Plankton
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They're going to have to match our intensity. [Expletive], for 60 minutes straight, if you hit a [expletive] in the mouth and then they ain't doing what they're regularly doing, putting up 50 points, they start to get a little distressed. Now, you got them where you want them at, and then you [expletive] choke their *** out. – DeMarcus Lawrence
Everyone has a plan…….until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson
Earlier this week, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence wrote a pretty large check with his mouth in discussing the defense’s mindset for last night’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints.
Check written.
Check cashed.
In an on-field campaign reminiscent of shock and awe, the Dallas Cowboys hit the Saints offense in the mouth, played at a frenetic pace on defense, frustrated a seemingly unstoppable offense and ultimately choked them out. Cowboys 13, Saints 10. In a game where few gave them a chance, and even fewer believed that the Cowboy defense could not only hang with a potent Saint offense, but shut them down, the Cowboys capped a five game in 25 day gulag by making an announcement to the rest of the NFL:
This defense, the Hot Boyz, are a force to be reckoned with.
And, this defense, not the offense laced with more recognizable names, is the driving force of this football team, and the greatest hope for the Cowboys to make a championship game for the first time since January of 1996.
The Cowboy defense, once again, played without Sean Lee at linebacker. In previous seasons, playing without Lee led to significant disorganization on defense, and a complete inability to slow the opposition. This trend has been flipped on its head this season, with erstwhile rookie Leighton Vander Esch and the now fully recovered Jaylon Smith upping the intensity and playmaking on the defense. Teams are having difficulty attacking the edges of this defense due to the ability of Lawrence to set the edge in the run game, and Vander Esch and Smith’s sideline-to-sideline ability. The Saints offense, averaging 37.2 points per game, 417 yards per game and 45.3% success rate on third downs, were completely knocked off of their axis from the opening snap, and were never able to regain their stride.
From players like Anthony Brown breaking on passes to knock them away, or Antuan Woods and Maliek Collins pushing the pocket against arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, to Vander Esch and Smith running Alvin Kamara down in the open field, the Cowboy defense played with their ears pinned back, and at a completely different speed from the Saints. The Cowboys held the previously believed to be unstoppable offense to a season low 176 yards, 10 total points and a paltry 27% success rate on third downs.
One team looked like they had the dead legs associated with playing their fourth game in 17 days.
The other team was the Cowboys, who looked like they came off of a bye week despite having the same scheduling hardship.
The same Cowboys who a mere 25 days ago were left for dead following a comatose performance against the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football. The same Cowboys who allegedly were beginning to quit on their head coach, and were ready to coast for the remainder of the season. The same Cowboys who were lacking in leadership, playmaking and a clue on offense.
While they may not be a complete product on the offensive side of the ball, what this team has demonstrated over the past four weeks is a determined, focused view of who they are. The Cowboys make no apologies for the fact that they are a dinosaur in a league of high flying offenses, preferring the simplicity of blunt force trauma in the running game and a passing game built on downfield curl routes, play action and the occasional deep shot. When you have a running back like Ezekiel Elliott, a top flight offensive line and receivers like Amari Cooper, whose route running prowess is dramatically understated, and Michael Gallup, who is beginning to see the bigger picture when it comes to setting up defensive backs, it can work.
This simplicity, though, leaves precious little margin for error. In a game that the Cowboys thoroughly dominated in terms of tempo, aggression and attitude, they had to hang on for dear life. The Cowboy offense, efficient with three long, time consuming scoring drives in the first half, went to sleep in the second half. The offensive line was very leaky in pass protection, allowing seven sacks of Dak Prescott, numerous quarterback hits, and far too few creases in the running game. Prescott demonstrated real toughness in dealing with the pressure and hits, interspersed with ball security issues when under duress. His last turnover, a fumble off of a sack by Cameron Jordan with the Cowboys on the doorstep of closing the Saints out, put the defense back on the field, having to keep the Saints out of field goal range at a minimum.
They say that the sign of a star or a star performance is the ability to close the show.
And close the Hot Boyz did.
Just prior to the two minute warning, Drew Brees dropped back to pass, and once again, was under siege. Collins had broken free from Larry Warford, and made a beeline for the Saint signal caller. Brees panicked, and made a quick toss toward Kamara. His pass was off target, and Jourdan Lewis drove the initial stake into the heart of the Saints by making a diving interception to get the Saint offense off the field.
The final stake was driven in by a Prescott pass to the end zone, one in which Saint corner Marshon Lattimore grabbed the arm of Amari Cooper. The resulting pass interference call put the Cowboys at the one yard line, where they killed the clock to seal the win.
In a league of offense, and scoring, it was the lack of both of those things that ruled the day. And, for at least one day, the heralded team and unit were upstaged by a team fighting for its identity.
And, after a year where they had been written off, and going into a game where they were once again overlooked, can you blame Lawrence for being a bit salty earlier in the week? For issuing a challenge to himself and the rest of the defense to make everyone take notice of them?
Lawrence and the Cowboys had a plan.
And they were the ones who did the hitting.
Other observations about last night’s game:
Everyone has a plan…….until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson
Earlier this week, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence wrote a pretty large check with his mouth in discussing the defense’s mindset for last night’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints.
Check written.
Check cashed.
In an on-field campaign reminiscent of shock and awe, the Dallas Cowboys hit the Saints offense in the mouth, played at a frenetic pace on defense, frustrated a seemingly unstoppable offense and ultimately choked them out. Cowboys 13, Saints 10. In a game where few gave them a chance, and even fewer believed that the Cowboy defense could not only hang with a potent Saint offense, but shut them down, the Cowboys capped a five game in 25 day gulag by making an announcement to the rest of the NFL:
This defense, the Hot Boyz, are a force to be reckoned with.
And, this defense, not the offense laced with more recognizable names, is the driving force of this football team, and the greatest hope for the Cowboys to make a championship game for the first time since January of 1996.
The Cowboy defense, once again, played without Sean Lee at linebacker. In previous seasons, playing without Lee led to significant disorganization on defense, and a complete inability to slow the opposition. This trend has been flipped on its head this season, with erstwhile rookie Leighton Vander Esch and the now fully recovered Jaylon Smith upping the intensity and playmaking on the defense. Teams are having difficulty attacking the edges of this defense due to the ability of Lawrence to set the edge in the run game, and Vander Esch and Smith’s sideline-to-sideline ability. The Saints offense, averaging 37.2 points per game, 417 yards per game and 45.3% success rate on third downs, were completely knocked off of their axis from the opening snap, and were never able to regain their stride.
From players like Anthony Brown breaking on passes to knock them away, or Antuan Woods and Maliek Collins pushing the pocket against arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, to Vander Esch and Smith running Alvin Kamara down in the open field, the Cowboy defense played with their ears pinned back, and at a completely different speed from the Saints. The Cowboys held the previously believed to be unstoppable offense to a season low 176 yards, 10 total points and a paltry 27% success rate on third downs.
One team looked like they had the dead legs associated with playing their fourth game in 17 days.
The other team was the Cowboys, who looked like they came off of a bye week despite having the same scheduling hardship.
The same Cowboys who a mere 25 days ago were left for dead following a comatose performance against the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football. The same Cowboys who allegedly were beginning to quit on their head coach, and were ready to coast for the remainder of the season. The same Cowboys who were lacking in leadership, playmaking and a clue on offense.
While they may not be a complete product on the offensive side of the ball, what this team has demonstrated over the past four weeks is a determined, focused view of who they are. The Cowboys make no apologies for the fact that they are a dinosaur in a league of high flying offenses, preferring the simplicity of blunt force trauma in the running game and a passing game built on downfield curl routes, play action and the occasional deep shot. When you have a running back like Ezekiel Elliott, a top flight offensive line and receivers like Amari Cooper, whose route running prowess is dramatically understated, and Michael Gallup, who is beginning to see the bigger picture when it comes to setting up defensive backs, it can work.
This simplicity, though, leaves precious little margin for error. In a game that the Cowboys thoroughly dominated in terms of tempo, aggression and attitude, they had to hang on for dear life. The Cowboy offense, efficient with three long, time consuming scoring drives in the first half, went to sleep in the second half. The offensive line was very leaky in pass protection, allowing seven sacks of Dak Prescott, numerous quarterback hits, and far too few creases in the running game. Prescott demonstrated real toughness in dealing with the pressure and hits, interspersed with ball security issues when under duress. His last turnover, a fumble off of a sack by Cameron Jordan with the Cowboys on the doorstep of closing the Saints out, put the defense back on the field, having to keep the Saints out of field goal range at a minimum.
They say that the sign of a star or a star performance is the ability to close the show.
And close the Hot Boyz did.
Just prior to the two minute warning, Drew Brees dropped back to pass, and once again, was under siege. Collins had broken free from Larry Warford, and made a beeline for the Saint signal caller. Brees panicked, and made a quick toss toward Kamara. His pass was off target, and Jourdan Lewis drove the initial stake into the heart of the Saints by making a diving interception to get the Saint offense off the field.
The final stake was driven in by a Prescott pass to the end zone, one in which Saint corner Marshon Lattimore grabbed the arm of Amari Cooper. The resulting pass interference call put the Cowboys at the one yard line, where they killed the clock to seal the win.
In a league of offense, and scoring, it was the lack of both of those things that ruled the day. And, for at least one day, the heralded team and unit were upstaged by a team fighting for its identity.
And, after a year where they had been written off, and going into a game where they were once again overlooked, can you blame Lawrence for being a bit salty earlier in the week? For issuing a challenge to himself and the rest of the defense to make everyone take notice of them?
Lawrence and the Cowboys had a plan.
And they were the ones who did the hitting.
Other observations about last night’s game:
- The accolades on defense go unit wide. From the air tight coverage from Byron Jones, Chidobe Awuzie and Anthony Brown, to the big time hitting by Smith, Vander Esch and Xavier Woods, and the relentless pressure from Lawrence, Collins, Tyrone Crawford and Randy Gregory, the Cowboys played with an energy and fire that was born out in the results generated. If you were to say ahead of time that Brees would be held to 127 yards passing, Kamara and Ingram to 63 yards combined on the ground, and Michael Thomas to 40 yards receiving, a request for a psych hold would have been in order. An absolutely stunning, electric performance by the Cowboys.
- In a game of big plays, none were bigger than the play made by Smith on a third down swing pass to Kamara from the Cowboy four yard line. Holding a 10-0 lead, the Saints looked poised to cut the lead to three following a Cooper fumble. With Kamara in space, it looked to be an easy touchdown. Smith exploded to the sideline, and knocked Kamara to the turf at the one yard line to prevent the score. A fourth down rush up the gut by Kamara was stuffed by Lawrence, and the Cowboys hit the Saints with another thunderbolt in a game full of them for the Cowboy defense. Smith’s range has been impressive to say the least, and the Cowboys are being rewarded for their patience in selecting Smith in 2016.
- While one controversial defensive second round selection has turned a big corner, another one still shows room for growth. Randy Gregory has been a much larger factor in the passing game for the defense over the last few weeks, but it was a brain dead play by him that gave the Saints life in the second half. With the defensive front left on the field for a Saint punt near midfield, Gregory broke through the Saint wall, and was knocked off balance as he approached punter Thomas Morstead. Gregory roughed Morstead on the play, extending the drive that resulted in New Orleans’ only touchdown. Gregory is an occasional special team contributor, but he has to understand the situation and not get near the punter on that play.
- For all of the complaints about Jason Garrett as a head coach, and many of them are justified, one of the loudest is that he never outcoaches an opposing head coach. If you paid attention last night, it was Sean Payton who puckered in the game. Payton panicked and gambled unnecessarily in the second quarter in passing up a sure field goal for going for a touchdown. A field goal would have cut the lead to seven. The miss swung serious momentum to the Cowboys, and the subsequent 16 play, 70 yard drive that bled 9:09 off the clock provided the points that served as the margin of victory. Payton also committed a serious blunder by calling his final timeout :03 ahead of the two warning. This gave the Cowboys a zero risk passing down, as there was no risk to stopping the clock with an incomplete. Prescott’s deep pass for Cooper resulted in the pass interference call that finished the Saints off. Had the timeout not been called, the Cowboys in all likelihood do not throw the football on that series, and would have settled for a field goal attempt. This blunder effectively ended the game. This isn’t even to mention blowing both of his challenges in the first 20 minutes of the game. This cost Payton in the fourth quarter, where the Cowboys got the benefit of a missed call on a pass to Cole Beasley to convert a third down play when he was a yard short. Thursday night was not Payton’s finest hour.
- In baseball, if you know that Joe West or Angel Hernandez are the crew chiefs of the umpiring crew, you know that you are going to get a horribly called game. In football, that equivalent is Walt Anderson. Anderson and his crew absolutely butchered the game last night for both teams, and nearly made a compelling matchup a ground down slog of an affair with all of the penalties, and even worse, the missed calls. How Anderson remains employed is a mystery.
- The Cowboy offensive line played as poor of a game last night as they had all season long. Some of that should be credited to the Saint front, where Jordan, Daniel Onyemata and Sheldon Rankins all were stout. Some is due to injury on the Cowboy line, with Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick out of the lineup, and Xavier Su’a-Filo and Zack Martin playing through lower leg injuries. That being said, the worst performer was the healthiest member of the group – La’el Collins. Collins was absolutely awful in the game, with Jordan taking him behind the woodshed. Collins has had a consistently poor season, and needs to seriously brush up on his technique, because it’s seriously lacking. Collins’ hands and feet are not working in unison, and he is getting beat to his outside shoulder routinely. His pass blocking could be the difference between a quick stay in the playoffs and a longer run, and it needs to be addressed, and fast.
- The Cowboys are in dire need of a break, and they get a nice mini-bye. With any luck, Smith will be back in the lineup for the next huge game against the Eagles. With a win there, the Cowboy can effectively slam the door on the division.
