The 2024 season is turning ugly in a hurry for the Dallas Cowboys. The first eight weeks of action have already featured a rash of injuries to high-profile players, a total breakdown of the once-vaunted rushing attack, a disastrous showing for the defense under a prodigal son coordinator, open questions in the locker room about effort, the contract-year head coach getting snippy with the media in a press conference, the owner threatening the jobs of radio talk-show hosts during a live interview, and fan tours- of all things- becoming a major talking point during the bye week.
Now this.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs went after a reporter Sunday night outside the visitors locker room, just moments after the Cowboys’ 30-24 loss to San Francisco went final.
At issue was a post on X criticizing the two-time Pro Bowler’s seeming lack of effort during a third-quarter play.
On 49ers tight end George Kittle’s 43-yard catch-and-run in the opening minutes of the second half, replays show Diggs covering wide receiver Chris Conley at the moment of Kittle’s reception at the Dallas 40. Diggs’s back is turned as he follows Conley through his route for another few seconds. By the time Diggs turns his head to realize that Kittle has the ball, he is five yards further downfield from Kittle.
Diggs maintains his stride and pursuit angle, appearing to leave teammates Donovan Wilson, Eric Kendricks, and Malik Hooker – all much closer to Kittle than Diggs- to make the play.
Except they don’t. Wilson falls after barely clutching at the back of Kittle’s jersey, and Kendricks never catches up. Hooker and Diggs finally converge on Kittle as he nears the pylon, with Diggs making a last-gasp push to force him out of bounds shy of the goal line.
The 49ers would score on the next snap to re-take the lead which they never gave back. San Francisco scored 21 unanswered points in a third-quarter onslaught that demoralized the Cowboys on both offense and defense. While Dallas fought back to make the final tally close, the loss dropped their mark to 3-4 and provided very little in the way of hope for a dramatic turnaround, with four straight opponents with winning records coming down the pike.
For some, though, that one play- along Diggs’s perceived lack of urgency and avoidance of tackling- summed up what’s wrong with the Cowboys in this frustrating season.
Mike Leslie of Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA reposted video of the moment afterward, adding, “What is Trevon Diggs doing on this play?”
Diggs apparently saw the post, and very soon after hitting the locker room. Still in full pads, the former second-round draft pick stormed back out to the media gaggle at Levi’s Stadium and got in Leslie’s face about it.
“Out of that whole play, that’s what you took from that?” Diggs demands, in a clip from NBC DFW’s Newy Scruggs. “You don’t know football. You can’t do nothing that I do. You can’t go out there and do nothing. Stay in your lane, buddy. Stop playing with me, bro.”
The confrontation continued, even after Diggs turned to go back into the locker room.
“Just asking the question, Trevon,” Leslie replied. “I mean, I’m happy to have you answer the question.”
Diggs came back and re-engaged with more of the same.
“Out of that whole play, that’s what you took from that?” he barked. “That’s what you got from that? That whole play, that’s what you got from that?”
With that, Diggs fired off a few expletives and retreated to the locker room, while Leslie attempted to get clarification.
“We can talk about it more,” the reporter offered. “What were you doing then?”
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Since his rookie season of 2020, Diggs has gained a reputation as a dice-rolling defensive back who often makes the breathtaking interception, but also frequently gives up a monster play when the risk doesn’t pay off. He’s also been tabbed- perhaps unfairly- as a defender who is unwilling to tackle. In truth, Diggs has the third-most solo tackles on the entire Cowboys roster through seven games.
It’s easy to debate- after the fact- that Diggs could have taken a different pursuit angle of Kittle or that he didn’t seem to have a lot of urgency in helping to make the play. The same could be said of several Cowboys players on several occasions Sunday night.
That one play, though, didn’t cost Dallas the chance to win a game in which very few people thought they would come out on top. A six-point loss, halfway through the season, on the road, to the defending NFC champs, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t even the sort of thing that spells certain doom.
But a star player apparently searching his own name on Twitter after a hard-fought game and before he’s even out of his pads to see what people have said about him… and then marching out into the tunnel fully-dressed to angrily confront and belittle a local reporter about some online criticism?
That just might end up being the moment that really decided for sure that this 2024 Cowboys team is an unsalvageable wreck.
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