ARLINGTON, Texas — After a two-game stretch that saw the Dallas Cowboys not only lose back-to-back games, but also not account for any takeaways, the emphasis for the defense coming into a big matchup against the Detroit Lions was to simply get the football.
And that, they did. It began with a second quarter interception for Detroit native Jourdan Lewis, who hauled in his first pass since intercepting Jared Goff last season on a play that saw him break his foot and miss the rest of the 2022 season. This time around, not only did he come down healthy after the play, he halted a potential scoring drive that allowed Dallas to maintain a four-point lead.
Then, late in the game with Detroit needing a score to stay in the game while down 17-13, Donovan Wilson broke on a Jared Goff pass underneath and dove forward for his first interception of the season. The pick set up a Brandon Aubrey field goal that proved to be the determining points in a one-point victory.
"Just trusting each other," Donovan Wilson said about the big stop. "Depending on your brother when it came down to that crunchtime moment and it paid off. We just preached complimentary ball and it paid off. We fed off the offense, offense fed off the defense."
The weight of the turnovers was not lost when discussing the big plays postgame, as they see the win on Saturday night as a confidence booster going towards the final game of the regular season and playoffs.
"It was definitely a big game, so it definitely felt good," Lewis said. "Not only because I'm a Detroit guy, but it's definitely good for our momentum heading into the playoffs. We wanted to get a good win against a good team, and we did that."
For Lewis specifically, the interception served as a full circle moment to show the progress he has made in rehabbing his foot since the injury last season and how well he has played during the back half of the season.
"I've been feeling better," he said. "Finding ways to maintain play and keep my swelling down on my foot to make sure I can go out and perform my best. I got a rhythm later on in the season and I feel like I'm playing as good ball as I've been playing."
Even though the turnover count isn't up to what it has been in the first two years under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, the defense knows it can be a blood-thirsty unit to help the offense get set up for scoring plays.
"That's our mantra, getting the ball back for our offense, being an opportunistic defense," Lewis said. "It definitely felt good to get two turnovers in the game. It was definitely a plus for us. Whatever opportunity we had to stop them, we wanted to go out there and do that."
