Seven things Solak thinks entering NFL Week 6: Time for Mendoza? Cowboys issues?
I think ... the Cowboys need to bench some veterans
This might come as a surprise: ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) gives the 2-3 Cowboys, fresh off a "Thursday Night Football" loss to the Jalon Daniels Buccaneers, a 63% chance to win the NFC East. The Eagles, also 2-3, have a 20.9% shot. The 3-1-1 Giants, fresh off their tie with the Commanders, are at 11.4%.
In that the Giants have only a 1.5-game lead and have to spend the rest of the season without Jaxson Dart and Brian Burns, they're a fair fade. By why the faith in the Cowboys, who have been nothing short of a defensive disaster through five weeks of the season? Well, getting a healthy and active Joey Porter Jr. should help; he missed Thursday's game against Tampa Bay with an illness.
But the Cowboys are facing an addition-by-subtraction challenge on their mini bye week. New defensive coordinator Christian Parker has had plenty of missteps through his first five weeks as a playcaller, but when I watch the Dallas defense, I see greater concerns with individual play and effort than I do with structure. (To be clear, I see issues with both, though.)
Cornerback DaRon Bland, whom the Cowboys signed to a market-rate extension shortly after the Micah Parsons trade last offseason, has been one of the most successfully targeted cornerbacks in football. Opposing quarterbacks have a 127.4 passer rating when they throw at Bland, 14th highest among all CBs this season. Bland has surrendered 22.8 total EPA on his 27 targets faced; only Lions CB D.J. Reed has a worse number.
Bland used to play more slot corner but has exclusively been a boundary player for Parker in 2026. As the Cowboys moved rookie Caleb Downs out of the slot and to a true safety alignment, they've played Reddy Steward at slot corner instead. Steward has surrendered the highest passer rating of any corner who has seen at least eight targets this season (146.5), as quarterbacks are 11-for-12 for 150 yards and a score when targeting him.
I'm not convinced Bland can move back to the slot successfully. He seems noticeably less quick in 2026 than he was in 2025, when his season was ended early by a foot injury that required surgery. If anything, the entrance of Porter into the starting lineup should move Bland into a fight with Cobie Durant, Shavon Revel Jr. and UFL standout Ameer Speed (he has had some nice moments through five weeks) for the other starting boundary spot. Downs should return to the slot as safeties P.J. Locke and Jalen Thompson come back from injured reserve at some point this season.
On the defensive line, trade acquisition Rashan Gary has presented similar problems to those of Bland in the secondary. Gary has played 90 snaps of run defense this season and has somehow generated zero stuffs in that entire time. Consider that the next-closest edge rusher with zero stuffs is Vikings designated pass rusher Dallas Turner, who has 72 run defense snaps, 80% Gary's volume of opportunities. Gary's run stop rate of 7.8% -- the rate at which he generated positive EPA tackles against the run -- is well below league average for edge rushers and nestled among smaller pass rush specialists such as Andrew Van Ginkel, Aidan Hutchinson and Elijah Ponder.
On Thursday, the Buccaneers were happy to make Gary a point-of-attack player in the running game and found plenty of success running off the offensive right accordingly. As a pass rusher, Gary also lost contain on Daniels -- known for little else besides scrambling -- multiple times, allowing for easy chunk gains. That Gary is keeping snaps from rookie first-rounder Malachi Lawrence (or even fourth-round rookie LT Overton, who has been playing on the inside but can be a big end type) is hurting the Cowboys in both the short and long term.
These are the two most egregious weak points on a Cowboys defense suffering too many underwhelming performances from big-name additions -- but they're not the only ones. Backup linebacker Dee Winters, signed as a veteran safety valve in an otherwise young linebackers room, has been a liability worth targeting in DeMarvion Overshown's absence. Second-year edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku needs to shore up his tackling. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams has struggled in the new system and has vanished on too many clear pass-rush downs.
The players returning from injury -- Overshown, Locke, Thompson and Porter -- should improve a Cowboys defense that is not as hopeless as it has appeared through five weeks. But the accompanying adjustment must be taking snaps away from big-name, veteran contract players who simply cannot perform at the requisite level. It can be scary to play so many inexperienced players across three levels of a defense, but no option should be off limits for Parker as he looks for opportunities to steady the Cowboys' defensive tailspin before things really get out of control.
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Yeah, we definitely need to make some personnel changes. Bland is a no-brainer but I didn't realize just how bad Gary had been.
