Is R. McClain the key to defensive success?

[Flinger]

This isn't the same defense that was played in Tampa. Also, if Tyron Crawford is the key to our defense, I think we are in trouble.

Then you aren't going to like this.

Cowboys LB coach Matt Eberflus: One thing Sean Lee is learning should help his comeback

Dallas Cowboys Blog
Jon Machota
Published: May 12, 2015 12:32 pm


Injured linebacker Sean Lee talks to the media during at Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, CA, on July 29, 2014. (Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News) / mug – mugshot – headshot – portrait / 07302014xSPORTS

IRVING — A little over a week ago, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Sean Lee “looks fantastic. As you might expect, he’s ready to go.”

Lee is working his way back from tearing the ACL in his left knee almost a year ago during organized team activities.

“Sean has been doing a really good job,” Cowboys linebackers coach Matt Eberflus said during last weekend’s rookie minicamp. “He’s trying to get back to where he was and beyond that. It’s a day to day process for him.”

Lee has missed 31 games over the last three seasons because of injury, so slightly dialing it back during off-season work has been part of the plan.

“He’s getting better at that,” Eberflus said. “He’s a Type-A personality. He’s an alpha type of guy. He’s learning how to take things with the whole process and knowing when to go hard and when to kind of pull back a little bit. He’s doing a real good job with that.”

With the addition of Rolando McClain following Lee’s knee injury, the Cowboys enter this season with two standout middle linebackers. To get them on the field together and potentially reduce Lee’s chance of injury, the former second-round pick will be working at weakside linebacker this year.

In Dallas’ defensive scheme, the weakside linebacker travels with the three-technique defensive tackle. With Lee playing that position, it will give him a better chance to see the ball, added protection from blockers and more freedom to make plays.

“That’s where you build your defense, your under tackle and then your Will linebacker,” Eberflus said. “That’s where we start. Those are the two guys that make the whole thing go. That’s the engine of the defense. We’re excited to have [Lee] there.”

Why do the Cowboys think Lee will find success at that position?

“A few years back, before we went to this defense, he played Will linebacker, so we were in a lot of under front and he was playing behind the three-technique and we kind of saw what his capabilities were there,” Eberflus said. “So if you marry him to the three-technique, he’s going to be more of a run and hit guy and I think that’s what his instincts and his natural abilities sort of lean that way.

“He’ll be really successful at that position.”

During a conference call with season-ticket holders last week, Jones said the Cowboys still believe Lee can be one of the team’s best players.

“He’s a leader,” Jones said. “He plays the game the way everybody likes to see a football player play it. I think [former Cowboys scouting director] Larry Lacewell once said, he plays like his hair is on fire, and that may be sometimes why he has a few injuries because he is wide open.”



But, hey, what does Matt Eberflus know?

 

[ak47kaehu]

The one thing I have not seen bought up is the effect Hardy will have on this defense. Some were saying that Ro was dogging it a little last year, taking himself out of games/plays. Hurt a lot. What we have seen from Hardy so far and did not really know about him, is he will not stand for that - i.e. Coleman. Even today, players saying he goes hard out all the time. I can see Hardy whipping all these guys on defense into shape, mad dogging them at camp etc. Before he serves his suspension. He is big enough not to take s--- from anyone including Ro. So I hope they bond and Ro plays up to Hardy's effort. If that comes to pass, they will hurt people !

nice to see another hawaii cowboy fan on the forum.

 

[JoeBoBBY]

Whoo !! What's causing all of this? To be the man you have to beat the man. Nature Boys rules.... He the Four Horsemen ruled the WCW


Whoo !!! To be the man you must beat the man, Rick Flair rules.

Special Delivery Jones, was always getting ripped off....

 

[RS12]

Is R. McClain the key to defensive success?

pass rush

 

[dallasdave]

Special Delivery Jones, was always getting ripped off....

16 time Heavy Weight Champion of the World the Nature Boy Rick Flair.

 

[Zman5]

I don't think he is the "Key" in a sense, if he goes down, it won't make our defense from good to horrible. We saw that last year.

I love how he played at times last year. If we can get little more out of him this year, it will make a good defense very good defense. But I don't think he'll be the key.

I think it's going to come down to how much we get out of the DL. If our pass rush is improved significantly, this defense can be a top 10 defense.

 

[vicjagger]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/06/rolando_mcclain_named_a_finali.html

 

[Aven8]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/06/rolando_mcclain_named_a_finali.html

Pretty awesome

 

[theogt]

To answer the OP's question, Sean Lee is better than McClain, so I'm not sure how that can be true.

 

[Redball Express]

I thought he really set the tone for the defense last year, but struggled late with injuries and conditioning. Moving Lee to the Will is dependent on McClain being able to stay in there. I don't think I trust Rivers or Brinkley to have the type of impact McClain had physically. What do you think?

I really hope not.

He has a checkered past with inconstant results.

Sean Lee is more crucial to our defense, really.

Once he was gone..

everything was a Keystone Cop mess.

Same thing with all the other LBers we had that went down injured or failed to catch fire.

That's why all the new bodies.

Trust no one, brother. Except maybe Higgins and possibly this guy they drafted.

I really have no idea what we have there, yet.

 

[rpntex]

I thought he really set the tone for the defense last year, but struggled late with injuries and conditioning. Moving Lee to the Will is dependent on McClain being able to stay in there. I don't think I trust Rivers or Brinkley to have the type of impact McClain had physically. What do you think?

Good Lord, I hope it's not the key to defensive success. To put it bluntly, he is not dependable. The word out of insiders has been that the coaching staff has not been happy with his "motivation". I can understand why someone would feel that way actually. It seems like there is always an excuse as to why he's not in there.

I absolutely hope I am wrong about him this year. I will gladly eat crow if he's able to play the majority of the season and contribute as we all know he is able.

 

[rpntex]

In that case, Hitchens would slide over to MLB and one of backups would start at SLB. Heck, if we're lucky the rookie(Wilson) may move up the depth chart and be a key "swing LB"

Given the amount of time Dallas plays nickel (70-80% of the time), that would be very little need for this to happen. Think about it… Three quarters of the time Dallas only plays with two linebackers. As long as Lee stays healthy, Hitchens is a very capable player at the Mike position. Naturally, I would rather have McClain out there over Hitchens, but I don't think we lose that much – at least in the nickel - with McClain out.

 

[ShiningStar]

I thought he really set the tone for the defense last year, but struggled late with injuries and conditioning. Moving Lee to the Will is dependent on McClain being able to stay in there. I don't think I trust Rivers or Brinkley to have the type of impact McClain had physically. What do you think?

lets put it like thsi a lot of posters here thought our offseason last year would hinge on Melton signing with us. and he did, and he was fair to good for the season, but do we honestly think our offseason hinged on him? no, and that will be the answer to your question. No one player is goign to amke a difference, if so losing Lee would have had a bigger say, and it didnt. Losing Spencer many posters here thought he was impressive, and hes not, how many , raise your hands thought Dunbar was all that and 3 bags of chips? yea, its not going to make heaps and bounds of a difference.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Who are the starters in the Nickel?

I think Lee will start since he is arguably the best cover LB when healthy and McClain will due to his effectiveness as a blitzer. But I expect even if the two remained healthy (which they won't), Hitchens will get plenty of nickel snaps.

 

[AsthmaField]

No, he isn't the key, IMO. Lee does more for the defense overall, but Rolando McClain brings a physical element to the defense that is certainly important. An attitude and a swagger that the team feeds off of.

Frankly, in this defense I don't think any of the LB's are going to be the key to the success on that side of the ball. The DL is and always will be the driving force in Marinelli's defense... and indeed probably is in all 43 defenses. When the Giants were beating New England twice in two super bowls, it was the Giants DL that drove that defense. Actually, it pretty much drove that entire team. The Giants LB's through those years? I doubt many can even name them. The names on those DL's were household names though.

This LB unit, headlined by Lee and McClain is going to be a good one though. If Lee and McClain can play most of the season together, the LB's will be very good. The unit has depth and will be able to deal with injuries better than they did last year. There are some good players there besides Sean and Ro. But those two have some rare traits.

What I think make it have so much potential is the symbiotic relationship that Lee and Ro can have. Lee see's things so well that sometimes it approaches the clairvoyant threshold. He gets everyone on the same page probably better than any other LB in the league. McClain is the hammer that Lee can't be, and he flat-out intimidates opponents. Together, Lee and McClain will be superior to the sum of their parts, and that, while maybe not key for the defenses success... will be key for the success of the LB unit.

 

[jnday]

McClain has proven that he is not dependable and now he has some health problems. I hate to think that he will be the key to this defense. He might retire from concussion issues at any time, or he could just decide not to play. There was not a rush to sign him by the rest of the teams.

 

[xwalker]

Given the amount of time Dallas plays nickel (70-80% of the time), that would be very little need for this to happen. Think about it… Three quarters of the time Dallas only plays with two linebackers. As long as Lee stays healthy, Hitchens is a very capable player at the Mike position. Naturally, I would rather have McClain out there over Hitchens, but I don't think we lose that much – at least in the nickel - with McClain out.

I think Hitchens will get some of the Nickel snaps even if McClain and Lee are 100% healthy. They tried having McClain play both the base and the Nickel in Oakland and he could barely move by the 4th quarter. A 6-4, 260+ pound guy running around in coverage is going to have difficulty playing 100% of the defensive snaps. Even without the endurance issue, Hitchens might be better in coverage anyway.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Good Lord, I hope it's not the key to defensive success. To put it bluntly, he is not dependable. The word out of insiders has been that the coaching staff has not been happy with his "motivation". I can understand why someone would feel that way actually. It seems like there is always an excuse as to why he's not in there.

I absolutely hope I am wrong about him this year. I will gladly eat crow if he's able to play the majority of the season and contribute as we all know he is able.

Those insiders said there was no way he was coming back above the minimum. Not sure how trustworthy they are.

 

[xwalker]

Those insiders said there was no way he was coming back above the minimum. Not sure how trustworthy they are.

He signed for 750K plus incentives. The veterans minimum for him is 750K.

 

[rpntex]

Those insiders said there was no way he was coming back above the minimum. Not sure how trustworthy they are.

The minimum is basically all he's guaranteed. The majority of his salary is tied to performance-based incentives.