While still putting it together, the Mike Zimmer-led Cowboys defense is figuring it out at the right time

Midway through the season, the Dallas Cowboys defense had been left for dead.

With injuries mounting and bad performances stacking on top of being in the wrong chapters of the history books, the output had Cowboys fans reminiscing on what the previous three seasons looked like under former defensive coordiantor Dan Quinn.

Through the first three games of the season, the Mike Zimmer-led group had given up 557 yards on the ground – the most allowed by any team in the NFL through three games since 1963. Before the bye week, the defense was allowing 28 points per game in six contests.

Adding injury to insult, the Cowboys were without cornerback DaRon Bland, defensive end Micah Parsons, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and cornerback Caelen Carson going into that week seven bye. At that time, anyone in their right mind would have been justified to write them off.

“We know what we’re capable of doing,” defensive end Chauncey Golston said. “We just gotta do it, play assignment-sound and play the calls that [Zimmer] calls for us. Sometimes we’d go out there in previous weeks, and all 11 people wouldn’t be on the same page.”

Despite the team not finding a win since the bye until Sunday’s wacky finish in Washington that resulted in a 34-26 victory, the defense has rebounded since the break. The pass rush has sacked the quarterback 14 times, the run defense has improved to allowing 159.2 yards per game and the overall unit has gotten healthier with the return of Parsons and Bland.

It has been far from perfect, but it’s paved the way for positive results.

On Sunday, until a late-game barrage saw both teams exchange wild scores, the Zimmer defense seemed to find that positive result by allowing just nine points in the game’s first 57 minutes. It’s a big reason why the team was able to weather a big storm late and come away with its first win since week five.

“For the majority of the game, we played really good ball,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. “It’s felt like that for the last few weeks. We go out there and scratch and claw. It finally worked out for us, the ball rolled our way.”

“This was one of those games we had to come together and play for each other,” Bland said after registering four tackles in his season debut. “We had to play as one, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Parsons totaled multiple sacks in a game for the second time this season, as his pass rush efforts kept the Commanders’ weaponized rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels in check.

“I think we had to make a statement as a defense and the team as a whole,” Parsons said. “Like when is enough, enough? We had to make that decision.”

Up until the game’s final five minutes, the Cowboys had allowed just 220 total yards to the NFL’s sixth-best offense. It was on pace to be Dallas’ best day defensively all season.

“We’re preparing the right way, keying in on our details,” defensive back Israel Mukuamu said. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do, and that’s the difference.”

In the game’s final five minutes, everything was thrown out the window.

A 69-yard drive that led to eight points and a 37-yard drive that led to three points gave Daniels and the Commanders offense one final shot to tie the game with 33 seconds to go. One play and 86 yards later, Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin had split the Dallas defense in two and walked into the end zone.

For a unit that had failed many times late in games this season, it appeared to be yet another letdown.

“That’s part of the game,” Bland said. “We practice those moments. We never get too high, too low. We knew we had to go out there, make a play and finish the game.”

Then, Commanders kicker Austin Seibert missed the game-tying extra point.

While the defensive unit can say that it was able to escape a catastrophic outcome, it can also say that it stood tall for the majority of Sunday’s game. Now, it will be about playing a complete game moving forward.

“We understand that we need each other to go out there and win games,” Lewis said. “We’re scratching and clawing right now, but we feel like our best ball is yet to come.”

The Cowboys will now turn to a short week before welcoming in the New York Giants on Thanksgiving. With the next four opponents all residing under .500 and Dallas only sitting 2.5 games out of a playoff spot, spirits were high in the locker room on Sunday.

Will it be too little, too late? Tough to know, but the players want to at least find out.

“We’re definitely on our way to being the team we want to be,” Parsons said. “Ending the losing streak is good, but what are we going to do the next couple of weeks?”