Well, it is that time I guess, the Dallas Cowboys play a real meaningful football game next Thursday.
No better way to start the season off than being the first game of the year against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
With that said, here are three major issues that I personally think the Cowboys still have as they start the season.
Let me be clear this is MY three, nobody else but me, so even if you don’t agree, you don’t have to call me an idiot like some of you do. News flash, neither one of us are coaching, so that is enough said.
Stopping The Run
Let’s just be real here, this team is not going to be able to stop the run, and they have to start the year off against probably the best running back in football.
Last year, the Dallas Cowboys defense gave up an average of 355.2 yards per game. 28th in the league in terms of total defense; 137 of those were ON THE GROUND, the 4th worst in football!
The Cowboys linebackers are the best thing they have going on defense, but that is not enough at the line of scrimmage to stop Barkley to getting to the second level.
New DC Matt Eberflus is strategizing to stop the run. He’s going to have to do it with a fairly similar cast of players. Dallas made a long-term commitment to DT Osa Odighizuwa and is giving Mazi Smith a chance to make or break his career in Year 3.
The Cowboys have not really shown any answers for their run defense this preseason have they? Ravens have 131 yards on 34 carries and a TD.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) August 17, 2025
Enough On The Ground?
Is this offense going to get enough production from the ground game?
Throughout his four seasons in Denver, Javonte Williams recorded 2,394 yards and 11 touchdowns, but he was never fully back to form following his rookie year, when he rushed for 903 yards before injuries began to plague his career.
Even though he did not take a single snap in the preseason, he will likely be the guy who starts the season as RB1, I am okay with that if the offensive line can hold up.
Miles Sanders looked decent in his few snaps this preseason.
Phil Mafah is starting the year on IR, and I was excited about him, so that leaves Sanders and Jaydon Blue with Williams. Blue has had his fair share of injuries this summer also, so it seems that this running back room has no room for error.
Head Coach
Yup, I do not trust the head coach. He was hand picked by Jerry Jones to bow down to him and not challenge him on anything.
I understand the culture seems different and that is fun, but can he coach a football team?
He has been a coach in this league for a long time and until now has never been a head coach.
He was the offensive coordinator for Dallas last year, but did not call plays, and say what you want, I mean there is a reason he has never been the head man for a football team.
We are going to learn very quickly if he can coach in this league, but he is one of the major issues I still have before they open the season next Thursday.
First, the trade was perfect for this team and it’s future. Everyone needs to stop complaining. If Clark is ready to play next week, people are going to see what a pro bowl level run stopper in the interior of the line will do for this team. SB will not be as big of a worry running the ball and with the guys and depth we have they can keep pressure on Hurts from running as well. And Hurts cannot carry that team on his arm. That is why the had the 29th passing offense last year. Along with the future cap flexibility and the 2 extra first rounders, even if late first round this team is set. Now sign Smith, Bland, Aubrey and Pickens in the future. Trade Diggs after he proves he is healthy, and move on from him. He, like Parsons is not about what this team is becoming. This is becoming a true TEAM now.
say what you want about Schottenheimer, but if he pulls off a 10 win season – with the cards the Jones’s delta him – he’ll be,worth every penny.
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s with Micah Parsons gone the Cowboy defense is really garbage now
They will be destroyed on defense. Jerry could have signed a NT and the trade would not be necessary. We have seen in the last two years how well they have done with late #1s- Guyton and Mazi. Who is to believe they will use GBs, now likely to be 26 and up, any better. At least they can use their top 5 #1s the next two years to have a chance now that Micah is gone. I am now ready to fully switch over to the Chiefs as my favorite team. I don’t care what senile Jerry, in my opinion, does anymore.
Because Eberflus has already said he was gonna use him that way!! Plus Clark don’t need to be changed any, he’s already a really good DT the way he is!! He’s good at getting to the QB, and he’s really good at stopping the run!! And apparently you don’t know much about football…. First of all, Guyton was a rookie last year and was said to be a developing LT before he was drafted, so he wasn’t expected to be a pro bowler off the jump!! But he was actually better than the experts expected, he just had a penalty problem, and it’s not hard to fix that, so I’m not sure why you mentioned him!! And Mazi isn’t a bad player either, he just needs a chance to play at the same weight for more than a year!! Changing his weight up and down every year is why he’s not the player he’s supposed to be yet!! And this team is a lot better than you think, they’re not gonna be picking in the top 5 this year!! And as long as they stay healthy, they’re not gonna be picking in the top 5 for a long time!! But if you wanna switch to the chiefs then go ahead, nobody likes a bandwagon fan anyways!! A true fan sticks by their team no matter what!! They don’t switch to another team just because their team is doing something they don’t like!! Why would you pick the chiefs anyways!? Just because they’ve been to the Super Bowl recently!! Well go ahead!! And when another team starts going to the Super Bowl all the time you can switch to that team too!! But when we finally get there, don’t come back here acting like you’ve been a Cowboys fan all along!! Just stick to being a bandwagon fan!!
I think Ken Clark at the nose will play well there that the Eagles will have to reevaluate whether to run up the middle or do a sweep instead. He will be a disrupter.
Your crazy!! Parsons is only one player!! He’s not the whole defense!! We have plenty of edge rushers that can get after the QB, Parsons wasn’t the only one that could do that!! And since we traded Parsons and got Clark in return, our defense is probably gonna be better since we can stop the run now!! But of course, you wouldn’t know that since you don’t know anything about football!! Rushing the QB is a lot easier than stopping the run, and now that we have Clark, we’re gonna be a lot better at stopping the run!! And as far as rushing the passer, we still have Dante Fowler, Sam Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Houston that are all really good at getting to the QB, so how do you figure our defense is garbage now that Parsons is gone!? Like I said, we’re probably gonna be better without Parsons!!
Let me tell you all that I CREATED this post and set it for today before the trade happened. I have been busy today with family, so will update when I can!
One thing Shane, Shotty had opportunities to interview for head coach openings earlier in his career, and he decided not to because he didn’t think he was ready.
Just saying.