through Week 3 http://www.thecowboysfootballauthentic.com/chris-jones-jersey-authentic , thank goodness for Kris Richard It didn’t take long for Kris Richard to see that Byron Jones was a cornerback when he joined the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff last offseason. He knows defensive backs, and he saw a cornerback.This was a big topic as we prepared for the 2018 season because Byron had played mostly safety since some time at corner his rookie year (2015). Dallas viewed him best there, and while he showed some interesting flashes, he was average at best in the back of the secondary.We’re only through the third week of the season, but the jury is on their way back with the verdict on Jones. He’s not just a good cornerback, he’s one of the best across the entire National Football League. First of all, how about a round of applause for Jones? During his first full-time year at cornerback he’s having serious levels of success and that’s a landmark achievement. His athleticism has never been a secret so it’s easy to understand how he would do well in a spot where he could showcase it.Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, what does it say about the Cowboys previous secondary coaches that Kris Richard’s immediate instinct in putting Byron at cornerback basically instantly yielded success? They were sitting at The Star trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, and Kris Richard picked up the peg and said “oh hey guys, there’s a square peg over here.”It’s hard not to wonder if this same stunted philosophy exists across the coaching staff as a whole, especially at a time when the offense is struggling so mightily. If Kris Richard can come in and use what they’ve got more efficiently and achieve greater results, is it not fair to say that the same could be true of the offense and the players on that side of the ball?Byron Jones being graded as the NFL’s best cornerback through three weeks is fantastic news; however, it does bring to light that the Cowboys viewed him as a safety until a new face showed up. Should there be more new faces soon to perhaps save everyone else? That question isn’t going away any time soon.Crunching stats: Eight things that show us the Cowboys are on the right trajectory My, things feel so much better after the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants by a 20-13 score that made things look a lot closer than they actually were. It is a lot more fun to dive into the stats from the game to pull out some things that we can learn from. Stat sheet scouting is fraught with peril, but with a little judicious interpretation, we can still gather things to inform us going forward.6 for 6The Cowboys had six sacks of a shell shocked Eli Manning. (Isn’t it amazing how expressive his face is when things go awry?)Anyhow Womens Terrance Williams Jersey , as great as the game was for the pass rush (now second in the league in sacks), what is even better is how the sacks came about. Six different players got home on Manning, two defensive ends (Taco Charlton, DeMarcus Lawrence), two players from the interior of the line (Antwaun Woods, Tyrone Crawford), a linebacker (Damien Wilson), and a safety (Kavon Frazier). Having the sacks spread around is always good, much like getting the ball to a variety of receivers: The other team can’t focus on stopping your one big threat, because the threat comes from everywhere. And five of those sacks came when Dallas brought a blitz, which seems like a real departure from the way the team went about things before Kris Richard came to town. We may have seen the future, and it looks good.6 to 0In the loss to the Carolina Panthers, Dak Prescott took an Eli-level of abuse. Against the Giants, he was almost untouched unless he was running the ball for good yardage. New York could only get three hits on him the entire game when he was throwing. That was influenced a bit by the fact that the Giants don’t have near the front seven that the Panthers do, but it also shows that the Cowboys offensive line got a lot cleaned up in their week of prep for the second game. That will give Prescott a lot more confidence when he’s passing, and that is extremely helpful.64As in how many yards the deep throw to Tavon Austin covered for the touchdown just three plays into the game. It proved that Prescott could throw the ball deep, which affected the Giants’ defense for the rest of the game and opened up things for the team to amass 138 yards rushing. Once they got that big strike Womens Dak Prescott Jersey , the Cowboys were pretty much in control of things, even though the offense would regress until the final scoring drive to put things pretty much out of reach.6As in yards per play offensively for Dallas. (You may notice a theme to start things here.) As Bob Sturm noticed in his morning after piece at The Athletic:You may want to argue that the one long score pushed that average up, but that just means that it doesn’t matter how you get the yards. It is the efficiency that matters, and the Cowboys were much more efficient than New York, who only managed 3.8 yards per play, with much of their production coming after the Cowboys went into a prevent approach after building the lead to 20-3.2 for 2 twiceThat is from Brett Maher’s stat line, two field goals on two attempts and the same for extra points. After the miss in the season opener, it is no exaggeration that the fans breathed a collective sigh of relief at some real evidence that things will be OK without Dan Bailey (he is now going to play for the Minnesota Vikings in their indoor stadium, which should be good for him.)The new shape of the linebacking corpsHere are the key stats for the linebackers who saw action with the defense.Jaylon Smith: 10 tackles, one TFL, 84% of the defensive playsLeighton Vander Esch: 7 tackles, 41%Sean Lee: 5 tackles, 60%Damien Wilson: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 1 pass defended, 1 forced fumble Youth Brett Maher Jersey , 25%Joe Thomas: 1 tackle, 21%There’s a lot to unpack here. First, while Lee had a bit of a bounce back after his rather poor showing in the first game, he was not the workhorse we have become used to. Part of that was due to what he describes as a cramp in his hamstring, which may be a conditioning issue after he had so little work in preseason, but it also may be an early signal that Smith is becoming the new standard bearer for the group - and that is still such a remarkable story after so many thought Dallas had wasted that second-round pick on him. Vander Esch is starting to show he was not a wasted pick in the first, either, with good production on fairly limited snaps. It can still be argued that he was still a bit too costly in terms of draft capital, but he now has a definite “future starter” look to him. And Wilson, who also performed poorly in Carolina, had the biggest rebound of all, with a ridiculously productive day while only being on the field a quarter of the time. The defense is looking very solid from front to back.Speaking of the defense’s other unitsThe secondary may be a bit shallow, but they have come through big. After keeping Cam Newton from any long completions, they largely shut down Odell Beckham Jr. and didn’t let Saquon Barkley or Evan Engram do any significant damage either. Chidobe Awuzie and Kavon Frazier were on the field for all the defensive play, Byron Jones and Jeff Heath each only missed one after each was shaken up a bit, and Anthony Brown saw the field for 74% of the plays as the nickle corner. These guys are balling.And the defensive line is, as well. In addition to the three sacks Youth Maliek Collins Jersey , they amassed 11 tackles, 6 TFLs, 6 QB hits, and Charlton’s fumble recovery. But not all is perfectThere is still room for improvement. Dallas only converted 3 of 10 third downs. They had six penalties for 47 yards, which wiped out a couple of third down conversions. And Barkley evaded the first man to get to him on almost every play, which is partly a testament to his elusiveness with his perfectly timed spin moves, but also something that needs improvement. After the first couple of series, Prescott made very few attempts to go deep with his passes. And Elliott, while effective, only had 78 yards rushing, something the team really needs him to improve.Still, overall, the stats bear out that this was a convincing and badly-needed win. And it brings us to the most important stat of all:1-1, and tied for the NFC East lead.