Jason Garrett criticizes Cowboys: ‘They’re not physical on either side of the ball’

Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions was an absolute catastrophe for the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions routed the Cowboys 47-9, the worst home loss for Dallas since Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989.

When the game was over, NBC’s Jason Garrett, who’s well-acquainted with the Cowboys, laid out the team’s issues.

Maria Taylor noted that over the 2022 and 2023 regular seasons, the Cowboys were 16-1 at home. But the 2023 season ended with a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Dallas is 3-3 overall this year but is 0-3 at home. So, dating back to the playoff loss, the Cowboys are not only 0-4 in their last four home games but have been outscored by an average of more than 20 points in those games. Garrett noted that the biggest difference was that in the 16-1 stretch, the Cowboys were generally playing from ahead. Conversely, over the last four games, they’ve consistently been playing from behind.

Devin McCourty pointed out that Dallas actually led Detroit 3-0 on Sunday but was outscored 47-6 after. He then went into the Cowboys’ toughness — or lack thereof.

“Right now, Dallas’ defense, they just look soft out there,” McCourty said. “It’s not everything being schemed up. It’s David Montgomery running over people. They’re grabbing at his jersey. They’re just not a tough football team right now.”

Garrett agreed.

“The injuries are real,” Garrett said. “But they’re not physical on either side of the ball. On offense, they can’t run it, they’re not controlling the line of scrimmage. Everything is on Dak, every time the ball is snapped. And they can’t stop the run on the other side.”

Garrett, of course, was Dallas’ coach from 2010-2019. His contract was not renewed after the 2019 season, opening the door for the current coach, Mike McCarthy, to be hired. The issues that Garrett laid out were also similar to the ones that the team dealt with during his tenure.

But even if Garrett isn’t the ideal messenger, the message itself is hard to dispute.

Fortunately, as bad as Sunday’s game was, the season hasn’t been a complete disaster. A 3-3 start is certainly underwhelming for what the Cowboys were expecting but they’re not in a hole that can’t be dug out of — at least not yet.

That said, if more games like Sunday happen, the hole will only get deeper and the criticism will only get louder.

[Photo Credit: NBC]