As he watched the Arizona Cardinals continue to pick apart the Dallas Cowboys defense in a Week 10 Monday Night Football matchup, former Cowboys quarterback, Pro Football Hall of Famer and 3-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman could barely hide the disdain in his voice.
When his partner in ESPN’s MNF broadcast, play-by-play commentator Joe Buck, mentioned how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was telling people he already had a completed trade in place ahead of the next day’s NFL trade deadline, Aikman was quick to reply with a veiled shot at his former boss.
“He might want to cancel that trade,” said Aikman, who played for the Cowboys from 1989 to 2000. “Because no one player is going to make a difference on this defense, with what we’re seeing here … (the Cowboys) are not a good football team.”
The Cowboys went ahead and made a trade on Tuesday, November 4, ahead of the NFL trade deadline, cutting a deal for Cincinnati Bengals veteran off ball linebacker Logan Wilson.
Cowboys Missed Massive MNF Momentum Moment
The 27-17 home loss dropped the Cowboys to 3-5-1 and seemed to put a big dent in the hype the franchise built up headed into the trade deadline — one that would have been burnished by a win over the lowly Cardinals.
Instead, national viewers got to witness a defense that’s been one of the NFL’s worst from the jump and entered the game ranked 31st out of 32 teams.
The Cardinals racked up 340 yards of total offense and the defense got to suffer its own new ignominy when Arizona wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. made $90 million cornerback DaRon Bland fall flat on his back on a 4-yard touchdown reception. — punctuated by Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s shocked reaction when he saw it on the replay.
“The Cowboys rushed to sign DaRon Bland, Tyler Smith, and Jake Ferguson when they traded Micah Parsons,” NFL reporter Connor Livesay wrote on X. “Save to say those three are having the worst seasons of their careers (yes I know Ferguson has numbers, but his tape is not good whatsoever).”
Cowboys Season Might Be Headed Toward Cliff
While other NFL teams wheeled and dealed one day before the deadline, it doesn’t take a big leap in imagination to see what Jones may have been thinking headed toward the trade deadline.
First, create some buzz. Which is what he did by teasing the trade.
Second, hope the Cowboys win in front of a national TV audience to build on that buzz. But his team failed him. He may have been waiting to pull the trigger on the trade until after the MNF game against the Cardinals.
The Cowboys now get a bye in Week 10 before a second consecutive Monday Night Football game — this one against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11.
It might also represent the last chance the Cowboys have to win a game for quite some time. The game against the Raiders is followed by a nightmare month of games; the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12, the Detroit Lions in Week 13 and Minnesota Vikings in Week 14.
Forget making the playoffs. The Cowboys might just be trying to avoid a second consecutive losing season.
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