Cowboys Next Man Up: Looking At Drake Nevis

Prossman

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Cowboys Next Man Up: Looking At Drake Nevis
By Dave Halprin@BloggingTheBoys on Oct 14 2013, 3:04p 67
184431211.0_standard_709.0.jpg

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/21163601/184431211.0_standard_352.0.jpg"

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/10/14/4838054/cowboys-next-man-up-looking-at-drake-nevis

The Cowboys need help along the defensive line but they may have found some during the Commanders game.

The Dallas Cowboys have a very thin defensive line. For whatever reason, the Football Gods have decide to punish this team at that position group. Tyrone Crawford, Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff and Ben Bass were all guys who were either going to start or they were going to be contributors in the Cowboys defensive line rotation. Now three of them are gone for the year and the jury is still out on Ratliff ever contributing this season. Then, in the Commanders game, DeMarcus Ware went down for an as yet unknown amount of time. It's been a real mess at that position.
Fortunately, the Cowboys have had some success in plugging the holes. George Selvie has done an admirable job filling in for Anthony Spencer. He's shown a little pass-rush ability and has been good against the run. Nick Hayden has helped anchor the middle but hasn't shown much ability to disrupt and penetrate. Still, he's very good at holding ground on double-teams.

But the Cowboys could use another guy who can penetrate from the middle along with Jason Hatcher. It's possible Drake Nevis could help fill that role. Nevis played on 29 defensive snaps in the Commanders game (37% of the total) and in that time managed to show some real potential. Let's go to the pictures to demonstrate.
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There's Nevis attacking the middle of the pocket with Chris Chester attempting to block him. He's going right through that block.

He almost gets to RG3 but is tackled by Chester at the last second. This was one of three plays where holding could have been called as a result of Nevis' efforts but somehow the refs missed them.

Here's Nevis once again abusing Chester. Granted, Chester is not the best guard but neither Nick Hayden or David Carter has anywhere near the success as Nevis.

Again, Chester grabs him before he can get to RG3.

This time Nevis is singled up on Kory Lichtensteiger.

And basically runs him flat over. He didn't get pressure on RG3 on the play but he manhandled the opposing guard.

Here's the play where Kyle Wilber got his strip/sack/recovery. Nevis is once again applying pressure up the middle.

Here is Nevis being tackled again, but he backed up RG3 into the waiting arms of Wilber.

Okay, now here are all the caveats. It was just one game and it was a very limited sample. The guard play from the Commanders was sub-par. But, as I said above, the only other interior defensive lineman creating this kind of pressure on the day was Jason Hatcher. Nevis may just find himself with a lot more playing time going forward.
 

Prossman

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I had to look up who number 70 was during the game. He had some nice penetration. I think we stole this one.
 

texbumthelife

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Thank so much for this. I knew there had to be someone knew putting pressure up the middle. I could see hatcher all night but I couldn't pinpoint where the rest of the pressure was coming from. All of these guys need to stay strictly rotational to keep them fresh and hopefully they can keep up the good work.
 

CowboyStar88

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Nevis was a good pick up. Obviously took a few games for him to get comfortable but he looked solid last night. Actually the DTs just gave the skins a fight last night.
 

JBell

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I LOVED this pickup after reading up on what type of player Nevis was. Interior pass rushers are rare in today's league and we got one for pennies.

I think the biggest challenge for Nevis is his stamina. He's so intense that I notice he'll have to come out after a few plays. I'd love if he could stay on the field for longer periods of time because him and Hatcher collapsing the pocket together is going to make everyone on defense look better.
 

dallasdave

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Cowboys Next Man Up: Looking At Drake Nevis
By Dave Halprin@BloggingTheBoys on Oct 14 2013, 3:04p 67
184431211.0_standard_709.0.jpg

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/21163601/184431211.0_standard_352.0.jpg"

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/10/14/4838054/cowboys-next-man-up-looking-at-drake-nevis

The Cowboys need help along the defensive line but they may have found some during the Commanders game.

The Dallas Cowboys have a very thin defensive line. For whatever reason, the Football Gods have decide to punish this team at that position group. Tyrone Crawford, Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff and Ben Bass were all guys who were either going to start or they were going to be contributors in the Cowboys defensive line rotation. Now three of them are gone for the year and the jury is still out on Ratliff ever contributing this season. Then, in the Commanders game, DeMarcus Ware went down for an as yet unknown amount of time. It's been a real mess at that position.
Fortunately, the Cowboys have had some success in plugging the holes. George Selvie has done an admirable job filling in for Anthony Spencer. He's shown a little pass-rush ability and has been good against the run. Nick Hayden has helped anchor the middle but hasn't shown much ability to disrupt and penetrate. Still, he's very good at holding ground on double-teams.

But the Cowboys could use another guy who can penetrate from the middle along with Jason Hatcher. It's possible Drake Nevis could help fill that role. Nevis played on 29 defensive snaps in the Commanders game (37% of the total) and in that time managed to show some real potential. Let's go to the pictures to demonstrate.
---------

There's Nevis attacking the middle of the pocket with Chris Chester attempting to block him. He's going right through that block.

He almost gets to RG3 but is tackled by Chester at the last second. This was one of three plays where holding could have been called as a result of Nevis' efforts but somehow the refs missed them.

Here's Nevis once again abusing Chester. Granted, Chester is not the best guard but neither Nick Hayden or David Carter has anywhere near the success as Nevis.

Again, Chester grabs him before he can get to RG3.

This time Nevis is singled up on Kory Lichtensteiger.

And basically runs him flat over. He didn't get pressure on RG3 on the play but he manhandled the opposing guard.

Here's the play where Kyle Wilber got his strip/sack/recovery. Nevis is once again applying pressure up the middle.

Here is Nevis being tackled again, but he backed up RG3 into the waiting arms of Wilber.

Okay, now here are all the caveats. It was just one game and it was a very limited sample. The guard play from the Commanders was sub-par. But, as I said above, the only other interior defensive lineman creating this kind of pressure on the day was Jason Hatcher. Nevis may just find himself with a lot more playing time going forward.
Saw his # a lot last night, guess that's a good thing.
 

lwehlers

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I don't think Rat will find his way to any football field.


I also agree too I just do not see Ratliff playing for this team again. sucks it has come to this point I really had high hopes for Ratliff in this 4-3 defense.
 

Kaiser

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I was watching the replay of the 3rd quarter and Nevis really stood out. You can tell he is still working his way back into shape but really made plays like the article above shows. Hayden has not been flashy but has executed - its not a popular opinion but will be probably be fine with Hayden and Nevis playing the 1 position.
 
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Idgit

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15 posts in, and nobody's commenting on the holding calls?
 

Kaiser

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15 posts in, and nobody's commenting on the holding calls?

Dallas fans take them for granted at this point. I love the author of the article saying "somehow the ref missed" Nevis being tackled from behind before he could get to RGIII.

Also I meant the post above to say Hayden "had not" been flashy.
 

Idgit

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..Also I meant the post above to say Hayden "had not" been flashy.

This, a can help you with.

And, yeah, we do kind of take the holds for granted at this point. But not necessarily the tackles. I guess that's changing, too.
 
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