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After five straight weeks of holding opponents to fewer than 20 points, the Cowboys' defense has emerged as a club strength. The group is a large part of the reason Dallas won six of its last seven games and sat atop the NFC East with an 8-3 record following Thanksgiving.

Two crucial components to that defensive unit who have shined all season are veteran middle inside linebackers Bradie James and Keith Brooking. The duo were by far the club's top two tacklers, while also providing valuable leadership and serving as respected mentors to the squad's contingent of young 'backers.

As a 12-year NFLer who spent his entire career in Atlanta before signing with Dallas as a free agent last February, Brooking has adjusted well to the Cowboys' scheme and has fit in perfectly with James, a seventh-year man who also serves as defensive captain.

While the five-time Pro Bowler Brooking was familiar with coach Wade Phillips' aggressive 3-4 system from 2002-03, when Phillips was the Falcons' defensive coordinator, the seamless way he's blended in has been remarkable. He and James developed impressive chemistry quickly and have continued to gradually feel more and more comfortable lining up next to each other.

"It's gone well," Brooking says of his assimilation into the Dallas defense. "I think defensively, we're starting to progress, we're getting better and better every week. I think it's showing when you turn the film on; it's showing in our stats."

"It's been a pretty good transition," agrees James, who broke in his third partner in two years during training camp. "I'm on my fifth guy. Keith has come in and he's very productive. He plays his position real well. We're a tag-team bunch. I know where he's going to be and he knows where I'm going to be, and we just trust each other."

From coaches' film, through the first 11 games James led the team with 131 tackles, while also contributing one sack, eight quarterback pressures and three passes broken up. Brooking ranked second in tackles with 121, totaled eight quarterback pressures as well and matched Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff for second on the squad with four sacks.

Brooking credits James with helping him establish that trust so quickly.

"I think (we had chemistry) from the very beginning," Brooking says. "We have a lot in common, football's very important to us. It's just dependability when I think about him and knowing he's going to be where he's supposed to be. He's a playmaker and it's comforting to have a guy like that beside you that you can depend on every play and know without a doubt that he has your back."

As well as they've performed on the field, having such outstanding leaders at the heart of their defense has also proven to be invaluable off it as well, earning the pair considerable praise from their teammates.

"Definitely having Bradie here, he's been kind of a mentor to me ever since I came in," says linebacker Bobby Carpenter. "He's a very smart player. He's one heck of a football player as well. Then having Keith come in this year, he kind of brought a new attitude. Sometimes it's good to have an outside veteran come in who's been somewhere for a long time, because they have a different perspective looking at things, once they're on the inside looking out. Keith's a tremendous player, he's a very passionate player and I think that's something that's spilled over to the entire team."

As for some of the rookies still learning the nuances of the NFL, the presence of two high-level veterans who are so productive has been a tremendous boost to their maturation process.

"Both of them are just natural leaders," says rookie linebacker Victor Butler, who was contributing himself with three sacks. "They're both inside linebackers, but they help me a lot with my outside linebacker stuff, just knowing the defense and being in the league with all that experience. It's easy as a rookie to go to those guys for help. They make themselves available."

"It's been a really good experience so far, just being able to learn from two guys like that, especially Brooking, who's a 12-year vet," adds rookie linebacker Jason Williams, the club's third-round selection (69th overall) in last April's draft. "I'm pretty sure he's the best linebacker I've ever seen in person, so just watching him play helps me out a lot, trying to emulate what he does."

Both James and Brooking take their roles as veteran leaders very seriously. While James is a Cowboys captain for the third straight year, Brooking took a gradual approach to assuming a leadership role, not wanting to ruffle any feathers by coming in as a new guy in the locker room and taking over. He preferred to utilize a more subtle method of gaining his new teammates' trust first.

"Just kind of let it happen naturally and just let the guys see for themselves what I'm about, what I bring to the table," Brooking says of his philosophy. "Being in Atlanta for the first 11 years of my career, I saw free agents coming in and that was the way that I respected more than any other way of doing it. I think just with your actions in the beginning, and let the rest happen in a natural way."

"Keith came in and just became one of the guys," Carpenter confirms, "and didn't really say anything until after the first couple of games because he said he wanted his play to speak for itself and then go from there. He's a great guy."

As James and Brooking have evolved into a well-oiled machine, it's no coincidence that the team's defensive performances have improved as well. After consecutive wins against the Redskins and Raiders, the Cowboys ranked second in the NFL in scoring defense, having surrendered an average of only 16.5 points per game.

"I think we've been really consistent (lately)," Brooking says. "The first few weeks, we played really good for three quarters, three-and-a-half quarters and then just stunk it up. It just took some time for us to get on the same page as a defense, and we're getting better and better every week. We just got to keep doing that and keep progressing, and when we play that type of defense towards the end of the year, there's not a lot of teams that are going to be able to do a lot to us."

After the Cowboys' well-documented late-season stumbles in the recent past, the addition of a veteran like Brooking who has not experienced them can only help, since his expectation-and focus-is that the team will continue to move forward.

"We've got to keep progressing, keep getting better," Brooking stresses. "You've got to be at your best, you've got to be peaking in December, towards the end of December. That's our goal and that's where we're headed."

That positive outlook and emphasis on upgrading their performance down the stretch as opposed to sagging, appears to be rubbing off.

"I'm glad they brought in a guy like Keith Brooking," says defensive end Jason Hatcher. "He's a vet in the game, so he really understands the grind of it in late December when you really got to step your game up and really cut down on the little mistakes you make, that in the regular season, you can get by with, but when the playoffs start, you can't do it. You got to be on your stuff all the time and a guy like him can help us get over the hump."

The selflessness and leadership that the two middle linebackers have displayed all season appear to be infectious and just might be the difference this season.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes for our team to win," Brooking says. "Whatever our football team needs, our ultimate goal is to win ball games and to get in the tournament at the end of the year. Whatever it takes to do that, I'm willing to do that and sacrifice."

"The maturity of this team has gotten to the point that we're in first place now and now it's on us to stay in first place," James says. "We do have enough confidence to believe that we can go out there and beat any team, but it's really not about who we're playing, it's about us and how well we play. It's about the execution that we perform. Guys are starting to believe in one another and that it doesn't matter who's in the game, that somebody will step up and make a play."