Dallas Cowboys: 3 takeaways from dominant victory over Eagles

The first goal for any team is to win their division each year, and the Dallas Cowboys took a step in the right direction on Monday Night Football with a convincing 41-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Dak Prescott returned to AT&T Stadium for the first time since last season’s ankle injury and what a welcome back it turned out to be. This was a true team victory as all three phases contributed to the beatdown. If the Cowboys want to be serious contenders this year they must take care of lesser teams like the Eagles and they did just that.

Without further ado, here are my 3 takeaways from the Monday night win.

Dallas Cowboys: 3. Defense is vastly improved

The play of the defense was an obvious concern entering the season and after week one it still remained a big question mark.

But, these last two weeks the defense seems to have really turned a corner. Yes, they were facing lesser offenses but the players look more comfortable in defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s system and the results are beautiful.

The Cowboys’ defense completely shut down Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ offense on Monday. Led by the outstanding play of second-year cornerback Trevon Diggs, and rookie linebacker Micah Parsons this young Cowboys defense is finally creating turnovers.

Diggs had two tackles, three passes defensed and a big-time interception returned for a touchdown that put the Cowboys up 27-7 in the third quarter. He even entered the Cowboys history books on primetime…

Also, don’t look now Cowboys fans but the team leads the NFL in takeaways through three weeks with eight. Six via interception and two fumble recoveries. This type of defensive play is something we haven’t seen in Dallas for years.

Dan Quinn deserves a lot of credit for putting the players in the best spots to make plays but the players deserve the most credit for buying into the scheme and executing. Diggs is turning into a true number one shutdown corner before our eyes and it is doing wonders for the Dallas defense.

The defense has been improved drastically over the off-season due to the addition of rookies like Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa along with vets such as Keanu Neal, Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker, Damontae Kazee to name a few. Even Anthony Brown who has taken some heat of late had an interception on Monday.

There is still a long way to go in the season but hopefully as the defense gets some players back from injury, and more familiar with the scheme they will continue to flourish.