No defense has been as uniquely bad as Mike Nolan’s Cowboys defense since Mike Nolan’s 49ers defense

There are a lot of people wondering whether the Los Angeles Rams are legitimate contenders in the NFC this season. A loss on Sunday Night Football will certainly invite those kinds of questions.

Of course, the Rams handed the Dallas Cowboys a loss on SNF back in the season’s opening week, their first of what is currently a four-win total. LA would go on to sweep the entire NFC East over the next month which might qualify them for hats and t-shirts, but that is a conversation for a different day.

Perhaps the biggest indictment against the Rams this season is that they only managed to score 20 points against the Dallas Cowboys. Every team since Week 1 has dropped at least 34 on America’s Team (the fewest of which were, in fact, 34, courtesy of the worst offense in the NFL in the New York Giants) and the Arizona Cardinals hung 38 on them on Monday night.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has obviously come under fire as a result of his group’s performance and the heat has been dialed up to a different degree with the results staying the same.

This statistic about Mike Nolan is so incredible and absolutely stunning

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the Dallas Cowboys of this season are among the worst defenses not just in the NFL at the moment, but in the long history of the National Football League. That isn’t hyperbole, that is legitimately who they are.

Mike Nolan is in his first year with the Cowboys after being brought in with new head coach Mike McCarthy. The two know each other from their time spent together with the San Francisco 49ers when the former was the head coach and the latter was the offensive coordinator. Much is typically made about their decision to draft Alex Smith with the first overall pick in 2005 as opposed to Aaron Rodgers, but that’s not what we are here to talk about.

That 2005 season was not a great one for the 49ers as they were quite poor on defense. Interestingly, 15 years later Mike Nolan’s current group has done something that hasn’t been accomplished since that fateful 49ers team which is simply astounding.

The Cowboys have allowed 24 touchdowns in six games. That is good for a touchdown a quarter if you want to sort it out that way. Simply put, this isn’t a winning formula, but the fact that this particular feat is bordered by two Mike Nolan squads calls into question why he was even hired to be the team’s defensive coordinator in the here and now. You know, besides the fact that he’s friends with the head coach.

We think that the Cowboys have legitimate talent on the defensive side of the ball although even that idea feels rather loose these days. The scheme that they switched to has been one that has taken a lot of heat as far as their shortcomings are concerned, so much so that current 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman even had a few choice words about it recently.

Things are no longer at the point where talking about Mike Nolan’s group not being good enough because it’s too early in the season. The poor rate at which they are performing is comical (but not really funny) and there has to be some sort of accountability shown.

Who will be the one to answer for it?