SAN ANTONIO - And the cries continue, echoing loudly through the hollow canyon 44-6 created to inauspiciously end the 2008 season, "How have the Cowboys improved for the 2009 season?"

In other words, what have they done to turn 9-7 of last year into a playoff victory, at least, this year?

Legit questions . . . and concerns, still, the day before the Cowboys report here for training camp and then begin workouts with a single practice on Wednesday in the Alamodome.

Why they released Terrell Owens, he of the team-leading 10 touchdowns from last year.

They did not add a first-round draft choice, that having been spent bartering last year for wide receiver Roy Williams, and they didn't even bother to use their second-round draft choice, trading down into the third round before selecting their first player in the draft.

They did not add a high-profile player in free agency, instead spending their time filling holes created by departures.

And for sure, they did not change head coaches, Wade Phillips set to begin his third season with the Dallas Cowboys.

So what? Where? How?

Glad you asked, and here is your answer:

Defense.

That's right, if the Cowboys are to return to the playoffs for the third time in four years, if they are to finally win a playoff game for the first time in 13 seasons, if they are to bury that haunting memory of just how the 2008 season concluded in Philadelphia last year, the Cowboys must do it the old-fashion way.

With defense.

See, there seems to be this overriding concern about how the Cowboys are going to score more points this year. More really was not their problem last year, at least not when quarterback Tony Romo was starting 13 games and the team was averaging 25 points in those games, compared to the 13.6 they averaged in the three he didn't start.

Come on, 25 points a game should be enough points to win enough games to qualify for the playoffs. Hey, half of last year's 12 playoff teams averaged fewer than 25 points a game, including the Super Bowl champion Steelers, who put up 21.7 a game during the regular season. In fact, three other playoff qualifiers last season averaged less than a point-a-game more than the Cowboys did with Romo in control, so in other words in the same ballpark.

Defense was this team's problem. You should not have to score 30 points a game to consistently win in the NFL. The Cowboys, they nearly did.

Did you realize the Cowboys gave up at least 30 points in six games? Six! Why the Steelers only once last year were nicked for 30 points in a game, losing 31-14 at Tennessee. And speaking of the Titans, who led the AFC with that 13-3 record, only once did they give up more than 23 points in a game, the Jets spanking them for 34. But that's it.

And while we're talking points, nine times the Cowboys gave up at least 22 points in a game, everyone knowing the line of demarcation in the NFL between winning and losing is generally considered 17 - score more than 17 points and you should win. Not the Cowboys. They lost three games when scoring 24 points because they gave up an average of 29.7 in those games. Yet, get this, they won all six times they held their opponents to no more than 16 points.

Yep, poor defense is the fastest way for a projected Super Bowl-caliber team to finish an unseemly 9-7.

When Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked this very question, how he thinks the Cowboys have improved over the off-season, his answer was quick and succinct: "Speed on defense."

So can they, can the Cowboys improve on defense so the weekly burden to win does not rest solely on the shoulders of the offense, which by the way will be juiced by the return of a healthy Felix Jones, another factor Jones was quick to suggest?

The tools are there for this improvement, too.

First of all, there is no more conjecture about who is running the defense. That will be Wade Phillips, now pulling double duty as head coach and defensive coordinator. Make that very hands-on defensive coordinator, Phillips unequivocally running the defense now that Brian Stewart no longer is here as the go-between and no one was hired to replace him. How well Phillips does on defense might decide how long he remains as head coach.

The Cowboys also should become more stable, if not more versatile - i.e. better - at strong safety now that Gerald Sensabaugh is projected to replace Roy Williams, who last year was replaced when injured by Keith Davis. Look at it this way: Williams had a hard time finding a free-agent job after getting released by the Cowboys, and Davis, who started nine games last year, lasted less than two months in Oakland after finally signing a free-agent deal never offered by the Cowboys. And to think Williams and Davis were the strong safety starters here, neither running as well as Sensabaugh.

The addition of either Mike Jenkins or Orlando Scandrick to the starting lineup at right corner should further bring stability to a position of concern last year, the Cowboys volleying back and forth between aging Anthony Henry, troubled Pacman Jones and an injured Terence Newman, who now is healthy again at last. This is where Jones sees the speed increase for sure, changing out Henry in the starting lineup for one of the two second-year corners.

Then add what DeMarcus Ware brings, the starting potential of Anthony Spencer (again more speed), Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff, defensive end Marcus Spears in a contract-drive season and the versatility of Bradie James, the Cowboys could become dominant on this side of the ball. Or at least erase those 44-point and 33-point and 35-point and 34-point and 30-point and 37-point games opponents produced last year, the Cowboys losing all but one of them.

So if it's an available margin for improvement you are looking for this year, for just where the Cowboys will get better this year, put a big fat circle around the defense.

That's the answer.