Cowboys Morning After Week 1: The Defensive Destruction

Seven sacks set the tone for a beatdown that was over by halftime

If defense wins championships, I have great news for you in 2023. Because that Dan Quinn Dallas Cowboys defense – the one that was tops in the NFL in takeaways in 2021 and 2022 and the one that was amongst the very best pass-rushing crews in 2021 and 2022 – is back and they might be better than ever.

They chased down Daniel Jones for seven sacks last night in their ridiculous spanking of the New York Giants to the tune of 40-0 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. That gives Dallas an NFL-leading 102 total sacks since the start of 2021, or as we should probably say, since Micah Parsons first put on a Cowboys uniform and since Dan Quinn was named the Cowboys defensive coordinator.

It might be tough to properly assign credit for the Cowboys defensive dominance in the last few years, but if a team can lead the entire league in takeaways (70) and sacks (102) since the day those two men joined the franchise, then let’s give them big pieces of that pie and marvel at what this has become.

It doesn’t take much time in the Cowboys time machine to remember what 2020 was like for the Dallas defense under one-and-done coordinator Mike Nolan. They were 28th in points allowed, 31st in stopping the run, 26th in third-down defense, and anything but dominant.

Fast forward ahead a few years and now you can see on several occasions that there are opponents who appear “spooked” early in a game and quarterbacks who are completely aware that their protectors have no chance at protecting against Dan Quinn’s group of destroyers.

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