Although the Cowboys' offensive is brilliant, the defense could still improve after failing to win Sunday's victory.

LANDOVER, Md. – In an aging stadium, the Cowboys split into two teams at FedEx Field on Sunday afternoon.

One side of the locker room offered the offensive player another strong performance: his quarterback had three touchdown passes, a long career of 42 yards and 31 points. The other team had grumpy defensive players, while being satisfied with the progress made, such as a sack, a fourth-place finish, and some break-offs, were not satisfied with their overall performance.

The Cowboys went 2-0 this season with a 31-21 victory over the Washington Redskins.

It was a match that saw the offensive start slowly and marked five consecutive possessions. The defense is still struggling to close the match and equal their opponents with a dominant effort.

"Not enough, we had more chances this game," said cornerback Chidobe Awuzie.

"I think we've done some good things but I think we still have a lot to clean up and that will be the most fun part about it," said linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. "That we are going to go there and keep pushing ourselves and that we can move things to another level."

"These are not our standards," said defensive forward Maliek Collins.

After an opening win of the 35-17 season against the Giants AT & T stadium, several Cowboys defensive players have talked about raising their games. With Byron Jones, DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford coming back for more clichés in Week 2 than Week 1, some thought the Cowboys would benefit. In the first offensive game of the game, Washington quarterback Case Keenum targeted Jones with a deep pass that was postponed.

A good start, right?

As the day progressed, the Cowboys' defense struggled to close the session as the offensive continued to score points. After Dallas took a 21-7 lead with about 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Keenum's defense led him to play 11 yards and 75 yards to reduce the deficit to seven. again on the offensive to give a cushion to this team, and that's what happened when Brett Maher scored a 25-yard goal early in the fourth quarter.

So that's where the game turns for the Redskins and, in a way, for the Cowboys. Washington faced the third and third of the 46 and Keenum, under pressure from Lawrence, nearly managed a pass from Xavier Woods.

That gave more life to Washington and this time, on a four-receiver set, Keenum's brief pass to Chris Thompson was incomplete, ending the race and finally in the afternoon.

"It's the norm," said Awuzie. "If we can play three perfect tries like this and unfortunately finish fourth, everyone knows we're going to play tight, that's what we're doing.We have to capitalize on others, but this one has been This is the standard we had. "

It's not as if the Cowboys had played a bad game on the defensive. There were three breaks in the pass, three hits for the quarter and two tackles for the loss.

Of course, this group is about to face turnovers since the start of the training camp and no Sunday. Keenum had a pass that bounced off the safety arm, Jeff Heath, and Woods skipped a pass that he probably should have won. After what the defense did at the training camp and the pre-season which provoked a number of interceptions and forced gropings, this defensive group raised expectations.

"We are hungry," said Kris Richard, coordinator of the assists team and defensive back coach. "We have young people who want to be the best – the best in the world and that's what our mission statement is: Why not us?"

The defense also had one of those good news, bad news on the ground.

Defensive tackle Antwaun Woods left the game due to a knee injury. His status is uncertain, but defensive end Robert Quinn will be back on Monday after a two-game suspension. Jerry Jones was thrilled by Quinn after the game Sunday afternoon and thinks it will have an impact.

Then there is the troubled presence of defensive end Taco Charlton in the team. Charlton was inactive the first two games of the season and is the subject of commercial rumors. In a perfect world, the Cowboys could have a quality defender or midfielder choice. In reality, it is difficult to find business partners when everyone knows that you are ready to get rid of someone.

While the offensive receives the praise of starting 2-0, the defense announces his time, knowing that the 14 points allocated to the second period are not allowed.

But things are better. Right?

"It's the part of the mental toughness that you have to understand," Byron Jones said. "You are about to play, you have to put one foot on someone's throat and put an end to it." At that point, you try not to give hope to an offense and we we are working on it. "