News: ESPN: Melton finally arrives, makes impact against Washington

[NewsBot]

​

IRVING, Texas -- Against the Washington Commanders, we saw the Henry Melton the Dallas Cowboys believed they were getting when they signed the defensive tackle to a one-year deal with a three-year club option in the offseason. It was impressive. Melton played only 26 snaps in the Cowboys' 20-17 overtime loss to Washington, but he had two sacks, three tackles for loss and hit quarterback Colt McCoy twice. Melton missed the final 13 games of last season with a torn ACL, and he strained his groin in training camp.

Continue reading...

 

[WoodysGirl]

Sooo... how about Melton's performance?

 

[pgreptom]

Repeat the performance this week and I'll start talking about Melton.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Maybe he was just overcoming the rust from his injury. I hope the arrow keeps pointing up for him. We need sacks, not just pressure.

 

[jday]

In what was otherwise a horrible game to watch, that was encouraging to see. With the addition of DLaw and potentially Brent/Okoye, this defense could turn out to be a strength as the season progresses. Or at least I really, really hope so. I have no doubts of this team's ability to make the playoffs, but defense wins championships and that is one area the Cowboys need to see some serious improvement.

 

[Rogerthat12]

I think Melton was simply rusty and getting re-acclimated to the rigors of the NFL game.

Some of the violent moves he made looked like the Melton of 2012.

Time will tell if he can continue this level of play but Melton getting better during the last half of the season is a good thing in my book!

 

[CowboyManDan]

I think he was fired up to play against former college teammate Colt McCoy. I hope it's more than that though.

 

[mahoneybill]

I think Melton was simply rusty and getting re-acclimated to the rigors of the NFL game.

Some of the violent moves he made looked like the Melton of 2012.

Time will tell if he can continue this level of play but Melton getting better during the last half of the season is a good thing in my book!

He did look quick off the line, and like the aggressiveness he showed once through

 

[Nova]

I thought I saw a cool formation on third and long with Crawford and Melton in the middle. Could've been Hayden, but That seems like a great idea.

 

[21Savage]

I thought I saw a cool formation on third and long with Crawford and Melton in the middle. Could've been Hayden, but That seems like a great idea.

Crawford and Melton have been our 3rd down DTs for 3 or more games now. The new wrinkle they added this game was that Melton rushed from the LDE spot and Mincey was the nickel DT. He beat the RT twice, one with an in and out move and the other with a nice spin. He didn't get to the QB on either play though.

 

[dwreck27]

One of the few bright spots from the game... If he keeps bringing pressure like that up the middle Oooooo weeeeee!!

 

[Wood]

as Broddius said....Melton is running out of games. I am still leary bout big contract for him.

 

[MrMom]

IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys defensive tackle Henry Melton enters Sunday's game against Arizona coming off one of his best games of the season.

Melton had two sacks, three tackles for loss and was credited with two quarterback hurries in Monday's overtime loss to Washington. Melton, who plays defensive tackle, was moved to defensive end on several plays against the Commanders to create some mismatches.

"It felt pretty good and I was moving around a little bit to trying to give me better looks and I was in position to make some plays," Melton said. "It felt good. It was something we looked at and said we were going to try and do in the game. I did it in practice a little bit and it transferred a little bit to the game."

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4736263/henry-melton-coming-off-his-best-game

 

[Brooksey]

Sooo... how about Melton's performance?

His first real good game, like to see him continue those type of performances. With D-Law coming back maybe we can make some noise in the backfield.

 

[BAT]

His first real good game, like to see him continue those type of performances. With D-Law coming back maybe we can make some noise in the backfield.

Kudos to Melton but what happened to T McClain? He was supposed to have broken out against the Giants too.

 

[honyock]

According to Football Outsiders, Melton has averaged about 24 snaps per game and has 3.5 sacks through 8 games. Here are his sack totals put in some perspective:

Melton has averaged a sack every 55 snaps through 8 games.

JJ Watt has averaged a sack every 66 snaps through 8 games.

Last year in his monster year, Jason Hatcher averaged a sack every 68 snaps.

Obviously Melton's sacks per snap went way up after his 2 sack game against Washington. Doing this stat after 7 games wouldn't have been nearly as impressive. But still, given that he's been shaking off rust and gradually building up to more and more snaps per game, his sack production is really good so far.