It’s hard times for the Dallas Cowboys.
After the Cowboys got shellacked at home by the Lions on Sunday, 47-9, a ghost from Dallas’ past came back to add insult to injury.
On NBC’s “Football Night in America” broadcast Sunday evening, Devin McCourty and former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett were highly critical of the team’s toughness.
“Right now, Dallas’ defense — they just look soft out there,” McCourty began. “It’s not everything being schemed up. It’s [Lions running back] David Montgomery running over people. They’re grabbing at his jersey. They’re just not a tough football team right now.”
Garrett piled on.
“The injuries are real,” he said. “But they’re not physical on either side of the ball. On offense, they can’t run it. They’re not controlling the line of scrimmage. Everything is on [quarterback] Dak [Prescott], every time the ball is snapped — and they can’t stop the run on the other side.”
Garrett was head coach of the Cowboys from 2010-19 after previously serving as offensive coordinator and playing quarterback for the franchise.
Sunday’s beatdown loss occurred on the 82nd birthday of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Nonetheless, Jones was not willing to entertain the notion that the job of Mike McCarthy — who succeeded Garrett as head coach — was in jeopardy.
“Oh, I haven’t even considered that, I’m not considering that so you’re clear, I’m not considering that,” Jones told reporters. “Do you think I’m an idiot? Do you? OK? Well, I’m not gonna hypothetical with you about what I consider coaching change in light of the timing we’re sitting here with, I’m not at all.”
The Lions seemed to be overtly out for revenge in the game, as they were throwing passes even as the game was far out of reach, running trick plays for offensive linemen and even calling timeout past the point when the Cowboys had thrown in the towel.
Detroit may have still been ticked about last year’s controversial regular-season game when there was a snafu over offensive lineman Taylor Decker reporting eligible, which caused a two-point conversion to get called back and the Lions to lose.