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There’s no question that the Dallas Cowboys began the 2026-27 campaign on a sour note, coming out flat against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium and suffering a deflating 28-20 loss on Sunday night.
While Dallas’ lackluster passing and rushing attack deserve its fair share of the blame for the franchise’s season-opening letdown, it’s challenging not to focus a majority of the attention on the Cowboys’ non-existent pass rush.
Per Next Gen Stats, the Cowboys only generated two pressures and two sacks against the Jaxson Dart-led Giants offense. Needless to say, Dallas needs to locate a game-changing edge rusher who can wreak havoc against opposing quarterbacks sooner rather than later.
According to a report from ESPN’s Ian Rapoport, the Cowboys were among the teams that had their sights set on 28-year-old Las Vegas Raiders star defender Maxx Crosby before the start of the new season, but weren’t ‘remotely close’ to completing a deal.
“Other teams were interested, but the (Los Angeles) Rams, with their propensity to swing big, were the strongest club pushing for a deal, according to sources,” Rapoport wrote Sunday. “Sources said several teams came to the Raiders hoping to do a trade, but nothing even came remotely close because teams wanted 'pennies on the dollars."
“In other words, those interested teams hoped Las Vegas was trying to dump Crosby for a cheap price, which was a nonstarter. Other teams such as the (Philadelphia) Eagles, Cowboys, and (San Francisco) 49ers were monitoring and interested.”
The good news for Dallas is that in-season trades exist, meaning that there could be a pathway for the five-time Super Bowl champions to acquire the 69.5-sack (career) star before things get out of hand defensively (it could require them to break the bank, though).
The bad news is the Raiders secured a 27-13 win vs. the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon, which isn’t ideal for a Cowboys franchise rooting for Las Vegas’ early-season demise. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for the Raiders to spiral out of control and contemplate revamping their roster before the Nov. 10 deadline, which should provide Dallas with much-needed optimism in mid-September.
Until then, though, the Cowboys will have to find a way to consistently reach opposing offenses’ backfields to avoid getting carved up in the weeks to come.
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