Pa David Helman
FOX Sports Dallas Cowboys writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Dan Quinn broke through the throng of reporters and security guards outside the visitors’ locker room at SoFi Stadium, pausing to let out a victory yell.
After the Cowboys defeated the Los Angeles Rams 22-10 on Sunday, their defensive coordinator wanted to make sure he was able to greet and congratulate each member of his winning defense.
How could not? For a defense that has already made a big statement this season, Week 5 was another feather in the cap for the Cowboys, who have a monstrous pass rush that has been one of the most popular teams in the NFL.
The Cowboys defense DOMINATED in the win over the Rams
The Dallas Cowboys had two fumbles, a blocked punt and an interception in a 22-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams were held to just 38 yards.
Consider how Quinn and his pass rush started this game in which the Cowboys trailed for a total of 92 seconds. Dorance Armstrong opened the game on the Rams’ first possession of the afternoon, sacking Matthew Stafford and allowing DeMarcus Lawrence to recover for a touchdown.
Three hours later, Stafford was sacked again, this time by Micah Parsons, allowing the Cowboys to kneel down for a victory that was nothing short of dominant.
“We really are,” Parsons said afterward. “I don’t care what people have had in the pre-season, what people have said about us or how they don’t talk about us. We’re going to keep proving that every week.”
Without a doubt, this is the loudest statement of the four-game winning streak. With all due respect to Cincinnati, New York, and Washington, and with this battered Rams team now down to 2-3, there’s something to be said for going into the defending champ’s house and kicking it.
It was enough to make you wonder why the Cowboys were 5.5-point underdogs in the first place – again, another fact they haven’t forgotten.
“Sometimes you want to bet in Vegas,” Lawrence said. “When mommies throw you a no-ouch, you don’t want to miss it.”
Stafford was sacked five times on the day, fumbled twice and threw a goal-line interception to Malik Hooker for good measure. With the exception of one botched play — Cooper Kupp’s 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown — the Rams were unable to drive the ball farther than 50 yards on nine of their 11 possessions.
‘I just can’t be denied’ – Micah Parsons on Cowboys chemistry, DOMINANT defense
Micah Parsons stops by to talk with Tom Rinaldi about the Dallas Cowboys’ elite defense and tight end.
The goal is simple – to hear it from the guys who play.
“[To prove] that we are the best defense in the league, period, point blank,” Lawrence said. – Go out every week and set the tone, be able to instill fear in the attackers and come out with speed and intensity. This is what we are all about.”
That’s been the formula for the month, and never has it been more evident than here in Los Angeles. The Cowboys rushed for 160 yards on the day, highlighted by Tony Pollard’s outstanding 57-yard touchdown run. But it was not a day for grudges after all. The Cowboys’ offensive line struggled to keep Aaron Donald from spoiling the game, and Cooper Rush, not helped by drops by Michael Gallup and C.D. Lamb, finished with just 102 yards passing.
The beauty of it, though, is that it doesn’t matter yet. As simple as that final result looked on paper, it was a total of points that would have won them all five matches. Through five weeks of this 2022 season, it’s not just that the Cowboys haven’t scored 20 points in a game, they haven’t even allowed an opponent to score multiple touchdowns in a single contest.
“It’s very satisfying to know that you’re holding teams to a minimum of points and your offense can rely on you,” Parsons said.
It’s almost enough to make you forget that Dak Prescott’s eventual return from a broken thumb is hovering in the background — “almost” being the key word. No one in the organization would give a definitive timetable for Prescott’s return, though Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones admitted his star quarterback intends to “throw a lot” in practice this week as the team prepares for Sunday night’s game at Philadelphia.
As for the idea of a quarterback dispute, Jones didn’t want to add fuel to that fire — not right now, anyway.
“Dak is the No. 1 quarterback, Dak is our guy,” he said. “But isn’t it great that someone came along and played well enough for us to ask that question?”
It’s undeniable that the league left this Cowboys team for dead when Rush took over. A month later, they climbed to the top of the NFC.
And while there are other aspects at work in this series, it’s hard to deny the central theme: a defense that gives them a chance every game.
“I think we all realized we’re tougher and better than we thought we were,” Parsons said. “That says a lot. We thought we were going to be really good, but it’s one thing to talk about it. It’s another thing.”
David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in the production of Doc Prescott: Family Reunion, about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter @davidhelman_.
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