Cowboys Xavier Woods wins Defensive Player of Week; Takeaways 'On Our Minds'

Cowboys Xavier Woods wins NFC Defensive Player of Week; Takeaways 'On Our Minds,' he says

FRISCO - Xavier Woods is the first Dallas Cowboys safety in 23 years to win the NFC Defensive Player of the Week, the result of his work in Monday night's 37-18 win at the New York Giants.

The Cowboys’ third-year safety recorded an interception of Giants QB Daniel Jones and also registered a forced fumble in the win that pushes Dallas to 5-3 and in first place in the NFC East. He also had four tackles and a pass deflection.

"It's a week-to-week to week thing,'' Woods told DallasCowboys.com when asked about the concept of "takeaways coming in bunches.'' "We have to come in every week and ... have it on our minds.''

Dallas benefited from a number of heady defensive plays at New York, including Jourdan Lewis' game-closing defensive TD (see the celebration, above).

Woods has an interception in consecutive games, his two picks tying his single-season career-high (2). He’s the first Cowboys safety to win the award since George Teague in 1996.