Cowboys' Dominant Defense Praised by Fans as DAL Beat Lions in Dak Prescott's Return

Stop us if you heard this one before—the Dallas Cowboys defense led the way in another win for the team.

Perhaps you expected the main story from Sunday's 24-6 victory over the Detroit Lions to be Dak Prescott's return to the field. It certainly was before the game.

Instead, a familiar script played out, similar to Cooper Rush's tenure under center: The defense was stellar, forcing five second-half turnovers, and the Cowboys secured the game by pounding the Detroit Lions defense on the ground to capitalize on those extra opportunities, moving to 5-2 on the season.

All hail the Dallas defense:

It was a statement performance for a Dallas defense that was humbled in last week's lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. And those takeaways were crucial—they led to 21 points and one came with the Lions (1-5) at the Dallas 1-yard line, about to plunge into the end zone and potentially take the lead early in the fourth quarter.

But they also bailed out a fairly ho-hum overall offensive performance in Prescott's return. He threw for just 207 yards, going 19-of-25 with a score. The running game was solid yet again though, grinding out 139 tough yards while Ezekiel Elliott found the end zone twice.

Prescott is better than Rush. He's also going to have some rust after missing five games. He had some poor throws in this game, but overall he managed the contest well and came away with the win.

But it didn't feel dramatically better than anything Rush offered during the team's four-game winning streak when he first took over as the starter.

That isn't to suggest a quarterback controversy is coming. It's just a reminder that this Dallas defense and run game are elite and will keep the Cowboys in contention no matter who is under center.

Dallas fans will just be hoping the offense continues to open up a bit more as Prescott regains his rhythm. A dangerous passing attack will make the Cowboys one of the most complete teams in the NFL. The defense will do its part, that much is certain.