In what could be classified as the biggest surprise of the year for the Cowboys (so far), first-year defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has done a masterful job turning around this defense. He’s well exceeded expectations, with the Cowboys climbing up to fourth in defensive DVOA and fifth in defensive EPA per play.
For quite some time, the Cowboys defense had been helped out by unusually consistent takeaways. However, the unit was playing well against the Falcons and Chiefs before they notched any takeaways, and their performance against the Vikings was a beauty that came with no takeaways at all, proving that this is actually just a good defense and not one entirely reliant on an unreliable statistic.