Ware and Mincey

[Jack Burton]

Ware is dead to me. LOL.

I understand the sentiment and am loyal to the Cowboys over any player, including Ware. However, when he's not playing the Boys, I wish him well. He's a class act and one of the best athletes I've ever seen.

 

[Bluestang]

Mincey really shut me up. The guy plays hard.

He has a quick step for a big guy. There was a preseason game where I watched him entirely and it was consistent. Once you see it on tape, the key is to get the player to do it all the time and that's where the coaching comes in.

Credit Marinelli and Lett on this DL, the time that Lett has had with Marinelli is going to pay dividends in the future (JMO)

 

[Jack Burton]

He does.

Which is odd, because during training camp that wasn't the impression Mincey gave at all.

Mincey has been a very pleasant surprise. During training camp and preseason, I thought our D-line looked absolutely horrid. It seemed like we could have put some old bean bag chairs in front of the opposing team's O-line and put up just as much resistance. I still think Hayden is pretty bad, but Mincey has been legit.

I am very very happy to have been wrong about the D-line and Mincey.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Mincey has been a very pleasant surprise. During training camp and preseason, I thought our D-line looked absolutely horrid. It seemed like we could have put some old bean bag chairs in front of the opposing team's O-line and put up just as much resistance. I still think Hayden is pretty bad, but Mincey has been legit.

I am very very happy to have been wrong about the D-line and Mincey.

Yeah, I'm disappointed in that no one has stepped up to take Hayden's job.

 

[xwalker]

The Cowboys and Broncos essentially traded Ware and Mincey. All things considered, who is ahead on the "deal"?

I have to think Dallas is and I still don't know why Denver let Mincey get away as he was very good down the stretch and in the playoffs last year.

Mincey doesn't have to be Ware. Even without going into the details, Mincey is the starting RDE on a team that is 5-1 and just shutdown the Seahawks. They contained both Lynch and the read-option with Wilson that Seattle used to run all over the Skins the previous week.

Mincey has been steady and has played a high percentage of the snaps. He a very strong DE.

 

[burmafrd]

Yeah, I'm disappointed in that no one has stepped up to take Hayden's job.

THAT might be the single most important position to address this offseason

 

[xwalker]

The Cowboys and Broncos essentially traded Ware and Mincey. All things considered, who is ahead on the "deal"?

I have to think Dallas is and I still don't know why Denver let Mincey get away as he was very good down the stretch and in the playoffs last year.

Something that I find interesting is that Marinelli was reported to have stood on the table asking for Hatcher to be retained if at all possible, but there was no mention of him campaigning for Ware to stay. Also, I remember Marinelli praising Hatcher in multiple interviews where he made no mention of Ware.

It just makes me wonder if Ware was one of those Super Stars that got in the way of Marinelli's coaching process. This often happens with new Head Coaches so it stand to reason that it could happen with Coordinators. Parcells dumped Emmitt and Larry Allen even though they probably had a year or two remaining where they could have contributed.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Seems to be working out for both teams and both players.

 

[xwalker]

THAT might be the single most important position to address this offseason

Josh Brent is likely to be the starter there next season. I don't know if Brent will be ready this season, but he should easily beat out Hayden in training camp next year.

 

[AsthmaField]

Mincey doesn't have to be Ware. Even without going into the details, Mincey is the starting RDE on a team that is 5-1 and just shutdown the Seahawks. They contained both Lynch and the read-option with Wilson that Seattle used to run all over the Skins the previous week.

Mincey has been steady and has played a high percentage of the snaps. He a very strong DE.

And a good leader.

 

[Idgit]

The players, mostly Mincey, are publicly pretty excited to be getting Lawrence back, too. And I think Brent has some impact this year before it's done and that Spencer's got some ceiling to him yet as he gets back from injury.
I'm really, really surprised by this front 7 right now. I hated our LB corps coming into the season. I thought McClain was slow to pick up the position (but impressive athletically). I though Carter was unremarkable at SAM and on his way out. Hitchens, I had low expectations for. I've always thought Durant was an underrated player, but he was still only a journeyman. And now that unit is the absolute strength of the defense.

Now the DL is performing adequately. We get pressure up the middle at the 3 tech. We have depth there. And we're doing a good job with containment and at least moving people off the spot from the ends. Even our 1-tech rotation is pedestrian but serviceable. Now, with Lawrence back we'll be moving Mincey inside next to crawford and adding the rookie on obvious passing downs. That's not a great run group, but it'll help us get more pressure. If Spencer can help out from his side, we might be onto something. Especially if we're playing with a lot of leads because of the offense.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because I'd be perfectly happy with 'mediocre' here, but we at least have a chance to improve over the already surprising beginning we've seen on defense. And we actually have some options as far as depth on both the DL and in the secondary. It's a trip.