Cowboys Reveal Key Reason For Worst Part Of NFL's Lowest-Ranked Defense

Stop me if you've heard this before: the Dallas Cowboys can't stop the run.

After a 2025 season that saw the Cowboys give up, on average, 125.5 rushing yards per game (23rd), the unit gave up 140+ on the ground seven times.

So, when Christian Parker was hired to be the new defensive coordinator, along with having Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams for a full offseason, plus Rashan Gary and others, the thought was that the Cowboys could be better against the run.

But after five games it makes for horrible reading.

Dallas has given up 165, 182, 192, 62, and 241 yards on the ground. That makes the defense the worst in football against the run, allowing an average of 168.4 yards per game.

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But why has the defense struggled so much against the run?

Defensive tackle Kenny Clark offered an explanation.

"I mean, it's different things at different times," Clark said. I feel like last game, we was doing a pretty good job early on, and then whether it's penalties that kept the drives going, the big play after the third quarter started, we just wasn't able to bounce back off of that.

"So we got to just do a better job of just handling that, bouncing back, and just be more consistent at what we doing."

Is Clark right?

If we take Bucky Irving's 72-yard run off the board, Dallas gave up 169 yards on 38 attempts, which is 4.4 yards per carry, which isn't too bad. Granted, it's still not great.

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Some think it is a lack of physicality that is the reason for Dallas' inability to stop the run, something that Clark doesn't agree with. 

"No problem physically," Clark added. "Being sound, understanding your gaps, understanding how things is flowing, playing with great effort, all the time, tackling.

"As far as physicality and guys coming up, ready to hit and tackle and do all that kind of stuff, I think we got the right guys to do that. I think guys been doing their part, just got to clean stuff up."

So, all eyes turn to the Green Bay Packers, who are the league's worst at running the football, averaging just 60.4 yards per game, giving Parker's defense a chance to come to the party against the run.

Will they be able to make Green Bay one-dimensional? That's the hope.