Give Credit Where It Is Due

Even Cooper Rush will tell you.

“They are the reason we are winning. Plain and simple. 10 points in the NFL is pretty impressive,” Rush said after the Cowboys beat Washington 25-10 on Sunday.

For Rush, he became the first quarterback in Cowboys history to win his first four starts. And Cooper Rush deserves a ton of credit for the way he has played the past 3 weeks but he knows the defense is the key to the Cowboys success.

In the offseason, Dallas brass said the focus was on the defense. Dan Quinn stayed. He even said, this was a talented group and he wanted to be a part of it.

And DQ was right. And in his second year as the DC, this defense has been phenomenal over the first four weeks of the season.

19, 17, 16 and 10…that is what the Dallas defense has allowed over the first four games.

With Cooper Rush leading the offense, the Cowboys are doing just enough points wise but the biggest thing the Cowboys aren’t doing is turning the ball over and putting the defense in a bad spot.

Give Mike McCarthy and his staff all the credit for going 3-0 without Dak Prescott.  Cooper has done his job better than most thought but stop with the QB controversy. When Dak comes back, either this week vs the Rams or the following week vs the Eagles, he will face much tougher defenses than Rush and he is still the best option to win games. Dak is a top 10 quarterback in the NFL.

But this defense…this defense can be special. The unit isn’t getting the takeaways like they did a year ago but they are getting the sacks, the QB pressures that lead to bad throws. This defense is the kind of defense that can carry a team deep into the postseason.

The Cowboys are 3-1 on this first Monday in October. After scoring just 3 points and losing Dak in the opener against Tampa Bay, none of us thought this would be the case. Most were hoping 2-2 or even 1-3.

Give credit where it is due…just start with the defense.

Let me know what you think @JasonMinnix and tune into The Blitz weekdays 4-7p.