When we look back at the 2022 Cowboys, it sure seems we will be talking about that year when this thing was led by their defense. Without knowing what that story will fully be, with each passing week we see that for the first time since Wade Phillips (and perhaps even further), the team’s calling card will be that this group of defenders is too much for your average NFL team to deal with.
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Each week the numbers come back and the NFL team rankings continue to confirm that this is not some subjective opinion from homers. No, the rankings verify that Dallas is at or near the top of the class in darn near everything. Of the 10 rankings we hold to be very important, look at where the Cowboys sit. This year’s Dan Quinn defense has taken another leap forward from the 2021 defense which was quite good in its own right.
We can see that the Cowboys of 2021 were riding takeaways and third downs to hide some other weaknesses and perhaps not what we would consider elite. This defense appears to have almost no weaknesses and if it isn’t elite, it is sneaking up quickly in that direction. They have almost nothing but green in every category.
This was really on display Sunday. Now, every time we talk about this, we will get responses that point to their next test. This will be the case all week as it will be easy to move on to “see how they do in Philadelphia”, but I would like to use this one last time to focus on the first five weeks before we look ahead. Regardless of what happens Sunday night in Philly, we won’t take away that Dallas has played the 2020 Super Bowl champions, 2021 Super Bowl champions and the 2021 Super Bowl runner-ups in the first five weeks and have yet to let a single team reach 20 points. That is noteworthy and something to ponder before we make them go win their next battle. Enjoy the journey. And yes, this journey has been very enjoyable to watch this defense.
Let’s look at Sunday’s game to demonstrate what this defense is all about.
The Cowboys start the day with Dorance Armstrong and DeMarcus Lawrence creating a touchdown with a ferocious pass rush right out of the gate. First drive for the Rams and on the third snap, Dallas swings the game with a defensive gem. On the very next drive, Armstrong blocked a punt.
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This is where it gets interesting because the Rams responded like you would expect champions to respond.
The third drive was the bomb to Tutu Atwell. The fourth drive allowed them to move the ball from their own goal line out to a safe spot to punt. And the fifth drive was the long TD to Cooper Kupp. Maybe it was just two big plays, but it also rolled up 175 of the Rams’ yards in three drives that helped steady their ship and actually take the lead. That would be 100 percent of their points and 54 percent of their yards on the day in those three drives between the two blue lines below:
We don’t know what was said or adjusted on the Cowboys sideline after that Kupp touchdown. The stadium was rocking and the Rams believed that this would be their game.
But, from that point — with 9:31 left in the second quarter until the end of the game — the Rams ran 39 more plays and generated 126 total yards. With that, they would also get just eight first downs, zero points and commit two turnovers. In other words, Dallas’ defense provided a nice lead before Cooper Rush stepped on the field. Then, it weathered a small storm before laying the smackdown on the final seven possessions of absolutely nothing for Matthew Stafford and friends.
How many times have we seen Dallas unable to stop the bleeding after a couple of big plays? We have seen nice starts, but then when the response comes back from the home side and a big-time QB, Dallas is scrambling and taking on water throughout the rest of the game. Ultimately, the Cowboys need their offense to bail them out.
Let the record show that on this day, this band of brothers needed almost no help. They were smashing up plays and taking the ball and meeting at the quarterback.
Next Gen Matthew Stafford throw chart
Look, 308 yards is a lot of yards, for sure. I would argue it didn’t hurt too badly after that Kupp touchdown. And look at those completions where almost everything is underneath. Dallas played a huge amount of zone defenses again (38 of 48 pass plays were zones) and that throw chart would tell us that it worked well to keep anything from hurting too much. In fact, since the 10 plays that were against man coverage featured the Kupp touchdown, you can see how sometimes you get your hand burned on the stove. It should also be noted, however, that man coverage was played on the defensive touchdown and Micah Parsons’ first sack of the game — so it isn’t all bad.
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But, in general, this defense is in sync and clearly as confident as can be about its abilities. The defense is enjoying this role as team leaders (for now) and not just spectators when the games are really decided. This defense is what makes this team win right now … it is also fun to watch.
Weekly data box, Week 5: at Los Angeles
These numbers offer us another trend. When you get five or more sacks and three or more takeaways, the Cowboys’ all-time record is 64-5 with the last loss in 1990. Add in a defensive touchdown and that record moves to 9-1 all-time with the lone loss being in 1965 to Washington.
Overall, all of those numbers are tremendous and the fact that Dallas has 29 splash plays is just a sign of not only playing defense, but doing it in a way that is attacking and trying to score your own points.
Next Gen Cooper Kupp route chart
Kupp is a very special player who has far exceeded any expectations when he was selected off the red turf of Eastern Washington, but in general, Dallas will feel like it did OK against him. Clearly, you would love to avoid a 75-yard touchdown, but overall, you can’t stop him. You can only hope to contain him and that went pretty well, all things considered.
Cowboys pass rushes
You feel comfortable blitzing at times if your four-man pass rush can generate 18 pressures and three sacks without any help. The Cowboys’ identity is shifting to the ability to go get the quarterback with great regularity and it is something that travels and can carry a team for a long time.
Week 5: Splash plays vs. the Rams
There are only 26 here because my tallies do not handle defensive touchdowns and holding penalties that are drawn, so we must add Lawrence’s return and one each for Donovan Wilson and Parsons getting held. That is how we get to 29.
That brings us to the season leaderboard. You must have at least three splashes on the season to be listed:
Player | Snaps | Total Splash Plays |
|---|---|---|
279 | 15 | |
309 | 14 | |
203 | 13 | |
325 | 12 | |
171 | 9 | |
107 | 8 | |
279 | 7 | |
330 | 7 | |
167 | 6 | |
223 | 6 | |
76 | 5 | |
299 | 4 | |
59 | 3 | |
223 | 3 | |
116 | 3 |
Parsons is back on top after Week 5, but to have four defenders with at least 12 tells us that this is not just a one-man show. Yes, that one man is sensational, too.
Film study
Six plays to examine from Sunday — mostly good, a little bad.
First quarter – 13:36 – third-and-1 – LA 34 – M.Stafford sacked at LA 24 for -10 yards (D.Armstrong). FUMBLES (D.Armstrong) [D.Armstrong], touched at LA 23, RECOVERED by DAL-D.Lawrence at LA 19. D.Lawrence for 19 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Here is the game-changing play: Third-and-short and the Rams have a plot to show run with a condensed formation and play-action and the plan is to get Kupp vs. Anthony Brown and almost nobody else in the secondary. Dallas is in Cover 1, but Armstrong (92) get past left guard David Edwards (73) in such a blink that the play has no chance. Then Lawrence (90) is making quick work of the TE/RB combo there to block him, the ball comes loose and Lawrence returns it for the TD. If the Rams have two seconds, this could be a huge play to Kupp (and at least a defensive hold on Brown), but the sudden thunder of the Cowboys pass rush was too much. The best-laid plans of Sean McVay went nowhere.
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First quarter – 7:07 – first-and-10 – LA 35 – M.Stafford pass deep middle to T.Atwell to DAL 11 for 54 yards (T.Diggs).
Next is the deep shot to Atwell for his first NFL reception. We have talked plenty about why you should always want to set up run and then throw on first down. Why? Because defenses commit eight players to stop the run on first downs if you show either 12 personnel or 11 personnel with a TE/WR hybrid in tight. For Dallas that is Noah Brown, but the Rams use Ben Skowronek (18) for the same purpose. Then, you almost always would expect Cover 3 here which is what Dallas gives Stafford. On Cover 3, you are playing 3 vs. 2 and Malik Hooker (28) is in center field with both corners playing outside leverage on their guys. Of course, the NFL has Cover 3 beaters all day, so if you are the Rams, you know Kupp (10) will always attract the safety if you run something across the middle. Once Kupp draws Hooker and we know that Trevon Diggs is funneling his man toward Hooker with the outside leverage, Diggs is in trouble because he is expecting help but Hooker is nowhere to be found. Stafford knows this is how teams will deal with the Kupp problem on the over route, so Stafford takes the post every time. Everyone at home yells at Diggs here, but this is on the safety. At the same time, if Hooker goes with Atwell, then Stafford hits Kupp every time. In other words, this is why teams should always look for these chances on first-down passing plays — 3 vs. 2 is easy pickings for an NFL QB of Stafford’s ability. Your safety will be wrong either way and you just kill Cover 3 by using the corner’s leverage to your advantage.
Second quarter – 9:42 – third-and-2 – LA 25 – M.Stafford pass short right to C.Kupp for 75 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Two possessions later, people are mad at Diggs again. This time it is because they are playing man on third-and-2. Cover 1 with Diggs vs. Kupp and yes, Diggs moving inside to the slot against Kupp is probably not going to work really well. The Cowboys do this because they want to blitz a fifth man and the Rams have a million plans on how to convert third downs vs. Cover 1 and almost all of them will revolve around traffic and picks to free up Kupp. Again, I am not in any way absolving Diggs from blame here, but he is absolutely expecting deep safety Wilson (6) to help if things get to be a problem. Wilson chases Skowronek instead and when Kupp gets the ball at full speed, I don’t care how fast you are, you aren’t catching him — especially when Skowronek gets in the way nicely. He ran a 4.62 at the combine. That explains how he slid in the draft, but tell me you see a 4.62 guy when he is in full flight.
Third quarter – 3:29 – third-and-11 – Dal 47 – M.Stafford sacked at LA 42 for -11 yards (M.Parsons).
This is a beautiful sack when we thought Parsons might be done for the game. When you line up Lawrence and Parsons together, you ensure that you cannot help the right tackle with Parsons. This will be a one-on-one battle. But, it is even better when Lawrence beats his guy so fast that he hardly gets touched. And then, Stafford runs right into Parsons. Parsons makes everyone better and when that everyone is Lawrence? Well, good luck.
Fourth quarter – 4:06 – second-and-9 – DAL 21 – M.Stafford sacked at DAL 25 for -4 yards (O.Odighizuwa).
This is also what Parsons does. Dallas lines him up wide and drops him into coverage and Armstrong, too. The Cowboys replace those rushers with Leighton Vander Esch and Jayron Kearse so they still are bringing four, but now the Rams’ protection is all messed up and you get a confusion sack. Stafford has no chance and this is when you can see the Rams just want to get away from this pass-rush onslaught. You can check out all five sacks in the banana stand.
Fourth quarter – 1:39 – second-and-7 – DAL 28 – M.Stafford sacked at DAL 38 for -10 yards (M.Parsons). FUMBLES (M.Parsons) [M.Parsons], touched at DAL 37, RECOVERED by DAL-S.Williams at DAL 39.
Finally, the kill shot. Parsons is on the right by himself and Dallas loads the rest of the line to the left of the center. Parsons is foaming at the mouth and runs over Rob Havenstein and slams Stafford while getting the ball out. Terrifying to see him when he wants to kill off a game. It’s hard to believe Dallas has a player this dominant.
He is a pleasure to behold these days and the defense around him is not bad, either.
(Top photo: Michael Owens / Getty Images)