Mailbag: Can Eberflus avoid a slow start?

(Editor's Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in 'Mailbag' presented by Miller Lite.)

Last year during OTAs, minicamp and training camp, the coaches kept praising how everyone was buying into coordinator Mike Zimmer's defensive philosophy. Based on the defense's performance early in the season and Zimmer himself admitting he should have done things differently, how does Matt Eberflus and his staff prevent a repeat of the slow start everyone suffered through last year? – Gary Hemming/Blackshear, GA

Mickey: Indeed, the Cowboys defense got off to a slow start last year, within the first seven games giving up 44 points to the Saints, 28 to Baltimore, 47 to Detroit and 30 to San Francisco, in the end giving up an average of 27.5 poin