Jerry Jones didn’t exactly sugarcoat the Cowboys’ Week 1 letdown.
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan, the Dallas owner acknowledged that the team misread the New York Giants in the opener, a rough admission for a club coming off a 7-9-1 season and still waiting to get back to the playoffs after two years away.
“They were better than how we thought they were," Jones told 105.3 The Fan. "They played better than we thought they could.”
That’s the kind of line that lands with a thud, especially for a franchise that’s already trying to climb out of a long stretch without the kind of success it used to take for granted. Jones was speaking for himself, at least in the way the comment was framed, because it’s hard to imagine the rest of the building lining up to publicly agree with that assessment.
He wasn’t finished, either. Jones also went on record with a prediction for Dallas’ next game against the Commanders, saying the defense will look better this time around.
“The improvement from where we played on Sunday [on defense] will be there," Jones said. "I’ll go on record saying that.”
He said the matchup carries extra weight after the opener in New York.
"This one is particularly challenging, not challenging, exciting if you will because we really did not do what we wanted to do in our opening game there in New York," Jones said. "This puts added emphasis on this game. We really want to play well in front of our home fans.”
The problem is that the Cowboys haven’t given anyone much reason to trust that defensive promise yet. Christian Parker’s unit was carved up by the Giants in Week 1, and the same familiar issues showed up again: shaky game planning, no real pass rush, no answer against the run, communication breakdowns and limited adjustments.
Dallas has now finished with the NFL’s worst defense in back-to-back seasons, so optimism has to be measured until that side of the ball shows something real. The one thing working in the Cowboys’ favor is the amount of new pieces they’ve had to blend together this year, something Jones and others have pointed to as part of the process.
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Cowboys Suddenly Have A DeMarvion Overshown Problem Again
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Now the Cowboys are back in a familiar holding pattern with Overshown, who is expected to miss 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury. The timing matters because he is also in a contract year, which adds a layer of uncertainty to a player who has already given the organization plenty to think about when healthy and even more reason to wonder what comes next if the injuries keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]