Cowboys Sign Former 1,000-Yard Running Back; Need Trade For Pass-Rusher?

One key area fans wanted to see in Christian Parker's Dallas Cowboys defense in the season-opener against the New York Giants was the pass rush.

With Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and others, the Cowboys managed just two sacks on Daxson Dart, one of which was from Caleb Downs.

But aside from that? Dart was kept clean.

Oh, and in obvious pass rush situations on third down, the Cowboys couldn't get home, and Dart picked apart the defense with ruthless efficiency.

So, is there a need to invest in adding a genuine pass rusher to Dallas' ranks? 

Well, as it relates to the roster, first things first ...

And the first thing Dallas has done is add a running back.

As first reported by Aaron Wilson, The Cowboys are signing running back Tyler Goodson off the Atlanta Falcons' practice squad to their 53-man roster.

Goodson, 25, is a former Iowa standout who has also played for the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts. He joins Dallas in the wake of Malik Davis' season-ending hip injury suffered in practice that required surgery.

The Cowboys' starter is Javonte Williams. Goodson, who rushed for 1,151 yards and six touchdowns in his final season at Iowa, is 5-foot-9, 200 pounds with a 4.42 time in the 40.

Fine ... but he'll be in competition for a backup job with Emari Demercado and Israel Abanikanda.

Now, what about that pass-rusher need?

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But what did Brian Schottenheimer think of the lack of pass rush from Parker's defense on Sunday night?

“They had a plan against us, and that was to try to beat us up in the running game and then to try to get the ball out his [Dart's] hand fast," Schottenheimer said. "So, I think it was more of that than, that we can't rush the passer. I feel very confident that we can rush the passer, and I think we'll show that, but we need to be in more advantageous down and distances to do that.

So, let's look at it, shall we?

The Giants were 9-of-11 on third down.

How many were obvious pass-rush situations? The Giants had three third and nine's, and converted all of them with passes from Dart of 16, 13, and 12 yards.

And on a third-and-10, Dart had a 19-yard completion.

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So, they are advantageous pass rushing situations, right?

The Cowboys also faced the Giants on a second-and-17 in the fourth quarter, and New York converted.

But this Parker defense isn't a high-volume pass-rush unit like Vic Fangio's; it focuses on messing with a quarterback's eyes and making life tough on the backend. But if the quarterback has ample time, it doesn't matter how good the secondary is; they will give up plays.

So was the loss more because the Cowboys' defense simply hadn't played together much, or was it a sign that things weren't as smooth as many thought entering Week 1, with deficiencies for all to see?

Either way, the lack of a pass rush was evident, and with ample cap space to make a move - yes, here we go again on Maxx Crosby and Josh Sweat and all the usual suspects - are the Cowboys reacting knee-jerk to one game and looking to add some pass-rush juice?

For now, they are adding a deep-backup running back.