{"id":86424,"date":"2022-10-04T07:03:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T07:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/defenses-hot-start-is-the-cowboys-thermostat\/"},"modified":"2022-10-04T07:03:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T07:03:04","slug":"defenses-hot-start-is-the-cowboys-thermostat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/defenses-hot-start-is-the-cowboys-thermostat\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense’s Hot Start Is The Cowboys’ ‘Thermostat’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“They are definitely our thermostat.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Backup quarterback Cooper Rush’s poise and 95.9 passer rating has been a major factor in the Cowboys’ 3-1 start and three-game win streak during quarterback Dak Prescott’s three-game injury absence (thumb). But Rush pointed to the defense as the catalyst for the team’s collective success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“They’re the reason we’re winning,” Rush said. “\u2026As an offense, knowing that they have your back like that is huge.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite their strong start, the defense believes there’s another level they can reach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think we’ve really got a chance to be the best defensive team in this league,” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “The way we prepare and the way we calculate, the players we have — everyone’s hungry out here, and I think that’s just been the key. \u2026 That’s the type of standard, and (we’re) hungry. Every week we’ and got to (keep) getting better. Each step we’ve got to keep getting better.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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McCarthy on Monday identified two ways the offense can continue to improve: run defense and takeaways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Cowboys currently rank 27th against the run, allowing 137.5 yards per game. Washington piled up 142 yards on 27 carries on Sunday in a clear effort to balance out the offense for quarterback Carson Wentz, who was sacked nine times in Week 3 by the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Commanders had trouble sustaining and finishing drives, however, converting only 5 of 15 third downs. And Wentz (25-of-42, 170 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions) was still sacked twice and hit 11 times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“You look at the four games we’ve played in, obviously people are challenging our run defense because frankly they probably don’t want to deal with our pass rush on third-and-5 or more,” McCarthy said. “We’ve just got to really stay focused on our run defense. I think that’s going to be our biggest challenge moving forward. If I was playing against our defense, that’s the way I would go. The better we play on first and second down obviously is really going to play to our strength on third down.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Cowboys did get those two takeaways against Washington — interceptions by cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland — which increased their season total to four, tied for the third-fewest in the league a month into the regular season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It’s still early, and Dallas did lead the league in forcing turnovers last year (34). Perhaps Sunday was a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“There’s a standard that’s been set, and we just want to stay after it,” McCarthy said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“They are definitely our thermostat.” Backup quarterback Cooper Rush’s poise and 95.9 passer rating has been a major factor in the Cowboys’ 3-1 start and three-game win streak during quarterback Dak Prescott’s three-game injury absence (thumb). But Rush pointed to the defense as the catalyst for the team’s collective success. “They’re the reason we’re winning,” …<\/p>\n

Defense’s Hot Start Is The Cowboys’ ‘Thermostat’<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90630,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/cowboys-balling-out-against-all-odds\/","url_meta":{"origin":86424,"position":0},"title":"Cowboys Balling Out Against All Odds","date":"October 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FRISCO, Texas \u2013 Why not the Cowboys.Look, get it, these are the Los Angeles Rams they are teeing it up against on Sunday at 3:25 pm, and it is out there in LA at SoFi Stadium where the Rams won in their inaugural game during the COVID-disrupted 2020 season over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":79532,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/dallas-cowboys-hand-new-york-giants-first-loss-of-the-season-behind-back-up-quarterback-cooper-rush\/","url_meta":{"origin":86424,"position":1},"title":"Dallas Cowboys hand New York Giants first loss of the season behind back-up quarterback Cooper Rush","date":"September 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"CNN \u2014 Starting for the second game in a row for the first time in his career, Cooper Rush has grabbed his opportunity with both hands. 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Cowboys On Par With Rams","date":"October 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Though in that same breath Lawrence also said they aren't playing just Donald.But let's not forget which defense leads the league is pressures through the first four weeks of the season. Or which team has yet to allow more than 20 points in each game they have played during that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92495,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clarence-hills-5-things-from-cowboys-blank-loss-win-vs-rams\/","url_meta":{"origin":86424,"position":4},"title":"Clarence Hill’s 5 things from Cowboys blank loss\/win vs. rams","date":"October 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Dallas Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse (27) helps defend as defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (90) returns a Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford fumble for a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis) Ashley Landis AP Inglewood, Calif. Cooper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51752,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/cowboys-power-past-chargers-32-18\/","url_meta":{"origin":86424,"position":5},"title":"Cowboys Power Past Chargers, 32-18","date":"August 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Of course, Turpin did have a little help, particularly from both the Cowboys running attack and the team's run defense. Dallas rushed for 115 yards as Rico Dowdle and Malik Davis led the effort with averages of 3.4 and 4.6 yards per carry, respectively. Conversely, on the other side of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.clubs.nfl.com\/image\/private\/t_editorial_landscape_12_desktop\/cowboys\/qqnyfdlsuiw4o3oyq37v","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}