Cowboys’ declaration to have ‘best defense in the world’ is premature

Few would argue that the collection of talent that Dallas has on the defensive side of the ball — Lawrence, Micah Parsons, Mazi Smith, Trevon Diggs, Stephon Gilmore, Malik Hooker — is among the best in the NFL.

Few would also argue that Dallas has been nothing short of dominant in its 2-0 start, but perhaps the team should reflect on the caliber of its opponents in Weeks 1 and 2 before doing such metaphorical chest puffing.

Yes, the Cowboys held the New York Giants to just 171 yards of total offense in a 40-0 blowout to open the season. But the seven sacks and two interceptions of Daniel Jones — a quarterback who’s never thrown for more than 3,205 yards in any season with just one year of 20 or more touchdown passes and is considered to be a bottom-third player among his position — during a rainstorm wasn’t even the more impressive defensive performance of Week 1.

The Cleveland Browns, in their first game under new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, held the Cincinnati Bengals, who had the No. 8 offense and No. 5 passing offense in the NFL a season ago, to just 142 yards of total offense while forcing Pro Bowl QB Joe Burrow to have the worst game of his career (82 passing yards, 45.2 completion percentage, 52.2 passer rating).

And yes, forcing four turnovers while limiting the Jets to 215 yards of total offense was also notable, but it came against a team that spent its entire offseason building an offense specifically for Aaron Rodgers and was forced to hand the keys to Zach Wilson — a QB who’s thrown more interceptions (22) than touchdowns (17) with a career completion percentage barely above 55 and a career passer rating of 69.6.

The Cowboys may have a stronger case for having the “best defense in the world” if they can shut down some of the elite quarterbacks on their schedule like Justin Herbert (Week 6), Jalen Hurts (Weeks 9 and 14), Josh Allen (Week 15) and Tua Tagovailoa (Week 16).

They also have to defend their self-anointed crown from some of the NFL’s other top defensive units like the 49ers, who have four interceptions and six sacks through two games, and the Patriots, who’ve held Hurts and Tagovailoa to a combined 419 yards passing and two touchdowns. Then there are the Eagles and Jets, who rank No. 1 and 2 in the league, respectively, in takeaways.

Until Dallas has a few more skins on the wall, its defense should be considered among the best but not the best, and while Lawrence’s bravado can certainly be appreciated, if the Cowboys have to tell people they have the best defense in the world, they probably don’t.