Why we owe the Cowboys defense an apology

It was a little more than a year ago when the Dallas Cowboys were absolutely trounced by the New Orleans Saints. 

The Saints put up an NFL record 40 first downs en route to a 49-17 win, and that was against a Cowboys defense boasting Sean Lee and DeMarcus Ware. 

This offseason, Ware departed and Lee was lost for the season with a torn ACL, leaving the cupboard even more bare for the league's worst defense. To make matters worse, Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Hatcher also left, second-round pick DeMarcus Lawrence broke his foot, and corner Orlando Scandrick was looking at a four-game suspension to start the season.

Never has a topic been so universally agreed upon by football pundits and fans as the state of the Dallas defense heading into 2014: they were going to be terrible. Possibly, the worst ever.

However, four games into the season, the Cowboys are reminding us that games aren't played on paper. Dallas is off to a 3-1 start - and the defense has had a lot to do with it. 

The Cowboys are far from a defensive juggernaut, but their defense is doing more than enough to keep the team competitive. They sit in the top 10 for points against per game, they've been above average against the run, and they've generated eight turnovers.

Better than that, they've had a noticeable impact on every game. In a 28-17 opening week loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboy offense gifted the 49ers 14 points off turnovers. Their defense kept them in it, and if not for the offensive blunders, they might be undefeated.

In a Week 2 win over Tennessee, linebacker Rolando McClain had a diving interception off Jake Locker that would have been a pick-6 if not for an inadvertent whistle. 

In Week 3, it was Bruce Carter, who returned an interception for a 25-yard touchdown to seal a comeback win over the St. Louis Rams.

All that culminated in a rematch with the Saints on Sunday night that had even the most loyal Cowboy fan fearing the worst. They certainly wouldn't have predicted that Dallas would hold New Orleans to just three points after the third quarter. Or that the only touchdowns the Saints would score would come in garbage time with the result already secure in the Cowboys' favor. 

Simply put, anybody claiming they knew that Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints offense weren't going to have a field day probably isn't being very honest. 

There were many reasons to doubt the Cowboys heading into 2014. Perhaps we felt Rod Marinelli and his 11-men-to-the-ball mentality wouldn't be able to improve Monte Kiffin's scheme. Maybe our reliance on advanced stats refused to let us believe this group's pride could carry them above expectations. 

Whatever it was, it's a good reminder that games aren't won and lost in July and August. 

Let's make one thing clear: the 2014 Cowboys aren't the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, or the 2013 Seattle Seahawks. But their defense isn't awful, and from what they had to work with at the beginning of the season, that's quite the accomplishment.