Cowboys Mailbag:Matthew Smith, Portland, Ore.:

Would being more up tempo on offense earlier in the game (and frankly more often) get this team on track?

Dan Quinn and Mike Zimmer run very different defenses. I know the defense has been hurt this year, but I think the main issue for their struggles is scheme fit. Do they have the right kinds of players for what Zimmer has wanted to do?

Why are the Cowboys so bad in the third quarter? They've being outscored 82-22. It just seems like they're unprepared coming out of the break.

Is it time to sit Zack Martin out a game or two and let him get healthy? 

Do you think they don't do enough to truly establish the run, especially with the offensive line's issues with poor pass protection?

As fans, our biggest rivals now are probably the Philadelphia Eagles. Back in the day, there was real hatred between Dallas and Washington players. Do those kinds of heated rivalries even still exist today?

Why do you think our defense no longer has the ball-hawking statistics of last year? Consistently losing the turnover battle has greatly contributed to our losing record.

So given where they are in the standings, at this point why not let Trey Lance play and see what he's got? Maybe he can provide a spark.

At what point does the team accept that the best thing for the current franchise is focusing on its future?

Do you think that when things start to go south in these games that players like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb try too hard to compensate rather than trusting the system, playing within it and letting the game plan work?

Throw in all the talk about various distractions (real or imagined) and it just seems like this team's priorities are misplaced. Do you think so? And can it be fixed?

Safety was expected to be a position of strength for the Cowboys this season, but it seems like this group is struggling. Is it really a problem? Is age catching up with them? Or are they just victims of a poor defensive line?