News: SAEN: ‘Brick Layer’ ready to replace Spencer full-time

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Nicknamed “The Brick Layer” by defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, Dallas Cowboys end George Selvie is ready to do some heavy lifting with Anthony Spencer out for the year.

“It’s just going out there and working hard every day, just laying bricks,” Selvie said, when asked about his moniker. “That’s what we say, ‘Brick layer, go lay some bricks today.’ I just go out there and do my job and, hopefully, a couple of times I get thrown a bone and get a sack.”

The Cowboys placed Spencer on season-ending injured reserve Wednesday after learning he faces major surgery on his left knee.

Spencer’s only action this season came as a sub in Week 2. In his absence, Dallas has started Selvie, a fourth-year journeyman who joined the team in training camp after injuries riddled the defensive line.

“He’s really taken advantage of his opportunity to play,” coach Jason Garrett said Wednesday in Irving. “He goes about it the right way in meetings and practice, and it shows up in the games.”

Playing for his fourth NFL team, Selvie is tied for second on the team in sacks with a career-high two and ranks third in quarterback pressures with five. He also has five tackles, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery playing in a 4-3 scheme that allows him to focus on what he does best, rushing the passer.

“It’s a great scheme,” he said. “It allows you to attack. I’ve been in schemes where I had to drop a lot (in coverage). I’m not the best coverage guy. I want to sack the quarterback.”

Selvie, 26, said he’s also benefited from playing for Marinelli.

“I can’t (begin to tell you) what I’ve learned from him,” said Selvie, a seventh-round pick by St. Louis out of South Florida in 2010. “He’s a great coach, a great motivator. He knows football. He’s passionate about it. He teaches us a lot of stuff. Having a coach that believes in you is a big deal.”

When Selive arrived at Valley Ranch on Wednesday, he found a note and a miniature football hanging in his locker courtesy of Marinelli. The note read: “Brick Layer! I want to introduce you to a ball! Now go get it.”

“It’s about sack fumbles,” Selvie said of Marinelli’s message. “He wants to get the ball, too. That’s a big part of our defense – takeaways.”

No matter what the future holds for him in Dallas, Selvie lives each day filled with gratitude after surviving a harrowing childhood accident.

When Selvie was 1, he was nearby as a relative worked to repair a Buick. Selvie’s 3-year-old cousin climbed into the car, causing the jack to come loose and the Buick to hit
Selvie in the left side of his head, leaving an indentation and scar.

“It was a miracle I survived something like that,” Selvie told ESPNDallas.com. “God was on my side. I think about it a lot. I wasn’t supposed to be here with an accident like that. I thank God for that every night.”

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