Welcome to week three and the Dallas Cowboys will travel to Rio de Janeiro to play the Baltimore Ravens in a game that will be considered a ‘home’ game for the Cowboys.
If you haven’t seen it by now, I will write up the injury report for Saturday morning. This team, which is already horrible on defense like a year ago, has players dropping like flies on that side of the ball.
Heading into this matchup with a team that can run the ball as well as the Ravens, they will need all hands on deck, but they must get more out of the veterans on this team, and I will touch on those guys now.
Quinnen Williams
Quinnen Williams, a former All-Pro and a guy that just signed a new deal to stay with the Cowboys, if a vote was to be taken today, would rank as either the first, second or third-best defensive tackle in the entire league.
Two games is a small sample size, and the defense looks just as bad if not worse than a year ago, and you added how many new starters and a new defensive coordinator?
“I think it’s a great fit. I understand the question. I think right now we haven’t played well enough on defense, but when Quinnen Williams knows he’s
The Cowboys rank 30th in rushing yards allowed, and the players’ Pro Football Focus grades are hard to look at: 49.1 for Williams, which ranks 88th in the NFL, and 53.9 for Kenny Clark, which is 73rd. That’s out of 120 defensive linemen.
These two guys, along with Rashad Gary, are three dudes that were supposed to at least make getting gashed on the ground happen less often and yet here we are.
It starts with your best player on the defensive side of the ball in Williams. Big Q has to be better, and I understand that the Cowboys have no pass rush, but this defensive line is better than what they are showing, and they need to get it fixed.
DaRon Bland
DaRon Bland is making 90 million dollars and, whether he was worth the money or not, he is the Cowboys top cornerback, and yet, through two games, teams are not scared to throw the football his way, and it’s truly telling.
He’s been targeted 12 times thus far and has allowed eight receptions. Look, I understand that he is not the same player that he once was, but at some point, he has to be better in coverage if he is going to help this defense.
He is not helping take the pressure off anyone else when you are not looking like you once were, and that was probably a product of him being at his best when he set the interception return record.
He nearly had a interception in the end zone against Washington that was a fight for the ball, so he made a good play to make sure that was not a touchdown, but again, with the injuries in the secondary, he is the top guy that has to start shaping up a little bit better when you are making 90 million dollars.
Javonte Williams
Listen, before you make a comment and say something, just read, please. I understand that the entire running game struggling is not Javonte Williams’ fault. That is not the point of this.
Williams has just 71 yards on 24 attempts, averaging a mere 3.0 yards per attempt, signed a three-year, $24 million deal this offseason, so let’s not act like if Dak Prescott was struggling to start the year we would blame him and say he needs to earn his contract, regardless of the offensive line issues, etc. and don’t tell me that wouldn’t be the case, because yes it would be.
Williams has already said that he needs to be better after that unsportsmanlike conduct flag he got when LOSING to the New York Giants in week one.
In my opinion, Williams very well could be one of the biggest reasons the Cowboys beat the Ravens on Sunday. They need to run the ball better and keep the chains moving on the ground and start having some drives that burn some clock to take some pressure off of that defense.
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