The Cowboys sit with a disappointing record of 1-2 going into their Week Four showdown with the Texans. After a gutting Week Three loss in Rio with a historic collapse to give up a field goal with just seven seconds left on the clock, the Cowboys of Dallas had some soul searching to do in order to figure out a way to get into the driver’s seat in what is appearing to be another weak NFC East.

Dallas lost in the classic Dallas heartbreaking fashion by the offense stalling on the goal line to go up by four (with some questionable play calling and game management by Shotty), settled for the field goal to tie, and gave up the exact play they couldn’t give up with seven seconds to go. Brandon Aubrey should’ve kicked the kick off in the field of play to draw time off of the clock, the Cowboys should have been covering the middle of the field, and ultimately giving a kicker a chance to win on a 56 yard field goal is unacceptable for a team that is clearly trying to win-now. Now, I want to acknowledge the fact that the Cowboys have guys playing meaningful minutes in the secondary right now who were probably doing Doordash a few months ago. I mean this with no disrespect for those guys, but a litany of injuries to the secondary has completed decimated any ability to defend.

This defense has problems. They have 2 total sacks through three games which is absolutely unacceptable. They only have 7 pass deflections and 0 interceptions. They’ve forced 7 fumbles and recovered 2 of them. Holistically, it’s difficult for the defensive line to get to the quarterback when they have nobody pressuring in the secondary. The two arguably starting caliber guys in Downs and Bland have been a tale of two DBs. Downs has been very solid, and like I’ve mentioned before- he will be very, very good once he gets fully up to speed. Bland, on the other hand, needs to be cut from this team immediately when it makes sense business-wise to do so. I don’t know what the curse of paying DBs has been for Dallas with Diggs and Bland, but they’ve swung, missed, and fell flat on their ass with both of those contracts. However, the Cowboys soul searching led to them realizing one thing- go get Joey Porter Jr.

Dallas traded for Joey Porter Jr. just as the clock brought us in to October 1st EST. They gave up a second round, conditional third (if they don’t pay him), and a late round pick. Joey Porter Jr. has been a highly coveted player that has some project elements to his game that I’m hoping the Cowboys can unlock. He was fantastic in coverage last year, mediocre in the pass rush, and bad at run defense (according to PFF). He was graded as the 36th best CB of 114 last year. Honestly, I’ll take that. If he wants a big ass contract, hopefully he plays his ass off this year and really shows that value. People are talking about how the Boys likely won’t have the capability to pay both Pickens and JPJ which I don’t believe is true. With them set to release Bland when the dead cap numbers fall off before next season. I’m quite excited to get some help in the secondary. Barham is only getting better, and again, I truly believe this young defense will figure out how to be average by the end of the season (which is all they need to be.)

I don’t feel a big need to talk about the offense. Dak is playing at an MVP contender caliber, the WRs are playing great, Javonte is consistent, etc. Should this team be able to win 10-12 games and make the playoffs, I’m still exceedingly hopeful that they have a chance to compete with anyone in the league.

There’s a solid chance everyone in the NFC could be 2-2 at the end of this week. Let’s see what happens.

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J.A. Riley