Defense picking up where it left off

The Cowboys ended the 2009 regular season with back-to-back shutouts. They seem to be building on that effort, though defenses usually are ahead of offenses at this point in the preseason.

"You're not going to start where we left off last year, but we wanted to build upon last year, and we felt like we were playing really good defense at the end of last year," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "We played two preseason games, and we have a total of 20 snaps probably, and we've played good defense. But what does that mean? To be honest with you, in the full scheme of things, it means that we've played good defense. We have a long way to go, and we're not even close to being where we want to be. You're never there in this league. That's the mentality we've got to have, regardless of how great we're playing. We've got to keep that edge throughout the course of the season."

The Cowboys' first-team defense played two full series against the Raiders. They forced Oakland to go three-and-out both times, with Oakland gaining 12 yards. The Bengals gained 19 yards on six plays against the Cowboys' first-teamers Sunday.

"They are a pretty dominant group," coach Wade Phillips said. "I think we saw that. I think they played better this game than they did last game. They played well last game. We let them rush some and play some coverage. They did a good job of that too."

 

The Cowboys' starters returned for a couple of third-down plays after the first two series were done. Phillips said he just wanted to give them a little more work.

 

"We played them on third down some, so they could play more," Phillips said. "They only played six plays and there were two three and outs. I wanted the second group to get some work with the first- and second- down stuff. We needed to work our dime defense. They did well there."

 

-- Charean Williams

 

 

 

19 yards on six plays

The Cowboys, who had back-to-back shutouts late last season, could have had back-to-back shutouts to start the preseason. They gave up a touchdown with 51 seconds left against the Bengals, following a 63-yard punt return, and they held the Raiders scoreless for 55 minutes, 2 seconds.

The Cowboys’ first-team defense played two full series Thursday. They forced the Raiders to go three-and-out both times, with Oakland gaining 12 yards.