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Tomorrow might not be good day for Steeler, Cowboy QBs
Sackmasters rule matchup
Saturday, December 06, 2008
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware leads the NFL with 15 sacks this season.
It is seldom when DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis, a pair of Cowboys with some giddy-up, are upstaged when it comes to being the best outside-linebacker tandem on the field. Or the most productive.
After all, Ware leads all NFL players with 15 sacks and Ellis, a converted defensive end, went to the Pro Bowl last season after registering 12.5 sacks
"They get after you like our guys," said offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
It might not be a good day to be Ben Roethlisberger or Tony Romo.
Heinz Field in December has little in common with Hawaii in February, but it might start to look a little like a Pro Bowl for outside linebackers tomorrow when the Cowboys (8-4) play the Steelers (9-3).
That's because the only linebacker tandem in the National Football League with more combined sacks than Ware and Ellis (20 1/2) is the Steelers' duo of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, who have already combined for more sacks (25 1/2) than any of the great pass-rushing duos in team history.
Coach Mike Tomlin referred to them this week as Batman and Robin, but it might be more like Dash and Smash. Harrison has 14 sacks and six forced fumbles, with two of the strip-sacks coming in Sunday's 33-10 victory in New England.
Woodley, a first-year starter, has 10.5 sacks, a one-handed interception in the season opener and a fumble return for touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens.
"To pass the guys they've passed," said Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, referring to Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd in 1994 and Jason Gildon and Joey Porter in 2000, "is pretty amazing."
There hasn't been this much action coming off the edge since Alydar tried to catch Affirmed in the 1978 Preakness.
Ware, Harrison and Woodley rank Nos. 1, 3 and 5 in the league in sacks. Ellis ranks eighth in Cowboys history with 74 sacks and sixth among active linebackers in sacks since 2005 (30).
But when Woodley was asked if he and Harrison are the best outside linebacker duo in the league, he didn't hesitate with an answer.
"I think so," he said. "The reason I say that is, not only if you look at our stats, but you look at our stats as a team. You look, we're No. 1 across the board everywhere. We're having a big year individually, and we're also having a big year as a team."
"You can see by numbers, by the pressure they get," said inside linebacker Larry Foote. "They're definitely the best. Numbers don't lie."
Perhaps, but it could be a matter of much debate if they are the best outside tandem in Steelers' history, sack record or not.
Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who was the secondary coach in 1994 when Lloyd and Greene initially set the record and also coached Gildon and Porter at different points in his Steelers tenure, indicated that it might be a little too early to make such a determination.
"Their careers are in front of them," LeBeau said. "They have every possibility to be as good as any one of them. James is now in his third year and this is LaMarr's first year starting, and you can see James has gotten better, appreciably, every year. You'll continue to see that, and you know LaMarr will."
Harrison made the Pro Bowl last season, his first as a starter, when he finished with 8 1/2 sacks and six forced fumbles. But his numbers are even more daunting this year -- he also has a team-high 28 pressures -- and is one sack from tying Mike Merriweather's club record for sacks in a season (15, set in 1987).
"I think he's having a better year this year and he was a Pro Bowl player last year," LeBeau said. "I think he has a real shot at being [the league's] defensive player of the year. Every game he's doing something for us."
There should be no shortage of that from any of the outside linebackers at Heinz Field.
Sackmasters rule matchup
Saturday, December 06, 2008
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware leads the NFL with 15 sacks this season.
It is seldom when DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis, a pair of Cowboys with some giddy-up, are upstaged when it comes to being the best outside-linebacker tandem on the field. Or the most productive.
After all, Ware leads all NFL players with 15 sacks and Ellis, a converted defensive end, went to the Pro Bowl last season after registering 12.5 sacks
"They get after you like our guys," said offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
It might not be a good day to be Ben Roethlisberger or Tony Romo.
Heinz Field in December has little in common with Hawaii in February, but it might start to look a little like a Pro Bowl for outside linebackers tomorrow when the Cowboys (8-4) play the Steelers (9-3).
That's because the only linebacker tandem in the National Football League with more combined sacks than Ware and Ellis (20 1/2) is the Steelers' duo of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, who have already combined for more sacks (25 1/2) than any of the great pass-rushing duos in team history.
Coach Mike Tomlin referred to them this week as Batman and Robin, but it might be more like Dash and Smash. Harrison has 14 sacks and six forced fumbles, with two of the strip-sacks coming in Sunday's 33-10 victory in New England.
Woodley, a first-year starter, has 10.5 sacks, a one-handed interception in the season opener and a fumble return for touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens.
"To pass the guys they've passed," said Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, referring to Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd in 1994 and Jason Gildon and Joey Porter in 2000, "is pretty amazing."
There hasn't been this much action coming off the edge since Alydar tried to catch Affirmed in the 1978 Preakness.
Ware, Harrison and Woodley rank Nos. 1, 3 and 5 in the league in sacks. Ellis ranks eighth in Cowboys history with 74 sacks and sixth among active linebackers in sacks since 2005 (30).
But when Woodley was asked if he and Harrison are the best outside linebacker duo in the league, he didn't hesitate with an answer.
"I think so," he said. "The reason I say that is, not only if you look at our stats, but you look at our stats as a team. You look, we're No. 1 across the board everywhere. We're having a big year individually, and we're also having a big year as a team."
"You can see by numbers, by the pressure they get," said inside linebacker Larry Foote. "They're definitely the best. Numbers don't lie."
Perhaps, but it could be a matter of much debate if they are the best outside tandem in Steelers' history, sack record or not.
Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who was the secondary coach in 1994 when Lloyd and Greene initially set the record and also coached Gildon and Porter at different points in his Steelers tenure, indicated that it might be a little too early to make such a determination.
"Their careers are in front of them," LeBeau said. "They have every possibility to be as good as any one of them. James is now in his third year and this is LaMarr's first year starting, and you can see James has gotten better, appreciably, every year. You'll continue to see that, and you know LaMarr will."
Harrison made the Pro Bowl last season, his first as a starter, when he finished with 8 1/2 sacks and six forced fumbles. But his numbers are even more daunting this year -- he also has a team-high 28 pressures -- and is one sack from tying Mike Merriweather's club record for sacks in a season (15, set in 1987).
"I think he's having a better year this year and he was a Pro Bowl player last year," LeBeau said. "I think he has a real shot at being [the league's] defensive player of the year. Every game he's doing something for us."
There should be no shortage of that from any of the outside linebackers at Heinz Field.
