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Rex Ryan Blasted Cowboys’ Defense With Brutally Honest Message

The longtime defensive coordinator was disgusted with the effort Dallas put forth last week.

Liam McKeone

Dallas gave up 44 points to the Saints at home last week
Dallas gave up 44 points to the Saints at home last week / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
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The Dallas Cowboys' defense got taken for a ride in the team's home opener last week, giving up 44 points to Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints. It was a beatdown of epic proportions and came as no small surprise, either, given the defense was supposed to be arguably the strongest phase of the game for this year's Cowboys.

On ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown before Dallas took on the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3, Rex Ryan ripped the unit with merely two words: "Hot garbage."

"Garbage," Ryan said when asked by host Mike Greenberg to give one word to describe the Cowboys' defense. Then he emphasized that they were "hot garbage" when Greenberg asked for two words.

Even Cowboys fans would likely not disagree with Ryan. While the defense held strong in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns, giving up 17 points and 230 yards of total offense, they suffered a complete collapse against the Saints. The 40-burger was bad enough, but the other stats are even worse. New Orleans totaled 432 yards of offense, averaged 7.7 yards per play, and Alvin Kamara scored four touchdowns on his own. It was as bad as bad gets.

The hope was that the defense would play as well as last year and compensate for any potential steps back taken by the offense after the departure of Tony Pollard in the backfield and the realization that Dallas has little depth at receiver. However, it seems that Dak Prescott is able to compensate on that front just fine, while the defense barely put up a fight against a Saints unit that was league-average in 2023.

The Cowboys will have to put up a better fight to win, or at least avoid further disdainful descriptions from a former defensive coordinator, against Lamar Jackson's Ravens on Sunday.

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Liam McKeone

LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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