Five games into the season, Christian Parker's Dallas defense has a clear statistical fingerprint, and it is not a flattering one.
Tampa Bay left AT&T Stadium with 419 total yards in a 24-16 win Thursday, including 241 rushing yards, DallasCowboys.com's Pic 6 reported. Dallas ran for 50.
The same package said the Cowboys recorded seven pressures all night, a 22.6% pressure rate, with Rashan Gary leading the group at four and Quinnen Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku and Malachi Lawrence at two each. Lawrence and Ezeiruaku shared the lone sack.
Five games in, Pic 6 listed Dallas as the NFL's worst run defense at 168.4 rushing yards allowed per game.
The investment versus the results
Dallas brought in Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, Jaishawn Barham and Caleb Downs to strengthen its run defense, the team's site noted. Jerry Jones said afterward he was "really surprised" at how well Tampa Bay ran between the tackles and that the staff had expected outside runs that would put more on the quarterback.
Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels, making his second career start, finished with a 110.2 passer rating. Pic 6 counted him as the fifth straight opposing quarterback to top 100 against Dallas this season, after Jaxson Dart (134.2), Marcus Mariota (109.1), Lamar Jackson (136.7) and C.J. Stroud (126.7).
Brian Schottenheimer's postgame diagnosis was tackling, not mystery scheme. "We were around [Daniels] quite a bit," he said, per Pic 6. "When you're around him, you got to get him on the ground."
When Daniels did face pressure, he was 3-of-5 for eight yards on those snaps, the same report said, a sign the rush can shrink the offense when it arrives. It rarely arrived Thursday.
