Dallas Cowboys: The onus is on the coaching and defense

There are two things this Dallas Cowboys team must continue to improve on if it wants to win a Super Bowl this year.

The Dallas Cowboys halted their three game losing streak with a dominating 37-10 win over their evil nemesis, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The last time the Cowboys beat down the “Evil Eagles” that bad was on October 9, 1966 when they thumped them with a whopping 56-7 victory. Man…Cowboys Nation would have lost their collective minds if that had occurred again.

Well, after watching the Dallas Cowboys play a complete game against a respectable divisional foe, its clear that two things stood out and can help this team moving forward. Because if the Cowboys are going to win the division and go deep into the playoffs, the onus will be on the coaching staff and the defense to make it happen.

If Dallas’ coaching staff and defense can consistently perform on an elite level like it did against the Eagles, then their is no reason why this team can’t represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. For the first time in forever, Dallas’ defense forced four turnovers (three fumbles and an interception), pressured Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz throughout, hit him, and sacked him three times.

Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence rose to the challenge and emerged from his hiatus with a sack and a forced fumble. The linebacking duo of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch forced a turnover and played like the best linebacking corps in the league.

Starting safety Xavier Woods came through with a late game interception, and seldom used defensive back Jourdan Lewis delivered a timely sack on third down. Why didn’t the defense play like this in their three losses to the New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, and New York Jets?

For once I have to give Mr. Coach Clapper- Jason Garrett credit for having Dallas well prepared to win a must-win game. The defense set the tone early with turnovers that led to an easy 14 point lead.

But this is how Dallas must play the remainder of the season.

The coaching staff must have a legit game plan on the defensive side of the ball that’s aggressive, able to exploit opposing offenses weaknesses, and it must create turnovers. One of the main reasons Dallas beat Philly is because the defense forced four turnovers-two deep inside Philly’s own territory.

Starting deep inside your opponents territory always yield positive results-especially when its touchdowns instead of field goals. This is the formula moving forward.

This is exactly how the Packers defeated Dallas a few weeks ago because they forced turnovers and easily jumped out to a three touchdown lead and Dallas never recovered. That’s why defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and passing game coordinator Kris Richard must continue to employ timely blitzes and preach forcing turnovers.

Site expert Reid Hanson wrote an article about Kris Richard sharing some of the blame during Dallas’ three game losing skid and explained in great detail why Richard deserved the blame. Either Richard read Reid’s article or Richard knows his shining light as an up and coming head coach is diminishing because of Dallas’ defensive woes.