Fans have watched this defense the entire season, and it felt like the same mistakes were on repeat every game.
We watched missed tackles, soft coverage, wide open receivers, and quarterbacks putting up video game numbers. But over the last few weeks, I’ve finally started to see something I haven’t seen all year…
Actual improvement.
Don’t get me wrong, the defense is not suddenly dominant, but it is more consistent. Under Matt Eberflus, it does seem to be trending in the right direction.
Slowly, steadily in ways that matter, we are seeing improvements.
The Run Defense Has Finally Stabilized
At the beginning of the season, we saw Dallas not be able to stop the run. Through the first nine games, the Cowboys gave up 1,287 rushing yards; opponents averaged 143 per game.
The last three games we have seen a complete 180 from this team:
- 27 yards
- 63 yards
- 119 yards
That’s just 69.7 rushing yards per game. That is a drastic change for this defensive unit.
The fits are better, the pursuit angles seem to be better, and the front is playing with discipline.
This is what we envisioned at the beginning of the season, until our hopes were viciously dashed after a few games.
The Pass Defense: Better Numbers, Same Concerns
The pass defense has been terrible, we have watched this team get sliced up by opposing quarterbacks.
The first nine games, the secondary gave up 254.4 YPG, but over the last three, that number has slightly dropped to 242.7 YPG.
Hey, that’s an improvement, right?
A deeper look shows the same issues are still there.
Opposing quarterbacks had a 110.6 passer rating in the first nine games. The last three, that dropped to 102.1. Much better, but still bottom tier in the NFL.
We are seeing a secondary evolving with each game and starting to understand their assignments better. Having better personnel helps too.
Where the Defense Still Struggles
Tackling, the issue is still tackling.
Against the Chiefs, the Cowboys allowed 160 yards after the catch and finished with a 69.8% tackle rate. This team cannot play winning defense when a simple slant turns into a 20-yard gain.
The pass rush hasn’t helped. It’s getting better, but it’s a process. Dallas logged 18 hurries, 7 hits, and 3 sacks against the Chiefs. However, they only have 17 sacks on the season, which ranks 30th in the NFL.
And we are back to the coverage issues: 7.5 yards per reception allowed, a 110.2 passer rating on the season, and just one pass breakup on 32 Chiefs targets.
Hopefully, we will see the positive trend continue and these numbers decrease with each game.
The Defense Is Better, But Not Fixed
I’ll give this defense credit, it is improving.
The run defense looks like a completely different unit, the communication in coverage is better, and quarterbacks aren’t carving up the secondary as effortlessly as they did early on.
But let’s be real:
The defense still misses too many tackles, gives up to many explosive plays, struggles to finish sacks, and stays on the field too long.
We are seeing improvements, but they are not reliable yet. They are stabilizing, they are better, but far from good.
We can look at it with a half glass full type of optimism, because the arrow is pointing up at the right time.
