If you found yourself muttering, “This defense just cannot get the stops when it matters most…” on Sunday then I am here to debate you.
The Dallas Cowboys Defense did far more than enough yesterday.
The Dallas Cowboys have lost three times this season when allowing 16 points or less. That is infuriating.
For so many years the loyalists in Cowboys Nation pounded the table that if we only had an average defense then this team was Super Bowl bound thanks to Tony Romo. In a cruel twist of fate that defense finally arrived… with Tony Romo on the sidelines in sweatpants.
That Cowboy Defense held the Buffalo Bills, the 16th highest scoring offense, to a poetic 16 points yesterday. And it wasn’t enough. That’s pitiful.
Sean Lee played in his usual animalistic way as he led the team with 15 tackles (which is more than twice the number of Barry Church who finished in second on the team), Brandon Carr recovered a Karlos Williams fumble, and a Cowboy Cornerback by the super-easy-to-spell and equally-fun-to-say name of Deji Olatoye got an interception for the second week in a row!
All of those fantastic efforts were in vain.
The team even totaled three sacks and four tackles for loss, but they couldn’t get a stop when it mattered most?
Let’s talk about this supposed moment that mattered most.
The lone touchdown that the Dallas Cowboys allowed against the Buffalo Bills came with under three minutes to go in the game. That means that the Cowboys held the Bills out of the endzone for over 57 minutes!
Prior to Mike Gillislee’s 50-yard score the Cowboys had allowed only nine points. Nine. Nueve. Single digits.
This is not the “moment that mattered most.”
The moments that mattered most were when the ball was in the hands of Kellen Moore and the Cowboys Offense (you can read my thoughts about them as well here at Inside The Star). The moments that mattered most were when the Cowboys forced a turnover in the waning moments of the first half as opposed to letting the Bills score.
The Cowboys Defense got the stops when the moments mattered the most. They were just alone in that effort on Sunday.
This defense even overcame the rarest of rarities… a Dan Bailey missed field goal. They got no help whatsoever from anyone around them and still had the team in the game with three minutes left.
The moments that mattered the most have been wasted by the Dallas Cowboys Defense many times before. They weren’t on Sunday. What a weird season.
[signoff author=”rjochoa” source=”fancred”]
Do you agree that the Cowboys Defense has carried the team this season? Let me hear your thoughts! Comment below, Email me at Roel.Ochoa.Jr@Gmail.com, or Tweet to me at @rjochoa!
