News: Cowboys' D-line looks ready to return to dominant form

Stash

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I thought Lee was out for that game? Didn' t he leave the previous week against the falcons andonly return in the cowboys second game versus the giants? You right, though. The first eagles game was a terrible showing by the cowboys defense

His 2017 game logs list him as having played that game.
 

Irvin88_4life

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Lee is never a 100%. I love the guy and I love the fact that he is a product of my alma mater, but you'd think that the senile fossil Marinelli would understand that you need to protect the guy by adding some beef on the line.
I'm down with getting a 1 tech. They wanted Vea in the draft but was taken early. So in that case build everything else you can. LB and DEs got huge upgrades.

Osborne is a guy that will make this roster and be the 1 tech you guys are wanting
 

ghst187

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I feel like they need to go a lot farther back than 2010 or so to remember a time our DL was “dominant”. 1992 or 1993
 

gimmesix

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And the fact that the defense was getting gashed for 200 yards rushing. That throws a big monkey wrench in their "plans" too.

Sean Lee being out had nothing to do with that? You can go back and look at how many of our bad rush-defense days came when Lee was missing from the lineup.

Defensive linemen will look bad when the linebackers hit the wrong gap or don't get into the gap because even though they might be playing their assignment, a big hole is left in the run defense.
 

gimmesix

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Scary thing is, Sean Lee played in that game where they gave up 200 yards rushing to the Eagles.

Lee did not play in that game. He played in Denver's big rushing game against us (when Collins was playing 3-tech), but he missed the Rams and Green Bay games, then the Philly, Chargers and Washington games.
 

CowboyRoy

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Cowboys' D-line looks ready to return to dominant form
www.espn.com/blog/dallas-cowboys/post/_/id/4766527/cowboys-d-line-finally-looks-like-it-can-catch-up-to-its-past-success



Starting in 2011, the Cowboys made it a priority to rebuild their offensive line with first-round picks. Tyron Smith was followed by Travis Frederick in 2013 and Zack Martin in 2014. La'el Collins was a first-round talent but fell to an undrafted free agent. Last month, the Cowboys took Connor Williams in the second round and project him to be their starting left guard.

The defensive line has been built a little differently but with quality picks. Crawford was a third-rounder in 2012. Lawrence was a second-rounder in 2014. Taco Charlton was a first-round pick last year. Maliek Collins was a third-rounder in 2016.

The Cowboys have also picked up other high-round picks from other teams, such as Datone Jones (first round, Green Bay Packers 2010), Kony Ealy (second round, Carolina Panthers 2014). Dallas traded for Jihad Ward (second round, Oakland Raiders 2016)...

Perhaps come training camp the Cowboys will get another talented piece to the defensive front in Randy Gregory. He was a second-round pick in 2016 but has played in only two games the past two seasons because of suspension. He has filed for reinstatement to the NFL, and the Cowboys are not ready to give up on a talent that was projected to be a top-five pick if not for his off-field troubles...

The difference between last year and this year is what?

A FA scrub or two? A 4th round pick?

And one of our starters just broke his foot?

I fail to see any kind of sure fire anything.
 

JD_KaPow

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His 2017 game logs list him as having played that game.
No, they don't. He missed the Rams game (168 yards rushing), the Packers game (160 yards rushing), the Eagles game (215 yards rushing), the Chargers game (only 81 yards rushing but 434 passing) and the Commanders game (we crushed them and held them to 56 yards rushing). He was active against Denver (178 yards rushing in a DEN blowout) and Atlanta (132 yards rushing in an ATL blowout).
 

reddyuta

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Sorry but i wont consider our Dline close to bring dominant with Brain price as our starter.The eagles have a great Dline and they got lit up by Brady and co .
 

Stash

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Sean Lee being out had nothing to do with that? You can go back and look at how many of our bad rush-defense days came when Lee was missing from the lineup.

Defensive linemen will look bad when the linebackers hit the wrong gap or don't get into the gap because even though they might be playing their assignment, a big hole is left in the run defense.

No it didn’t. Lee played that game.
 

Stash

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Lee did not play in that game. He played in Denver's big rushing game against us (when Collins was playing 3-tech), but he missed the Rams and Green Bay games, then the Philly, Chargers and Washington games.

On second look, you’re right. Lee didn’t play that game. I misread it.
 

buybuydandavis

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The defensive line has been built a little differently but with quality picks. Crawford was a third-rounder in 2012. Lawrence was a second-rounder in 2014. Taco Charlton was a first-round pick last year. Maliek Collins was a third-rounder in 2016.

The Cowboys have also picked up other high-round picks from other teams, such as Datone Jones (first round, Green Bay Packers 2010), Kony Ealy (second round, Carolina Panthers 2014). Dallas traded for Jihad Ward (second round, Oakland Raiders 2016)...

Maliek with a broken foot again. A horde of high draft picks that didn't pan out elsewhere.

They're way overselling what we have on the dline. 1Tech is looking bad, though they may rectify that.

The bright spots are Irving and Lawrence, both on 1 year deals.

Crawford is an OK RDE, but I can't ever see him being very good. Little bend, no speed. He's a 3-4 DE. Exactly as he was drafted.

It's just nutty to count by draft round after guys have been in the league for a while. You are your record, not your draft round.
 

CowboyRoy

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I'd like to see that list. It has to be a pretty short one. Many positions? Wow. Well, the Cowboys might need a S. 1T is always on everyones Christmas list. I see pretty solid players with good talent everywhere else.

Here is a list of position with unproven players or busts at the position:

RDE, DT, MLB, OLB, SS, FS, All 3 corner spots. The ONLY guys that have proven themselves to be good on defense are Lee, Lawrence, Irvin. Everyone else has question marks.
 

Johnny23

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The con with there philosophy is that guy kills us in the run game by getting gashed by a no name RB from GB and the pro with a fat guy is that he will take on 2 guys and free up the LB's to tackle, ask Ray how that work out for him with the Ravens.
They made sure he had two or three of those guus rotating at a time. Sarugusa,Sam Adams, Ngata the guys behind Hailoti were good. Ray was kept healthy and clean(in game for years). we don't prioritize r
that and get dumb founded when Lee gets hurt with cheapshots and being crushed on blocks because our 1-Tech is garbage.
 

Captain43Crash

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The con with there philosophy is that guy kills us in the run game by getting gashed by a no name RB from GB and the pro with a fat guy is that he will take on 2 guys and free up the LB's to tackle, ask Ray how that work out for him with the Ravens.
Great point!! That Super Bowl winning Raven’s D was truly dominating. They could stuff the run without bringing a Safety into the box, then on 3rd down they could unleash their pass rush, which included pushing the pocket up the middle. Ray Lewis loved it, I’m sure Sean Lee and company would too!! Why is this so hard for our FO and Marinelli to understand. If we go into the season with Irving and Collins as our starting DT’s, I’m afraid, like last year on occasion, we will get pushed around against the run.
 

Captain43Crash

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only by Cowboy standards. nothing dominant as a whole
The circa-2007 front with Ware, Ratliff, Spencer, Canty and Spears was a really good group.
Yeah, we had supposedly a really good D when the Giants beat us as a #1 seed. I have been hard on Romo in big games, but that lose was on the D and Patrick Clayton. In the 2nd quarter we go on a 10 minute drive and score a TD. We give the Giants less than 2 minutes before the half. They slice right through our supposedly good D and score a TD. All the momentum goes back to them and they beat us. We would have never beat NE in that Super Bowl though with that D. We have not had a Superbowl winning type D since our last Super Bowl, but we have had Superbowl winning type Offenses. If we only have one side of the ball that is dominant, I would much rather have it be the defensive side of the ball.
 
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