Across The Field: Cowboys Defense is Failing Dak Prescott
The Dallas Cowboys have seemingly wasted an MVP-start by quarterback Dak Prescott at the quarter mark of the 2020 season thanks to their futile defensive collapses.
The Cowboys defense has given up a league-worst 146 points this season and is currently 30th in yards allowed with 430 per game.
Dallas has had no choice but to let the ball fly behind the arm of their quarterback as Prescott has completed 137 passes on 201 attempts, both of which are league highs.
Prescott currently leads the NFL in passing yards with 1,690 in just four games and has been forced to drop back and pass more than any other quarterback in the NFL due to the deficits the team faces behind one of the worst defenses in the league.
Had the Cowboys been able to make a stop at crucial moments in their three losses, they would likely be undefeated.
Prescott might even be a frontrunner for league MVP had that been the case. It would certainly be helping his case for the lucrative long-term contract extension he is seeking while he plays on a one-year franchise tag.
Instead, he is simply a passing leader on a 1-3 team and hasn't been able to carry the Cowboys despite his dazzling numbers.
New Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who joined head coach Mike McCarthy's staff this offseason, has led a historically bad defensive effort in Dallas through his first four games.
Yet McCarthy and ownership have still supported Nolan despite the defensive mess to start the season.
"We are going to stay the course. A lot of conversation as you would expect. Mike and I were here last night," McCarthy said.
"We don't like the way it turned out. Certainly understand the point totals. Driver starters -- as far as 20 percent of the drives have started across the 50.
"That is a challenge for any defense. We are focusing on the details of the things that we need to do better. My confidence is very high in Mike Nolan."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has doubled-down on the support of Nolan during an interview on 105.3 the Fan on Tuesday.
"If you think about it at this juncture, that's not something that you would go to," Jones said of replacing Nolan. "Don't need to. We're getting the benefit of a coach that has a lot of experience.
"He's seen a lot of football. He's coached a lot of football. He's lived around a lot of football. He has answers there. Can they be answers that we all get on the page with?
"That's the challenge of how to execute it when it's in live-action. But we've got somebody here that can tell you where we're apt, where we're inept, where we need changes as well as anybody on the planet in Mike."
Sunday's matchup will pit Dallas' last-ranked defense in points allowed against a Giants offense that ranks last in the NFL in scoring points in a battle of two units trying to break out of dreadful slumps.
It will also bring a familiar face back to AT&T Stadium, as Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will return to face the team he led as head coach from 2010-19, this time looking to one-up his old team.
Giants-Cowboys Regular Season Series History
The Cowboys lead the All-Time series 68-46-2 and have won the last six matchups against the Giants.
For the first time in the 60-year series history, Sunday's matchup will pit a first-year head coach for each team--rookie head coach Joe Judge of the Giants and veteran Mike McCarthy of Dallas-- against each other.
For Judge, a historic matchup against the Cowboys would undoubtedly be a nice stage to get his first win as a head coach. Still, he will be battling recent history as the Giants will need to break a shameful losing streak to their division rival.
