Dallas Cowboys defense dominates again with five turnovers in win over Detroit
After last week’s defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys defense wanted to send a message to the Detroit Lions.
For the first time this season, the Cowboys allowed more than 20 points to an opponent against the Eagles. They didn’t want that to happen again against the Detroit Lions.
Dallas forced five second-half turnovers in their 24-6 victory as they accomplished their objectives they established during the week.
“It feels good as a team collectively,” Sam Williams said. “Just knowing that everybody is on the same page, it feels good pretty good. And I know it’s only going to get even better.”
The rookie edge rusher was one of the many standouts on defense as he led the team with two sacks and forced a fumble along with a recovery.
“He’s like that, he’s him,” Trevon Diggs said of Williams after the game.
For the rookie second-round pick, the career day was just a culmination of the time he had been putting in to his craft during the offseason.
“Getting my first sack has ramped up my confidence, but I’ve stayed confident. I trust my training, I trust the work I put in during the week,” Williams said.
Before Williams thrived late it was the star players like Diggs and Micah Parsons who made the plays early. Diggs had a diving interception of Jared Goff on the Lions’ first drive of the second half.
Parsons made arguably the biggest play of the game. When Detroit executed a well-timed screen to T.J. Hockenson, it appeared he was about to walk in for a touchdown to potentially take a 13-10.
But Parsons hawked him down and pushed him out of bounds at the 1-yard line. The very next play, Detroit fumbled just outside of the end zone that was recovered by Anthony Barr. Parsons credits defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for pushing him to make that type of play.
“At first I thought he scored, I didn’t think I’d make it,” Parsons said. “I sat down with (Quinn) this past weekend and he was talking to me about plays I could make just using my speed, knowing that it’s my superpower. We just had that father-son talk this week and he challenged me and I told him if you challenge me I’ll never let you down.”
Parsons added another sack on the day as he continues to add to his Defensive Player of the Year resume. It was DeMarcus Lawrence who caused the fumble at the 1.
“It was huge, they were bringing the ball downfield and for Micah to have that type of energy and effort on that play to stop him at the 1-yard line it just gave us another opportunity to get the ball back,” Lawrence said. “That type of energy goes a long way, it’s contagious around the whole room and we’re just going to keep it going.”
Donovan Wilson and Dorance Armstrong had sacks while Jourdan Lewis also picked off Goff. It was a complete team effort from the stars to role player to the rookies. That type of effort is what excites Lawrence about the future for this defense and the defensive line in particular.
“Seeing the progression of all the players on the D-line, I feel like it’s something special to watch, but also to be apart of,” Lawrence said. “Shout-out to my boy Sam Williams today, he got his two sacks and a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. I’m proud of him.”
The entire defense should be proud after a masterful performance. Yes it’s just the lowly Lions, but remember Detroit came into Sunday averaging 28 points per game.
After a bounce-back performance, the Dallas defense seems positioned to continue its dominant run and finish the year as one of the best, if not the best defense, in the NFL.
