Dorance Armstrong’s Week 5 leaves Gregory fawning in rearview

Dallas extended their winning streak to four games on Sunday with an emphatic 22-10 road victory against the defending champion Los Angeles Rams. The defense, led by reigning Assistant Coach of the Year Dan Quinn, once more made the game much easier on the offense, holding Matt Stafford and Co. to only 10 points, all of which came in the first half.

After losing standout Randy Gregory this past offseason, many expected the defense, the pass rush specifically, to take a significant step back. It is fair to say at this point that is simply not the case. Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence have played out of their skin this season but emerging as a dominant force alongside them is the former Kansas Jayhawk, Dorance Armstrong. Through four games prior to this weeks heavy-weight bout, Armstrong had collected three sacks, three tackles for a loss and a blocked kick. He emphasized his strengths even more in this contest.

Dallas won the toss for the first time all sesaon and deferred the kickoff, giving the defense the first crack at the field. On the third play of the Rams’ drive, Armstrong bullied his way past the left guard and forced a fumble on the sack of Stafford. Lawrence picked up the ball and ran it in for an early score for Dallas.

On the Rams very next drive, the Dallas defense came up with a third-down stop just over midfield. Normally an aggressive team but struggling this year on offense, Sean McVay chose to have his team punt to try and get the upper hand in the game of field position. Except Armstrong came through once again, blocking the punt and setting the offense up in Rams’ territory.

Armstrong came back to earth for the remainder of the game but his impact early gave Dallas a two-score lead almost immediately. While no more splash plays were made, his presence was felt and he became a player alongside Parsons and Lawrence that the Rams had to gameplay for.

There’s always a story about how a certain player makes it to a team. For Armstrong, the former fourth-round pick’s story is about how he returned. The Cowboys had agreed to a new deal with Gregory this offseason, which could’ve meant Armstrong would need to find work on a new team. But Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones insisted language be inserted into the deal that would nullify guarantees if Gregory were to be suspended again. Gregory and his agent felt betrayed, and signed a deal with similar length and money with Denver.

Dallas turned around and inked Armstrong to a two-year deal. Jones has always been enamored with Armstrong and has been a vocal proponent, but there likely isn’t this version of him if things had worked out differently in March.

Now he sits as part of the league’s best edge rusher group carving out a seat at the table all his own.

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Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire