The Cowboys’ defense is comically atrocious this season

The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has been pretty, pretty bad this season.

The woeful NFC East is a slow speed bumper car chase to host a playoff game and the Dallas Cowboys’ defense is a big part of the mediocrity.

Dallas began the week with the fourth-worst defense in football, surrendering 32.3 points per game, and they have already given up 28 to the Cleveland Browns in the first half today.

The Browns have attacked Dallas’ vulnerable secondary, which has struggled mightily to cover Odell Beckham Jr, who already has a pair of touchdowns in the early going. One of those scores came on a trick play with Jarvis Landry hitting Beckham for a 37-yard touchdown.

Dallas hasn’t fared much better defending the run, giving up 140 yards on the Browns’ first 14 carries to five different ball carriers. Nick Chubb only has six touches after suffering an ankle injury but Kareem Hunt, Dontrell Hilliard, Beckham and D’Ernest Johnson have found plenty of running room to work with.

This unit has gotten torched for three straight weeks and is fortunate to not be on its way to an 0-4 start thanks to a mind-blowing collapse from the Atlanta Falcons, who have perfected the art of the choke job in the early going. Dallas already has surrendered 39 points to Atlanta and 38 to Seattle in the past two weeks.

The woeful NFC East, whose only other win as of post time came when Washington beat Philadelphia in a divisional matchup in Week 1, could also mask some flaws but what Dallas is doing defensively is unsustainable over the long haul.

This performance could lead to new calls for the Cowboys to sign Earl Thomas, but adding one very good safety won’t fix a unit that has been rattled by injuries and poor performances from their replacements. Dallas needs to figure out its defensive issues quickly before a brutal second-half schedule awaits them.