Cowboys defense has gone three games without a takeaway

Byron Jones kept it simple.

The Dallas Cowboys free safety had a simple answer in terms of what the defense must improve upon coming off the bye week and a disappointing 2-3 start.　

“Take the ball away,” Jones said. “Just take the ball away.”　

So far this season, that’s easier said than done. This is a unit that seemingly doesn’t have a nose for the ball or any players who would be described as “ballhawks.”　

The defense has produced just three takeaways in five games, and is on pace for 10 (rounding up). They haven’t had a takeaway since Jourdan Lewis’ interception late in the third quarter in Week 2 at Denver.　

The drought has gone on for 213 defensive snaps and counting. Forget the 40 takeaway goal before the season — a feat that hasn’t been reached in the NFL since 2012 — this team should be happy to get half that at this rate.　

“We’re in a slump. We’ve got to fight our way out of it,” defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “Each man has got to take responsibility, each coach takes responsibility ’cause we know it affects winning. If winning is important, that’s got to become more important to coaches and players.

“We’re in a slump and in a gully and you just keep digging and expecting no light, just dig, and that’s where we’re at.”

Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers should give the Cowboys an opportunity to get things going in the right direction.　

San Francisco rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard is making his first NFL start, and was intercepted last week against Washington. This is a team that has given the ball away at least once in five of six games.　

But the Cowboys’ defense isn’t taking anything for granted at this point.　

“We see him as anybody else,” defensive tackle Maliek Collins said. “I played against him in college and I know he’s a good quarterback. We just have to go out there and do what we do. … We’ve come up short on takeaways, so we’ve got to get back on the right track and I think we’re headed that way.”　

Winning the turnover battle, of course, has always been one of the defining statistics between wins and losses. And it’s typically been a staple for any Super Bowl team in recent years.　

Four of the past five champions produced 25 or more takeaways except last season’s New England Patriots (23).　

The Cowboys run through interception and fumbling drills with their defensive players daily, and preach the importance of “the ball” endlessly.　

What more can they do?　

“You can continue to coach it differently in practice, you can address it in the meeting room with tape, you can give other guys opportunities to do some of the things the guys on the field at the time aren’t doing,” coach Jason Garrett said. “You evaluate everything. How you coach, how you play and we’re going to continue to place a premium on it because it makes a big difference in winning and losing in this league and it has for a long time.”

This has been an issue for the Cowboys the past couple of seasons. They were a middle-of-the-road team with 20 a year ago, and had an NFL-low 11 in 2015. But they ranked second in the league in 2014 with 31.

The Cowboys feel they can still have respectable takeaway numbers, much like they feel the 2-3 record isn’t telling to this point. They believe that takeaways come in bunches much like sacks. Just ask DeMarcus Lawrence, who is leading the league with 8.5 sacks.

“That’s the main thing, get one and get into a good rhythm,” Lawrence said. “I feel like they come in bunches, for sure.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Cowboys defense has gone three games without a takeaway."