It has been a long time since the Dallas Cowboys recorded an interception on defense. It may feel like the Cowboys are allergic to interceptions in a way never seen before, more on that in a moment, but they have had five-game streaks (what they have going at the moment) without interceptions before.
Thanks to resources like Stathead and Pro Football Reference we can measure this against all of franchise history, and I am sad to report that the findings are not great.
This season is only five games long so the 2026 Cowboys have yet to celebrate catching a pass from an opposing quarterback. Did you know that this is the longest interception-less to start any Cowboys season ever?
Before last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 2026 Cowboys were merely tied with the 2008 and 2018 versions of the team that only went four games without a pick to start their seasons. Each of them broke through in game number five, though. Not this team.
Odds would suggest that the Cowboys won’t get an interception in their next game based on all of this. Sunday night in a contest against Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers offers the next opportunity.
Say the Cowboys fail to pick him off, though. If that is the case they will tie the longest single-season streak ever (so at any point, not just to start a season) without an interception. They have gotten to six on two occasions before, both in fairly recent memory.
Honestly the most amazing takeaway from this particular group is that the 2016 Cowboys went undefeated in their six-game streak without any interceptions. That was a simpler time.
Getting away from hypotheticals though, I saved the most sobering note for last. Again, sorry.
While the Cowboys have a five-game streak going without any interceptions this season, they also ended last season on a three-game one. This means that overall they are currently riding an eight-game streak (again, dating back to last season) without recording one. That truly is unfathomable.
This is the longest streak of such kind (combining seasons if necessary) in franchise history.
This “title” was actually won after the Cowboys failed to pick off C.J. Stroud, apologies on the tardiness, but it really is insane to think that it has been so long since the defense got their hands on a pass adn caught it.
Wouldn’t it be the greatest thing if the Cowboys got an interception on Sunday night and we could put all this to bed?