Can’t remember when Dak let the team down. 3 games ruined the season. Jets, Bills and Bears. Defense ruined the season. They sucked in those games.
The defense gave up:
12 against NO and lost
13 against NE and lost
17 against Phi and lost
I would put all of those games on the offense.
I don't necessarily disagree with your assertion though. There were several games where the D simply didn't show up. Its just really easy to pick apart last season and find things to blame. You could make a case for coaching, bad defense, special teams, a few bad games from Dak, receivers dropping balls, fat Zeke, etc. and be right. Last season was weird. Just fixing one problem out of many could have turned it into a 10 or 11 win season.
Yes, the defense was good enough in those 3 games.
The offense had a season low in rushing yards vs the Saints and a season high in fumble-turnovers with 1 each for Witten and Zeke.
The New England game was low scoring due to terrible cold raining conditions. A blocked punt gave the Pats the ball with 12 yards to go for a TD. There was also a missed FG. That's a 10 point swing due to Special Teams.
Dak injured his shoulder the week prior to the Eagles game. He really should not have played that game. If Dalton was the backup I'm certain he would have started that game.
The Jets game was with UDFA Brandon Knight at RT and "not good enough to keep in 2020" Cam Fleming at LT. There was a missed field goal in a game that ended 24-22 Jets-Cowboys.
The Bills and Bears were top 5 defenses. They didn't lose when their offenses scored as many points as they did against the Cowboys.
The Saints game irritated me as much as any game. It was obvious Garrett played scared due to being in New Orleans. In the previous games it was obvious that Kellen Moore had brought fresh concepts to the offense but vs New Orleans it was obviously back on the old Garrett style of staying conservative even when it obviously was not working.
It was worth a wasted season to be rid of Garrett; however, it was indeed a wasted season due to coaching. The Cowboys had way more than 8-8 talent.