News: BTB: Cowboys Front Seven Dominates For Second Straight Week

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After an impressive performance against the Vikings the Cowboys defense as a whole, particularly the front seven, followed it up with an even better one against the Giants.

Ed. Note: Many GIFs on the way...patience grasshopper.

There are a lot of things Cowboys fans would like to forget about last Sunday night. Just about everything possible went wrong on offense, the passing game was ineffective, the running game was inconsistent, and for two straight weeks the team has put up 17 points or less. If two games are enough to make people wonder about the offense, are two weeks enough to make people start buying into this defense?

After a very impressive performance against Minnesota the defense followed it up with perhaps their best game of the year in New York, against a better offense at that. The front seven in particular was dominant, getting consistent pressure on Eli Manning, shutting down the Giants running game, forcing turnovers, and consistently getting the ball back for the offense late in the game.

The Giants had 260 yards, but 61 came on one play, the Odell Beckham touchdown, which was a pass that traveled about 10 yards in the air and then Beckham took it another 50. The tackling by the secondary was particularly poor in that instance, but aside from that one single play they gave up less than 200 yards and just three points over four quarters against an offense that’s averaging over 300 yards and about 20 points per game. Impressive.

First, let’s take a look at some of the pressure the front seven was able to get on Eli Manning.

This is Eli’s first fumble of the game, some would argue the blame falls squarely on Manning since the ball isn’t forced out by a defender, but look at how quick the pressure gets to him, both in his face and from the outside:

Lee Blitz

You can see Tyrone Crawford (98) and David Irving (95) crashing hard from left to right, in an attempt to get the offensive line to move hard in that direction, hoping to get a blitzing Sean Lee (50) a free run at the quarterback. It works to perfection as Lee gets to Eli untouched, but also look at how quickly Irving and Cedric Thornton (92) collapse the interior of the line, immediately getting to Eli’s face and giving him no room to step up to avoid Lee. The quick pressure most certainly forced him to try to get the ball out faster than he’d like, and on a cold, slippery night that can be enough to force a fumble.

It’s interesting to note that Rod Marinelli has been much more aggressive in terms of blitzing linebackers over the last two weeks. Could it be that he feels emboldened by the poor offensive lines of the Giants and the Vikings or is this a trend that will continue as the offensive competition stiffens?

We shall see.

Here is Benson Mayowa’s (93) sack later in the game that also forced an Eli fumble:

Mayowa Sack

This was horrific technique by left tackle Ereck Flowers (74) as much as anything, but it’s also Mayowa’s second week in a row with a sack, and you’d never guess it but he is actually second on the team with four, just half a sack behind Tyrone Crawford. That is despite the fact that Mayowa has played less than half as many snaps as Crawford on the year and was actually inactive for a few games. He has struggled mightily at times but he played more snaps Sunday night than any game since the first week of the season. Perhaps it’s just being in the right place at the right time, or nothing more than the fact that the Giants and Vikings both have poor offensive lines, but it could also be that Mayowa is starting to figure out what Rod Marinelli wants out of him. Whatever it is, let’s hope we see more of it.

And Tyrone Crawford’s sack on the Giants second drive:

Crawford Sack

Most importantly I’d like to give credit to Maliek Collins (96) here for giving the Giants right tackle and right guard a ride, allowing Crawford to loop in from the left side of the screen for the sack. Crawford gets the statistical credit for this play, but Collins deserves just as much credit. His impressive rookie year continues.

So the Cowboys defensive line clearly had one of their best games of the year as far as pressuring the quarterback, but what about stopping the run?

Well, for the game the Giants only had 33 carries for 93 yards, that’s obviously impressive but the Giants also have one of the worst running games in the league. What really impressed me was the work the front seven did against the run in the fourth quarter when they had to get the ball back for the offense.

If you remember back to the first game of the year, the Giants had an inordinate amount of success with running a simple draw up the middle out of the shotgun in the fourth quarter after not having much success running all game. In fact, in that game the Giants got the ball up one with four minutes left in the game, with the Cowboys having all three timeouts and the two minute warning. They ran the ball seven times in a row for 42 yards (they had only 71 yards rushing going into the drive, after about 56 minutes of game time) and gained two first downs, draining the clock down to barely a minute left.

The Cowboys defense was in a similar position this past Sunday and how did they respond?

With three straight three and outs in the final 7:05 of the game. The first drive began with 7:05 left, the second began with 3:13 remaining, and the third began with 2:13 on the clock. The fact that the defense forced three and outs on each of those drives is truly impressive, so let’s take a look at a few of the key plays from each.

Here is a second and 9 with just over six minutes remaining, of course the Giants attempt what they did in the first match-up, which is to spread the formation and run the draw out of the shotgun:

Lee TFL

You can see the Cowboys only have six in the box, which is how they responded in the first game of the year, but the execution is obviously far better this time. Terrell McClain (97) in particular does a great job of taking on a double team from the center and right guard, holding his ground and sort of muddying the blocking scheme of the play. This leaves Lee one-on-one with the pulling left tackle (74) and obviously that doesn’t turn out so well for the Giants. Even if Lee had been blocked you can see Barry Church crashing in to make the play. This is a great individual play by Lee, who had arguably his best game as a Cowboy, but it wasn’t just him.

Here is the first play of the next drive, again the Giants spread the formation, go shotgun and run the draw:

Mayowa and Lee TFL

Again, six in the box, and again, another great play by Sean Lee who sniffs out the play for a loss, but also credit Mayowa on the right of the formation for not allowing himself to be taken out of the play by a tight end. He clearly beats the blocker and gets in on the tackle with Lee. And if you want a good laugh, take a look at Irving in the middle of the screen, he expects to take on a block but is allowed to go through untouched, falling to the ground. Usually losing your balance and falling on your face isn’t what you want but in this case he actually falls into the path of the running back, which seems to slow his momentum.

After an Eli pass was nearly picked off on second down by Justin Durant the Giants go back to the well on third and 11 with another shotgun draw:

3rd Down Stop

The play is again made by Lee who takes on a pulling guard (77), but also give credit to Church and Mayowa for rallying to the ball. I also think Irving deserves plenty of credit for taking on a double team from the left tackle and left guard in the middle of the field. He holds his ground, doesn’t attempt to make the play on his own, which would allow one of the linemen to move off of him and onto another defender, and that allows Lee and Church to flow freely to the ball carrier.

Now on the final Giants offensive drive of the night (not counting kneel downs), where they were finally convinced to move off of the shotgun draw on a third and 4 that would’ve iced the game:

3rd and 4 Stop

This is a more traditional alignment so the Cowboys respond with seven in the box, although that seventh is a safety in Church. Great job by Collins and Thornton in particular on the interior, as well as Mayowa who does a good job of working down the line off his blocker. The three of them ruin the blocking scheme, giving the running back no daylight, Church keeps outside contain on the right of the screen, Lee sticks his nose in the pile, and Anthony Hitchens basically watches. Fourth down.

This was undoubtedly the best performance of the season for the defense as they got contributions across the board. Yes, the Giants offensive line and running game are marginal, but that running game as able to salt the game away earlier in the year. This time they weren’t able to get a first down on three straight drives.

Two dominant performances in a row should give Cowboys fans plenty of optimism moving forward, but as we all know, two week sample sizes don’t usually provide definitive conclusions.

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