The Cowboys run defense has been a mess, but confidence in Dan Quinn apparently isn’t wavering within Dallas’ front office.
Sunday saw the Cowboys get gashed on the ground once again. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon combined for 203 yards on the ground across 37 carries, with the Packers offense needing to throw just 20 times in their 31-28 overtime win.
It was evident early on that the Cowboys didn’t have any answers for the Packers' run game, Jones in particular. That’s the continuation of a problematic theme for Dallas’ defense, as it has given up at least 117 yards on the ground in all but two games this season.
It doesn’t help that Sunday’s performance comes on the heels of Justin Fields and the Bears offense putting up a whopping 240 yards on the ground against the Cowboys a week earlier. Dallas has given up the ninth-most rushing yards in the league, with seven of the eight teams worse than them all currently sitting outside the playoff picture.
Something needs to change, but Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on the “K&C Masterpiece” expressed plenty of confidence that their defensive coordinator will fix things.
“Well, we have complete confidence in Dan Quinn. I know he’s going to continue to grind on it," Jones said. "Certainly, we can be better – we have to be better. Obviously, that’s the way teams are going to attack us, how many times do you ever to see an Aaron Rodgers game where he throws it 20 and they run it 40? Probably not very often. But we’re probably going to keep seeing that, and I know Dan, he’s the best of the best, and I know he’ll keep going back to the drawing board with our players.
“We’ve got a great group of guys who have got a great mentality, great play temperament, and I know this team certainly is overall that way as well. I know that we’ll respond to this, and that was a very tough loss for everybody, but we just didn’t get the job done. You have to give the Packers the credit.”
The performance of the run defense could have a huge impact on a Cowboys team jostling for playoff positioning. It's not about to get any easier, either, as they’re set to face Dalvin Cook, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, Dameon Pierce and Travis Etienne in their next five games, respectively.
Those teams’ offensive coordinators likely are gearing up to try running all over the Cowboys until they buck the current trend.
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