Three straight wins raises bar for Cowboys

IRVING (AP) — After winning only six games last season, the seventh victory of this season should be worth at least a little satisfaction for the Dallas Cowboys.

Not the way the offense looked during the last two.

The Cowboys were unimpressive in a 20-7 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, needing penalties to keep alive all their scoring drives, failing to get into the end zone on three straight plays from the 1yard line and gaining only 253 yards. That was only a dozen more than their season low, which came in the previous game, a narrow-escape win in Philadelphia.

“Maybe we’re in just a little bit of a lull right now — maybe not a lull, a slump somewhat,” tight end Dan Campbell said Monday.

Some slump. Dallas has won three straight games and five of six. The only loss in that span came on a last-second field goal on the road against the team with the best record in the NFC, 8-2 Seattle.

At 7-3, with those losses by a total of 10 points, the Cowboys are tied for first place in the NFC East. They’ve guaranteed themselves of playing meaningful games in December, which coach Bill Parcells always considers a goal.

That’s not the goal any more, though. Parcells acknowledged Sunday he now has higher standards for this club — a lot higher.

“I couldn’t tell you what they are,” Parcells said Monday. “It’s not anything about a specific set of standards, I just want my team to be more consistent in its performance, that’s all. ... There are just some areas we have to do better in.”

They’re going to have to work out the kinks quickly because Denver (8-2) comes to Texas Stadium on Thursday. The Cowboys are calling the Broncos the best team they’ve seen this season, which means they’ll need to be at their best, too, even if it will be their third game in 11 days.

“I think everyone knows we can’t play like we did against Detroit and beat Denver,” Campbell said. “There’s no way. It’s got to be corrected this week.”

Even if it’s not, defense has been the backbone of Dallas’ stunning turnaround from being 6-10 and blowout-prone last season.

Having switched to a 3-4 scheme with a solid rotation up front and an upgraded secondary, the Cowboys are allowing 16.4 points per game, secondfewest points in the NFC. Their 27 sacks are on pace to be the most since the Super Bowl teams of the early 1990s. With 11 interceptions, they’ve almost matched the 13 they had each of the last two seasons.

Still, the offense is what people notice most, especially the way they were clicking a few weeks ago.

The skid is best evidenced by Drew Bledsoe averaging only 175.5 yards passing over the last four games. He threw for a season low 110 against the Lions and was held without a touchdown pass for the first time.

“It’s a combination of the way defenses are approaching us and us not executing as well as we’d like to,” he said. “But when you win a few in a row, it’s certainly not something we’re going to jump up and down about.”

The four-week dip in passing yards coincides with injury absences of left tackle Flozell Adams and No. 3 receiver Patrick Crayton. Parcells admitted he’s “trying to manage the game a little bit differently,” which likely means using tight ends and running backs to help protect Bledsoe. The result is fewer people running routes.

“You have to do what you think gives your team the best chance to win,” Parcells said. “That’s what strategy is all about — try to exploit their weaknesses and minimize the matchups that are disadvantageous to you.”

The flip side is that Dallas’ running game seems to be coming around. Two strong outings were followed by a 58-yard clunker against Philadelphia, but the twosome of Julius Jones and Marion Barber III combined for 145 yards against the Lions.

It would’ve been 146 if Jones had been able to score on first, second or third down from the 1-yard line Sunday.

Parcells blamed blocking for the foul-up, saying defensive end-turned-goal-line-fullback Marcus Spears missed blocks on the first two tries and third tight end Brett Pierce getting beat on the last one.