Cowboys defense looks to re-establish own ‘high standards’ in Week 7 matchup with Lions

Despite having one of the NFL’s top-five defenses, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and his defensive players spoke with a tone one would associate with a unit that ranked in the bottom five of the NFL. Losing, 26-17, to the rival Philadelphia Eagles on “Sunday Night Football,” a game in which they gave up more than 20 points and allowed multiple touchdowns in a game for the first time — the last team to do so this season — has them “pissed.”

“It’s been a little bit of a weird day [Monday] because of the talk of, ‘Oh well, it was a good second half,’ but quite honestly we’re all pissed that we needed to have a good second half,” Quinn said Monday. “We have really high standards for how we want to play, and when we don’t meet them, we’re pissed about it. We want that ass-kicking performance start to finish: first quarter through the fourth for however long we need to go. That’s what I would like to make sure we’re focusing on. … When we don’t meet them, it makes you mad. We’re ready to get going for the next one, but that’s how we felt coming out.”

The Cowboys’ anger is justified considering how dominant they’ve been across the board in 2022. They lead the NFL in sacks with 24, the most by a Dallas team in its first six games since 1987. Dallas also is tops in the leagues in pressures (103) while ranking third in both scoring defense (16.3 points per game allowed) and yards per play allowed (4.6).

Cowboys defense this season

The undefeated Eagles presented a tough challenge with quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Miles Sanders playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football. However, the Cowboys chalked up their eight missed tackles — tied for their second-most in a game this season — and a critical neutral zone infraction penalty on defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. on fourth-and-four with the Eagles on the Dallas’ 10 in the first quarter, as self-inflicted wounds. Sanders scored Philadelphia’s first touchdown of the game, a five-yard rushing touchdown, on first-and-goal from the five on the very next play. 

“I just told them, ‘We’re too good to beat ourselves, we’re too good to try to make a play because the plays will come to us,'” Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons said after the game Sunday. “With the scheme, we’re too good; we just have to win our one-on-one’s. Sometimes in games like this, we try…