Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan answered questions about his unit’s horrendous start on Monday, per dallascowboys.com.
"When they say 'do your job,' basically that's what it is. Whether it's gap integrity or whether it's covering someone, it's a number of things – containing the quarterback. Someone is always responsible for all those duties," Nolan said. "There's nothing really designed to let the quarterback run free or let the running back run through your defense. Most often it's because the integrity of your defense has been broken."
"We've had spurts where we've played good, whether it was three-and-outs," he said. "What was it, there was about 28, 29 plays into the Arizona game where I thought we were playing a pretty good ball game, and then we did not play good for a stretch there. To me, it's the consistency."
"My message has pretty much been playing as a unit, trusting one another to be accountable," he said. "Because any defense, every defense – every offense, for that matter – everything is designed to play as one. There's an objective in mind and everybody has a piece to play in making that objective work, whether that's on offense or defense."