GREEN BAY, Wisc. – All offseason, from the minicamp to training camp and preseason, everyone surrounding this team – players, coaches, media and fans – all seemed to echo the same thought:
It just feels different.
From the offseason moves that were made, to the players drafted and signed in free agency, to the trades and new coaches hired, everyone had the same sentiment – that this football team is different than last year's squad.
After six games, those feelings are actually true. This is different, unfortunately, because right now, as we sit here, this 2026 Cowboys team is worse.
How can it be? Well, no one has the answers to that. Even quarterback Dak Prescott and head coach Brian Schottenheimer were somewhat lost for words after this stinging loss to the Packers.
Now, I'm not saying the Cowboys will end up with a worse record, but at 2-4, with your only two wins coming against Houston and Washington, this is certainly not headed in the right direction.
But records aside, that's not why I make that statement. To me, the reason why this is actually a worse situation than last year is because you don't just have a defensive problem anymore.
That's what we said all offseason – just find a way to make the defense decent. Or average. Or even a little below average will work. As long as the defense isn't the worst in the NFL and one of the worst in franchise history, then the offense will make up the rest.
Guess what, that is not the case anymore. Maybe it was early in the season, but after six games, the Cowboys have failed to score over 20 points three times, including these last two weeks when they've scored a combined 29 points.
And get this, the defense is a little better, it seems. They're more active and starting to get some sacks. We even saw an actual interception. In fact, for a second there it looked like a pick-6 when Dee Winters got off the ground and had a brilliant return for a score, only to get it all called back because a finger touched his uniform on the way down to the ground.
And later in the game, DaRon Bland once again nearly gets a pick, but bobbled the ball and had only one foot in bounds. I get it, it's probably the right call, but definitely frustrating when replay assistance changes the play to an interception, only to change it back a few seconds later.
But I say all of that, and yet it wasn't the main problem.
Even Dak said the defense did enough to win the game, which is debatable because they couldn't get off the field at all. I've never seen a team convert 9-of-10 on third downs in one half. Sure, it got better in the second half, but in the first half, their inability to get off the field led to the Packers scoring 17 points.
OK, but does it have to be 17-0? Let's talk about the actual zero here.
It has to start at the top. Schottenheimer is the play-caller. Prescott is the quarterback. They're not getting the job done. I'm sorry, but Dak is in his 11th year, and he's got a pair of wide receivers who are supposedly the best receiver duo in the league. So why can't they beat the blitz?
Two weeks in a row we've seen defensive coordinators light up this offense with an array of blitzes, and the offense has no answer.
What baffles me is the fact that the defenses are also taking away the deep ball and not letting George Pickens or CeeDee Lamb get over the top.
Wait, so if you're blitzing just more than half the snaps and also taking away the deep ball … what gives?
Shouldn't the middle of the field be open here? And I know the answer to that – it's hell yes. That's where this offense is failing, in the middle of the field. The receivers aren't winning over the middle, the tight ends haven't proven to be dynamic as well and no one is seemingly breaking tackles in the open field, creating the YAC (yards after catch) that is needed against defensive schemes like this.
So what needs to change?
Well, for me, I'm taking more shots down the field. I don't know if I really believe that defenses are seriously taking away the deep ball. There's only one safety a lot of times, and he can't cover it all. And the way officials love to call pass interference, I think the Cowboys need to force the issue even more to get some of these calls. Pickens can out-jump just about any defensive back, so the offense needs to take more shots up top.
Those aren't 50-50 balls to me. It's no longer a 50 percent chance he'll catch it, and a 50 percent chance he won't. I think it's about a 33 percent chance it'll either be caught, incomplete or an interference call. Two of those scenarios usually puts the ball in the same place, and to me, it's worth trying more.
I also think they need to keep running it. Look at the Packers, who rushed for just 2.2 yards per carry. They still ran it 11 more times than Dallas because they were committed to being balanced, and it still opened up their passing game.
I feel like the Cowboys want to run it early in the game, but at the first sign of trouble, it goes back to an all-out air raid.
The sad part here is the Cowboys had three extra days to get healthier and clean up some things, and they looked as bad, if not worse, than last week.
The only hope here is the fact that the NFC East doesn't have a really good team at all right now, so no one is running away from the division. But as Dak said after the game, none of that really matters.
What matters right now is fixing the problems from within. And while it used to be more of a defensive problem only, the offense has caught up.
And that's certainly not the kind of balance we were looking for.
