FRISCO, Texas — It seemed so easy, didn’t it?

Somehow, someway, the ball would fall to a Dallas Cowboys linebacker for a takeaway. From 2021 to 2023, the Cowboys made 93 takeaways, by far the most in the NFL. They intercepted 59 passes and forced 34 fumbles. The Buffalo Bills ranked second with 80 (54 interceptions, 26 fumble recoveries).

The Cowboys also converted turnovers into touchdowns with 15 in that span, also a league record.

It wasn’t so easy this season.

Entering Sunday’s game against the 5-3 Atlanta Falcons (1 p.m. ET, Fox), the 3-4 Cowboys are tied for 26th with four interceptions and one fumble recovery in seven games.

“It’s football, man,” cornerback Jordan Lewis explained. “Honestly, it just doesn’t come our way. But you know they come in droves. And I know some guys who can take them, so…”

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, some of them are injured.

When Wednesday’s practice started, Cornerback Darron Bland was working on the ropes, continuing his rehab from August foot surgery as he nears playing for the first time this season. Linebacker Micah Parsons was preparing for a string session as he nears his return from a high sprained left ankle suffered on September 26.

Last season, Bland set an NFL record with five interception returns for a touchdown while leading the league with nine picks. Parsons had 40.5 sacks in his first three seasons and his pressure led to takeaways.

When each will return to action is up in the air. Neither trained on Thursday. Bland has yet to play this season. Parsons is looking to miss his fourth straight game.

“I think their individual stats in that category speak for themselves,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “For sure, they’re impact players and what DaRon did last year was the best and the best ever. Micah is that impact pressure player. He would definitely help.”

Also Wednesday, the Cowboys were missing their cornerback Trevon Diggswho had pain in his calves. He is one of four Cowboys with an interception this season. One of the others, cornerback Amani Oruwariyewas placed on injured reserve Wednesday with a back injury.

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was rehabilitating from a mid-foot sprain and was looking at least a few more weeks before he could return to the field.

Despite missing the past 3 1/2 games, Lawrence still leads the Cowboys with three sacks. And despite missing the last three games, Parsons still leads the Cowboys in quarterback pressures with 21. Defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa he is second with 12.

“You go back and talk about turnovers and things like that, a lot of those things come from pressure on the quarterback and we didn’t get a lot of those,” defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said. “But it’s usually the shots on the quarterback that get you turnovers. And sometimes spiked balls, which we didn’t get too many of either.”

During seven games last season, the Cowboys had 13 takeaways with nine interceptions and four fumble recoveries. The quarterback fumbles from last season to this one aren’t all that different (18 to 16), but the Cowboys jumped out to big leads last season, forcing teams to pass, which helped the pass rush.

This season, the Cowboys have come from behind big deficits in losses to the New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. There is less risk for the adversary offense.

The Cowboys work daily in practice on drills designed to take the ball, either with interceptions or fumbles, such as punching from ball carriers.

“We keep track of not only takeaways, but takeaway opportunities,” McCarthy said. “You have to be in takeaway position first. And that’s the energy and the footwork and the right angles. When you’re talking about tracking and finishing your defense and your coverage units, that’s how we train.

“We’ve executed packages at a higher level the last three years, but our opportunities aren’t far off from the last two years. We’re getting there, but we’re not converting. We’ve got to keep working.”

The Cowboys’ only fumble recovery came in their last Week 5 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers on a fumble. There have been 130 games since then without a fumble recovery — with just two fumble occasions.

The Cowboys have made 81 pass attempts since their last interception. According to ESPN Research, this is the eighth longest drought. The New York Giants had 206 pass attempts. Of the seven teams with a longer hitting streak, only the Arizona Cardinals do not have a losing record. The Giants, Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans are a combined 10-36.

Diggs put some of the waiver on scheme changes between Zimmer and Dan Quinn, the Cowboys’ coordinator from 2021 to 2023.

“A lot less vision on the ball,” Diggs said. “Only us being able to read our man, much less man (coverage).”

Under Quinn, the Cowboys played man coverage 62%, 56.9% and 61.3% of the time from 2021 to 2023, while using zones 37.8%, 43.1% and 38.7% ahead of time, according to ESPN Research.

This season, the Cowboys played man 47.8 percent of the time and used zone coverage 51.8 percent. Since 2007, Zimmer’s defense has finished in the top 10 in takeaways five times. Eight times they finished in the bottom half of the league.

“Definitely a unique defense, a lot of calls,” Diggs said. “We have a lot of formations, changes, different calls. It asks us to play a little slower, to think more, instead of knowing what you have.

“So you know, ‘OK, I’ve got this man. I can play faster. I can be my man, I know what I have,” instead of reading things and reading the players. It’s a little more effort, but it’s still a good defense at the end of the day. We’ve just got to all buy in and put our best foot forward.”