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The Dallas Cowboys’ biggest off-season move
By Mark Holmes
Read more at http://cover32.com/cowboys/2015/03/...-biggest-off-season-move/#IwZts***jZEQdyIz.99
The Dallas Cowboys’ biggest off-season signing may not be what you think. Go ahead name your top three and I’ll bet you won’t name it. I’ll bet you guessed Greg Hardy. Big move, but that’s not it. Letting DeMarco Murray go and signing Darren McFadden? Nope. Bring back seven Pro Bowl players? That’s always a good thing, but still not it. Keeping the best offensive line together? Not even close. Did anyone out there say re-signing Rod Marinelli? That’s right…Rod Marinelli, our defensive coordinator, is the biggest off-season move the Cowboys have made. Sometimes the biggest moves don’t make the headline and much like Rod, this one was a quiet one.
Rod Marinelli comes from the Tony Dungy coaching tree. He started out as a defensive line coach and later became assistant head coach. During that time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became one of the greatest defenses in the NFL racking up more sacks than any other franchise. That defense leads the Bucs to their only Super Bowl win. His two years as head coach in Detroit didn’t work out too well, but when has any coach worked out well with the Lions? There just might be something to Bobby Layne’s 50-year curse. It ended the year he was fired after they went 0-16. From there, Rod went on to work under Lovie Smith as assistant head coach for the Chicago Bears. He took the Bears 17th ranked defense and improved them to the 9th ranked defense in his year. By his third season he had the 5thranked defense in the NFL. Check these stats out: lead the NFL with 24 INTs and 44 takeaways, ranked 8th in sacks with 41 and ranked 3rd in fewest points allowed. We’ll call it the Rod Marinelli effect. Wouldn’t you like to see that in Dallas? See Rod has a way of getting everything out of a player and making the sum greater than the parts.
Let’s look at the Dallas Cowboys defense this time last year. They had just finished being one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL. Take that defense and remove its best three players in DeMarcus Ware, Jason Hatcher and Sean Lee. Did you see them improving to 17th by adding Henry Milton, Rolando McClain and Jeremy Mincey? The only other big change to the defense was Rod going from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator. See Rod can take a player like journeyman George Selvie and make him a really good player. In George’s four stops with the Rams, Panthers, Jaguars and Buccaneers over four seasons, he had three sacks total. In his two seasons with Dallas under Rod he booked 10. How about Jason Hatcher? In his seven seasons before Rod, he had a total of 16 sacks, never having more than 4.5 in a season. One season under Rod as his coach and Jason Hatcher had a career year with 11. These guys aren’t the only ones impacted by the Rod Marinelli effect. Rolando McClain, Bruce Carter, Jeremy Mincey and Tyrone Crawford all had career years last year under Rod Marinelli and were the reason for the big turnaround. What do you think he can do with talent like Greg Hardy? If Rod Marinelli can continue his pattern of improving defenses you can see why his return is bigger than any other move the Cowboys have made. I’m thinking a top ten defense next year.
Read more at http://cover32.com/cowboys/2015/03/...-biggest-off-season-move/#IwZts***jZEQdyIz.99
By Mark Holmes
Read more at http://cover32.com/cowboys/2015/03/...-biggest-off-season-move/#IwZts***jZEQdyIz.99
The Dallas Cowboys’ biggest off-season signing may not be what you think. Go ahead name your top three and I’ll bet you won’t name it. I’ll bet you guessed Greg Hardy. Big move, but that’s not it. Letting DeMarco Murray go and signing Darren McFadden? Nope. Bring back seven Pro Bowl players? That’s always a good thing, but still not it. Keeping the best offensive line together? Not even close. Did anyone out there say re-signing Rod Marinelli? That’s right…Rod Marinelli, our defensive coordinator, is the biggest off-season move the Cowboys have made. Sometimes the biggest moves don’t make the headline and much like Rod, this one was a quiet one.
Rod Marinelli comes from the Tony Dungy coaching tree. He started out as a defensive line coach and later became assistant head coach. During that time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became one of the greatest defenses in the NFL racking up more sacks than any other franchise. That defense leads the Bucs to their only Super Bowl win. His two years as head coach in Detroit didn’t work out too well, but when has any coach worked out well with the Lions? There just might be something to Bobby Layne’s 50-year curse. It ended the year he was fired after they went 0-16. From there, Rod went on to work under Lovie Smith as assistant head coach for the Chicago Bears. He took the Bears 17th ranked defense and improved them to the 9th ranked defense in his year. By his third season he had the 5thranked defense in the NFL. Check these stats out: lead the NFL with 24 INTs and 44 takeaways, ranked 8th in sacks with 41 and ranked 3rd in fewest points allowed. We’ll call it the Rod Marinelli effect. Wouldn’t you like to see that in Dallas? See Rod has a way of getting everything out of a player and making the sum greater than the parts.
Let’s look at the Dallas Cowboys defense this time last year. They had just finished being one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL. Take that defense and remove its best three players in DeMarcus Ware, Jason Hatcher and Sean Lee. Did you see them improving to 17th by adding Henry Milton, Rolando McClain and Jeremy Mincey? The only other big change to the defense was Rod going from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator. See Rod can take a player like journeyman George Selvie and make him a really good player. In George’s four stops with the Rams, Panthers, Jaguars and Buccaneers over four seasons, he had three sacks total. In his two seasons with Dallas under Rod he booked 10. How about Jason Hatcher? In his seven seasons before Rod, he had a total of 16 sacks, never having more than 4.5 in a season. One season under Rod as his coach and Jason Hatcher had a career year with 11. These guys aren’t the only ones impacted by the Rod Marinelli effect. Rolando McClain, Bruce Carter, Jeremy Mincey and Tyrone Crawford all had career years last year under Rod Marinelli and were the reason for the big turnaround. What do you think he can do with talent like Greg Hardy? If Rod Marinelli can continue his pattern of improving defenses you can see why his return is bigger than any other move the Cowboys have made. I’m thinking a top ten defense next year.
Read more at http://cover32.com/cowboys/2015/03/...-biggest-off-season-move/#IwZts***jZEQdyIz.99
