Everyone who left we replaced with a downgrade. No surprise the Cowboys have a bad team.
They lost their top four DE's after 5 games. they were being counted on to provide an elite pass rush while our two All Pro CB's, although starting, could continue to heal and regain confidence in their physical abilities. They both had the type of injuries that take longer than a season to fully recover.
So now we have no pass rush, the QB has all day, so our CB's get hammered....and re-injured.
That's only the problems associated with pass defense. Add no run defense on the corners to an already weak run defense in the middle, and you have opponents strolling down the field drive after drive.
Of course, one way to combat this is an efficient clock-eating, slowed down, running game on offense to take time away from the opponent offense.
Oops!
You mentioned downgrade? I would call this a no-grade. Nothing.
So we figured that Pollard was better than Zeke and got rid of Zeke.
Then after the following season, we didn't want to pay Pollard and let him go.
Instead, the Cowboys upgraded the position by signing......Zeke?
But don't worry, the Cowboys invested heavily at the position by reinforcing it with......a 160 pound, 5 1/2 FT 6th round draft pick and a 4th year former rookie free agent who didn't have 100 carries before the season started?
No doubt Jerry envisioned them prancing, untouched through gaping holes, courtesy of the Cowboys O-line featuring.....two rookie starters?
Steele and Martin have played together for four years. They have played with Tyler Smith for two years. That's it. That is all the familiarity they have. They are not cohesive. They do not function as a unit in sync. Not yet.
It is difficult to perform well when placed under such unfavorable conditions. That is especially true when it is your own GM that contributed to those conditions.