Cam Newton calls for Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys to 'strike while the iron is hot,' fix defense

Cam Newton called for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys to strike while the iron is hot with Dak Prescott. The former Heisman Trophy winner wanted Jones to fix the Cowboys’ defense ASAP.

Of course, Jones traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers prior to the start of the season. And naturally, the Cowboys are 2-3-1 through six games despite Prescott’s MVP-level numbers.

Newton doesn’t know if Prescott will play this well again in his career or if this is at least the peak. But the Super Bowl window, open or closed, has been missed by Dallas in the Prescott era.

“You don’t want to miss this wave,” Newton said on First Take. “(Dak) Prescott is playing the absolute best, cleanest football he has ever played, and you do not want to look back and say ‘We should have struck when the iron was hot.’ There’s times when you need to be desperate. If I’m Jerry Jones, I’m extremely desperate to find help on defense and find help on defense fast. 

“Because right now, what we’ve seen Dak do, every single opportunity, is giving the team the best situation to win, and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t want to take that for granted, because it doesn’t come too often for NFL teams.”

In the 30-27 loss to the Carolina Panthers Sunday, Prescott threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns. But, Dallas turned in another uneven performance, losing in the end to the Panthers on the road. Prescott has 1,617 yards, 13 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 71.6% completion percentage this season.

The Cowboys allowed 410 yards on defense, and 216 of those yards were on the ground. Panthers running back Rico Dowdle, who spent the previous five seasons with the Cowboys, rushed for 183 yards on 30 carries in the 30-27 victory. That is the second-highest rushing total for Dowdle in his career. The most was last week when he rushed for 205 yards against the Miami Dolphins.

While Jones didn’t say anything after the game, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer did. He told reporters that they let the game slip away from them. 

“That locker room’s hurt — I’m hurt,” Schottenheimer said, per Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com. “Why? Because we let an opportunity slip, another championship opportunity, and it’s frustrating as hell. But you don’t point fingers, you know? You look at the film, and we’re gonna see it. It’s gonna jump off the film, the things that we didn’t do well, and we’ll get them fixed. And I don’t worry about this team starting to point fingers in any way, shape, or form.”