Dallas Cowboys: so how far can this defense carry them?

Now that the dust has settled and the rest of the league has taken note of the Dallas Cowboys, what’s the ceiling for this bunch?

Few gave the Dallas Cowboys a shot to topple the high flying New Orleans Saints last Thursday. Last week in this space, I wrote “don’t be surprised if the game is closer than you think” as a means to hedge my bets. I had a hunch about the Cowboys’ chances, but the fan in me had a hard time saying they’d win outright. Such is the fragile psyche of the fan base. We fully understand the perils of getting comfortable about this team’s ability to handle success.

So after cornerback Jourdan Lewis’s late fourth quarter interception more or less clinched the improbable, it was only natural to speculate about their chances as the NFL season enters its twilight. Right after Halloween, their fate appeared all but sealed. Sitting at 3-5, the season looked lost. But before anyone’s sugarplum fantasies of a Christmastime Jason Garrett firing were fulfilled, Dallas ripped off four consecutive wins to take control of an admittedly weak NFC East.

Now one could make the case that the first three wins of the streak were less than convincing. Sure, it was the Eagles, Falcons, and Redskins. Those three teams were on a slide at the time, and are a combined 15-19 as of this moment. The win against New Orleans, however, is as legitimate as wins in the NFL come. Even now, the Saints are in the discussion as bona fide Super Bowl contenders.

In other words, the first three wins of the streak were doable, if not exactly given. But the most recent win is the one that might reverberate well into January. And this is the the question surrounding the Cowboys currently: what’s their limit? I think we can all acknowledge that their defense is playing at a championship-caliber level right now. Limiting the Saints to ten points made everyone sit up and take notice. But how far can this team realistically go?

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If we’re being honest, the answer is still up in the air. For all the deserved accolades being heaped upon the defense, there are equal concerns surrounding an offense that has trouble getting out of its own way on a weekly basis. Of course, they’re doing enough. They’re outscoring the opposition, and save for the game against the Saints, the offense has had a penchant for making plays in the clutch that were completely lacking in the first half of the season. To that end, it’s time for me to admit I was wrong about the Amari Cooper trade. The acquisition of the mercurial wideout has transformed the offense despite the steep price tag.

Make no mistake, though. The defense is the unit that will dictate this team’s fortunes this year. That statement is a bit of a stunner in and of itself. It was just two years ago where the game plan was to keep that unit off the field as much as possible. Now, it’s not a bad thing to see DeMarcus Lawrence wreak havoc on opposition quarterbacks. Further, it’s a delight to see linebackers Jaylon Smith and rookie wunderkind Leighton Vander Esch make every tackle in sight. It’s a different era, for sure, but this year’s defense is reminiscent of the 1992 unit that played a huge part in winning a Super Bowl.

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I’m not saying the Dallas Cowboys are going to shock the NFL and win it all this year. But it’s been a long time since the team or the fan base could lay claim to having one of the premier defenses in the league. The age-old axiom is that defense wins championships, and if the offense keeps finding ways to make the right plays at the right time, then it’s impossible to write them off.

Published on 12/03/2018 at 18:00 PM
Last updated at 12/03/2018 at 12:53 PM

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