The Cowboys' defense has been so-so through two weeks, but there is one area that simply has to improve with the Ravens up next.
The Dallas Cowboys, through two weeks, you could say, based on preseason expectations, haven't been good.
Granted, we knew there would be growing pains for Christian Parker's defense early on, but the number of things that have gone wrong, and one that stands out, is the run defense.
We remember how poor it was last year, right? They gave up an average of 125.5 yards on the ground in 2025 (ranked 23rd), which was a serious blight on the defense.
So, with Parker, there was hope that it would get better. But it hasn't.
Through two weeks, the Cowboys have given up an average of 173.5 yards on the ground.
Yes, you read that right.
It's gotten worse, and you can make the case that the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders don't exactly have top run games.
But Baltimore does and it is up next.
When asked what he wanted to see improved in Week 3, head coach Brian Schottenheimer gave a rather obvious answer.
“I would say our run defense," Schottenheimer said. "There's some things we got to do from a running game, containing the quarterback. I thought [Rachaad] White hurt us some with a couple things. We're going to play a team this week that's very, very good running the football both with Derrick Henry and with Lamar.
"We're going to see runs. I would run it against us, so we got to be better. We got to set edges better. I thought there was some steps in the right direction, but, I think you can see that if we can get people behind the sticks, we have the ability to rush the passer, but you got to get people behind the sticks, and that starts with run defense."
Of the 347 yards given up on the ground over two weeks, 123 have been from the quarterbacks they've faced.
Take out the quarterback runs, and Dallas has given up 224 yards on the ground, roughly 112 per game, which doesn't sound too bad.
But the inability to keep the quarterback in the pocket has been one of Dallas' biggest issues this season, and with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry up next, who have a combined 286 yards and 5 TDs on the ground, while averaging 5.7 yards a run, stopping them looks tough.
However, if the Cowboys want to move to 2-1 in Rio, they have to curtail the influence of Jackson and Henry. You're never going to completely stop them, but limiting their impact has to be job No. 1 for Parker.
And time will tell if Schottenheimer will see any improvement from Parker's run defense.
