Greg Hardy's Burden

[CATCH17]

Here's the thing too. Someone around here a few years back, who was a Yankees fan, mentioned the Cowboys are just like them. Their players and prospects are overhyped. Alot of it is the media attention the Cowboys receive, some of it is Jerry and Spaulding's selling themselves as talent evaluators. Regardless, Cowboy players, draft picks, and the like are usually overrated.

Not saying the Cowboys don't have a few good players but, Lawrence is a perfect example, he's a nice rotational 4-3 end nothing more. Throughout the offseason, our marketing department i.e. Jed Clampett and Son, sold the guy as vastly improved, stronger, excited to play LDE, and all that. The Cowboys sell it, the media takes it and distributes it, the enormous fan base buys it. The season plays out, and Lawrence hasn't been terrible, but he is a serviceable end nothing more. Not worth trading up for in the 2nd, certainly not with a division rival, and the cycle will go on and on. They'll hype him as long as he's a Cowboy and he'll never eclipse 6-8 sacks per year. Not singling D-Law out, it happens with the vast majority of players on this team. They are GREAT marketers, not so much personnel experts.

Training camp stories will have you believing that 75% of the team can jump over a building. Im not falling for that sells job anymore.


I was sold on Lawrence like a sucker after TC and discarded what my eyes have always told me.

Hopefully he can change and be elite.

 

[tm1119]

D. Lawrence.. I fell for the offseason hype.

I wasn't impressed at all with his Boise State tape and wasn't impressed with him at all last season outside of the 1 huge play he made in the playoffs.


Keep in mind that we gave up a 2 & 3 for this guy.... He has to be better than what he is for a 2 & 3.

Exactly right, anybody who watched his Boise tape shouldn't be that surprised. He was an undersized DE without an elite burst coming out of college.


And If you really want to be sick go back and look at what that 2 & 3 could have been instead. We could have 1 of kony Ealy/Carlos Hyde/Jeremy Hill/Jarvis Landry (2nd round)+ 1 of Donte Moncrief/John Brown/Trai Turner/Devonta Freeman(3rd) instead of just Lawrence. I know hindsight is always 20/20, but boy what a screw up.

 

[LandryFan]

So, because he doesn't live up to the odd fan expectation, he's "garbage"? So, there is no between, just garbage or elite? Okay.

I think you pretty much nailed it on that assessment.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

He's about average maybe a little above a few games a year. He's not the only one that's over paid. But people were acting like he was gonna be a Suh or watt or something. Doesn't help to have Hayden and Lawrence next to him. Now they really suck.

Ware fell off, went to Denver and was born again. Wonder why.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Ware fell off, went to Denver and was born again. Wonder why.

Because dallas has the worst staff in the nfl.

 

[mattjames2010]

Ware fell off, went to Denver and was born again. Wonder why.

He actually fell off due to injury. He's having that issue now as well.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Because dallas has the worst staff in the nfl.

Exactly, so isn't it a bit unfair to totally put the blame on the players? Sure they deserve their share but are they being put in the best position to succeed?

 

[Dave_in-NC]

He actually fell off due to injury. He's having that issue now as well.

But at his age he over came and became the Ware we knew. He's in a better system and with better players.

 

[StarBoyz83]

He's not "overpaid" - look at how DTs are paid in this league, his production this year is making the contract we gave him (Which is nowhere near massive) justifiable.

You're right on the contract. I thought they gave him a lot more than that. At least he's picked it up the last few games

 

[mattjames2010]

But at his age he over came and became the Ware we knew. He's in a better system and with better players.

He was hardly the Ware of old last year, he had a good year, but it was hardly anything remarkable. He was on pace to have a great years this year, but like in 2013, injury derailed him. I'd also say his bulking up to fit in our 4-3 scheme didn't help him either.

 

[tyke1doe]

He has to play with Nick Hayden, Tyrone Crawford, and Demarcus Lawrence

 

[conner01]

Tyrone Crawford - 23 tackles, 4 sacks, and 10 hurries. He wouldn't start for anyone in this league?

So, the only way Crawford wouldn't be garbage is if he was on the level of Atkins and Suh? Crawford isn't elite, but he's on the level of both Mike Daniels and Kawaan Short, both of which are starters in this league.

We could do much MUCH worse at the position.

That's the way so many think around here
If you are not elite or top 2 or 3 at your position then you are a jag
Crawford is playing well but since he doesn't have double digit sacks then he's trash

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Hayden played well for about the first half of the season. The problem is that he's not a productive player at the position nor is he a dominating run defender. In the last few games he hasn't been that good. He's a Marinelli guy because he never loafs and has the technique and gap control down. It's a problem that a lot of coaches have, they tend to fall in love with the guy that does things like they want to instead of the guy that is productive and makes plays.

I've been harder on Lawrence than just about anybody. I was not happy with what we gave up for the pick. He has a bit of Hayden in him in that he hustles big time. However, I'm not completely convinced he's a bust just yet. I do see some flashes here and there and he puts together some good games. We also need to understand that today's passing game is different and you need a DE that has good speed and hustles because the ball is likely to be well out of the QB's hand before the DE can get upfield. So, he has to go from charging upfield to turning around and chasing towards the receiver with the ball. I also acknowledge that last year was more or less a 'redshirt' year for him. I would like to see what he can do next season before I judge him completely. As of now, I think he's a serviceable starter...unfortunately that's now what we drafted him to be.

Crawford was incredible last season. He just couldn't quite make plays. This season he seems to be bothered by nagging injuries and is still productive in terms of hurries. He had a few awful games, but they were moving him to the 1-tech so the healthier Irving could play the 3-tech. I really thought he was elite last season. That's how highly I thought of his play last year. This year, not so much.

I think Hardy has been a best D-Lineman. He got banged up pretty good against Seattle and still made an incredible play on the interception after the injury and hasn't quite been the same since. Injuries make players less effective and if you can be better than average with the injuries that Hardy suffered, being less banged up would be a good thing.

It's something that has plagued the Jason Garrett era...his teams don't stay healthy. Even last year, we had a lot of injuries on defense. We just stayed healthy on offense and the team went 12-4.

This year the offense...and defense (again) has gotten injured.

I think he needs to figure out how to reduce the injuries on defense. The 'next man up' mantra is nice and all, but you only have so many men to do that with. Because if the D-Line can stay healthy next year, I really like what we have with Hardy-Gregory-Mincey-Lawrence-Irving-Crawford-McClain. I think we need to find a backup 1-tech for McClain, but that is a deep D-Line talent pool, IMO. And we can move Hardy and Mincey to DT in passing situations.





RH

 

[Sydla]

I think he needs to figure out how to reduce the injuries on defense. The 'next man up' mantra is nice and all, but you only have so many men to do that with. Because if the D-Line can stay healthy next year, I really like what we have with Hardy-Gregory-Mincey-Lawrence-Irving-Crawford-McClain. I think we need to find a backup 1-tech for McClain, but that is a deep D-Line talent pool, IMO. And we can move Hardy and Mincey to DT in passing situations.





RH

They need a legit, stud 1 Tech IMO. Yeah, I know, Marinelli doesn't place a lot of value in that position. But while I think McClain is decent, he's not a stud himself. We need a stud next to Crawford IMO to truly get all we can out of Crawford IMO.

Frankly, I think we need a new DC but that's an entirely different discussion.

 

[Vanilla2]

8th in the League in Total Defense and none of the players on our DL could start for any other team? Tied for 30th in the league in pts per game, an Offense that regularly gives up points and we are going to throw these guys under the bus?

Wow. Tough room.

Stupid cowboy fans

 

[StarBoyz83]

Exactly, so isn't it a bit unfair to totally put the blame on the players? Sure they deserve their share but are they being put in the best position to succeed?

It's on both for sure but more on this staff.

 

[erod]

Hardy against Carolina...

0 tackles
0 sacks
0 pressures

 

[mattjames2010]

Hardy against Carolina...

0 tackles
0 sacks
0 pressures

That's not correct. The game wasn't even a week ago, Hardy had at least 2-3 pressures in that game, I clearly remember him pressuring Newton on a third down where Newton came up short on a scramble AFTER being pressured by Hardy.

So, I don't know where you are getting the stats from, but they aren't accurate.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Nobody has an answer for the OP, huh? Just more griping..

 

[Yakuza Rich]

They need a legit, stud 1 Tech IMO. Yeah, I know, Marinelli doesn't place a lot of value in that position. But while I think McClain is decent, he's not a stud himself. We need a stud next to Crawford IMO to truly get all we can out of Crawford IMO.

Frankly, I think we need a new DC but that's an entirely different discussion.

The problem with the typical 1-tech DT is that he's likely only going to play 2 downs and he can't play special teams. And today's game teams are running the ball less. I wouldn't be against getting a legit 1-tech player, but I wouldn't want to pay much for that player because of those reasons. What the Lions did a few years ago with getting Nick Fairley at the 1-tech and pairing him up with Suh is a different story. Fairley could legitimately get to the QB and play all 3 downs. I think that's what they are looking for in McClain and he looked good against the G-Men in doing so and was much cheaper than Fairley drafted in the first round.

As far as Marinelli goes, I don't think he has the personnel he desires. But, what concerns me is that if you look at his defenses and Kiffin's defenses, they have never been high on dishing out money or 1st round picks on safeties (or even 2nd round picks). I think the game has changed and I think we don't have the safeties to play man and the corners are not good enough in zone coverage. IMO, I would put Jones at FS and find myself a legitimate SS. We still have a problem with the corners, but we make more interceptions in zone and finding zone corners is much easier to find than man corners.

I just don't know what makes me believe that Marinelli will change his philosophy on safeties. But overall, I don't have too much of a problem with how he coaches the defense.






YR