Cris Collinsworth called out the Dallas Cowboys' defense vs. the New York Giants. Credit: NBC Credit: NBC
By Matt Clapp on

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Another season with high expectations is off to a disappointing start for the Dallas Cowboys.

The New York Giants beat the Cowboys 28-20 in a Week 1 NFC East showdown on Sunday Night Football. After ranking dead last in points allowed last year, the Dallas defense looked every bit as vulnerable to start the 2026 season. New York had 394 total yards on offense, and second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart (23-for-29, 230 yards, three touchdowns, 134.2 passer rating; 11 carries for 54 yards) shredded the Cowboys’ defense.

NBC color commentator Cris Collinsworth couldn’t believe how wide-open Giants players were on offense all night, and he called out the Cowboys’ defense throughout the broadcast alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico.

After Dart connected with wide-open tight end Isaiah Likely for a Giants touchdown in the second quarter, Collinsworth didn’t hold back on how brutal the Dallas defense looked.

“I thought I saw some bad defense out of the Cowboys last year,” Collinsworth said. “That sequence was as bad as it gets. They’re going to leave this corner completely wide open against Isaiah Likely, who has been destroying them the entire half. I don’t know who’s blowing these coverages out here in the defensive left flat, but they had two guys chasing the wide receiver that was three yards down the field, and nobody on the corner route in behind.”

In the fourth quarter, right as Collinsworth described the Cowboys’ defensive problems on the night, those issues surfaced again, and the Giants scored an easy touchdown.

“But, Mike, once again, the Cowboys are rolling corner over here to Malik Nabers,” Collinsworth explained. “And it would be one thing if they dropped the safety down, but they’re not doing that either. So, they’ve got two guys to that side, and this little soft swing pass is just wide open. They can’t defend it the way they’re playing it defensively.”

“So, once again now, here comes the motion across; they’re going to run it here, swing it out,” Collinsworth said after Devin Singletary scored a touchdown on a swing pass. “And that play, it’s been basically the same play at the end of the first half that got them, and now it’s sort of the same play here in the second half. They’ve just been voiding a certain area of the field. And give credit to these New York Giant coaches. When they find something that’s working, they are just hammering it. They did it in the first half, and they’re doing it again here.”

Collinsworth later delivered an All-22-esque breakdown with replays from the Skycam to expand on the Cowboys’ defensive issues that the Giants continued to exploit.

“It is just the same mistake being repeated time after time in key sequences of the game that really is just killing this defense,” Collinsworth explained.

The Cowboys hired Christian Parker as their defensive coordinator in January after firing Matt Eberflus, but the results don’t look any different through the first game. And Dallas will face more dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks over the next two weeks in the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson.

Collinsworth will get another up-close look at the Dallas defense on Oct. 18, when the Cowboys play the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor/writer at Awful Announcing and The Comeback.

He can be reached by email at mclapp@awfulannouncing.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp