CrazyCowboy
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Ware anxious, but isn't it too early for that?
[size=-1]By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL[/size]
[size=-1]Star-Telegram Staff Writer[/size]
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware has a smile usually seen only in toothpaste commercials.
Big, bright and almost always flashing.
But every inch of it disappeared Wednesday when he was asked: What is it like to be DeMarcus Ware nowadays?
"There is always pressure," Ware said. "Always."
There is pressure to pressure the quarterback, pressure to get sacks, pressure to learn the art of covering the slot receiver, pressure to live up to the expectations that come with being the No. 11 pick in the draft and pressure to start playing like he expects himself to play.
Yes, there is mostly the pressure of his expectations.
"I put so much on myself," Ware admitted. "I have a thousand things going through my mind and you don't want to let anybody down. ... Sometimes, you get frustrated out there because you are not being as productive as you usually are or as you think you should be."
He used the word "you" but meant "I."
Ware is somewhat frustrated that he has not been everything everybody wants him to be instantaneously. And doesn't seem to realize what a crazy expectation that is, especially for a player whose name has been linked to Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor since Cowboys coach Bill Parcells compared them in the off-season.
Ware looks at his sack, his two tackles for losses and his eight tackles, and -- never mind that he is only three games into his NFL career -- he feels like he is failing.
It does not help that every time Parcells is asked about Ware, the first things out of his mouth are what the player is doing wrong. He believes the player is thinking too much and, as a result, has not had as big of an impact as people hoped.
"I just try to give him what he needs to know and not overload him, but it's a process," Parcells said. "That's all I can tell you. It's a process."
Ware is learning, too. Every game he gets better.
What the Cowboys are starting to see is Ware is having an impact by simply being on the field. Anybody who watched their Monday night preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks saw what Ware can do. In one half, he forced two fumbles, recovered one, and had an interception, a sack and three tackles.
No team has been that stupid in the regular season and that, combined with normal rookie growing pains, has led to Ware having statistics that do no quite live up to the hype.
"I am not in the least concerned," Cowboys general manager Jerry Jones said. "As a matter of fact, I'm buoyed by his prospects because of what we are seeing in the things that are important. As [ABC analyst John] Madden says, 'He just keeps coming.'"
Ware's "motor," as Jones called it, has always been his strength. He does not give up -- not because of a bad play, not because he is frustrated and certainly not because of a little pressure.
What he does is try harder.
That is what led to his first NFL sack Sunday against San Francisco, a day he hopes was a breakout game.
"The egg is finally broken," Ware said. "Now, it's all about scrambling them up and eating them."
[size=-1]By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL[/size]
[size=-1]Star-Telegram Staff Writer[/size]
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware has a smile usually seen only in toothpaste commercials.
Big, bright and almost always flashing.
But every inch of it disappeared Wednesday when he was asked: What is it like to be DeMarcus Ware nowadays?
"There is always pressure," Ware said. "Always."
There is pressure to pressure the quarterback, pressure to get sacks, pressure to learn the art of covering the slot receiver, pressure to live up to the expectations that come with being the No. 11 pick in the draft and pressure to start playing like he expects himself to play.
Yes, there is mostly the pressure of his expectations.
"I put so much on myself," Ware admitted. "I have a thousand things going through my mind and you don't want to let anybody down. ... Sometimes, you get frustrated out there because you are not being as productive as you usually are or as you think you should be."
He used the word "you" but meant "I."
Ware is somewhat frustrated that he has not been everything everybody wants him to be instantaneously. And doesn't seem to realize what a crazy expectation that is, especially for a player whose name has been linked to Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor since Cowboys coach Bill Parcells compared them in the off-season.
Ware looks at his sack, his two tackles for losses and his eight tackles, and -- never mind that he is only three games into his NFL career -- he feels like he is failing.
It does not help that every time Parcells is asked about Ware, the first things out of his mouth are what the player is doing wrong. He believes the player is thinking too much and, as a result, has not had as big of an impact as people hoped.
"I just try to give him what he needs to know and not overload him, but it's a process," Parcells said. "That's all I can tell you. It's a process."
Ware is learning, too. Every game he gets better.
What the Cowboys are starting to see is Ware is having an impact by simply being on the field. Anybody who watched their Monday night preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks saw what Ware can do. In one half, he forced two fumbles, recovered one, and had an interception, a sack and three tackles.
No team has been that stupid in the regular season and that, combined with normal rookie growing pains, has led to Ware having statistics that do no quite live up to the hype.
"I am not in the least concerned," Cowboys general manager Jerry Jones said. "As a matter of fact, I'm buoyed by his prospects because of what we are seeing in the things that are important. As [ABC analyst John] Madden says, 'He just keeps coming.'"
Ware's "motor," as Jones called it, has always been his strength. He does not give up -- not because of a bad play, not because he is frustrated and certainly not because of a little pressure.
What he does is try harder.
That is what led to his first NFL sack Sunday against San Francisco, a day he hopes was a breakout game.
"The egg is finally broken," Ware said. "Now, it's all about scrambling them up and eating them."
