The Dallas Cowboys are far from being an elite team in the NFC, but their 13-9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday was nevertheless big after weeks of poor play.

Brad Johnson wasn’t very impressive (he missed open receivers the entire game), but unlike the loss to the Rams last week, he didn’t turn the ball over and thus, allowed the defense to win the game. And his touchdown pass to newcomer Roy Williams before the half proved to be the difference in the end at least in terms of the score.

Speaking of the Dallas defense, they deserve a ton of credit for finally rising to the challenge this week. They’ve been rightfully hammered by the media due to their poor play, but they forced Tampa to settle for field goals on multiple occasions throughout the game. They also came up with a huge fourth down stop when Jeff Garcia had driven the Bucs into scoring range with under a minute to go.

Forget Tony Romo – he’ll be back soon and he’ll obviously he’ll provide a huge boost to the offense. What the Cowboys really need is a defensive effort similar to the one they got today. If they do, there’s no reason to think that Dallas won’t be legitimate Super Bowl contenders again soon.