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Gosselin: Why Sean Lee's injury isn't the end of the world for the Cowboys
Rick Gosselin
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
Published: 31 May 2014 02:19 PM
Updated: 31 May 2014 07:07 PM
The best defender on the NFL’s worst defense saw his season come to an end before it ever started.
Middle linebacker Sean Lee tore the ACL in his left knee during a non-contact drill on the opening day of organized team activities Tuesday, stripping the Cowboys of their defensive captain and signal-caller.
But his absence in 2014 does not doom the Cowboys, nor does it doom their defense.
Middle linebacker has always been a replaceable part in the Tampa 2 defensive scheme.
Ever hear of Shelton Quarles?
Jamie Duncan played middle linebacker for Monte Kiffin on the 2001 Tampa Bay team that won nine games and qualified for the playoffs as a wild card. Duncan bolted for the St. Louis Rams in free agency that off-season, so the Buccaneers plugged their undrafted Canadian Football League refugee Quarles into the middle.
Quarles finished second on the team in tackles in 2002, Tampa Bay fielded the NFL’s best defense and the Buccaneers won their only Super Bowl.
Tony Dungy, who brought Kiffin and the Tampa 2 scheme to the Buccaneers, would later implement that defense when he became head coach at Indianapolis. In 2007, his Colts won the Super Bowl with Gary Brackett, an undersized, undrafted college free agent at middle linebacker.
This scheme does not require greatness at the middle linebacker position. Which is why the generous contract extension awarded Lee in 2013 puzzled me. The Cowboys gave him a six-year, $42 million deal to play the middle in their new Tampa 2 scheme.
There are three money positions in the Tampa 2 defense where you do need greatness — under tackle, weakside linebacker and safety. Those are your difference makers. That’s where you spend your money.
Those three players at Tampa Bay were Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. Sapp was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, Brooks will be enshrined this summer and Lynch has been a finalist for Canton twice already.
Kiffin’s four middle linebackers at Tampa were Hardy Nickerson, Duncan, Quarles and Barrett Ruud. Canton has no plan to commission busts for any of those players any time soon.
Nickerson was a five-time Pro Bowler, but Tampa Bay let him walk rather than pay him when he became a free agent in 2000. The Bucs inserted Duncan, a former third-round draft pick, in his place and went on to win 10 games that season and finish in the top 10 in defense.
Tampa Bay won 12 games in Quarles’ first year as the starter in 2002 and Indianapolis won 14 times in Brackett’s first season as a starter in 2005.
In both championship seasons for the Tampa 2 defensive scheme — 2002 for the Bucs and 2006 for the Colts — the team’s leading tackler was the weakside linebacker.
So the fan angst this last week has been focused on the urgency to find a replacement for Lee. But the angst should instead be directed at whom the Cowboys will play at weakside linebacker.
Bruce Carter was a wash there last year. He lacked the cover skills that are mandatory in the scheme. Brooks intercepted 25 passes in his career and forced 24 fumbles. In the Super Bowl season, Brooks led the Bucs with 117 tackles.
Carter finished his first season in this scheme with a respectable 96 tackles but did not have any interceptions or force any fumbles. This scheme needs a tackler in the middle — but it needs a playmaker on the weak side.
Carter pencils in as the weakside backer again this season, but he needs to make dramatic improvement as a playmaker for the Cowboys to overcome the loss of Lee. The weakside backer needs to be the dominant linebacker for this scheme to flourish, not the middle linebacker.
That’s why the Cowboys were hoping Ohio State outside linebacker Ryan Shazier would slide to them in the draft. He forced nine fumbles and intercepted a pass in his three college seasons. But he went one pick ahead of the Cowboys to the Steelers in the first round at 15. So it’s back to Carter.
The Cowboys have options in the middle in holdover DeVonte Holloman and fourth-round draft pick Anthony Hitchens. If you liked them enough to draft, you should like them enough to play. So I’m less concerned about middle linebacker than I am the weakside backer.
Don’t worry about someone [Lee] who’s not here. Worry about someone [Carter] who is. That’s where the improvement must come in 2014 for the arrow to point up for the NFL’s worst defense.
Rick Gosselin
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
Published: 31 May 2014 02:19 PM
Updated: 31 May 2014 07:07 PM
The best defender on the NFL’s worst defense saw his season come to an end before it ever started.
Middle linebacker Sean Lee tore the ACL in his left knee during a non-contact drill on the opening day of organized team activities Tuesday, stripping the Cowboys of their defensive captain and signal-caller.
But his absence in 2014 does not doom the Cowboys, nor does it doom their defense.
Middle linebacker has always been a replaceable part in the Tampa 2 defensive scheme.
Ever hear of Shelton Quarles?
Jamie Duncan played middle linebacker for Monte Kiffin on the 2001 Tampa Bay team that won nine games and qualified for the playoffs as a wild card. Duncan bolted for the St. Louis Rams in free agency that off-season, so the Buccaneers plugged their undrafted Canadian Football League refugee Quarles into the middle.
Quarles finished second on the team in tackles in 2002, Tampa Bay fielded the NFL’s best defense and the Buccaneers won their only Super Bowl.
Tony Dungy, who brought Kiffin and the Tampa 2 scheme to the Buccaneers, would later implement that defense when he became head coach at Indianapolis. In 2007, his Colts won the Super Bowl with Gary Brackett, an undersized, undrafted college free agent at middle linebacker.
This scheme does not require greatness at the middle linebacker position. Which is why the generous contract extension awarded Lee in 2013 puzzled me. The Cowboys gave him a six-year, $42 million deal to play the middle in their new Tampa 2 scheme.
There are three money positions in the Tampa 2 defense where you do need greatness — under tackle, weakside linebacker and safety. Those are your difference makers. That’s where you spend your money.
Those three players at Tampa Bay were Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. Sapp was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, Brooks will be enshrined this summer and Lynch has been a finalist for Canton twice already.
Kiffin’s four middle linebackers at Tampa were Hardy Nickerson, Duncan, Quarles and Barrett Ruud. Canton has no plan to commission busts for any of those players any time soon.
Nickerson was a five-time Pro Bowler, but Tampa Bay let him walk rather than pay him when he became a free agent in 2000. The Bucs inserted Duncan, a former third-round draft pick, in his place and went on to win 10 games that season and finish in the top 10 in defense.
Tampa Bay won 12 games in Quarles’ first year as the starter in 2002 and Indianapolis won 14 times in Brackett’s first season as a starter in 2005.
In both championship seasons for the Tampa 2 defensive scheme — 2002 for the Bucs and 2006 for the Colts — the team’s leading tackler was the weakside linebacker.
So the fan angst this last week has been focused on the urgency to find a replacement for Lee. But the angst should instead be directed at whom the Cowboys will play at weakside linebacker.
Bruce Carter was a wash there last year. He lacked the cover skills that are mandatory in the scheme. Brooks intercepted 25 passes in his career and forced 24 fumbles. In the Super Bowl season, Brooks led the Bucs with 117 tackles.
Carter finished his first season in this scheme with a respectable 96 tackles but did not have any interceptions or force any fumbles. This scheme needs a tackler in the middle — but it needs a playmaker on the weak side.
Carter pencils in as the weakside backer again this season, but he needs to make dramatic improvement as a playmaker for the Cowboys to overcome the loss of Lee. The weakside backer needs to be the dominant linebacker for this scheme to flourish, not the middle linebacker.
That’s why the Cowboys were hoping Ohio State outside linebacker Ryan Shazier would slide to them in the draft. He forced nine fumbles and intercepted a pass in his three college seasons. But he went one pick ahead of the Cowboys to the Steelers in the first round at 15. So it’s back to Carter.
The Cowboys have options in the middle in holdover DeVonte Holloman and fourth-round draft pick Anthony Hitchens. If you liked them enough to draft, you should like them enough to play. So I’m less concerned about middle linebacker than I am the weakside backer.
Don’t worry about someone [Lee] who’s not here. Worry about someone [Carter] who is. That’s where the improvement must come in 2014 for the arrow to point up for the NFL’s worst defense.
