Sports

The Cowboys offense has been one of the highest-scoring units in the league through the first six weeks of the season, but their defense has given a lot of those points back during a 2-3-1 start.

On Sunday, the Panthers were able to force a Cowboys punt in the fourth quarter with the score tied 27-27 and more than six minutes left on the clock. Their offense ate up that remaining time while driving for a game-winning field goal, so the quick reaction would be to point the finger at the defense for its inability to get off the field.

Quarterback Dak Prescott's view was different, however. He said the offense can't afford a failed possession "at a crucial point like that" and that their inability to put points on the board before punting makes it impossible to blame only the defense for not stopping the Panthers.

"If we don’t score, last thing I'm going is being frustrated at the defense," Prescott said, via the team's website. "That's my problem, somebody on offense, or something that we didn't do better."

Per ESPN, Prescott is the first quarterback in history with 11 passing or rushing touchdowns and no interceptions over a three-game span whose team did not have a winning record over that span. The offense hasn't been perfect in those three games, but those numbers paint a picture that gets them awfully close even before you take into account the players that are missing due to injury.

If the Cowboys can't win while getting performances like that, frustration with the defense would be easy to understand even if Prescott isn't willing to go that route.

It looked like the Steelers were going to have to play without cornerback Jalen Ramsey for most of last week, but Ramsey's hamstring was feeling well enough for him to practice on Friday and he was in the lineup against the Browns on Sunday.

Ramsey showed that he belonged there by coming up with two sacks of Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel during the 23-9 Steelers win. Ramsey also had six tackles and quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the game that the cornerback "showed all of us the kind of guy that he is by going out there and playing today."

Head coach Mike Tomlin was similarly impressed by what Ramsey pulled off after battling an injury.

"We certainly wanted to make sure that he could impact the game," Tomlin said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. "I cannot say enough about Jalen Ramsey. This guy plays outside corner, he plays nickel, he plays free safety. He is exactly what we hoped he would be and certainly he was significant today."

It was the first multi-sack game of Ramsey's career and he said he is "going to probably tell my kids about" doing it in a game that also featured Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. His play helped push the Steelers to 5-1 on the season and that raises the likelihood that he'll get a chance to add some more playoff highlights to his reel before the year is out.