ARLINGTON, Texas – Riddled by injuries, the Cowboys had no answer for the Detroit Lions' 47 points on Sunday afternoon, the most they've allowed to an opponent since they gave up 49 to Cleveland in 2020.
Missing Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Marshawn Kneeland, Eric Kendricks and DaRon Bland was glaringly evident as the Lions racked up 492 yards of offense, something nobody could've expected even with the aforementioned players out.
"This was very concerning and it was very humbling," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "I felt bad because of all of our great fans, especially the ones in the stadium and certainly the ones that are all about the cowboys. So we've got a lot of work to do."
Part of the work that needs to be done is in the training room, with so many players on both sides of the ball for the Cowboys recovering from various injuries. Despite being shorthanded, Dallas made no excuses for their lackluster performance in a fourth straight loss at home dating back to last season.
"We had injuries last week when we won a game, so that's not a good excuse," Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. "We just got to go out there and do our job."
The Lions offense scored on nine of their 12 drives on the night, including five touchdowns. Jared Goff threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, and the talented duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 143 yards and the other two additional scores. It's easy to see all the aspects of the defense that need to be corrected, and the Cowboys know it too.
"Obviously we have to correct it and I know the guys in this locker room will correct it." Cowboys linebacker Damone Clark said.
Physicality is part of the correction that the Cowboys defense needs to make, as the defensive line was unable to generate a lot of pressure on Jared Goff and gave up 6.7 and 5.3 yards per carry to David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs respectively. The secondary play wasn't much better, allowing 12.6 yards per attempt for Jared Goff on 25 passes.
"Right now we're not playing good ball, that's all it comes down to." Cowboys safety Malik Hooker said.
A common theme amongst the Cowboys postgame was "look in the mirror." Right now, the mirror is dirty for Dallas, but the Cowboys defense is aware of the current reflection that is staring back at them.
"We'll see what we did wrong, see how our effort and our technique and our discipline can be better," Lewis said. "It always starts as individuals, and then as a collective, those things add up."
Everyone from the top down in the Cowboys organization is going to have to find something new in that mirror coming out of the bye week, and Jones is wanting to see a lot of different specs cleaned up.
"I don't know about which changes, what changes, but obviously we've got to come in with a different demeanor, we've got a come in with different execution, we've got to come in with different approach… we've got a lot of things that you can work on better."
With the past in the past, it's time to look ahead to the future. At 3-3 with 11 games left on the schedule, all doors are still open for the Cowboys in terms of season success, but there are still plenty of questions left unanswered.
"I don't have a lot of answers," Jones said. "What're you going to do about it? We're going to go to work."
