The Cowboys' defense entered this season as a long-running punchline, but pass rusher Jeremy Mincey believes the jokes are over in Dallas.
The veteran end was a firsthand witness at Sunday's 28-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but came away from the wreckage encouraged by the play of his defense.
"It was definitely a good game to learn from, good game to grow," Mincey said, per The Dallas Morning News. "What I love the most about our team is we came out in the second half and we fought all the way till the end. A lot of people let the levee break and it could've got real ugly and we didn't allow that."
Mincey has a point. The final score is somewhat deceiving as two of San Francisco's first-half touchdowns were the direct result of turnovers. 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver ran a DeMarco Murrayfumble to the house before safety Eric Reid took a Tony Romo interception to the Dallas 2, triggering a quick Colin Kaepernick touchdown pass to Vernon Davis.
Battista: Disaster in Dallas
Trailing 28-7 at the half, the Cowboys looked ripe for an epic beatdown, but they tightened up over the final two quarters to allow zero points and just 116 total yards. The Dallas front seven kept Kaepernick to only 11 yards on the ground and allowed just seven first downs over the final 30 minutes.
Mincey was core to the second-half turnaround, piling up a quarterback hit and three quarterback hurries along the way. From-the-wilderness linebacker Rolando McClain also impressed as both players finished among the top four in the NFL at their respective positions in Week 1, per Pro Football Focus.
"We're going to get better from here on out," Mincey said. "Just keep building off things we can be good at. Some good things are coming in the near future."
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