Tackling Is Hurting the Cowboys Defensive Tackles

The Missed Tackle Problem I Can’t Ignore

It’s pretty easy for anyone to see the Dallas Cowboys defense missed way too many tackles this season. If not, let me show you something.

Dallas recorded 966 total tackles with 97 missed, landing at 9.1% missed tackle rate, tied for the 7th-highest in the NFL.

I know this isn’t the bottom of the league, but I watched enough games to know it was death by a thousand mistimed steps.

To get a good barometer of the missed tackle issue, the NFL league average is 8.5%, so Dallas finished the year well below the average.

When compared to efficient tackling teams like the Patriots (6.6%), and even the lowly Cardinals (8.5%) they both finished with cleaner stat sheets.

I blame execution, because that missed tackle rate has shown up for nearly every game this season.

Why the Rest of the Defense Undid the Interior

Here’s the paradox that drives me insane: the defensive tackle room didn’t collapse. It proved itself over and over again.

Quinnen Williams won with quickness and power, Kenny Clark erased gaps with veteran leverage, and Osa Odighizuwa disrupted with hands and timing.

However, I watched the defense behind them play like the interior defensive line wins were supposed to fix everything by themselves.

That is not how it works. They create the opportunity, the rest of the defense has to cash the check.

Too often, I watched this reaction unfold:

• Interior pressure forces a QB to leave the pocket or step-up
• The step-up lane is cleaner than it should be or no one is there
• Linebackers arrive late or in the wrong gap
• Safeties dip their helmets instead of driving their hips
• Corners are ten yards off the receiver
• Tackles become guesses instead of conclusions

The middle won the reps. The rest of the defense should have lost their jobs.

The League Doesn’t Fear Dallas

I don’t care about rankings unless they explain what happens in a game, and this does.

Pittsburgh leads the league in total tackles (1,045) with 117 missed for a 10.1% rate, but even their misses feel like overflow aggression, not indecision.

The Bengals missed 155 tackles at a 13.2% rate, which is defensive malpractice.

Dallas wasn’t that, but I watched offenses treat Cowboys tackling like an expectation instead of a threat.

Fear is avoidance and I want Dallas to make offenses avoid the middle of the field.

The Offseason Rewire I’m Looking For

I’m not asking for a defensive rebuild, I’m asking for the Cowboys to rewire the behavior around the strength they have.

If I were mapping 2026 priorities myself, this is the plan I’d staple on the door at The Star:

• Linebackers who fit and can tackle
• A box safety who strikes through contact instead of lunging at it
• Corners who tackle with hips and leverage, not hope
• Edge rushers who can win fast enough to honor interior disruption
• A penalty purge that stops gifting offenses new life
• Additions that respect angles, and finish

I don’t need more headlines. I need more physicality behind the defensive tackles.