FRISCO, Texas — Sometimes it takes frustration giving way to anger for things to finally change and progress to be made, and the Dallas Cowboys are officially past the former and headed out in fury after their second loss of the regular season and third straight at home, with the Baltimore Ravens serving as the latest reminder of some age-old problems.
The main problem is the inability to stop the run, allowing a combined 464 rushing yards in the last two games alone, and a slow start on defense and offense hasn’t helped — with Jourdan Lewis joining other locker room leaders like Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence in demanding more from players going forward.
“We have to be thorough,” a clearly angry Lewis said Monday, hoping that will help steer the ship away from the iceberg on a short week with the New York Giants waiting for him Thursday night. “I mean, at the end of the day, this shit is about arresting people. That’s just what it is.”
“We have to be credible and responsible in every action, and that for 60 minutes of football.”
After all, that’s where the devil pays his mortgage:
Lewis also doesn’t buy into the idea that it’s a lack of talent on the Cowboys roster. Instead, he’s calling on the team to improve in how it handles the little details in every practice and every rep during games.
That said, don’t count on the Cowboys to crush the Giants. It’s not that they can’t, but the things that cost them dearly over the last two weeks could easily do so again in Week 4 unless Dallas decides to eliminate them.
“No matter who we’re playing, we have to go out there and be precise in our actions,” Lewis said. “No matter who we’re playing. It’s the NFL, if we don’t do that kind of shit, anybody can beat us. (…) We’re not precise in our work. You can take advantage of the details. That’s how you win in this league.”
“Everyone is good in this league. It’s the details that make you different.”
Now in his eighth year in the NFL, all with the Cowboys, Lewis is working under his fourth defensive coordinator and that means he’s seen it all – all kinds of adversity – making him highly qualified to challenge the locker room in this manner.
That’s why he plays every performance as if his hair is on fire, and that means he’s within his rights to demand the same from everyone around him, every time.
“You can’t be thorough if you don’t go to work every day and act like it,” Lewis said. “You have to practice to play. You have to practice every day like it’s your last day — it’s Thursday, Sunday, Monday and you’re about to play a game.
“Until we do it, it will always be the same.”
But… message received?
