FRISCO, Texas — When you think of what the Dallas Cowboys defense has been during their three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021-2023, one thing immediately stands out: takeaways.
The Cowboys led the NFL across the last three seasons in that department with 93 with the Buffalo Bills’ 87 standing as the next-closest figure. In that same span, Dallas’ 313 points of turnovers led the league by a margin is wide as the Grand Canyon: the New England Patriots (263) and the Green Bay Packers (246) are the next-closest teams to the Cowboys in that metric the past three years. The 2024 season hasn’t been as bountiful for Dallas, sitting at 3-2. They have just five takeaways in five games, tied for 15th in the league while their three points off turnovers are tied for dead last in the league.
A huge driver to that success in 2023 is a player who has yet to take the field for the Cowboys in 2024: 2023 first-team All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland. Bland led the NFL with nine interceptions, including an NFL single-season record five pick sixes last season after moving to the outside following two-time Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs tearing his ACL in Week 3. He’s been absent for the first five weeks of the 2024 NFL season after suffering a stress fracture in his foot during the final week of training camp in Oxnard, California. While a six to eight-week timeline in the big picture of life isn’t very long, for Bland, someone who missed significant time for the first time in his football career, it felt like an eternity.”
“It’s tough,” Bland said on Thursday. “It was my first time being hurt, so taking that time away from the game, it took me a minute to get back to where I feel good to come back. So it feel good now. … It felt really long. I feel like I [haven’t] played football in years, almost.
Dallas opened his 21-day practice window on Wednesday, and he has since practiced fully on both…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-daron-bland-hopes-to-make-season-debut-vs-lions-all-pro-cb-cant-wait-to-return-from-foot-injury/
Author : Garrett Podell
Publish date : 2024-10-11 01:50:59
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