News: BR: Cowboys Defense Has Turned a Corner Just in the Nick of Time

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Only a couple weeks ago, it was fair to wonder if the Dallas Cowboys would be handcuffed by a vulnerable defense as they attempted to make a playoff run. After all, a D that had probably been overachieving earlier in the year gave up 27 or more points five times within a six-game stretch between Week 9 and Week 15.

During that time period, the Cowboys surrendered 26.8 points per game, 370.5 yards per game and 22.8 first downs per game, ranking in the bottom seven in football in all three of those categories.

Starters Brandon Carr, J.J. Wilcox and Nick Hayden were usually complete liabilities, while Bruce Carter and George Selvie failed to deliver. Rolando McClain, Anthony Hitchens, Tyrone Crawford, Anthony Spencer, Barry Church and Orlando Scandrick continued to play well, but that wasn't enough to stop the bleeding.

At that point, a defense that many expected to be terrible in 2014 was finally living down to expectations. After all, this was a unit that lost key starters Sean Lee, DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher in the offseason. And it's not as though it was good before those developments. Last season, Dallas surrendered the third-highest yardage total in NFL history.

But the thing about this defense is that its coordinator, Rod Marinelli, is very good at his job. Believe it or not, it could have been a whole lot worse for that injury-ravaged D last year, but Marinelli coached up journeymen like Selvie, Hayden and Jarius Wynn, making perceived scrubs look half-decent.

And so even though this defense still lacks talent in a blatant way, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Marinelli has found a way to right the ship just in time for the playoffs.

It all came together for Marinelli's guys on Sunday, when Dallas completely shut down the high-powered Indianapolis Colts in a 42-7 victory.

The Colts entered Week 16 with the league's No. 3-ranked offense in terms of both points and yards. Not once all season had they been held to fewer than 17 points or 250 total yards. And yet in Dallas, Indianapolis managed only a single touchdown and a season-low 229 yards from scrimmage.

In terms of both points and yards, it was the worst offensive performance of the Andrew Luck era, which now spans 50 regular-season and playoff games. In terms of yardage, touchdown-to-interception ratio and passer rating, it was the worst game of Luck's three-year career.

And on top of that, the Dallas defense gave up just a single rushing yard, which was the lowest total in franchise history.

“One rushing yard? That’s a big deal, man,” defensive end Jeremy Mincey said, per Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “We played our best ball today.”

So yeah, it was by far Dallas' strongest defensive performance of the season.

In this case, Marinelli had his guys focus on stopping the run on early downs in order to force Indianapolis into 3rd-and-long scenarios, and with Luck missing top receiver T.Y. Hilton, that worked like a charm. Indianapolis didn't have a first down until there were fewer than six minutes remaining in the first half.

That won't necessarily be the game plan every week going forward, but it was ideal for Indianapolis. Marinelli nailed it, just as he did when holding the Seattle Seahawks to only nine first downs and 206 total yards in a Week 6 road victory.

I wouldn't expect results like those every week, especially in January, because Dallas still lacks an elite pass rush and the secondary is beatable. But what we've begun to see of late is that this unit is actually deceptively deep.

It doesn't have any true stars, but that might be helping. Nobody is relying on his peers to save him, which places the onus on everyone to make plays. And as a result, almost everyone who is active on game day is playing a big role.

Marinelli knows the strengths of his players and has the experience to mix and match successfully. In a Week 15 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, he used 19 players in total and 16 on at least 17 snaps, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Carr, Church, Wilcox and Scandrick are basically every-down players, but nobody else is on the field permanently.

Over the course of most games, you'll see McClain, Hitchens, Carter and Kyle Wilber at linebacker and Crawford, Hayden, Selvie, Spencer, Henry Melton, Jeremy Mincey, Demarcus Lawrence and Terrell McClain along the defensive line.

By basically cycling 12 front-seven defenders, Marinelli has found a way to keep his guys both fresh and motivated. The result is a defensive front that seems to be getting better as the season wears on with plenty of decent players fighting for playing time.

Now the Cowboys have got eight takeaways in their last three games, with Crawford, Hitchens, Wilcox and Mincey beginning to separate themselves from the pack. And because Marinelli has so many options, the Dallas defense can also afford to lose a player or two to injury without suffering greatly.

This team will only go so far as Tony Romo and the offense allow, but if the defense can continue to perform even close to as admirably as it did in Week 16, the Cowboys might truly be one of the league's best all-around teams entering the playoffs.



Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon

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