What was D-Law doing

[lukin2006]

I commented on that in the game day thread. He whiffed bad on some of those plays. I think it’s too much to expect the D to be fantastic every week. We knew at some point we’d need our offence to win a game. Today was that day. The D is the primary reason we are 6-2…

 

[AbeBeta]

Listen, Dlaw has been really good this season overall.


But what was he doing on QB contain today?


He is a veteran. He has to know better. He has to contain better.

He needs to fix that

I'll take Unrealistic Expectations for $1000

 

[lukemartin79]

Chicago was one dimensional offense today and the Cowboys still could not stop them knowing they were gonna run. Either wrong defensive scheme or just bad plays by the DE responsible for outside containment. DLaw got suckered in several times and no spy on Fields really hurt. That was the lethal part of their offense today. Sure the Boys won by 20 and all is great in Cowboyland....but concerning once they go up against a much better two dimensional offense with a mobile QB. If you're ok with this now, don't come here and complain then.

At least they won, but you should still be concerned a bit. The defense needs to do better.

Didn't understand the no spy on Fields. Everyone knew he could run like that. When we played the Giants their QB hurt us too in the first half, but we put Wilson as a spy on him in the second half. No idea why today that wasn't felt as being important.

 

[Runwildboys]

100%!
The coaches should show Kearse’s play to Lawrence and the rest of the Defense.

Lawrence runs full speed at the QB and doesn’t break down, until the QB is running by him. It really is dumb!

Looks like all the guys who overrun the punt returner. Don't look for the splash play, just don't give him any place to run. I love DLaw, but he needs to fix this issue.

 

[McKDaddy]

Some here are expecting more of Lawrence than is reasonable. When you are the only defender on a two-way go, you have to commit to one of those.

The plays where Fields got around him were not RPO though. DLaw needed to come under control and stay outside of Fields. Instead he tried to go full bore to get a sack and opened the door.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

He's already taken responsibility for missing 2 sacks but he should know better.........slow down and secure the sack.

 

[HungryLion]

I'll take Unrealistic Expectations for $1000

Unrealistic expectations for your best DE to contain the edge? Ok then

 

[gimmesix]

The plays where Fields got around him were not RPO though. DLaw needed to come under control and stay outside of Fields. Instead he tried to go full bore to get a sack and opened the door.

On the last one, Lawrence had to choose whether to go after the running back or Fields. He went toward the running back, but Fields pulled the ball out and went around Lawrence. Lawrence tried to get back over the Fields but couldn't bring him down. The offensive line blocked left, pinning the rest of the line and linebackers to that side, so it was up to Lawrence, who was left unblocked, to make a play on whoever had the ball. The play was designed to do that and worked to perfection. Anyone holding that play against Lawrence doesn't understand the play.

I'll have to go back and look at the others. Lawrence said that he should have had two sacks and got beat by Fields, so he'll have to look at those plays and learn from them so that doesn't happen to him again.

 

[Wezsh0T]

100%!
The coaches should show Kearse’s play to Lawrence and the rest of the Defense.

Lawrence runs full speed at the QB and doesn’t break down, until the QB is running by him. It really is dumb!

Honestly D-Law should know better. He just gets too excited for the sack. He'd probably still get the sack if he takes a better angle.

 

[gimmesix]

The plays where Fields got around him were not RPO though. DLaw needed to come under control and stay outside of Fields. Instead he tried to go full bore to get a sack and opened the door.

On the first Chicago drive, Lawrence beat the back or tight end's cut block (I can't tell because the recording is bad) and pressured Fields, but Fields moved outside of the pressure and threw a completion. Offensive pass interference was called because Lawrence messed up the timing of the play. He took a direct line to Fields, allowing him to get outside of him. If he had not, it's possible that Fields would have had time to execute the play correctly because they were essentially trying to throw a screen with blockers out in front.

So that's one instant where playing contain might have been bad unless Lawrence got between Fields and the screen target.

 

[AbeBeta]

Unrealistic expectations for your best DE to contain the edge? Ok then

No 265 DE is containing that speed regularly.

In a closer game you'd have a spy to do that.

Since you don't understand football, I'll explain. Moat spies are lb or big safeties. Why? Because you can't expect a DE to contain in an RPO

 

[HungryLion]

No 265 DE is containing that speed regularly.

In a closer game you'd have a spy to do that.

Since you don't understand football, I'll explain. Moat spies are lb or big safeties. Why? Because you can't expect a DE to contain in an RPO

Apparently you don’t understand football, understand what a rush lane is, or understand that asking him to contain the edge doesn’t mean necessarily making the play on fields but rather forcing him inside where he has more help.

You also don’t apparently know that DE’s still have contain responsibilities even in plays where there is a spying LB or safety.

He didn’t even attempt to contain the edge on multiple plays today which you would know if you watched and understood what you were watching.


You also apparently don’t know the difference between an RPO and a read option either.

 

[gimmesix]

The plays where Fields got around him were not RPO though. DLaw needed to come under control and stay outside of Fields. Instead he tried to go full bore to get a sack and opened the door.

On Chicago's first TD drive, they faked a run to the left. Lawrence bit and chased the run, allowing Fields to escape to the outside for a first down. It was a bad read by Lawrence, but he wasn't going full bore to make the sack, he thought the runner had the ball.

 

[FVSTONE]

Listen, Dlaw has been really good this season overall.


But what was he doing on QB contain today?


He is a veteran. He has to know better. He has to contain better.

He needs to fix that

He was firing on all cylinders today, but unfortunately he was out of control on a couple of plays.

 

[JBond]

Anyone that has coached understands you can not play perfect defense every play. There will always be gaps the offense will be exploit. Want to slam the breaks on up the middle runs? Welp, a QB like Fields or a game plan like the Eagles will take advantage of the edges. Can't do everything every play.

 

[cowboyec]

Wait until we loss in the playoffs because Lawrence doesn’t do his job. Lawrence is supposed to contain the edge, and force the guy inside, it doesn’t matter how fast the guy is.

Do you realize the DE is supposed to contain the edge and keep the QB from getting outside?

he is far and away our best run defender.
do you realize he is our best run defender?

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Give it a rest & stop knit picking on these players. They're human beings & not robots.

Bro this is sports. Being critical in competition is a given, he didn’t say DLaw is a bad human being. Everything can’t be lollipops and rose colored glasses.

 

[mahoneybill]

He wasn't taking a route to the QB. He was taking a route to the RB and then trying to adjust when the QB keeps the ball.

Some of you would be upset with him if he just went after the QB or played contain to the outside and the RB took off into the hole between Lawrence and the wall. He's got to play the back even if it leaves Fields with room to run.

What we needed to do is read those plays better. We either needed to have someone from the secondary come up to play the QB or a second defender shift over or loop around the end to play the run or the QB. Maybe we'll learn from this because we'll see more of it from Philly.

felt this was a good game to test how to defend a running QB who can hand off to RB while faking keeper

With success would have felt better re rematch vs Philly & Hurts

 

[Pass2Run]

Easy to see what he was doing.

Trying to get another sack, and logging a sack on Justin Fields.

Sam Williams would have been better at containing him, I think. At least, I think his ability is more suited to contain a guy like Fields.

I'm telling you. In the end, Fields will be better than Jalen It Hurts.

 

[gimmesix]

The plays where Fields got around him were not RPO though. DLaw needed to come under control and stay outside of Fields. Instead he tried to go full bore to get a sack and opened the door.

On a similar play to the one where Lawrence first went after the RB, they left him unblocked on the TD run by Herbert. On that play, Lawrence stayed with the QB, playing contain, they walled off the rest of the line and Herbert easily ran for the TD. It's easy to understand why Lawrence first went for the RB on the later play.

It's funny that they essentially tried to show the same look on the two-point try. I guess they were expecting an unblocked Lawrence to bite on the run fake, but he went straight up the field and buried Fields.