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ESPN Ranks Cowboys Defensive Triplets 29th In The League
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...cowboys-defensive-triplets-29th-in-the-league
Today ESPN expanded their triplet theme to the defensive side of the ball. That’s an interesting topic since there is no "natural" triplet grouping to choose from like QB/RB/WR. The author, Bill Barnwell, freely admits that so he just picked what he thought were the three best defensive players from each team. (He also basically did that in the article on the offensive triplets.) So who would you think are the Cowboys three best defensive players?
One of them is obvious. Sean Lee, when healthy, is the Cowboys best defensive player. In fact, he’s probably among the top 100 players in the league when he’s on his game and not affected by injury. That’s always been the issue with Lee, you almost can’t write about him without using phrases like "when healthy." Still, there’s little debate that he’s the best the Cowboys got on defense.
After Lee, there is a lot more debate. For Barnwell, he went with Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence, and ranked that trio a lowly 29th in the league.
29. Dallas Cowboys
DT Tyrone Crawford, LB Sean Lee, DE DeMarcus Lawrence
The Cowboys are blessed to have Rod Marinelli, who perennially coaches up relatively anonymous defensive linemen into meaningful contributors, but there's not a lot of top-level talent to work with in Dallas. Pedigreed players such as Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne haven't lived up to expectations, while valuable slot corner Orlando Scandrick is coming off of a torn ACL. The Cowboys have a useful second tier of starters in Cedric Thornton, Rolando McClain and Byron Jones, but this is a team full of offensive stars and bereft of difference-makers on defense. One notable problem: The Cowboys stopped creating turnovers. They forced takeaways on a league-high 17.2 percent of possessions in 2014, only for that figure to fall to a league-low 6.0 percent of possessions last year. They'll likely be somewhere in the middle in 2016, which should aid matters...
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...cowboys-defensive-triplets-29th-in-the-league
Today ESPN expanded their triplet theme to the defensive side of the ball. That’s an interesting topic since there is no "natural" triplet grouping to choose from like QB/RB/WR. The author, Bill Barnwell, freely admits that so he just picked what he thought were the three best defensive players from each team. (He also basically did that in the article on the offensive triplets.) So who would you think are the Cowboys three best defensive players?
One of them is obvious. Sean Lee, when healthy, is the Cowboys best defensive player. In fact, he’s probably among the top 100 players in the league when he’s on his game and not affected by injury. That’s always been the issue with Lee, you almost can’t write about him without using phrases like "when healthy." Still, there’s little debate that he’s the best the Cowboys got on defense.
After Lee, there is a lot more debate. For Barnwell, he went with Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence, and ranked that trio a lowly 29th in the league.
29. Dallas Cowboys
DT Tyrone Crawford, LB Sean Lee, DE DeMarcus Lawrence
The Cowboys are blessed to have Rod Marinelli, who perennially coaches up relatively anonymous defensive linemen into meaningful contributors, but there's not a lot of top-level talent to work with in Dallas. Pedigreed players such as Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne haven't lived up to expectations, while valuable slot corner Orlando Scandrick is coming off of a torn ACL. The Cowboys have a useful second tier of starters in Cedric Thornton, Rolando McClain and Byron Jones, but this is a team full of offensive stars and bereft of difference-makers on defense. One notable problem: The Cowboys stopped creating turnovers. They forced takeaways on a league-high 17.2 percent of possessions in 2014, only for that figure to fall to a league-low 6.0 percent of possessions last year. They'll likely be somewhere in the middle in 2016, which should aid matters...