It looked like the Cowboys would be able to cruise to a victory on Sunday at Lambeau Field. They held a 28-14 lead entering the fourth quarter but ultimately fell to the Packers 31-28 in overtime.
Aaron Rodgers became just the second quarterback this season to pass for more than 200 yards against the Cowboys. It was also the second straight game that the Dallas defense allowed over 200 yards rushing – 208 to be exact. That’s a far cry from their average of 120 rushing yards against through their first seven games.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger from the Audacy Original Podcast “In The Huddle” talked about what the Cowboys need to do to get back to defending the run like they were earlier in the season.
“They need more fat guys, Carl, up front. They don’t have enough fat guys, man,” Baldinger said (17:57 in player above). “The Bears ran for 240. The Packers had their way with them they never abandoned the run.”
The Cowboys have allowed a total of 447 rushing yards over the last two games. They didn’t allow more than 167 yards in a game prior to that Week 8 game against Chicago.
“Really, they were sloppy. Micah Parsons has got these gorges to fill from inside linebacker and nobody’s protecting him,” Baldinger continued.
Parsons was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year last season after being drafted 12th overall. He made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season as well as being a First-team All-Pro. He has the talent to be the guy on the Dallas defense.
Baldinger then made an interesting comparison for Parsons.
“Micah Parsons should be Ray Lewis if they want to play him off the ball inside linebacker, cover him up – when Ray had Haloti Ngata and all these big Buddhas inside, Ray just was a vacuum cleaner. He just cleaned up, here’s 18 tackles. That’s what Micah should be doing,” he said. “But Micah can’t do it if he’s got offensive guards and tackles just all hitting him from every angle. I almost feel like put Micah at the end. Get big inside.”
Dallas did go out to try to address the interior defensive line last month, acquiring Johnathan Hankins last month for two late-round picks.
Nevertheless, the Cowboys need to be better up front to stop the run.
“The run game and stopping the run and how you handle it and run fits – if you’re going to be undersized it’s about hitting your gaps and penetrating and playing defense on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And they didn’t do that against Green Bay,” Baldinger said. “So they better tighten that up right now.”
It won’t get any easier for the Cowboys as they face their biggest test yet this Sunday against the Vikings, who are coming off a huge win in Buffalo.
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