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For Rod Marinelli, takeaways matter more than ranking

IRVING, Texas -- The statistic is kind of surprising and misleading all at the same time.

The Dallas Cowboys have a top-10 ranked defense.

Who knew?

If you want to measure a defense by yards, then, yes, the Cowboys are No. 9 in the NFL, giving up 334.8 yards per game. They have the 18th-ranked run defense, dropping three spots after giving up 230 yards on the ground in last week’s loss to the Green Bay Packers. They are fourth against the pass, giving up just 221.1 yards per game.

Perhaps a truer measurement of defense is points per game, and the Cowboys are giving up 23.