4 surprising stars who helped Cowboys upset the Bengals in Week 2

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 18: Dorance Armstrong #92 of the Dallas Cowboys reacts after sacking Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals (not pictured) during the first half at AT&T Stadium on September 18, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

3. Dorance Armstrong, DE

This entire defense, once again, kept this team in the game. There were spectacular moments from all the big names, but someone who fans may not have expected to come up big was Dorance Armstrong.

When the Cowboys lost Randy Gregory this offseason, many were worried about how the team would replace him. They signed former Falcons DE Dante Fowler Jr. (who also had some big plays on Sunday) and drafted Ole Miss DE Sam Williams. Aside from that, they chose to believe in former fourth-round pick Dorance Armstrong.

The Kansas product was drafted by Dallas in 2018 but didn’t make much noise until last season. In 2021, he started five games and had a career-high five sacks, 37 tackles, and 12 QB hits. He certainly wasn’t the defense’s strongest puzzle piece, but he played a role.

On Sunday against the Bengals, he had some momentum-building plays. The defense sacked Joe Burrow a whopping six times, and Dorance had two of them, marking his first-ever multi-sack game in his career.

https://twitter.com/dallascowboys/status/1571615673712771078

Armstrong was part of the reason the Bengals only gained 85 yards in the first half.

He had a night to remember, and hopefully, will continue to build upon this success for the rest of the year.

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