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Bryant broke the fifth metatarsal in his foot during the team's Week 1 matchup with the New York Giants. He is likely going to miss at least six weeks. Bryant is an established star, the second-biggest loss the team could have suffered behind starting quarterback Tony Romo.
Asking the Cowboys to be as effective on offense without Bryant is unfair. While the unit boasts a huge amount of offensive line talent, its skill position depth is uninspiring. So uninspiring that the franchise traded for Brice Butler of the Oakland Raiders after Bryant's injury.
To compensate for Bryant's absence, the Cowboys are sure to rely more on the running game and their defense. While the running game should eventually figure itself out, the defense could be in trouble.
On the defensive front, both Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain will remain sidelined through suspension for three more games. Starting cornerback Orlando Scandrick was placed on injured reserve because of an ACL tear before the season even began.
Because of those absences and the general lack of talent the Cowboys have had on the defensive side over recent times, Byron Jones and Randy Gregory were expected to play important roles during their rookie seasons.
Jones featured throughout the four quarters against the Giants, but Gregory's debut was cut short.
Gregory suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Giants that is expected to keep him out for at least four weeks. High-ankle sprains typically impact a player's performance long after they have returned to the field, so the four-week time frame is extremely optimistic.
Though he wasn't expected to be a starter early in the year and didn't start for the Cowboys during his debut, Gregory was expected to be heavily involved in the rotation. His threat as a pass-rusher was going to be particularly valuable during Hardy's suspension.
Against Giants rookie left tackle Ereck Flowers, Gregory was able to showcase the traits that made him a high pick in the draft.
During the draft process, Gregory was considered a talented prospect who had off-field concerns. Those off-field concerns caused him to drop into the second round, but if the draft only considered on-field ability, Gregory was likely going to be a top-five or top-10 pick.
He was considered one of the most impressive pass-rushers in the class. On this play, he lines up wide of Flowers to showcase his versatility coming off the edge.
From his wide alignment, Gregory can threaten the left tackle's outside shoulder with his speed off the snap. He explodes upfield, immediately putting Flowers under pressure to hasten his drop. At the perfect moment, Gregory plants his outside foot and makes a sharp cut back infield.
When Gregory plants his foot, Flowers has overcommitted to the speed rush and turned his inside shoulder so he is square to the sideline.
Gregory's footwork and explosiveness has completely taken Flowers out of the play. He has beaten him past his inside shoulder and created a lane to penetrate the pocket. However, the defensive end draws a double team when the left guard turns back to locate him.
The left guard slows Gregory up enough to bring Flowers back into the play.
Despite dealing with two blockers, Gregory continues to force his way into the pocket. Every area of his athleticism was put on show on this single rush. His explosiveness set up Flowers initially before his strength allowed him to fend off the attempted double team.
By forcing his way into the pocket, he drew attention away from the interior rushers. Those interior rushers along with Gregory pressured Eli Manning into scrambling out of the pocket.
Although Gregory is a versatile edge rusher who will have the ability to beat offensive tackles in different ways when fully healthy, his primary threat is as a speed rusher. Against the Giants, Gregory was close to sacking Manning because of his speed rush.
The defensive end once again exploded off the snap before bending the edge around Flowers by angling beneath him. He had beaten the left tackle as quickly as could have been expected, but Manning threw a quick pass to Shane Vereen underneath.
Gregory was still able to legally lay a hit on Manning, but he was a split second away from getting a sack and potentially forcing a fumble.
The Cowboys haven't had an edge rusher capable of making this kind of play since DeMarcus Ware was let go two years ago. DeMarcus Lawrence is an impressive young talent at the position, and Jeremy Mincey has flashed at times throughout his career, but neither player has the explosive talent that Gregory boasts.
Before the beginning of the season, head coach Jason Garrett gushed about Gregory's wide range of skills to the Star-Telegram:
He's a young player, but he's a good football player. I think we all saw that on tape coming out. Obviously he's a natural rusher. He has some really interesting physical traits that a lot of the good rushers have. He's got length, he's got quickness, explosiveness, he can bend, he accelerates to the quarterback. ... He's around the ball as a rusher, he's around the ball as a run defender too. The more he plays the better he's going to get.
It's clear that the Cowboys were excited about adding Gregory to the defense. Jerry Jones is looking to build a team that can win before Romo's championship window closes, so Gregory's immediate impact outweighed the character concerns that came with selecting him.
Adding Gregory to Hardy and Tyrone Crawford was supposed to be the base of the team's pass rush.
Now that both Hardy and Gregory are unavailable for prolonged periods, Crawford is less likely to be as impactful as he was last season. Crawford only had three sacks last season, and his career to date hasn't been spectacular, but he proved to be consistently disruptive from the interior last season.
Without Gregory and Hardy pulling attention toward the edges, it will be easier for opposing offenses to focus on the defensive tackle on passing downs.
In 2014, the Cowboys had a subpar defense. The unit ranked 26th in the league in passing yards allowed and 15th in points allowed during the regular season. An inability to consistently get to the quarterback was a major reason for the defense's susceptibility.
The Cowboys had only 28 sacks during the regular season last year. That number was good enough to rank 28th in the league. According to Football Outsiders' DVOA metric, a metric that measures snap-by-snap efficiency, the Cowboys ranked 22nd in the league in pass defense.
Football Outsiders' DVOA ranked the Cowboys defense overall as the 22nd best in the NFL while the offense ranked fourth overall. Even without that material evidence, it was clear that the Cowboys were an offensively reliant team last year.
Without Bryant and with less certainty at the running back spot this year, the defense can't afford to rank in the bottom half of the league again. Getting Gregory back to full health and effectiveness as quick as possible will be almost as important as getting Bryant back for that reason.
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