The Dallas Cowboys continued a disappointing season against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9, losing 27-17 in a game that didn't ever feel in reach, despite the scoreboard. It was, as usual, an underwhelming night on defense, though there were a few positives.

Let’s take a look at those guys, as well as the player with the lowest grade on this side of the ball. As a reminder, all players listed played a minimum 25 snaps. 

Like his rookie counterpart on the offensive side of the ball in Tyler Booker, EZ is at the top of this list for the second week in a row. This is due not just to a strong pass rush grade (71.3) but also a career best run defense grade of 80.0

With that said, his pass rushing stole the show as he set a career high with five pressure on his way to his second career sack. That’s two sacks in three weeks after none in his first six games. 

Throw in two stops as a run defender, and EZ had arguably the most complete game of his career. While the defense has struggled overall, it would appear that they hit on this pick in the draft.

After three straight weeks of PFF grades at 46.5 or lower, including an embarrassing 33.5 mark against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6, Odighizuwa roared back to life against the Cardinals. That bounceback performance included five pressures, four hits, and five total tackles. 

There are two ways to look at this. On one hand, a guy that is in the first year of a four-year, $80 million deal is expected to perform like this and should be admonished for his lackluster stretch of play. On the other hand, it’s encouraging to see a key player return to form.

With as rare as positives have been on this side of the ball, we’ll take the latter approach while hoping that Odighizuwa can keep this momentum after the bye week. 

After his 28.9 grade against the Denver Broncos in Week 8, we talked about how it wasn’t that performance that was concerning in a vacuum, but how James would respond to that adversity that mattered. Suffice it to say, he didn’t respond well. 

It’s a disappointing stacking of performances for a player that had gradually improved in each of his first four games, culminating in a 63.8 grade against the Washington Commanders in Week 7. With Logan Wilson coming to town via trade, expect to see James fill a more complimentary role, one that will allow him to continue learning without the pressure of starting as a Day 3 rookie.