IRVING, Texas -- In the aftermath of a 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers last week, the Cowboys defensive coaches took the loss personally.
The coaches benched linebacker Bruce Carter for poor play and most likely will start Ernie Sims against Denver on Sunday. But Morris Claiborne's struggles at cornerback in the Chargers game raised questions about his abilities.
"I think they took it personally and I think everybody looked in the mirror and knows if we want to get to where we want to get, then we got to play better defense than that," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "I think we played pretty good defense the first three games and everybody wants to point to the Giants game [because] they threw for a lot. But we did have a nice lead most of that game, and most of that was probably playing with a lead there.
"I just have a lot of confidence that our guys will get this done and everybody has got to step up their game a level, and I think it was a wake-up call for the defense. But at the same time our offense understands this is a big challenge for them and the'yre going to need to score points and we need to play well if we’re going to beat the Broncos."