5 Cowboys who helped save Mike McCarthy's job in win vs Chargers

2. DeMarcus Lawrence

Here's your defensive MVP from Monday night, folks.

Lawrence was everywhere against the Chargers. His most notable contribution was saving a possible touchdown by batting a ball down at the line of scrimmage. Kellen Moore dialed up a screen to Austin Ekeler and the running back had acres of space and a cavalcade of blockers to boot.

Beyond getting his hand on multiple passes, Lawrence was unstoppable defending the run. As we noted earlier, Ekeler didn't reach 30 yards rushing.

Pass-rushing output be damned (though he's still awesome at that) "Tank" is still one of the league's best DEs as far as stopping the run and still one of the most underrated defenders in the league altogether.

Pro Football Focus final grades will tell the full story of Lawrence's impact, but he came up huge for Dallas -- and Mike McCarthy -- vs the Chargers.