Cowboys defense continues to make its case as NFL’s best

By David Helman
FOX Sports Dallas Cowboys Writer

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Dan Quinn cut through the crowd of reporters and security guards stationed outside SoFi Stadium’s visiting locker room, pausing to let out a victory yell.

After the Dallas Cowboys’ 22-10 pasting of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, their defensive coordinator wanted to make sure he was in position to greet and congratulate every single member of his victorious defense.

How could he not? For a defense that has already made quite a statement this season, Week 5 was another feather in the cap for the Cowboys, who have made a terrifying pass rush the staple of one of the hottest teams in the NFL.

Consider the way Quinn and his pass rush bookended this game, which the Cowboys trailed for a grand total of 92 seconds. Dorance Armstrong kicked things off on the Rams’ first possession of the afternoon, strip-sacking Matthew Stafford and allowing DeMarcus Lawrence to recover for a touchdown. 

Three hours later, Stafford was strip-sacked again, this time by Micah Parsons, allowing the Cowboys to kneel out the clock on a win that was nothing less than dominant.

“We’re for real,” Parsons said afterward. “I don’t care what people had preseason, what people said about us or how they don’t talk about us. We’re going to keep proving this every week.”

This is easily the loudest statement of a four-game win streak. With all due respect to the Bengals, Giants and Commanders — and also recognizing that this banged-up Rams team has now slumped to 2-3 — there’s something to be said for walking into the defending champion’s house and drop-kicking them.

It was enough to make one wonder why the Cowboys were 5.5-point underdogs in the first place — again, another fact that wasn’t lost on them.

“Sometimes you wish you could bet in Vegas,” Lawrence said. “When motherf—ers are throwing you alley-oops like this, you don’t want to miss it.”

Stafford was sacked five times on the day, fumbled twice and threw a goal line interception to Malik Hooker for good measure. With the exception of one badly-busted play — a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown to Cooper Kupp — the Rams failed to drive the ball further than 50 yards on nine of their 11 possessions.

“I just can’t be denied”

Micah Parsons stops by to talk with Tom Rinaldi about the elite defense and the close bond this Cowboys team has.

The goal is simple, to hear it from the guys making the plays.

“[To prove] that we the best f—ing defense in the league – point, blank, period,” Lawrence said. “Going out each and every week and setting that tone, being able to instill fear into the offense and going out there with that speed and intensity. That’s what we all about.”

That has been the formula for a month now, and never was it more evident than here in L.A. The Cowboys did rush for 160 yards on the day, highlighted by Tony Pollard’s beautiful 57-yard touchdown romp. But this ultimately was not a day for offense. The Cowboys’ offensive line had its hand full preventing Aaron Donald from wrecking the game, and Cooper Rush — not helped by drops from both Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb — finished with just 102 passing yards.

The beauty of it, though, is that it has yet to matter. As pedestrian as this final tally might look on paper, it’s a point total that would have won them all five of their matchups. Through five weeks of this 2022 season, it’s not only that the Cowboys haven’t allowed 20 points in a game — they haven’t even allowed an opponent to score multiple touchdowns in the same contest.

“It’s super satisfying, knowing that you’re holding teams to minimum points and your offense can rely on you,” Parsons said.

It’s almost enough to make you forget that Dak Prescott’s eventual return from a broken thumb is hovering in the background — “almost” being the key word. No one within the organization is willing to give a definitive timetable on Prescott’s return, though Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones allowed that his star quarterback intends to “throw a lot” in practice this week while the team prepares for a Sunday night game in Philadelphia. 

As for the idea of a quarterback controversy, Jones wasn’t keen to throw gas on that fire — not right now, anyway.

“Dak is the No. 1 quarterback. Dak is our guy,” he said. “But isn’t it great that somebody came in and played well enough so that we can ask that question?”

That much is undeniable, as the league left this Cowboys team for dead when Rush assumed the role. One month later, they’re surging to the top of the NFC. 

And while there are other aspects at work in this run, it’s hard to deny the central theme at play: a defense that’s figures to give them a chance in every game they play.

“I think we’ve all realized we’re tougher, and we’re better than we thought we were,” Parsons said. “That says a lot. We thought we were going to be really good, but it’s one thing to talk about it. It’s another thing to do.”

David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing “Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion” about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter @davidhelman_.

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