30 the magic number? Cowboys defense snaps takeaway, sack droughts vs. Redskins

Two frustrating droughts for the Dallas Cowboys’ defense came to an end against the Washington Redskins on Thursday night.

Thirty, as it ended up, being the magic number for both.

The Cowboys had gone 30 consecutive drives without a takeaway until safety Jeff Heath came down with an interception in the first quarter, and 30 consecutive drives without a sack until DeMarcus Lawrence delivered in the second quarter.

Heath happened to be in the right place at the right time when Kirk Cousins’ pass bounced off Jamison Crowder’s hands. But that takeaway didn’t spark the offense.

The Cowboys took over on their own 16 and went three-and-out. But, as the old cliché goes, takeaways come in bunches.

Crowder fumbled the ensuing punt return and long snapper L.P. Ladouceur recovered. Again, though, the Cowboys scored no points off the takeaway.

But it marked the first takeaway for the Cowboys since safety Xavier Woods intercepted Atlanta’s Matt Ryan earlier this month. It also gave Heath a team-leading two interceptions.

The defense continued to deliver, too.

After their sack-less drought reached 30 drives, Lawrence had a strip-sack of Cousins in the second quarter. Fittingly, Lawrence had the team’s last sack prior to that — taking down Ryan in Atlanta.

Defensive tackle Maliek Collins recovered the ball on the Washington 19, setting up a field goal for Dallas.

On the ensuing series, rookie Taco Charlton sacked Cousins as the Redskins went three-and-out.

The Cowboys combined for just one sack in their previous three games, and hadn’t had multiple sacks since they had two against Kansas City in early November.

Lawrence notched his second sack of the night early in the second half. He now has 13.5 on the season, the most in the NFL. Minnesota’s Everson Griffen and Arizona’s Chandler Jones each have 12 going into the weekend games.

David Irving added another sack in the fourth quarter, and Anthony Brown picked off Cousins with 4:16 remaining to set up another score.

Lawrence and the rest of the Cowboys’ D-line entered the game frustrated with the results of late. They were particularly frustrated with the lack of holding calls on opposing offensive linemen and tight ends. The last opposing lineman or tight end to be flagged for holding was Week 3 at Arizona.

But that streak also came to an end in the first half when Redskins left tackle Trent Williams was called for holding, a penalty the Cowboys declined.

In the end, Thursday marked a positive step forward for a defense that hadn’t made impact plays the previous two games.

The Cowboys had similar success in the first meeting against the Redskins. They had four sacks that day — two by defensive tackle David Irving and one each by Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford — and forced three takeaways.

“Just get to the quarterback, put pressure on him and let’s get this job done,” Lawrence said a couple days before the game. “That’s point blank, period. Just do the damn job.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 10:25 PM with the headline "30 the magic number? Cowboys defense snaps takeaway, sack droughts vs. Redskins."