The Dallas Cowboys are 2-4 and have a crucial Monday Night Football game coming up in Philadelphia this week, with their season at a crossroads. Veteran NFL quarterback and CBS Sports analyst Russell Wilson weighed in on what head coach Brian Schottenheimer needs to fix for Dallas to get back on track and make a run at the NFC East.

Dallas has the offensive firepower to compete in the division, but a defense ranked dead last in PFN’s NFL Defense Impact metric has repeatedly undermined the offense’s production. Wilson argued the window is still open and broke down three specific issues that need to be addressed.

Russell Wilson Identifies Three Areas Cowboys Need to Do Better In

The Cowboys are third in the NFC East, trailing in a division Wilson believes is still there for the taking. He pointed to the quarterback situations around Dallas as the reason, noting that, aside from Jayden Daniels in Washington, no other team in the division is getting consistent play at the position, and even Washington has struggled.

Dallas heads into Monday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia with the same defensive problems Wilson flagged still unresolved. The Cowboys have given up points in bunches throughout the season, and it has cost them in games where the offense did enough to win.

During a segment on CBS Sports’ “The NFL Today+”, Wilson explained what he sees as the starting point before getting into the three-point breakdown. “If I’m the Dallas Cowboys, if I’m Dak Prescott, I’m licking my chops. This division is mine. It’s got to be mine right now,” Wilson said.

He identified running the football as the first and most foundational fix, explaining why it matters beyond the rushing stats alone: “They’ve got to run the football. They’ve got to run the football. Not just because they’re like 30th in rushing right now, whatever it may be. They’ve got to run the football because what it does is it slows the game down. And that way the defense doesn’t have to be out there all day.”

Wilson moved to the defense as the second issue, setting a realistic standard instead of a complete overhaul.

“The defense has to play better. They can’t be at the bottom. They’ve got to be in the middle of the road. They don’t have to be number one, number two, or number three, but they’ve got to get some turnovers on this defense. And that’s a critical piece to the whole thing,” the former QB explained.

The third issue tied everything together, putting the responsibility on Prescott to get the ball to his top receivers while the other two pieces fall into place.

“Dak Prescott getting the ball to George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb. So if I’m shorty [Prescott], I’ve got to figure out a way to, number one, get my guys going, and number two, slow the game down, and how you slow the game down is by running the football and playing good defense. They don’t have to play great defense,” Wilson said.

The offensive numbers have not been the issue. Dallas ranks fourth in PFN’s NFL Offense Impact metric with a grade of 83.7 and fifth in the league in success rate. The offense has been one of the more efficient units in the NFL through the early stretch of the season.

The defense has been the opposite. It ranks dead last at 32nd in PFN’s NFL Defense Impact metric with a grade of 61.1, and the gap between the two sides of the ball has been the defining story of the Cowboys’ 2-4 start.

Dallas will play the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday Night Football.