Dallas Cowboys fans were hoping for drastic improvements on the defensive side of the ball in the 2026 NFL season after allowing the most points in all of football last year. Unfortunately for Cowboys fans, their season opening loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night looked quite similar to last season. The Cowboys defense routinely struggled to get off the field in Week 1, allowing four double-digit play drives for the Giants offense.
Throughout Sunday's game, the Cowboys defense were able to get off the field without allowing points on just two Giants offensive possessions. Despite clearly making improving on defense a priority this offseason by bringing in new defensive coordinator Christian Parker and the likes of Caleb Downs through the draft and Rashan Gary via a trade, the results have not looked much different from what we saw in 2025. More news: Jaxson Dart Gets Strong Endorsement From Giants Legend After Week 1 Win Discussing the Cowboys struggles on defense, former All-Pro safety Devin McCourty made it clear that he sees some of the Cowboys breakdowns defensively as unacceptable.
"They gave up two touchdowns in that game where they didn't cover anyone," said McCourty during an appearance on the "Up & Adams Show" on Tuesday. "You can't allow that to happen. If you are the Dallas Cowboys, what do you prepare for?
When you watch that game last night, you felt like you saw a lot of missed tackles. And I will say, my biggest takeaway on defense is the miscommunication. No matter what, Week 1, Week 2, you can't have those things.
The amount of free runners we saw wide open scoring touchdowns. Those are the things as a defense you have got to be embarrassed about." McCourty went on to challenge the Cowboys organization, advising them to "take a look in the mirror" and take action to change things on defense. "It's a little bit of 'we all drank way too much of that Kool-Aid,'" added McCourty.
"But also for the Cowboys, you have to look in the mirror and say we’re going to be different by doing it, not just talking about it.” More news: Former All-Pro QB Hypes Up Bills’ Josh Allen as His MVP Pick Last season, the Cowboys offense was amongst the best in all of football, which didn't end up mattering considering they still missed out on a postseason birth due to their struggles on defense. If the Cowboys want to avoid a repeat of this in 2026, they will need to quickly make some adjustments prior to their Week 2 matchup against another divisional rival, the Washington Commanders.
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