The Dallas Cowboys‘ turnaround has surprised everyone. Their early-offseason struggles came mostly from a shaky defense, even as Dak Prescott and the offense kept grinding. Even through that, though, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa never lost faith, and so, he had an important message for the roster.

“This is a very talented defense, so it was kind of baffling to me. Just continuing to keep the faith, knowing if we could get some things fixed, it’s all fixable issues, we have the men in the room for the job,” he said.

Things have become possible for a variety of reasons. First, they focused on stopping the run game of the rivals. In the Week 13 game against the Chiefs, the Cowboys had 137 rushing yards, compared to the Chiefs‘ 119. They brutally outpaced the Eagles in the run game by 125-69 yards. Before that, they stopped the Las Vegas Raiders at only 27 rushing yards and ran the ball for 114 yards.

Everyone in the lineup also benefited from the return of their injured star.

Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown returned this year from his injuries after the bye week. Since then, the Cowboys have won all three games. The only changes are violence and tenacity. Even the head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, can feel the difference in how the defense is playing. It happened because of a contribution from the owner, Jerry Jones, as well.

He first made them weak by allowing the Green Bay Packers to take away their explosive defensive end Micah Parsons. But just before the trade deadline, he signed the New York Jets‘ defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. He already has 1.5 sacks, 7 QB hits, and 9 tackles (4 solo).

All these factors have made them unbeatable. Even the signal caller feels the change and named one area that has improved by leaps and bounds.

Dak Prescott is expecting more improvement from the defense

Even legends like running back Emmitt Smith doubted whether the Cowboys could win against the Eagles. He requested the signal caller to protect the house. Guess who else was paying attention? The defense! Not only did they pressure the Eagles QB Jalen Hurts twice, but they also took the ball away on both occasions.

“I think for a few weeks there, it wasn’t even our defense. It wasn’t the defense that’s out there now,” Prescott said. “The biggest difference to me is just their third downs, the way they’re making plays, getting off the field on third downs, giving us opportunities and that breeds confidence to us.”

Both teams had the same third-down efficiency with 5 of 12 third downs. But it became even more evident during the Week 13 game against the Chiefs when the defense only allowed 5 of 13 third downs. Dak Prescott took them on 9 of 16 third downs and didn’t let the pressure of the interception get to their quarterback.

These things have given confidence to the players and the fans. Michael Irvin even claimed that they could finish atop the NFC East while revealing his poncho as his lucky charm. Will the newly strengthened defense get them into the playoffs and to the championship? We’ll find out soon!