The Cowboys are trying to clean up a defense that was pushed around by Baltimore, but the next step comes with a catch: the roster is getting thinner while the accountability talk gets louder.
Dallas lost to the Ravens 34-31 and gave up 378 total yards, including 192 on the ground. That performance is now the backdrop for Sunday’s trip to face the Texans, an 0-3 team that is also coming off a last-second loss. For the Cowboys, the question is no longer just what went wrong against Baltimore. It is whether the fixes they say they need can be carried out with several defenders expected to miss time.
Kenny Clark did not dress up the issue.
“We’ve just got to keep finding that consistency throughout the whole game,” Clark said.
He also said the defense needs to be better, and that the group has to finish plays. Clark added that the Cowboys need to be more desperate for a win, a blunt message for a team trying to turn one loss into a cleaner response the following week.
That response is being shaped by Brian Schottenheimer’s own public accountability after the Ravens game. Schottenheimer said he deserves the criticism for the loss, putting the focus on the staff as Dallas tries to move from explanation to correction.
The problem is that the correction is happening while the defense is losing pieces.
Malik Hooker is expected to miss a couple of weeks with a fractured forearm, and Jalen Thompson will miss a minimum of four weeks with a hamstring injury. DeMarvion Overshown is also expected to miss some games with a hamstring injury. The Cowboys entered the season after a mostly healthy offseason and training camp, but that stretch has ended abruptly, and the injuries have hit the defensive side hardest.
That matters because the Cowboys have not just been beaten in one area. Through three games, they have allowed the second-most rushing yards per game in the NFL at 179.7. Baltimore’s 192 rushing yards fit that trend, and it leaves Dallas trying to solve a problem that has already shown up on the stat sheet before the schedule even reaches October.
Clark pointed to the Texans as a chance to start changing that picture, but Houston brings its own pressure points. Clark acknowledged that the Texans’ offensive line has already given up 10 sacks on C.J. Stroud to start the season. If Dallas is looking for a place to generate cleaner defensive snaps, that is one of the few obvious openings on the board.
Still, the Cowboys’ own issues remain the larger story. They need better play, better finishing, and better consistency over four quarters. They also need enough healthy bodies to make those fixes matter.
Sunday’s game will not answer every question about Dallas’ defense. It will, however, show whether the Cowboys can turn a public reset into something more concrete while the personnel chart keeps shrinking.