DALLAS — There is but one word to describe the Cowboys' loss to one of only four winless teams that were left in the NFL to start Week 6.
Unacceptable.
"It's unacceptable for us to give up that many points," linebacker Jaylon Smith said. "That's not an elite defense."
It's not an elite anything right now for this team. Hence the frustration in the locker room postgame.
"It don't change s---," Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence said. "Not at all. You know what the hell happened today? We beat ourselves. Just like last week. Now it's time to buckle down and get things going."
The Cowboys have turned a 3-0 start, into a thoroughly disappointing 3-3 mark.
"Ugh," defensive end Robert Quinn offered. "It's just frustrating."
Defensively, they allowed the Jets to rack up 247 first-half yards, building a 21-3 lead.
"Penalties, offsides. Just giving up free yards," Lawrence said dejectedly. "We knew they couldn't beat us, man-to-man and 11-on-11, but they did the best they can, and they came out with the victory, so hats off to them."
The Jets beat the Cowboys man-to-man on Sunday. But it perhaps had something to do with the fact that the Cowboys weren't featuring all their best men.
Tackles Tyron Smith and La'el Collins both were inactive, as was receiver Randall Cobb. And then wideout Amari Cooper went down with a quad injury after just two plays, and was done for the day. And that's just the most notable injuries we feel like mentioning right now. There were others.
Despite that, you still should beat the 0-4 Jets.
"With injuries, without injuries, you can't get in your own way," quarterback Dak Prescott said. "And that's what we've continuously done. And we've gotta figure out a way to do that. Great teams don't do that."
Great teams also don't lose to winless opponents. But as bad as this one was, it's a continuation of a trend.
"We've got three unacceptable losses," Lawrence said. "Period. You know, and there ain't no answer for the way we played out there, and we understand what we need to do. It's unacceptable, but we're gonna accept it, and we're gonna fix it."
Cowboys defensive coach Kris Richard said after the game that adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it. Three straight losses for this Dallas Cowboys football team, including this ugly one against the previously 0-4 New York Jets, puts them squarely in the heart of adversity. What will it reveal about this team?
"It's frustrating, because it's self-inflicted," Prescott said. "We know the players that we have, and the men that we have on this team. Not gonna lose confidence, but we're definitely gonna gain a sense of focus, and a sense of accountability, to lock in, to lean on one another, and this brotherhood has to grow right now, more than it ever has."