Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has called for his side to improve their man-on-man coverage following their recent poor defensive performances.

Dallas have struggled in recent weeks, giving up a record number of yards in two of their last three matches culminating in Sunday's 49-17 defeat to the New Orleans Saints, who made 625 yards and 40 first downs in the match.

The Cowboys will be given a boost by the returns of defensive trio Jason Hatcher, Morris Claiborne and JJ Wilcox from injury after their bye week, but Jones also believes that the tactics need tweaking along with the personnel.

"You need to probably man up more in the secondary than we've been doing, rather than relying on zone," Jones told KRLD-FM.

"Because if we can't get pressure and we're relying on the traditional zone as you might mentally picture it, then that's a recipe for what happened to us the other night."

The Dallas defence currently ranks last in the NFL with an average of 439.8 yards allowed per game.