DALLAS — Troy Aikman called the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive performance in Week 1 “a little bit alarming” on Thursday. He cited mental mistakes, assignment mistakes, and a number of busted coverages in the secondary from Sunday’s 28-20 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Aikman made the comments on his weekly visit with The Musers on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket. Three nights earlier, he was in the booth for ESPN’s Monday Night Football as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos 31-10.
Dallas allowed 511 points last season, the most in the NFL. No Cowboys defense had ever given up more. On Sunday, the Giants never trailed and had the game under control throughout the night, Aikman said.
“A little bit alarming. I think, though, it happened around the league,” Aikman said. “I mean, we saw it in a number of games. Even the game I had on Monday night, [Denver] didn’t play nearly as well on either side of the ball as to what I thought that they might. So some of that is to be expected, but I don’t know that it is to the extent that we saw from Dallas. When you have the mental mistakes and the assignment mistakes that allow them to then score touchdowns, they had a number of busted coverages in the secondary. And so there was some similarities from what we watched last year.”
“And it always is more pronounced in Week 1, as we know,” Aikman continued. “The performances as well as whether you win or you lose, because there’s so much attention and so much time to prepare for Week 1. As soon as the season’s schedule comes out, you know then who you’re going to be playing. And you’ve got all offseason to kind of get prepared for that opener.”
“And when it doesn’t go as you hope, then it just adds a lot of angst,” Aikman added. “And in Dallas that definitely is the case after all of the conversation, me included, talking about how much more improved we expected this defense to be, and I still think it will be. But it sure adds a lot of pressure then going into this Week 2 game against Washington.”
New York Giants Held Ball For More Than 36 Minutes
New York outgained Dallas by 150 yards and kept the ball for more than 36 minutes, The Dallas Morning News reported. The Cowboys had two possessions in the second half.
On the ground, Javonte Williams had 12 carries for 41 yards and 1 touchdown. Dallas averaged 3.8 yards per carry as a team. Aikman could not recall a game from his own career in which he had so few possessions to work with.
“That was tough for them,” Aikman explained. “I can only imagine what the offense and what Dak was feeling, especially there in that second half, two possessions and two touchdowns, but yeah, they just couldn’t make the stops. Really, the way that they were able to run the football and convert on third downs and then control the time of possession is, it was kind of the formula for the New York Giants probably will be going forward.”
“I don’t know if they’ll be able to match that week in and week out, but that was pretty impressive,” Aikman noted. “And I think going in, a lot of people were talking about the improved offensive and defensive lines for the Giants, and that certainly showed up on Sunday night.”
New York went 4-13 last season. The Giants hired John Harbaugh in January after his 18 seasons in Baltimore, and Sunday was his first game in charge. Before Sunday, Dallas had won 11 of its 12 season openers against the Giants.
Christian Parker’s Defense Gets Washington Commanders Next
Dallas hired Christian Parker on Jan. 22 to replace Matt Eberflus. Parker is 34 and the youngest defensive coordinator in franchise history. Before Sunday, he had never called a defense.
On Sept. 8, Aikman said on The Rich Eisen Show that Parker had brought an energy and an urgency the previous coordinators had not. Dallas scored on both of its second-half possessions Sunday, Aikman said, and the pressure on an offense in that spot is real to him.
“There’s no doubt that last year with the struggles that the defense had, I think there has to be a mindset that ‘we pretty much need to score every time we get the ball,’” Aikman said. “Now, in the second half, clearly that became … that’s what they did. That’s what Dallas did with the two possessions they had. But it becomes more and more pronounced that ‘we’re not slowing anybody down.’ And then that becomes hard as opposed to when you’re playing for one of these other teams and the defense is playing so well and they’re going to make key stops.”
“And so that’s real. And that’s kind of the position they were in on [Sunday] night,” Aikman continued. “And as I said, I’m still optimistic. I’m not ready to say that this defense is just going to be a carbon copy of what we saw last year. But there’s a lot to clean up, of course, in a short period of time as they go into this week.”
The Washington Commanders visit AT&T Stadium on Sunday for the Cowboys’ home opener. Washington lost 24-22 at the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on Fox.
