Jones said he was disappointed by what he saw, yet he also pointed to the amount of change on that side of the ball as a reasonable explanation for why things looked so rough.
"The last time that I was involved in as much change as we have made this year was the first year that I bought the Dallas Cowboys and we won one game," Jones recalled. "I think that’s an explanation, a valid one.
There’s a lot of change to that side of the ball. We’re very optimistic that we can play better right now than what we played there Sunday night.”
He doubled down on that idea later, stressing how many new faces are trying to learn new responsibilities at once.
"The facts are we got a lot of new people, not necessarily young players, but we've got a lot of new people on defense doing different things that they've been doing," Jones later added. "So that's got to come together. If we keep our head down and keep working on it, it will be better than it was Sunday night."
Jones also said he’s not spiraling over the fact that the two teams that reached the Super Bowl last season, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, both lost their first game of 2025. Still, he made it clear he isn’t brushing off the opener either.
“The first game unquestionably was important: don’t get me wrong," he said. "I saw nothing on review that tells me we should depart away from the plan we have to get better on defense.”
That said, Jones did acknowledge the Cowboys will "do some things differently this week," though he stopped short of spelling out what those adjustments will be. He also said he remains open to adding to the roster, but made clear that making a move simply because of one game is "not practical."
The biggest concern coming out of Week 1 was the communication breakdowns, a problem that has surfaced before and made the showing against the Giants especially hard to stomach. Jones singled that out as a major fix for Week 2 and specifically mentioned the linebackers.
“Communicate better. The (linebackers) have to fill their assigned areas on the defense," Jones explained.
That could get trickier in the short term. DeMarvion Overshown is dealing with a hamstring injury, and on Monday Brian Schottenheimer said the veteran linebacker will be out a week or two.
That likely opens the door for third-round pick Jaishawn Barham to step into a starting role, even though he doesn’t have much NFL experience. Dallas is also dealing with another setback at safety, where Malik Hooker suffered a fractured elbow and will be sidelined at least a few weeks after surgery.
Jones can preach patience all he wants. For Cowboys fans, the wait for a defense that actually looks fixed is another matter entirely.
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