44-17! This Week 2 result against the New Orleans Saints surely speaks enough about how vulnerable the Dallas Cowboys’ defense is. It surely is a concerning situation for the team and its loyal fans as they are now set to face another formidable foe, the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. Ahead of the game, the team’s former RB and NFL HOFer Emmitt Smith has opened up about his concerns over the Cowboys’ run defense going up against the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.

In the latest episode of Up & Adams, the former Cowboys RB said, “It’s not going to be easy going up against Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry coming to town. Derrick Henry is probably licking his chops right about now with what we gave up last week We’re going to have to get our pride back. The Saints came in and took something from us. Now we got to fight like hell to get it back.”

The Cowboys rank 20th in rushing defense after allowing 141.5 yards per game, following their disastrous outing against the Saints last week. Last season, the team ranked 16th in rushing defense after allowing 112.4 YPG. The team is offensively isn’t in a good place either and a large chunk of the blame for it goes to the QB Dak Prescott, as he has been unable to face the pressure.

The NFL’s highest-paid player’s form has deteriorated. Prescott is currently 21st in completion percentage. Last season he was in the top 10 in the NFL in that list. Even if some lack of performance can be blamed on pressure, when he’s not under pressure hasn’t been playing at the same level so far this season. Prescott is currently 31st in the NFL, with an EPA of  -0.262 in overall non-pressure situations, putting him just a hair above Bryce Young. His play from inside a clean pocket hasn’t been much better either.

Former Cowboys’ head coach slams team following landslide loss against Saints

Dallas Cowboys‘ former head coach Jimmy Johnson slammed the team following their monumental 44-19 loss against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints schooled the Cowboys in every department, as Dallas’ defense crumbled in front of Derek Carr and Co. On the other hand, Dak Prescott did try to hold on to the game as much as he could but to be fair there wasn’t much he could do either after the defense broke down.

In the latest episode of “The Heard with Collin Cowherd”, Johnson predicted that maybe the team has gone a bit too soft. He said that Dallas is a unique situation that is completely visible to all. They have a huge number of fans and admirers and, according to Johnson, this is the reason that is stopping the team from developing toughness and facing adversity type of things. The former 2x Super Bowl-winning manager went on and said, “It’s almost like they’ve got the country club-type life. That’s why you’ve got to have the type of coaches who will drill it into them.”

Dallas has been lacking on multiple fronts. Their rushing game’s still far from okay as the team’s main backs Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, and Deuce Vaughn weren’t effective at all against the Saints. Since the start of the season, the team has rushed for just 102 and 68 yards while they faced Cleveland and New Orleans. The team’s offensive line hasn’t been that effective either. In a recent interview, the team’s offensive guard Tyler Smith defended the major backs. The left guard took the bullet and said that the offensive line hasn’t performed to its full potential as well and this has affected the team’s rushing game.

With all said and done, they have only lost one of the two games that they played till now this season. However, their lackluster performance from Week 2 against the Saints surely concerns the fans. They would surely hope that Mike McCarthy finds a fix for the team’s problems as they face the Ravens on Sunday and avoid the record from turning to 1-2.