RS12
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Veterans Days
The 2015 Cowboys, as I see them, will ride as far as the veteran first unit defense line takes them. And that group is deeper, despite the loss of Henry Melton. Greg Hardy looks as good as advertised at right end. He’s big, fast, relentless and smart. He’s got the most advanced bag of rush tricks on the unit. He knows how to crowd the line. He’s got the best get off. He’s a terror looping inside on stunts. He’s the one guy who can get the better of Tyron Smith. Watching those two duel is like watching a mini Ali-Frazier fight, with Smith the light-footed floater with the lethal jab, and Hardy the Frazier-like hard charger with nasty uppercuts.
Inside, Tyrone Crawford stands on the cusp of 3-technique excellence. Rod Marinelli and Lett have given Crawford personal technique lessons in almost every practice. They’re working hard on adding inside and outside counters to Crawford’s repertoire, along with a Howie Long-like rip move. Crawford has shown the best get off of any DT on the roster the past few years, but started as a strict bull rusher in Rob Ryan’s nickel sets. Last year he became a penetrator. Now, with much better hand usage, he could start turning his 2014 pressures into sacks. That’s the plan anyway.
http://cowboyszone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2015/08/Mincey-and-Rod-300x200.jpgJeremy Mincey returned from his brief holdout without much fuss and has been Marinelli’s band-aid. He led the team in sacks from the right end spot last year and will play there in September while Hardy serves his suspension. After that, he’ll be Marinelli’s fill-in at defensive tackle, where the dependable rush gets very, very thin after Crawford. Mincey is teaming with Crawford inside in nickel packages and that’s where I expect to see him from October forward.
Another wild card is on the strong side, where the team hopes that Demarcus Lawrence is ready for his second-year breakout. He flashes superior edge speed that leaves Doug Free and Darrion Weems flat footed at times, but he hasn’t done it against players in other colors yet, and he hasn’t proven that he can rush consistently. Still, he looks bigger, stronger and smarter. He has a nice outside counter move, one he lacked last year, when a broken hand robbed him of his lessons with Marinelli. Moving him to left end, where Lawrence can out-quick right tackles, may be a brilliant positional adjustment.
With the rookies, the coaches clearly feel Gregory’s leaning curve will be a lower one rather than a steeper one. I still think we’ll have to wait a while to see Gregory’s full rush game mature, but he’s getting extensive reps with the first unit nickel rushing package, and that’s allowing Marinelli to try some intriguing combinations. Yesterday, Gregory played right end on a line with Hardy at left end and Crawford and Mincey inside. Last week, he worked with Hardy, Crawford and Lawrence.
http://cowboyszone.com/2015/08/reasons-to-believe-the-defensive-line-cowboyscamp-day-13.html
The 2015 Cowboys, as I see them, will ride as far as the veteran first unit defense line takes them. And that group is deeper, despite the loss of Henry Melton. Greg Hardy looks as good as advertised at right end. He’s big, fast, relentless and smart. He’s got the most advanced bag of rush tricks on the unit. He knows how to crowd the line. He’s got the best get off. He’s a terror looping inside on stunts. He’s the one guy who can get the better of Tyron Smith. Watching those two duel is like watching a mini Ali-Frazier fight, with Smith the light-footed floater with the lethal jab, and Hardy the Frazier-like hard charger with nasty uppercuts.
Inside, Tyrone Crawford stands on the cusp of 3-technique excellence. Rod Marinelli and Lett have given Crawford personal technique lessons in almost every practice. They’re working hard on adding inside and outside counters to Crawford’s repertoire, along with a Howie Long-like rip move. Crawford has shown the best get off of any DT on the roster the past few years, but started as a strict bull rusher in Rob Ryan’s nickel sets. Last year he became a penetrator. Now, with much better hand usage, he could start turning his 2014 pressures into sacks. That’s the plan anyway.
http://cowboyszone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2015/08/Mincey-and-Rod-300x200.jpgJeremy Mincey returned from his brief holdout without much fuss and has been Marinelli’s band-aid. He led the team in sacks from the right end spot last year and will play there in September while Hardy serves his suspension. After that, he’ll be Marinelli’s fill-in at defensive tackle, where the dependable rush gets very, very thin after Crawford. Mincey is teaming with Crawford inside in nickel packages and that’s where I expect to see him from October forward.
Another wild card is on the strong side, where the team hopes that Demarcus Lawrence is ready for his second-year breakout. He flashes superior edge speed that leaves Doug Free and Darrion Weems flat footed at times, but he hasn’t done it against players in other colors yet, and he hasn’t proven that he can rush consistently. Still, he looks bigger, stronger and smarter. He has a nice outside counter move, one he lacked last year, when a broken hand robbed him of his lessons with Marinelli. Moving him to left end, where Lawrence can out-quick right tackles, may be a brilliant positional adjustment.
With the rookies, the coaches clearly feel Gregory’s leaning curve will be a lower one rather than a steeper one. I still think we’ll have to wait a while to see Gregory’s full rush game mature, but he’s getting extensive reps with the first unit nickel rushing package, and that’s allowing Marinelli to try some intriguing combinations. Yesterday, Gregory played right end on a line with Hardy at left end and Crawford and Mincey inside. Last week, he worked with Hardy, Crawford and Lawrence.
http://cowboyszone.com/2015/08/reasons-to-believe-the-defensive-line-cowboyscamp-day-13.html
