4. Joe Thomas leads Dallas in tackles
When Leighton Vander Esch went down with an injury, it was worrisome, to say the least. The Dallas defense was already without Sean Lee so losing a starting linebacker was less than ideal. On top of that, Jaylon Smith struggled quite a bit in Week 1 against the Rams.
Thankfully for Dallas, Smith rebounded in Week 2 and had a better performance against the Atlanta Falcons. While that was encouraging, even more so was the performance of Joe Thomas. The veteran back-up is an often-forgotten about player in the Cowboys defense but he proved his worth — and then some — when Dallas surprised the Falcons on Sunday.
Thomas was all over the field and it’s not exactly a hot take to say he was their best defender that day. In all, he had 12 tackles with one going for a loss. That put him right behind Smith who had 13 tackles.
In this bold prediction Thomas continues to be all over the place for Mike Nolan’s defense and instead of being close to the number of tackles Smith records, he will best him and lead the team in takedowns on Sunday. And this isn’t just meant as in he will wrack up numbers, but his impact on the game will match the statistical output as well.