Cowboys Injury Updates On Joey Porter & DeMarvion Overshown; Christian Parker 'Surprise'?

The Dallas Cowboys' defense through the first five weeks has been nothing short of bad.

From the inability to stop the run, giving up big chunk plays, making average quarterbacks look like Pro Bowlers, and the secondary getting torched, Cowboys Nation has seen this movie before.

While a lot of people bought the hype around Parker this offseason, it hasn't translated to the regular season, as Dallas' defense has been curb-stomped every week.

So that is surprising to fans and those outside the building based purely on everything we were hearing in the preseason.

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But what has surprised Parker the most about his defense through five weeks?

"I think overall, just some uncharacteristic things going from the spring to training camp that we didn't really do," Parker said. "Relative to where it's execution, the fundamental detail, me in terms of getting the play-call in on time, things like that.

"Somethings just weren't as buttoned up and you didn't really see that coming just based off performance previously. It's been a lot of self-inflicted wounds these first five games by us, things that are fully under our control and that's where you got to get back to your habits, your process, to turn those things around."

So, in a nutshell, the defense is doing things now, that it wasn't this offseason.

The self-inflicted wounds are real.

Maybe there will be some positive "surprises'' for 2-3 Dallas at 3-2 Green Bay, including on the injury list.

Our Mike Fisher published the "final'' injury list of the week, and both Joey Porter Jr. (ankle) and DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring) are listed as "questionable.''

But, Fish adds, "The Cowboys seem very confident about Porter playing Sunday night at the Packers ... Maybe a bit less so on Overshown.''

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What do the Cowboys need to put behind them?

Whether that be a holding call in the secondary on third down that extends a drive, the missed tackles (Bucky Irving's 72-yard run), and then some communication issues (again) as receivers have been running free downfield.

They are all correctable mistakes, but the fact that they have been happening for five weeks straight is alarming.

With the hire of senior assistant Mike Pettine, the hope is that the Cowboys' defense will be a little more buttoned up in all phases, and that Parker's unit will play a more consistent brand of football.

At 2-3, the season isn't over for the Cowboys, but their fortunes have to change, and fast as dropping to 2-4 puts you in a real bind.

So the mini-bye week came at the perfect time, and, according to Parker, the defense now knows where it went wrong; time will tell whether they're good enough to fix it.

All eyes are on this defense at Lambeau Field.