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‘Now You Die The Ugly Death’ – Cowboys Defense Get Blasted by 3-Time Champion

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports
By Mohammad Asif Ansari | Last updated Nov 12, 2025 1:49 PM ET

The Dallas Cowboys are grappling under the dark shadow of profound personal grief. This embattled squad, under new coach Brian Schottenheimer, currently standing at a disheartening 3-5-1 tally, is trying to find some good news after a week filled with sorrow and strategic setbacks.

Now the question echoing off the walls of AT&T Stadium is whether the Cowboys can forge steel from suffering and escape their defensive deficiencies — or will they fall victim to the “ugly death” of disorganized play?

Cowboys Defense Get Blasted by Former Legend Nate Newton

That “ugly death,” as veteran analyst Nate Newton warns, came in response to co-host Everson Walls’ cautionary note, who emphasized the reality of NFL success:

“You can only do that with a good defense,” Wall said. “When you have your defense has to keep giving you opportunities to do that. Otherwise, if they don’t hold, then you’re falling behind; you’ve got to change your game plan now. You’re throwing the ball all over.”

To which Newton reacted:

“Now you die the ugly death, now you die the ugly death — you ain’t dying it on the street.” [Timestamp – 5:57]

Cowboys Defense’s Necessity

Such powerful rhetoric underscores the Cowboys’ dependence on defensive resilience, which was conspicuously absent during their Week 9 humiliation against the Arizona Cardinals. That agonizing 27-17 defeat on Monday Night Football was a textbook lesson in self-sabotage, where the Cardinals clinically exploited a rash of first-half turnovers and penalties inflicted upon the Cowboys — mistakes that irrevocably doomed the team’s prospects.

The profound gravity of this moment is even more amplified by the tragedy of losing 24-year-old edge rusher Marshawn Kneeland, a loss that has left the team with heavy hearts even after the bye week. Kneeland died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Nov. 6. The incident followed a police pursuit in Frisco, Texas, according to reports.

While the returns of safety Malik Hooker and defensive back Donovan Wilson are expected to “move the needle in the right direction” for the struggling defense, Schottenheimer — dubbed by some in the media as the “perfect coach for this situation” — must now swiftly integrate these returning veterans. He must also ensure that players like Quinnen Williams strictly adhere to defensive standards — such as the understanding that “cover two means deep as the deepest man; that doesn’t mean coming in, doing what you want to do like you did before you got hurt. Come back and do what you’re supposed to do — it’s a standard now,” Newton said.

The Cowboys must now adopt a difficult path — they must “crawl before they can walk.”

“That’s half full for [the] year, this year it’s empty,” Wall said. “What I mean by empty is, I don’t see playoffs in our future for this season. I could be damn, I hope I’m wrong. I hope some miracle comes around, that we’ve been praying for the past six, seven years, that could happen when we’re in this lowly position that we’re in now. I don’t think it’s going to happen, because it hasn’t happened yet.”

Brian Schottenheimer and the company’s next game is Monday, against the struggling Las Vegas Raiders (2-7).

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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