The Dallas Cowboys defeated the New Orleans Saints Thursday night, 27-17. With the win, they improved to 8-4 on the season and widened their lead in the NFC East. But there were a lot of things that did not go right in the win. It was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of results in the win.

Here are my 3 key takeaways from Dallas' 10-point win vs the Saints.

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Cowboys 3 Takeaways from Win over  the Saints

3. The Dallas offense has real problems

For the first month or so, it appeared the Dallas Cowboys offense was unstoppable. They were running the ball at will, with Ezekiel Elliott looking as fresh as ever. Back up running back Tony Pollard was a great complementary back.

That allowed the Cowboys and Dak Prescott to run a lot of play action. Prescott found Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb open downfield all the time. The offense was clicking. Following their win over New England, the Cowboys had scored 30 plus in every game but one to that point, with Prescott playing at an elite level.

But over the last month and change, things have looked very different. It did not help that Amari Cooper missed a couple games with COVID-19, and CeeDee Lamb missed a game with a concussion.

Ezekiel Elliott also hurt his ankle on Thanksgiving a bit. So injuries have played a part. But that's not the only concern. The offensive line is struggling to run block. That has put Dallas behind the chains frequently, forcing Prescott to have to 3rd and longs. Elliott has not rushed for more than 51 yards in a game since Week 6 vs the Patriots when he ran for 69 yards.

The lack of a running game has put Prescott facing a lot of 3rd and longs.

Prescott did not play very well Thursday night. He was equally bad two weeks ago against the Kansas City Chiefs and two weeks prior to that, he was awful against the Denver Broncos.

This offense is no longer clicking and needs to regain its form if they want to make a deep run in the post season.

2. Tony Pollard is a star in the making

Once again, backup running back Tony Pollard outshined Elliott. Both tailbacks could not get much going on the ground vs the Saints rush defense. New Orleans had the 3rd best rush defense in the league entering Thursday.

Then, Pollard made the play of the game.

In a 13-10 game late in the 3rd quarter, Pollard took the toss outside, cut upfield and was gone for the 58-yard touchdown. That proved to be the difference as the Cowboys won 27-17.

It was the 2nd game in a row that Pollard has made a game-changing play. On Thanksgiving, Pollard returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. On both plays, Pollard showed off his speed, setting career highs. Thursday night, Pollard got up to 21.17 miles per hour, the fastest for any Dallas ball carrier this season.

Pollard has shown he can do it all. He can run between the tackles. He has the quickness to get to the outside and the agility to make guys miss. Obviously, he has game breaking top end speed.

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1. This Cowboys defense is for real

Dallas was once again carried by their defense Thursday night. They intercepted Saints quarterback Taysom Hill four times, the most for a Cowboys defense in a single game in 11 seasons.

Cornerback Trevon Diggs leads the NFL with nine interceptions. Meanwhile, rookie linebacker Micah Parsons is doing something not seen since James Harrison 11 years ago.

Parsons is on pace for a historic season, and he is doing it in his first year in the NFL. With a bunch of divisional games down the stretch for Dallas, it's likely these guys will be able to pad their stats.

If this Dallas team is going to be different and make their first Super Bowl appearance in over a quarter century, the defense will need to continue balling out.