The Dallas Cowboys are getting it from all angles after their Week 6 loss to the Green Bay Packers — and deservedly so.
The Cowboys already have a huge bullseye on their backs given the fact that they are tirelessly covered, no matter how good or bad the team is. That creates next-level fatigue among their detractors, who will look for any reason to trash them.
When Dallas plays as poorly as it is right now, that only makes the scrutiny heavier, and the criticism more brutal.
We saw an example of that with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who gave the Cowboys a deserved tongue-lashing following their Sunday night loss to Green Bay.
“[The Cowboys] have been an irrelevant gaggle of losers for a long time that we continue to talk about, but they stink. They never were going to be good this year," Portnoy said.
"Talk about the Cowboys. Talk about the Cowboys. What has been there to talk about with the Cowboys for a decade?" he asked. "The Cowboys are not good. They haven't been good for a long time. The big suits in their ivory towers want us to talk about the Cowboys. What do you want us to say about the Cowboys?"
No lies detected
As much as we'd like to say we disagree, it's hard to argue with Portnoy's sentiments here.
The only reason the Cowboys are talked about as much as they are is because they are a global product with a huge following. Conversely, Cowboys haters love to hate on them, so that's another reason networks focus on Dallas so much.
If it wasn't for all of that, nobody would talk about the Cowboys, who continue to make themselves irrelevant when it comes to conversations about contenders in the NFL.
The product we've seen on the field this season is nothing different than what we've seen the past two seasons and, unfortunately, for much of the last three decades.
The only hope the Cowboys have right now when it comes to the playoffs if their inclusion in an NFC East that is completely dysfunctional from top to bottom.
The New York Giants are in first place but don't have their starting quarterback for the rest of the season due to injury and are now depending on the likes of Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy.
The Philadelphia Eagles were a total mess over the first five games and will now be without Jalen Hurts for the rest of the season due to multiple blood clots in his lungs.
The Washington Commanders are in the cellar of the division going into their game on Monday night and they can't even manage a clock, let alone win games.
Just like the rest of the teams in their division, the Cowboys are not a serious team right now and they deserve every bit of the flaming they're getting, no matter who it comes from.
— Sign up for the Cowboys Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage from Dallas Cowboys on SI —
Add us as a preferred source on Google