Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: Cowboys Are Winning In Every Way Possible

Scout's Eye: Big Day For The Pass Rush, Beasley's Route Running; More - Bryan Broaddus, Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys simply executed better on both sides of the ball, and you saw the results reflected on the scoreboard.

Damien Wilson has been the starter at strong side linebacker these previous two games, and against the Browns he was outstanding. His sack on Cody Kessler with Anthony Hitchens was all athletic ability and effort. On the blitz, his right leg was going to get cut by Isaiah Crowell, but he somehow managed to keep his balance on his left leg. Spinning, he caught Kessler in the middle of the pocket along with Hitchens before he had a chance to get the ball off.

Checking Off All The Boxes: Cowboys Continue To Stake Their Claim As One Of The Elite - Tom Ryle, Blogging The Boys
Dallas has a seven-game winning streak, and they have won the games in every way possible.

Just two months ago, after the somewhat frustrating one point loss to the New York Giants, and with Tony Romo standing on the sidelines, it was impossible to imagine this seven-game winning streak. Yet it has happened, and now almost no one is questioning that the Cowboys are the class of the NFC, and appear to be the only legitimate challenger for league supremacy for the New England Patriots. Yes, there is still a lot of football to be played with only half the games done for Dallas, but look at all the boxes they have checked off already this season with two rookies and a bunch of little-known defenders.

Tony Romo's practice workload to increase this week - Todd Archer, ESPN
Tony Romo will continue to get more work in practice, but the Cowboys won't commit to saying he'll be active for Sunday's game against the Steelers.

"I would take Tony's situation day by day," Garrett said. "He did have two good days of practice last week. He did more than he had done the previous week. So we will take his situation day by day and see how he does tomorrow and Wednesday as we go forward and we will make some decision as we go."

Cowboys sitting pretty in their bid for home-field playoff advantage - Charean Williams, The Star-Telegram
The Cowboys, at 7-1, are tied for the best record in the NFL. They have a two-game lead in the NFC East.

"I wouldn’t dare make that comparison," Jones said when asked if the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC. "What I would compare it to is how and where we were this time last year. Now that’s vivid to me. And when I see how we’re playing, the optimism that we have, just the confidence that we have, then it’s daylight and dark. And a lot of people say Dak has a supporting cast, and he does, he really does, but we had pretty good running back last year in [Darren] McFadden, a great offensive line, didn’t have Dez [Bryant] out there, but we had a tough time moving the ball. So Dak’s doing a good job."

One big challenge Jason Garrett faces as coach to 7-1 team; how he's rubbing off on Jerry Jones - David Moore, SportsDay
Jason Garrett's sermons on the process, his insistence that the Cowboys adopt a single-minded approach that focuses on the day and refuses to look past that.

"Again, that's not really where our focus is,'' Garrett said. "Our focus is on what we need to do this week to play our best football Sunday.''

"Team Defense" Reaches Top 10 After Limiting Browns To Season-Low Yardage - Rob Phillips, Dallas Cowboys
Playing without starting defensive backs Barry Church and Morris Claiborne, the Cowboys did just fine.

The Cowboys’ "team defense" has moved into 10th in total defense, yielding 332.9 yards per game. They’re also one of two defenses in the NFL that have allowed no more than 23 points in each game this season.

Dallas Cowboys Open As Underdogs Against Pittsburgh Steelers - OCC, Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys opened as 3-point underdogs against the Steelers for next Sunday's matchup.

"I don’t like this spot at all for the Cowboys," he said. "This team is very fat and happy, winning seven straight and off their most dominating win of the year. This is their second of back-to-back road games, going into Steel Country, playing a very upset Steelers team. No question, the Steelers will bring 100 percent focus and effort against the Cowboys. I’m not that sure you can say the same about the Cowboys."

Dak Prescott Is Already Playing About As Well As Tony Romo Ever Has - Neil Paine, FiveThirtyEight
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is sailing into uncharted territory for a rookie passer.

Romo’s 2007 stretch was actually preceded by two additional excellent starts (if we included overlapping stretches, parts of ’07 would show up as three of Romo’s top four stretches), so Prescott has to keep this up for a few more games to truly match Romo’s best stretch, but through eight games, he’s right there.

How the Cowboys got their Mighty Orphans nickname - Charean Williams, The Star-Telegram
Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli nicknamed his young unit "The Mighty Orphans" after a book about the Fort Worth Masonic Home Orphanage football team in the 1930s and ‘40s.

"He was explaining to us that he read the book about the ‘Orphans,’ them starting a football team and having a couple of guys go to the NFL. He talked about the way they played because they were orphans, and the mindset they had. He’s just trying to instill that type of stuff in us."

10 reasons for NFL's declining TV ratings, like lousy matchups and player protests - Kevin Sherrington, SportsDay
With all due respect to Richard Sherman and Drew Brees, two of the NFL's most thoughtful types, the decline in NFL TV ratings, once unimaginable, likely has little to do with Roger Goodell's combativeness or a ban on choreography in end zones.

Lousy matchups, especially on formerly glorious MNF, where the hits have been the hardest. And not on the field. For the record, ESPN doesn't get to pick these games. The league doles them out. Do you really think ESPN wants to televise the Bears, Jets and Texans twice on MNF? ESPN annually ranks pro franchises in terms of importance, allocating its assets accordingly. This accounts for the little credential war between Mark Cuban and ESPN since the Mavs took a swan dive in the rankings. Bottom line: Everybody likes parity until it's somebody else's mediocre team on MNF.