This has been one of the roughest defensive years the Dallas Cowboys have seen. Now, with Big Blue rolling into town for the finale, the mood feels tense. And before the Cowboys lined up for Week 18, Brian Schottenheimer had a warning about the New York Giants quarterback, Jaxson Dart.

“Well, I have to start with this because I was actually at Jaxson’s pro day at Ole Miss, and there’s a way he carries himself. There’s a confidence. There’s a swagger about the way the guy plays the game, and that was very evident at the pro day,” he said.

“He was clearly in charge of what they were doing on the field, which tells you there’s leadership ability and capability and things like that. But when you watch Jaxson Dart play, he can hurt you by throwing the football in rhythm. He also can really buy time [to] move around, make plays. But he’s also a weapon to just run the ball.”

Back in March, Dart put on a full show in Oxford. He threw close to 65 passes, first working the short stuff, quick laterals, and clean RPO looks to Tre Harris, Juice Wells, Cayden Lee, Caden Prieskorn, and Henry Parrish out of the backfield. Dart then ripped a sideline go route for about 55 yards that landed perfectly in Wells’ hands.

There were a few incompletions; despite that, most were perfect throws. SEC Network analyst Benjamin Watson liked what he saw.

“Obviously, Jaxson Dart was the headliner,” Watson said. “I thought he threw the ball extremely well. The receivers caught the ball well, except for a few drops late, once they got tired. Exciting to see so many [NFL] front office personnel.”

And the numbers back it up. Dart left Ole Miss as the school leader in passing yards with 10,617. He also owns the wins record with 28.

After joining the Giants, Dart played 13 games, and he has a passer rating of 89.8 with 2,042 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions in 13 games this season.

Because of that, Schottenheimer knows what is coming.

“They’ll do some things with him where they want to get him some carries, get him out in space, and he’s a very dangerous runner and a guy we’re gonna have to do a great job of containing.”

For the Cowboys defense, the message is simple. Fix it now, or Week 18 will look just like the rest.

Brian Schottenheimer’s Cowboys had defensive woes all season

Entering Week 18, the numbers are ugly for Cowboy Nation. Right now, the Cowboys sit dead last in points allowed at 29.8 per game. They also trail the league in pass defense. Meanwhile, the red zone unit ranks 31st. Third-down stops, takeaways, and yards allowed are not much better. All of it paints a rough picture in the Big D.

The run defense checks in at 20th. That is the best mark this group owns. Still, it is not enough to shift the mood. Because of that, the pressure is real. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus sits under the spotlight.

From the start, things never clicked. The issues showed up early and stayed loud. Only one stretch brought relief, which came right after the trade deadline. During those three weeks, the Cowboys took down the Raiders, then outlasted the Eagles, and later stunned the Chiefs. For a moment, belief returned, but it did not last.

Later, Eberflus pointed to instability as a root cause. Players rotated in and out early. On top of that, the Cowboys moved on from Micah Parsons just before the season began.

“I don’t know if it changed that much,” he said. “Obviously, you have an All-Pro pass rusher that wins really quick; that’s certainly going to help any defense if it’s Micah or if it’s Myles [Garrett] or whoever it might be. That impact player is always going to help to a certain degree on pass downs and other downs. Again, you can’t look back. It is what it is, and you just focus on where you are.”

Now the focus shifts to one last game. For Cowboys Nation, it is about pride and ending a painful chapter the right way.