pluses and minuses Dallas Cowboys defense heading into Sunday’s matchup

FRISCO – A Week 1 handling of an overwhelmed Cleveland Browns offense painted an extremely positive outlook for the Dallas Cowboys defense heading into Sunday’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints. From the jump, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s group simply had nothing to counter an explosive Saints group that had its way with “America’s Team” to the tune of a 44-19 beatdown.

Looking ahead to next week, the Cowboys have a lot to assess in hopes of getting back on track. Here’s “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” from the Cowboys’ loss to the Saints … (and yes, we know: It might be simpler to just do “The Ugly, The Ugly and The Ugly,” but we’ve got a job to do here) … The Good: First-Half Offense – Overlooked by the remarkable deficit, the Cowboys moved the ball well in the first 30 minutes. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb connected for a 65-yard touchdown. Dallas continuously crept into New Orleans territory, ending all but one of their first half drives with points. A Jalen Brooks slip up led to a Dak Prescott interception, but there was certainly some satisfactory takeaways for the Cowboys offense.

Said Dak: “I think if we scored some touchdowns, it makes the defense feel a little bit better and it’s a whole different feel within the game for both sides of the ball.” That “if” is about as far as we’ll go with the “Good.” The Bad: Too many three-point drives – The Cowboys defense never gave the offense a chance. Giving up six straight touchdowns provides no useful solution in any era of the NFL.

With that said, a problem that lingered early last season has now officially reared its ugly head once again. Too many times Prescott and the offense move the ball into opponent territory only to stall and settle for three. Brandon Aubrey’s foot is about as sure as any in the league, but he has finished the majority of the Cowboy’s scoring drives this season; indeed, he’s kicked eight field goals through two weeks. Whether its another receiver stepping up, Prescott and Lamb connecting more or finding anything explosive at all in the run game, Dallas’ offense has hardly mounted any pressure on its opponent through two games.

“Obviously, you’re trying to play complementary football and your defense is struggling to stop a group, so you want to do your part and then score touchdowns and come back,” Dak said. “We weren’t able to score touchdowns. I mean, we were able to move the ball up and down the field, but we couldn’t score touchdowns.” The end zone cannot remain such a stranger any longer. The Ugly: Defense No-Shows at Home – Eerily similar to January’s Wild Card loss to the Green Bay Packers, Dallas could not do anything to stop the Saints. Through the air or one the ground, the Saints had their way.

A 39-yard Derek Carr to Chris Olave connection on the first drive and a 70-yard touchdown to Rashid Shaheed broke the game open through the air. Everything else seemingly game on the ground where an invisible Micah Parsons and the rest of the Cowboys were bullied and turned around for the entire game.