Times are tough for the Dallas Cowboys.

After the Cowboys were shellacked 47-9 at home by the Lions on Sunday, a ghost from Dallas’ past returned to make matters worse.

During NBC’s “Football Night in America” ​​broadcast Sunday night, Devin McCourty and former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett were highly critical of the team’s toughness.

“Right now, Dallas’ defense just looks soft,” McCourty began. “It’s not like everything is planned. It’s (Lions running back) David Montgomery running over people. They grab his sweater. It’s just not a strong football team at the moment.”

Garrett piled on.

“The injuries are real,” he said. “But they’re not physical on both sides of the ball. If there is a violation, they cannot execute it. They have no control over the line of scrimmage. Everything is on (quarterback) Dak (Prescott) every time the ball is snapped – and they can’t stop the run on the other end.

Garrett was head coach of the Cowboys from 2010 to 2019, having previously served as offensive coordinator and played quarterback for the franchise.

Sunday’s loss came on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ 82nd birthday.

Nevertheless, Jones was unwilling to entertain the idea that the job of Mike McCarthy – who succeeded Garrett as head coach – was in jeopardy.

“Oh, I haven’t even thought about that, I’m not considering that, so you’re clear: I’m not considering that,” Jones told reporters. ‘Do you think I’m an idiot? Will you? OK? Well, I’m not going to hypothesize on what I consider coaching change in light of the timing we’re in here, I’m not doing that at all.

The Lions appeared to be openly seeking revenge in the game, as they threw passes even when the game was well out of reach, ran trick plays for offensive linemen and even called a timeout past the point where the Cowboys threw in the towel had thrown.

Detroit may still have been in awe of last year’s controversial regular-season game, when there was a hiccup on offensive lineman Taylor Decker reporting for eligibility, causing a two-point conversion to be called and the Lions to lose.