Dan Quinn points to tackling issues for Cowboys' porous defense vs. Bills

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn got over a stomach bug last week only to be sickened by an entirely different issue on Sunday. The Cowboys’ defense gave up 31 points and 351 total yards to the Bills offense in the loss, making it an exceptionally rough day at the office for Quinn.

Breaking down how the defense failed on Monday, the veteran coordinator pointed to the poor tackling and the lack of “ball-hawking.” The unit that’s come up with 21 turnovers so far this season couldn’t come up with one on Sunday.

“The biggest impact on this game was our tackling and our ball-hawking,” Quinn said. “We’re excellent at those two things, and we had a poor performance in both. Our tackling wasn’t up to the standard we’ve set. That is our secret sauce, our tackling and our ball-hawking, and we didn’t have it.”

Quinn would like to see his unit create more negative plays than they did against the Bills. They’ll need to on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, which has one of the most explosive offenses in the league this season.

“I would say it’s more in the concentration piece,” Quinn said of improvements they could make this week. “The other is maybe you’re too aggressive. You’re flying past and not taking the right angle. Usually, the truth is somewhere in the middle. In this case, we needed to take the extra step. We weren’t going to lunge and miss because we didn’t have the right angle in taking the next step.”

Mike McCarthy raises concerns for Cowboys run defense

Missing starting veteran Johnathan Hankins at defensive tackle, the team played with rookie Mazi Smith. Although the first-rounder out of Michigan notched his first NFL sack against Bills QB Josh Allen, it was the only highlight from the defensive line in Buffalo.

Bills running back James Cook had success around the edges and through the gaps on his way to a career-high 179 rushing yards.

“They got on our edge a bunch,” head coach Mike McCarthy said postgame. “I know [defensive coordinator Dan Quinn] and the guys were very impressed throughout the week. They performed that way… broke contain, they broke tackles, they won the bend-back battle. They were better at it today.”

The lack of stopping power was apparent for Dallas, as was the inability to cope with the physicality Buffalo brought to the field on Sunday. Despite dominant performances over the last two weeks, the Cowboys once again sputtered against a talented opponent on the road. Things won’t get easier for the defense in Week 16, either. The Miami Dolphins have two running backs capable of gashing defenses for chunk yardage with Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane.

“We gotta be better,” McCarthy said. “They ran the ball way too effectively. Our run defense needs to do much better, without a question.”