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IRVING, Texas — Young. Relentless. Physical.
If you were looking for three words to describe the Cowboys defense in 2014, those would be it.
The Cowboys are nowhere close to being great on defense.
And right now they are still working on being good on defense, ranking a below-average 24th in the league with just five sacks in four games
But if one thing stood out most in Sunday's 38-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints—other than the team's dominant rushing attack on offense, that is—it was the aggressive and physical play of a defense that still lacks elite talent but is filled with a bunch of fighters.
All of that was manifested in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
It was one thing for the Cowboys to take advantage of the early momentum by the offense and shut Drew Brees and the Saints out in the first half.
But after Brees tossed two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and narrowed the score to 31-17, there was collective "here we go again" resonating in AT&T Stadium—especially when the offense went three and out, putting Brees back on the field with eight minutes, three seconds left in game, down just two scores.
Visions of a Brees miracle comeback, fueled by memories of a 37-36 home loss to the Packers last year after the Cowboys blew a 26-3 halftime lead, began to form.
But four plays later the Cowboys were off the field following a sack by defensive end Jack Crawford on punter Thomas Morstead, as New Orleans inexplicably tried a fake on 4th-and-9.
Brees ended up passing for 340 yards, and the Saints amassed 444 as a team, but those proved to be hollow numbers in a blowout defeat.
"We are a completely different football team," quarterback Tony Romo said. "We have a lot of guys on defense that not everybody knows a lot about. I don’t think I have ever been part of a unit that works as hard as they do, and it shows on the field. They are not ever going to be in a situation at the end of the game where I feel they are out of gas.
"You’ll get tired, but we have so many guys who play, and they worked so hard in training camp and in the middle of the week that they just have a ‘grind it out’ mentality. And they play fast. They play quick and it is starting to show. I think we are excited to be able to close out teams in that situation. It’s better to be in that situation rather than trying to hold on and giving up lots of points in the second half. I think last year against Green Bay, we gave up 30 or 35 points in the second half. I don’t think our defense is going to be in that position this year."
Again, the Cowboys don't have a lot of marquee names on defense—not after letting Pro Bowlers like DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher go in the offseason and losing middle linebacker Sean Lee to a season-ending knee injury, causing many to wonder if this unit was on the verge of being worse than the 2013 defense that gave up the most yards in the league, the most in team history and the third most in NFL history.
But the Cowboys made a point to get younger, faster and hungrier on defense.
They also believe they have players who are eager to adhere to the fundamentals stressed by defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.
"There are advantages to having veteran players, guys who have played a lot," coach Jason Garrett said. "They have experience. They’ve seen things before. But there’s also some advantages to having some younger guys and teaching them exactly how you want to do things and them embracing that. We’ve tried to on defense, add as many resources as we can through the draft, through free agency, signing young guys, signing veteran players to help our team. I think we have a good mix, and a good combination at the different positions.
"We might not have the marquee players that we’ve had in the past, but we have guys who want to come in here and compete and battle for jobs, for jerseys on Sunday and then for playing time for Sunday. We think that’s a good dynamic to have. We have it on the defensive line. We have it with our linebackers and our DBs. I think each of those guys is trying to understand what we’re asking them to do and play at a high level by doing their job the right way. That’s really what we’re trying to emphasize as coaches."
The Cowboys have purposely embraced youth, speed and athleticism on defense but they have also put a point of emphasis on physicality.
This team arrives to the football with bad intentions like none other in recent Cowboys history.
Bruising middle linebacker Rolando McClain sets the tone for the defense with his physical style of play. He had one of two forced fumbles in the game against the Saints.
"We gon' hit! We gon' hit!" McClain shouted in the postgame locker room.
McClain's attitude has been infectious for the entire defense. Linebacker Bruce Carter, always considered more of a finesse player because of his speed, had his best game of his career against the Saints, per Garrett. He had a couple of pass deflections, including one that led to an interception. But it was his physicality that stood out most.
"Hits on the ball, both in the run game and in the pass game," Garrett said of Carter. "I thought he did a good job of knocking them back when he tackled them. I thought we did a good job of that as a football team. That’s a point of emphasis for us, the way you tackle matters. You have to be physical if you want to be successful, and you have to be physical all throughout your team.
"And certainly in all phases of your defense—how you run to the ball, how you tackle from everybody; all 11 guys. So that’s certainly something that we want to be. We want to be a physical football team. We emphasize it every day in practice. Our drills are oriented towards that. The guys we’ve chosen and selected for this football team are oriented to that and we’re a work in progress."
The Cowboys defense is a work in progress because they have guys still on the comeback trail—either returning from injuries, from suspensions or from being disappointments.
The collection of youthful neophytes is spliced with a bunch of castoffs, nobodies and guys with chips on their shoulders.
Garrett has made it a point to feed into each of their stories in developing a fighting spirit on defense.
“I think everybody has a story, and oftentimes you tap into what their stories are, and oftentimes their stories are the same,” Garrett said. “There’s a lot of stories about guys coming from different places, overcoming different things, dealing with adversity, dealing with injuries, being overlooked, and they’re here.
"Sometimes we’ll talk to our players about that, among other things, to try to inspire them and motivate them.”
McClain is coming back from retirement and being called a first-round draft bust in Oakland. Orlando Scandrick, the team's best cornerback, believes he was wrongly suspended for the first two games of the season for taking "molly" while on vacation.
Carter wants to live up to his untapped potential and shake off the bust label.
Defensive tackle Henry Melton, coming off a season-ending knee injury, is playing for his future on a one-year deal.
Former Pro Bowl defensive end Anthony Spencer played against the Saints Sunday for the first team in more than a year because of microfracture surgery.
The stories go on and on. And then there’s the collective motivation of not wanting to be the worst defense in the league again.
"We're a real scrappy bunch," safety Barry Church said. "A lot of people don't give us credit for the jobs that we do, but we're trying keep fighting and speaking with our pads, not with our mouths, and we're going to go out there and take it one game at a time, and we'll see what happens.
"Coming off being the worst defense in the league last year, we definitely have to play with a boulder on our shoulder. So we're just going out here and showing people we're an improved defense. Once we get everything down pat and we stay healthy, we'll be a force to be reckoned with."
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...
If you were looking for three words to describe the Cowboys defense in 2014, those would be it.
The Cowboys are nowhere close to being great on defense.
And right now they are still working on being good on defense, ranking a below-average 24th in the league with just five sacks in four games
But if one thing stood out most in Sunday's 38-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints—other than the team's dominant rushing attack on offense, that is—it was the aggressive and physical play of a defense that still lacks elite talent but is filled with a bunch of fighters.
All of that was manifested in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
It was one thing for the Cowboys to take advantage of the early momentum by the offense and shut Drew Brees and the Saints out in the first half.
But after Brees tossed two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and narrowed the score to 31-17, there was collective "here we go again" resonating in AT&T Stadium—especially when the offense went three and out, putting Brees back on the field with eight minutes, three seconds left in game, down just two scores.
Visions of a Brees miracle comeback, fueled by memories of a 37-36 home loss to the Packers last year after the Cowboys blew a 26-3 halftime lead, began to form.
But four plays later the Cowboys were off the field following a sack by defensive end Jack Crawford on punter Thomas Morstead, as New Orleans inexplicably tried a fake on 4th-and-9.
Brees ended up passing for 340 yards, and the Saints amassed 444 as a team, but those proved to be hollow numbers in a blowout defeat.
"We are a completely different football team," quarterback Tony Romo said. "We have a lot of guys on defense that not everybody knows a lot about. I don’t think I have ever been part of a unit that works as hard as they do, and it shows on the field. They are not ever going to be in a situation at the end of the game where I feel they are out of gas.
"You’ll get tired, but we have so many guys who play, and they worked so hard in training camp and in the middle of the week that they just have a ‘grind it out’ mentality. And they play fast. They play quick and it is starting to show. I think we are excited to be able to close out teams in that situation. It’s better to be in that situation rather than trying to hold on and giving up lots of points in the second half. I think last year against Green Bay, we gave up 30 or 35 points in the second half. I don’t think our defense is going to be in that position this year."
Again, the Cowboys don't have a lot of marquee names on defense—not after letting Pro Bowlers like DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher go in the offseason and losing middle linebacker Sean Lee to a season-ending knee injury, causing many to wonder if this unit was on the verge of being worse than the 2013 defense that gave up the most yards in the league, the most in team history and the third most in NFL history.
But the Cowboys made a point to get younger, faster and hungrier on defense.
They also believe they have players who are eager to adhere to the fundamentals stressed by defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.
"There are advantages to having veteran players, guys who have played a lot," coach Jason Garrett said. "They have experience. They’ve seen things before. But there’s also some advantages to having some younger guys and teaching them exactly how you want to do things and them embracing that. We’ve tried to on defense, add as many resources as we can through the draft, through free agency, signing young guys, signing veteran players to help our team. I think we have a good mix, and a good combination at the different positions.
"We might not have the marquee players that we’ve had in the past, but we have guys who want to come in here and compete and battle for jobs, for jerseys on Sunday and then for playing time for Sunday. We think that’s a good dynamic to have. We have it on the defensive line. We have it with our linebackers and our DBs. I think each of those guys is trying to understand what we’re asking them to do and play at a high level by doing their job the right way. That’s really what we’re trying to emphasize as coaches."
The Cowboys have purposely embraced youth, speed and athleticism on defense but they have also put a point of emphasis on physicality.
This team arrives to the football with bad intentions like none other in recent Cowboys history.
Bruising middle linebacker Rolando McClain sets the tone for the defense with his physical style of play. He had one of two forced fumbles in the game against the Saints.
"We gon' hit! We gon' hit!" McClain shouted in the postgame locker room.
McClain's attitude has been infectious for the entire defense. Linebacker Bruce Carter, always considered more of a finesse player because of his speed, had his best game of his career against the Saints, per Garrett. He had a couple of pass deflections, including one that led to an interception. But it was his physicality that stood out most.
"Hits on the ball, both in the run game and in the pass game," Garrett said of Carter. "I thought he did a good job of knocking them back when he tackled them. I thought we did a good job of that as a football team. That’s a point of emphasis for us, the way you tackle matters. You have to be physical if you want to be successful, and you have to be physical all throughout your team.
"And certainly in all phases of your defense—how you run to the ball, how you tackle from everybody; all 11 guys. So that’s certainly something that we want to be. We want to be a physical football team. We emphasize it every day in practice. Our drills are oriented towards that. The guys we’ve chosen and selected for this football team are oriented to that and we’re a work in progress."
The Cowboys defense is a work in progress because they have guys still on the comeback trail—either returning from injuries, from suspensions or from being disappointments.
The collection of youthful neophytes is spliced with a bunch of castoffs, nobodies and guys with chips on their shoulders.
Garrett has made it a point to feed into each of their stories in developing a fighting spirit on defense.
“I think everybody has a story, and oftentimes you tap into what their stories are, and oftentimes their stories are the same,” Garrett said. “There’s a lot of stories about guys coming from different places, overcoming different things, dealing with adversity, dealing with injuries, being overlooked, and they’re here.
"Sometimes we’ll talk to our players about that, among other things, to try to inspire them and motivate them.”
McClain is coming back from retirement and being called a first-round draft bust in Oakland. Orlando Scandrick, the team's best cornerback, believes he was wrongly suspended for the first two games of the season for taking "molly" while on vacation.
Carter wants to live up to his untapped potential and shake off the bust label.
Defensive tackle Henry Melton, coming off a season-ending knee injury, is playing for his future on a one-year deal.
Former Pro Bowl defensive end Anthony Spencer played against the Saints Sunday for the first team in more than a year because of microfracture surgery.
The stories go on and on. And then there’s the collective motivation of not wanting to be the worst defense in the league again.
"We're a real scrappy bunch," safety Barry Church said. "A lot of people don't give us credit for the jobs that we do, but we're trying keep fighting and speaking with our pads, not with our mouths, and we're going to go out there and take it one game at a time, and we'll see what happens.
"Coming off being the worst defense in the league last year, we definitely have to play with a boulder on our shoulder. So we're just going out here and showing people we're an improved defense. Once we get everything down pat and we stay healthy, we'll be a force to be reckoned with."
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...