Dallas Cowboys Coach Dan Quinn 'Upset & Hurt' by Effort on Defense

The Dallas Cowboys defense produced a horror show on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals and coordinator Dan Quinn is rightly annoyed at the performance.

The Dallas Cowboys' 28-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals was a football disaster for many reasons, but one was this team's so-called greatest strength getting a heavy dose of its kryptonite.

One of Dallas' biggest woes over the last couple of seasons has been defending the run. Against Arizona, Dan Quinn's unit gave up 222 rushing yards to QB Joshua Dobbs' offense, something it hasn't done since Week 10 of last season.

For Quinn, the defense played nowhere near the standard it set for itself in the opening two games. ... and his reaction to it all is an emotional one.

“I saw a lot (Sunday) that upset me and hurt as well,'' Quinn said.

Quinn continued in his Monday media session: "Sometimes you just have a performance that you're not pleased with at all. When you walked around our locker room, you had a lot of pissed off people and they should be. We were not up to the standard that we had set for ourselves.''

The Cowboys walked into the perfect storm on Sunday: Playing a Cardinals team that for some reason, they have trouble beating, losing three offensive lineman to injury and dealing the emotional drag of losing Trevon Diggs.

Still, Dallas had the weaponry on both sides of the ball to win.

Rondale Moore gets loose in the Dallas secondary on Sunday / Joe Rondone-USA TODAY Sports

The tone was set just two plays into the game as Dobbs got loose for a 44-yard run that gave Arizona the confidence boost it needed ... and it never looked back.

Dallas gave up 180 first-half rushing yards as the inability to stop the run was put on show for the world to see. For Quinn, the energy simply wasn't there from his unit.

"We just didn't play with that relentless energy that we had gotten grown to know and appreciate about our group,'' Quinn said.

The Cowboys' defense, lauded for their sacks and takeaways in the opening fortnight, failed to get a single takeaway and grabbed just the two sacks against the Cardinals. But having said all of that? Quinn seems confident in engineering a turnaround in Week 4 and beyond.

"When you're going through a difficult performance, you do grow from them,'' Quinn said. "I would love to say you learn from (winning) 40-0, but that ain't the truth. You gotta have some adversity and come out the other end to show what you're capable of. These guys are a warrior crew and they will respond like crazy."