{"id":11635,"date":"2025-10-20T02:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T02:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/11635\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T02:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T02:24:09","slug":"for-cowboys-defense-becoming-connected-group-made-key-difference-in-win-vs-commanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/11635\/","title":{"rendered":"For Cowboys\u2019 defense, becoming \u2018connected group\u2019 made key difference in win vs. Commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON — As the green dot player on defense, it\u2019s Kenneth Murray\u2019s<\/a> job to communicate play calls to the rest of the defense. It\u2019s his job to get everyone on the same page and to align them correctly. If there\u2019s any player who would notice something amiss for the defense as a whole, it\u2019s probably him. <\/p>\n

Which is why he decided to do something different this week. <\/p>\n

Players will often watch film — whether it\u2019s of themselves or whether it\u2019s of their opponent — on their own in addition to the normal meetings. This past week, for the first time, Murray led two player-meetings with the entire defense. They watched film together and talked a lot — beyond what they originally planned. <\/p>\n

There was a clear objective: after six weeks of struggling, it was time for the Cowboys\u2019 defense to get on the same page.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cJust connecting the whole thing,\u201d Murray said. \u201cI think that\u2019s really what it is. And I think today you saw a connected group.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a vastly different one than the weeks prior, too. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u2019 offense was fantastic, once again, but it was the defense that was the difference in Sunday\u2019s 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders. <\/a>They forced two turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown by DaRon Bland. It was his first interception return for a score since he had one in 2023 against Washington to break the single-season record.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u2019 defense had crashed into the nadir last Sunday in a loss in Carolina.<\/a> In order to climb out, things — plural, mind you — had to change.<\/p>\n

Changes were made and success followed. Confidence should tag along, too. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust proud of the guys, man,\u201d Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer <\/a>said. \u201cThe defense, they\u2019ve taken a lot of bullets, deservedly so in some regards. I was just proud of them. They played really hard. They tackled well.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that you, on the outside, aren\u2019t the only one who has noticed the Cowboys\u2019 struggling defense. The people involved noticed, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not naive to what they\u2019ve been doing and what everyone has been saying,\u201d Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott<\/a> said about the defense, \u201cand they answered the bell.\u201d <\/p>\n

They also answered a major external question. <\/p>\n

Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus<\/a> noted this week that this was new territory for him. His defense ranked last or nearly last in many major defensive categories. To put it simply: they weren\u2019t playing good enough defensively to win consistently with an offense that had been their antithesis through six weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut hey, we are where we are,\u201d Eberflus said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be where our feet are.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also had to make changes. Through six weeks, the Cowboys mostly ran zone defense. They blitzed less than a quarter of the time, according to Sharp Football. They hoped that their front four pass rushers could generate pressure, but it was to limited success. Corner Trevon Diggs — out for Sunday\u2019s game with a concussion after an \u201caccident\u201d at home this week, per the team<\/a> — even previously asked Eberflus to play more man coverage. <\/p>\n

Against the Commanders, the Cowboys blitzed more. They also ran more man coverage than zone in the first quarter, according to the FOX broadcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the most we ever played,\u201d said corner Kaiir Elam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives us this ability to show off our skill set. Obviously, in zone, there is going to be soft areas. In man, we tighten it up. It was credit to coach Eberflus for allowing us to really show what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It changed the secondary\u2019s demeanor to play more man coverage. Rookie corner Trikweze Bridges made his first NFL start in place of Diggs. He said they were able to set a tone with their man coverage. He said having the chance to get their hands on opposing receivers made the secondary attack, rather than simply defend. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a standard in the room. Nobody can come on Alcatraz. That\u2019s our island,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cThat\u2019s us. Coach giving us man calls, we already knew it was our time to show what we are and show the standard that we have. It\u2019s us doing our thing, displaying who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The scheme changes were one thing. But the difference couldn\u2019t be felt if the players didn\u2019t execute. That\u2019s where Murray\u2019s meeting came in. Watching film together as players only allowed them to be honest with each other. It allowed them to hold each other accountable, Elam said, but also explain how each individual position group thought. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to make sure everybody\u2019s on the same page,\u201d Murray said. <\/p>\n

Now he hopes he and the defense can turn the page, continuing a rewrite of their 2025 story that began on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Dynamic duo: See photos as CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens go wild vs. Washington<\/p>\n

\"StevenView Gallery<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON — As the green dot player on defense, it\u2019s Kenneth Murray\u2019s job to communicate play calls to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,8079,7581,1044,114,102,113,104,103,80,154],"class_list":["post-11635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-article","tag-att-stadium","tag-brian-schottenheimer","tag-cowboys","tag-dak-prescott","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}