Rex Ryan rips ‘absolutely atrocious’ Cowboys defense after Week 8 loss to Broncos

Rex Ryan is having a laugh at the expense of the Cowboys defense. Dallas certainly didn’t have their best showing against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The showdown featured another weak defensive effort from the Cowboys, as they struggled to get stops throughout the game. By the time it was all said and done, Denver had put up 44 points on Dallas. 

That dropped the Cowboys to 3-4-1 on the season and, while this week’s slate of games isn’t quite over, it’s put Dallas 3.5 game out of first in the NFC East after the Philadelphia Eagles added another win. During an appearance on Get Up on Monday, Ryan took Dallas to task for their defensive struggles. 

“I’m all for the execution of that defense,” Ryan joked. “I’ll tell you something, it’s got to be difficult for an offensive coordinator going against this outstanding defense. You’ve got to decide, are you going to run it, or are you going to pass it? That to me, is very tough. I’m surprised they don’t get a lot of delay-of-game penalties, to be honest with you. They’re absolutely atrocious.”

With Ryan’s comments echoing, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is looking for answers for the team’s defensive woes. It seems like with the trade deadline approaching, it would make some sense to try to add to that struggling defense. 

However, Jones remains unconvinced that the defense is going to be fixed by one trade: “If I saw a proposition for us to help this team, no matter what this score was today, then I would look at it on the merits of helping the team,” Jones said. 

“I would completely look at the merits for both next week or the weeks after [and the longer term]. No, today would not affect a decision on trading for a player.”

There are clearly some major issues on the defense, though. The Cowboys are currently 31st in total defense, giving up 404.6 yards per game. Then, Dallas is also 31st in scoring defense, giving up 31.3 points per game.

“I don’t know what’s realistic,” Jones said. “Could one better player — if we didn’t pay too big a price to have a better player on defense to possibly help? I’m not trying to be cute, but that’s why you’d go get him because you think that you could go help your defense. Are we one player away on defense? I think we’re not. I think we’re more than that away, but what we’re closer to than it looks, in my mind, is executing better on defense.”

All told, the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones have found their defense under particular scrutiny this season, not just for its struggles but because of the Micah Parsons trade this offseason. Until they figure it out, they’re going to be the butt of many jokes, including Ryan’s quips on ESPN.

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.