Stephen Jones deflects from Cowboys’ struggles in coverage with run defense praise

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It’s going to be a long week for the Dallas Cowboys after a frustrating blowout loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 3.
For the second week straight, their pass defense was picked apart, but this time, their offense wasn’t able to mount a comeback. That leaves them at 1-2 with Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers up next.
Parsons’ return to AT&T Stadium as an opponent is going to lead to more scrutiny for the Cowboys defense, but executive vice president Stephen Jones is already deflecting the negative attention.
While on 105.3 The Fan, Jones made sure to let listeners know that Dallas is “doing great things” against the run. After all, that was the primary goal when they traded Parsons for two draft picks and Kenny Clark.
On 105.3 The Fan, #Cowboys Stephen Jones said that he thinks they’re doing great things defensively with stopping the run.
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) September 22, 2025
Via @pfref, Dallas has allowed an average of 3.7 yards per carry to opposing teams, 10th best in the NFL.
NFL average is 4.2 YPC. So that’s one positive.
It’s true that the Dallas defense has done well against the run, but does it really matter when teams don’t need to run to move the ball up and down the field?
Stopping the run is excellent, and fans have been begging the Cowboys to address the situation for years. They failed to do so for years, and only made headway by trading their best pass rusher.

By waiting so long to make a move, the Cowboys now have a secondary that features older safeties and injury-riddled cornerbacks who are being asked to defend for far too long since the defensive line can’t get pressure on the quarterback.
But hey, how ‘bout that run defense?

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Randy Gurzi is a graduate of Arizona State and has focused on NFL coverage since 2014.