So to what do you attribute the clear decline in production?
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but his sack number declined last year the further removed he got from offseason shoulder surgery, did they not? If so, that refutes the shoulder as an excuse.
I hope things get better with him. I truly do. Better for him, better for the team, better for us fans.
But he is undeniably underperforming to the level he is being paid.
I'm not a big fan of DLaw's personality. I would jump at the chance to criticize him if/when it is deserved.
I'm not going to use 2019 as a basis to judge him. Players don't get healthier as the season goes along.
- He had major surgery very close to the beginning of the season due to the contract issue.
- That not only meant that he was playing while recovering from the injury...
- It also meant that he could not lift in the offseason and probably not much during the season.
- His game is based on leverage/power more than speed. He wins with upper body strength and technique combined with decent quickness and timing of his moves.
- A shoulder injury is a much bigger issue for his style of pass rusher than for a guy like Robert Quinn or DWare that can just beat OTs with speed.
That leaves this season as a basis to really judge him.
Rams
The defense put a big focus on stopping the run in the Rams game.
- They were playing more 3-4 often with 2 NT types on the field together (Poe and Woods).
- The Rams passing game was focused on short passes including screen passes and QB roll-outs.
- All of that combines to really limit pass rush opportunities.
- The Rams only had 269 yards passing which is below average for them.
Falcons
The Cowboys gave the Falcons a short field 4 times in the 1st half.
- Once the Falcons were up a couple of scores due to the Cowboys turnovers, they could play conservatively.
- At that point the Falcons were not forced into situations that put them at high risk of the QB being sacked.
- DLaw only played 28 snaps (about 1/3rd of the total) in this game.
DLaw is very good against the run.
- Last season Quinn got sacks but was a huge liability in run defense.