National Football League

Troy Aikman calls out Cowboys' ‘terrible' routes and ‘lazy’ offense

Published Oct. 18, 2024 6:24 p.m. ET

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The Dallas Cowboys are an underwhelming 3-3 on the season and have yet to win a game at home. Team owner Jerry Jones isn't considering a head coaching change, however, even after a 47-9 blowout loss at home to Detroit in Week 6 — the worst home loss of the Jones era, which started in 1989, and the worst at AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009.

The 82-year-old Jones got extremely defensive during a radio interview earlier this week, saying that he feels "sick about what happened" vs. the Lions but that he wasn't going to sit there and be told "all of the things that [he'd] done wrong."

Jones' remarks prompted Troy Aikman, who quarterbacked the Cowboys for 12 seasons from 1989 to 2000 and took them to three Super Bowls in four years in the 90s, to blast the team this week, saying their route-running was "terrible" and that they sometimes look "lazy" coming off the line of scrimmage. 

"I'm not impressed," Aikman said, via Sports Illustrated. 

Colin Cowherd is on the same page, saying that he believes head coach Mike McCarthy's days are already numbered.

"[Dallas] can no longer compete at home with the better teams: Green Bay, Detroit, Baltimore," he said on Friday's edition of "The Herd." "They couldn't compete at home when the Saints were healthy. That's a problem. Jerry Jones can get on local radio and bang on the hosts all he wants, but when Troy Aikman calls you lazy and when Michael Irvin … calls you soft — Mike McCarthy's career is over. … It's just not official. 

"In five seasons, Mike McCarthy [has] one playoff win. … When you have Aikman and Irvin going out and willing to say this publicly in the same week, the messaging is pretty clear. Mike's out. Jerry wants him out. Make the landing soft, but they can't compete at home. And lazy receiver routes? That's on coaching."

[Read more: Cowboys Corner: Grading the season so far, including an 'F' for defense]

After winning its season opener, Dallas lost to New Orleans, 44-19, in Week 2 after allowing the Saints to score a touchdown on each of their first six possessions. Dallas followed that up by losing to Baltimore, 28-25, in Week 3. The Cowboys' three wins have come on the road against the Cleveland Browns (Week 1), the New York Giants (Week 4) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 5). They're in third place in the NFC East, ahead of only the Giants. Dallas has a much-needed bye in Week 7, followed by a road tilt against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend on Sunday Night Football.

Offensively, Dallas is averaging 259.3 passing yards (third in the NFL), 77.2 rushing yards (last), 336.5 total yards (14th) and 21.0 points (19th) per game. Defensively, the Cowboys are surrendering 213.3 passing yards (16th), 143.2 rushing yards (25th), 356.5 total yards (24th) and 28.0 points (30th) per game. They have a new defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer, who replaced Dan Quinn after he left following the 2023 season to become the new coach of the Commanders.

The Cowboys have racked up 1,654 total passing yards, good for third-highest in the league, through six games. Star receiver CeeDee Lamb, who recently inked a four-year, $136 million contract with Dallas, has just 467 yards and two receiving touchdowns on the season. What's more, nearly half of all the Cowboys' points this season have come from kicker Brandon Aubrey (roughly 49.2%) as opposed to their offense.

Dallas is a combined 45-28 in the regular season and 1-3 in the postseason under McCarthy, who's in the final season of a five-year deal. The Cowboys have posted three consecutive 12-plus-win seasons and won the NFC East in two of the past three seasons but are coming off a loss at home to the Packers in the NFC wild-card round last season.

Dallas extended quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240 million) just hours before the start of the 2024 regular season. Prescott, a three-time Pro Bowler, has thrown six interceptions — which has him on pace to throw a career-high — boasts a career-worst 85.5 passer rating and has completed just 63.4% of his passes, his lowest mark since 2017.

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