It's time to wash off the stain of defeat against the New Orleans Saints and look at the bright side for the Dallas Cowboys.

After the first quarter of the season, the Cowboys sit atop the NFC East with a 3-1 record (2-0 in the division), which has to be deemed a success even coming off a disappointing loss.

With that in mind, let's take a look at a few Cowboys who have exceeded expectations thus far this season.

Robert Quinn, DE

Robert Quinn has only played in two games this season, but he's already exceeding everyone's expectations.

Coming into the season, Quinn was seen as a DE who could take some pressure off Lawrence while providing the Cowboys with some much-needed juice off the right edge.

Quinn has been all that and more for the Cowboys' defense, accumulating nine total pressures (three sacks, a QB hit and five hurries) and a batted ball through two games. Moreover, Quinn ranks 1st among defensive ends and outside linebackers in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate Metric -- ahead of players such as Khalil Mack (three-time first-team All-Pro and 2016's Defensive Player of the Year), TJ Watt (too soon?) and Shaquil Barrett (nine sacks in four games). With Lawrence being double-teamed more than any other DE in the NFL, Quinn has been Dallas' most effective pass rusher in the last two games.

While it was OK to question Quinn's level of competition against Miami in his first game back from suspension, the same cannot be said for his performance against New Orleans, whose left tackle, Terron Armstead, gave up just 13 total pressures in 12 games last season, per Pro Football Focus.

"Here he comes, here comes speed racer."



Robert Quinn was speed racing round MIA LTs Sunday. Quinn was especially effective with the Ghost tech made famous by Von Miller.



"Go, speed racer, go." pic.twitter.com/5quQ3juvav — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 25, 2019

Quinn's entire pass-rush game is predicated off his speed and lower-body flexibility. Aided by wide alignments, Quinn's outstanding get-off, burst up the arc and bend to turn the corner enable him to consistently race by offensive linemen off the edge.

Robert Quinn had so many near sacks vs MIA. Explodes off the LOS and uses a cross chop to send 63 face first into the turf. pic.twitter.com/WTegb3QDgC — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 24, 2019

Quinn also incorporates impressive hand technique to defeat a tackle's hands while racing off the edge. Much like Lawrence, Quinn has mastered the cross chop move to knock down a tackle's hands and soften the edge.

Robert Quinn's 1st sack as a Cowboy.



Pure speed. Dip & rip. Pay attention to RQ's 2nd step, as it widens his path even more while also changing the intersection point between him & the LT. Beats the LT to the spot, dips to reduce his surface area & rips to clear residual contact pic.twitter.com/SGpEC0up5e — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 23, 2019

On top of that, Quinn has also been extremely effective with the ghost technique, where he feints with a long arm before dipping underneath the tackle's strike. Quinn also likes to use a variety of rip moves to defeat hands and soften the corner.

Furthermore, Quinn is no one-trick pony. When he can't win with pure speed, he uses nuanced footwork to create opportunities to get to the outside edge and corner around the tackle.

This was Robert Quinn's best pass rush of the day but the ball gets out just in time to avoid the sack.



Quinn having success with speed caused 72 to be wary of speed, which is why 72 slide to defend the speed rush when Quinn stuttered, leaving available the inside swim. Gorgeous pic.twitter.com/7vYImsKvIK — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

Quinn's propensity to win with speed off the edge also opens up a number of inside counter opportunities per game. Tackles will often get too wide or deep with their pass sets in an attempt to defend Quinn's speed, which just creates a giant alley for the inside counter. As the season goes on, Quinn should only see more inside counter opportunities as tackles will start to sell out more to defeat Quinn's speed.

Quinn's speed off the edge has been great and sorely needed, but his effort level on a play-by-play is arguably just as important. Quinn's motor is consistently running hot, as he made a habit of chasing down ball carriers from behind despite being out of the play initially.

Robert Quinn's pass rush ability has been his biggest asset, but his motor isn't far behind. Plays with fantastic effort on almost every snap, which you know Marinelli LOVES. pic.twitter.com/QuMAAV7ZMD — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

When a veteran such as Quinn plays with a hot motor, the younger defenders behind him have no choice but to do the same, which Rod Marinelli undoubtedly loves.

Ultimately, Quinn came into the season with expectations of a 6-8 sack season; however, after two games, double-digit sacks certainly doesn't seem out of question.

La'el Collins, OT

If you compare the La'el Collins from 2018, especially the one from the first 13 weeks, and the La'el Collins in 2019, you may be convinced that they are entirely different players.

After a year where Collins was often one of the weak links on the Dallas OL, he's exceeded everyone's expectations, as he's been the team's best offensive lineman through the first month of the season.

In 2018, Collins gave up nine total pressures (one sack, one QB hit, seven pressures) over the first four games. This season, Collins has only given up three total pressures, per PFF.

Making Collins' performance this season even more impressive is the fact that he's executing at a high level against pass rushers who gave him a lot of trouble in the past.

Here's every snap where #Cowboys RT La'el Collins is against Washington EDGE Ryan Kerrigan in traditional pass protection.



Collins did a great job protecting his inside edge, forcing Kerrigan to take the outside track. Also saw Collins use the bait technique a couple times. pic.twitter.com/rbxjTn8m5z — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 18, 2019

In Week 2, Collins faced Washington pass rusher Ryan Kerrigan, who consistently got the better of Collins in their matchups. Kerrigan is a powerful rusher with intricate hand technique, but Collins stymied him all afternoon. Kerrigan did finish the game with a sack, but that was because a Connor Williams missed blocked forced Prescott to retreat into Kerrigan's arms, who was expertly pushed passed the pocket by Collins.

La'el Collins continued his stellar season vs NO. Only allowed 2 pressures vs an elite DE, Cameron Jordan.



LC did a great job of exploding out of his stance to beat CJ to his spot. Remained balanced with his sets & was effective with his strikes. Mixed up his attack well too. pic.twitter.com/MkWZg1CP4B — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

In Week 4 against New Orleans, Collins faced off against Cameron Jordan -- who recorded two sacks and a bevy of pressures against Collins in 2018. This time, however, Collins controlled the action, giving up just two pressures against one of the best DEs in the NFL, per PFF.

Collins' All-Pro caliber of play through the first month is due to vast technical improvements to go along with being fully healthy to start the season.

In the past, Collins had a nasty habit of dipping his head on contact and getting his weight over his toes. This continually inhibited Collins' balance, which prevented him from stymying a defender's counter-attacks.

This season, Collins' balance in his pass sets is much better, which allows him to sustain blocks longer or recover if initially beaten. Collins still carries incredible power in his hands, but he's doing a much better job of mixing his strikes to keep defenders off-balance.

Cannot say enough good things about La'el Collins holding up in pass pro vs Cam Jordan.



Here, Collins uses a powerful two-hand strike to distort Jordan's line to the QB. Jordan feinted inside, but Collins stayed patient/balanced, playing half-man. pic.twitter.com/tbkNgya1bH — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 30, 2019

Collins still has a tendency to drop his head and really load up on his two-hand strikes on occasion, which leaves him susceptible to quick counters. However, he's doing a much better job picking his spots.

Moreover, Collins has incorporated a variety of strikes into his repertoire to keep defensive linemen off-balanced. Aside from the two-hand punch, Collins has also proven capable of using independent hands to combat pass rushers -- preferring to initiate action with an outside strike.

La'el Collins using a bait technique to defeat Charles Harris' cross-chop club attempt. Feints a two-hand strike to draw out Harris' hands, giving Collings an easy target to latch once Harris whiffs. pic.twitter.com/07llianYwc — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 24, 2019

Collins has also had a lot of success using the bait technique -- where he shows his hands early to draw out the hands of the pass rusher only to retract his hands and latch on to the defender's frame once he whiffs.

La'el Collins has gotten soo good at taking advantage of a pass rusher's forward lean by using that snatch & trap to knock defenders' hands down before they can latch onto his frame. Tough to master, as it takes a keen awareness of the rusher's weight distribution/balance. pic.twitter.com/TDkLlsdvGH — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

Taking a page out of Tyron Smith's book, Collins has also been incredibly effective with a snatch and trap technique, which takes advantage of a pass rusher's forward lean by knocking their hands to the ground as they look to latch onto Collins' frame.

Collins' improved repertoire of hand technique has given him all the tools he needs to combat any pass rusher he sees off the right side.

La'el Collins almost picks up this 4th down conversion all by himself. Caves in the tight 3-tech then comes off and knocks the filling LB out of the hole, creating a crease for the 1st down.



Unfortunately, Zeke fumbled. pic.twitter.com/sBeq1XlpEP — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

The LSU product has also been a road-grader in the run game, especially on down blocks and double teams. Collins has done a fantastic job of displacing defenders out of their gap using his immense power to create open running lanes for Ezekiel Elliott behind him.

Altogether, Collins looks like a new man this season, and if the season ended today, Collins would be an easy All-Pro selection -- he's been that good.

Under the tutelage of Marc Colombo, Collins is playing the best football of his career. It's still early, but he's already making his five-year, $50 million contract extension look like a steal.

Dak Prescott, QB

He didn't have his best performance against the Saints -- neither did the rest of the offense -- but that shouldn't take away from Prescott's blistering start to the season.

Through the first quarter of the season, Prescott has thrown for 1,143 yards (8th among NFL QBs), nine touchdowns (4th) and three interceptions to go with a 72.4 completion percentage (2nd). Prescott currently ranks second in yards per pass attempt (9.0) and adjusted net yards per attempt (8.95) --the QB statistic most correlated with winning -- fourth in touchdown (7.1) and sack (2.31) percentage, and first in QBR (91.4), per Pro Football Reference. Furthermore, Prescott also has a 9.2 completion percentage above expectation (2nd), per Next Gen Stats.

Prescott has proven to be much more aggressive this season. In 2018, on average, Prescott's passes targeted receivers 1.5 yards before the first down markers, per Next Gen Stats. In 2019, Prescott average target lands 0.4 yards beyond the sticks, which is a drastic but needed change from last year.

Hey now! This is the type of play-calling and design that Dallas continually benefited from in Weeks 1-3.



PA with a pulling OL holds the LB just enough for Jarwin to get open behind him. Cobb's vertical route from slot occupies the strong-side safety... pic.twitter.com/wOphEgUWpN — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 30, 2019

A lot of Prescott's aggressiveness has come off play-action, where he has been outstanding so far this year. Prescott is completing 81.8% (first among QBs with multiple starts, per Pro Football Focus) of his passes off play-action for 474 yards, four TDs and an INT.

All the offseason talk regarding Prescott's throwing mechanics and footwork was apropos, as he made significant strides in both areas, which laid the foundation for his successes so far this season.

This is the type of throw that I'm not sure Dak makes last year. Even with the impending pressure, Dak has enough awareness to know that he has enough space to step into throw, giving him the opportunity to generate enough force and touch to correctly place this throw. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/AFebT5JYSo — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 10, 2019

The main difference in Prescott's throwing mechanics and footwork is that he's doing a much better job of transferring his weight into throws. Instead of relying on his arm to both aim and generate velocity, Prescott -- through his footwork -- is incorporating his full body into throws, which has enabled him to add more zip to his passes and generally be more accurate with his throws. Prescott is generating power with his lower body, which allows his arm to focus on the placement of the ball.

It'll be important to evaluate Dak under pressure in the future, but his mechanics were clean for the most part without pressure. Enables to uncork a nice pass into a relatively tight window here on 3rd down. Great velocity on the throw. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/N3k9MhEg11 — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 9, 2019

Particularly, Prescott is doing a better job with the weight distribution of his feet. In the past, Prescott put too much weight on his front foot, which, as stated above, prevented him from generating power from his lower half. More weight on his back foot helps him push off that back foot as he transfers his weight to his front foot during his delivery, which leads to a ton of power generated.

When asked about his improved mechanics, Prescott said, "I've learned over the last year, year-and-a-half, I guess, of how to use my lower body, how to use everything from the ankle all the way up to the torque of my body, and allowing that to make the ball come out easy, free-flowing. It's definitely paying off."

The improved footwork and throwing mechanics have also made Prescott more potent on deep passes (20+ yards downfield). In 2018, Prescott went 20 of 57 on deep passes (two drops) for an adjusted completion percentage (completions + drops / aimed) of 38.6, per PFF. In 2019, Prescott is currently 11 of 20 (two drops) for an adjusted completion percentage of 65 - best in the NFL among QBs with at least 10 targets 20 or more yards downfield.

Another week and another alert bullet slant. With WAS' LBs chomping at the bit to defend the run and the CB playing 10 yards off, it leaves the alert bullet slant to Devin Smith wide open.



Love this wrinkle in DAL's offense. Taking advantage of what the D is giving to you. pic.twitter.com/Q6oQeMFIMj — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 16, 2019

On top of the improved mechanics, Prescott also seems more comfortable in this offense than in any year prior. Prescott has been masterful with his pre-snap process at the line of scrimmage, as he takes full advantage of the freedom given to him to change plays/routes and alter protections.

Furthermore, Prescott has done an excellent job manipulating defensive backs with his eyes to create larger throwing windows for himself. Instead of locking onto the intended receiver with his eyes, which just attracts the defenders who are reading the QB's eyes to his preferred target, Prescott is looking off safeties or holding them in the middle of the field.

Overall, there's no doubt that Prescott has exceeded everyone's expectations thus far. Anyone who said they expected this kind of start from Prescott is lying, as the Cowboys QB is legitimately playing at an MVP pace through the first quarter of the season.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

-- How Tony Pollard's flashes vs. Miami offered glance at Cowboys backfield's frightening potential

-- 3 takeaways from Cowboys-Dolphins, including the much-needed juice Dallas now has opposite D-Law

-- Stock report: Which Cowboys players are exceeding expectations and which ones are falling short?

Twitter: @JohnOwning