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It’s been a while since the Dallas Cowboys were a legit force in the NFL. They’ve been far from a Super Bowl contender. That may have finally changed.

Mike McCarthy’s team has looked pretty solid through the first three weeks of the NFL season. With their almost win at the opener against Tampa Bay, the Cowboys sure left the fans and the world of football with raised eyebrows, and in shock, about the fight, the Cowboys brought onto the field that night. Then with the last two weeks, both their wins against the LA Chargers and the Philadelphia Eagles have shocked the entire football world and have begged the question: Are the Dallas Cowboys’ new Super Bowl contenders?

Besides the schedule and the results, it’s the way they’re playing that encourages fans and the media alike. And, according to Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, there’s just one way you could take them down right now.

Aikman says that “If you’re an inferior team-and I think a lot of teams who are going to come and play Dallas are going to be inferior to them-then the best way to get into the fourth quarter with a chance to win is to minimize the offensive snaps.”

And Aikman is completely right. The more snaps they have, the better chance a team has at blowing a team out and scoring more points than them. You try and shorten the game by controlling the clock on your side of the ball, but also don’t go and give up big plays either. So the best way would be to play coverage-try to keep them from making big plays in the passing game and then make them commit through the game of running the ball.

“You get them to third down and you make a play, a dropped pass, a DB makes a play, then they’re punting. That’s the way I would do it” said Aikman. He continued by saying, “I would not come up and try to stop the run and be over-committed to that and Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, and CeeDee Lamb and the rest of the team run through your secondary. That’s a recipe for getting blown out.”

And Troy Aikman is completely right. The Cowboys have finally understood that they need to keep their defense off the field as often as possible. They’ve found balance in their offense and drain the clock with their long and efficient series, as we saw from the past 3 weeks. As they stand 1st place in the NFC East at 2-1.

Dallas Cowboy’s quarterback Dak Prescott is also one of the reasons the Cowboys are a contender for the Super Bowl. His stats over the past couple of weeks has shown he’s been playing near-immaculate football. So far in the regular season, Dak has 878 yards under his belt, 6 TDs, and 2 INTs, with his most being the NFL opener against the Buccaneers.

Aside from a fumble in Dallas’ end zone early in the first quarter of the Eagles game, which they recovered to make the score 7-7, Dak played a great game. He missed on just five attempts all night, going 21-for-26 for 238 yards and a trio of touchdowns and finishing with a passer rating of 143.3

It’s clear the Dallas Cowboys are not the team they used to be. Since the season started they’ve already become a better team and a force to be reckoned with. And if they keep up what they’re doing, they just might be a Super Bowl contender and the NFC East favorite for the first time in years.