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Larry Lacewell, who lobbied for Monte Kiffin: Dallas Cowboys' 'horrible' defense is 'nobody's fault'
DAVID MOORE
Staff Writer
dmoore@dallasnews.com
Published: 19 November 2013 09:37 PM
Updated: 19 November 2013 10:51 PM
Larry Lacewell is no longer part of the Cowboys’ organization.
He knows there is no shortage of critics who will say that’s a good thing.
But the man who spent the majority of his 13 seasons with the club as its director of college and pro scouting still has the owner’s ear. Jerry Jones uses him as a sounding board, especially on defensive matters.
Lacewell was a vocal part of the lobby for Monte Kiffin when Jones and head coach Jason Garrett decided a change was needed at defensive coordinator.
And now…
“I will take full blame for wanting Monte to be hired,” Lacewell said from Jonesboro, Ark., where he lives. “But I will not take blame for 7,000 injuries.
“We never had that many injuries, ever. Now, maybe we didn’t play that many great quarterbacks, either.
“I’m a fan now. I watch games, and I catch myself doing the same things as other people. At the same time, I do know that real good coaches are real good coaches.”
The numbers are staggering. The Cowboys’ defense has given up more than 620 yards in two of their last three games. They have allowed an average of 439.8 yards — with 313 coming through the air — to rank last in the NFL in both categories.
Lacewell doesn’t view this as an indictment of Kiffin, defensive line coach Rod Marinelli and their staff. He doesn’t see an outdated or flawed scheme.
He sees a defense gutted by injuries. Only three players projected to start entering the season were on the field near the end of the team’s 49-17 humiliation in New Orleans before the bye week.
“I hear people saying, ‘Oh, they’re running the wrong scheme,’” Lacewell said. “Well, someone needs to call the guy at Seattle, Pete Carroll, who worked with Monte and tell him they’re running the wrong scheme. They shouldn’t be in that. Call Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati and tell him they’re in the wrong scheme.
“What I’m saying is, coach, scheme or whatever, they’re about as bad as I’ve ever seen. The memory train plays tricks on you. Maybe we were that horrible for a little while early when I was there.
“But I’ve never seen any defensive team, never seen a team play with as many walk-ons. And that’s what this team is, walk-ons.”
Lacewell doesn’t stop there.
“This is a horrible defense,” he said. “I don’t mean it any other way, and I say it. But it’s nobody’s fault. It’s not Jerry’s fault. It’s not Monte’s fault. Don’t tell me it’s coaching.
“I know I’m ranting and raving. I can’t defend Monte and Marinelli any further than I can defend them. But I hope the average fan understands.
“Now if you want to blame Jerry, the scouting department and Stephen [Jones] and all of those guys for not doing a better job of scouting walk-ons, of not knowing who is working down at the bakery or the service station, then you should get on them, heavily.”
Anything else?
“Pretty good speech, huh,” Lacewell said.
Four starters who were unable to play or finish the loss to the Saints — defensive end DeMarcus Ware, defensive tackle Jason Hatcher, cornerback Morris Claiborne and safety J.J. Wilcox — should return for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. But two more starters are lost in linebackers Sean Lee and Justin Durant.
Garrett can’t do much more than pound his message of “be your best regardless of circumstances.” The coaching staff has studied why this defense has already given up 42 plays of 20 or more yards through the air.
“That’s one of the things we looked at during the bye,” Garrett said. “We really focused on the number of big plays we’ve given up and if there are some trends in regards to that and what we can do as a coaching staff and what our players need to do in terms of the execution.
“There are a lot of different factors that went into that. We addressed some things as a staff. Hopefully we’ll convey to our team and hopefully it will be an area where we can get better.”
Hopefully? The level of conviction that this battered defense will improve can’t rank higher.
The expectations were much different two months ago.
“I thought coming out of training camp we were going to be great,” Lacewell said. “No one wants to hear this now. This is the same fool who everyone says, ‘We’re glad he left town.’
“But we had probably, on paper, as good of a front four as we’ve had, with two excellent corners. Now, the one guy, the traitor, whatever his name is.”
That would be Jay Ratliff, who now resides in Chicago.
“He would never speak to me again if I started talking about him,” Lacewell said.
But back to the Cowboys and their defensive plight over these final six games.
“I don’t see any relief,” Lacewell said.
“The fortunate thing is they’re playing in the East.”
DAVID MOORE
Staff Writer
dmoore@dallasnews.com
Published: 19 November 2013 09:37 PM
Updated: 19 November 2013 10:51 PM
Larry Lacewell is no longer part of the Cowboys’ organization.
He knows there is no shortage of critics who will say that’s a good thing.
But the man who spent the majority of his 13 seasons with the club as its director of college and pro scouting still has the owner’s ear. Jerry Jones uses him as a sounding board, especially on defensive matters.
Lacewell was a vocal part of the lobby for Monte Kiffin when Jones and head coach Jason Garrett decided a change was needed at defensive coordinator.
And now…
“I will take full blame for wanting Monte to be hired,” Lacewell said from Jonesboro, Ark., where he lives. “But I will not take blame for 7,000 injuries.
“We never had that many injuries, ever. Now, maybe we didn’t play that many great quarterbacks, either.
“I’m a fan now. I watch games, and I catch myself doing the same things as other people. At the same time, I do know that real good coaches are real good coaches.”
The numbers are staggering. The Cowboys’ defense has given up more than 620 yards in two of their last three games. They have allowed an average of 439.8 yards — with 313 coming through the air — to rank last in the NFL in both categories.
Lacewell doesn’t view this as an indictment of Kiffin, defensive line coach Rod Marinelli and their staff. He doesn’t see an outdated or flawed scheme.
He sees a defense gutted by injuries. Only three players projected to start entering the season were on the field near the end of the team’s 49-17 humiliation in New Orleans before the bye week.
“I hear people saying, ‘Oh, they’re running the wrong scheme,’” Lacewell said. “Well, someone needs to call the guy at Seattle, Pete Carroll, who worked with Monte and tell him they’re running the wrong scheme. They shouldn’t be in that. Call Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati and tell him they’re in the wrong scheme.
“What I’m saying is, coach, scheme or whatever, they’re about as bad as I’ve ever seen. The memory train plays tricks on you. Maybe we were that horrible for a little while early when I was there.
“But I’ve never seen any defensive team, never seen a team play with as many walk-ons. And that’s what this team is, walk-ons.”
Lacewell doesn’t stop there.
“This is a horrible defense,” he said. “I don’t mean it any other way, and I say it. But it’s nobody’s fault. It’s not Jerry’s fault. It’s not Monte’s fault. Don’t tell me it’s coaching.
“I know I’m ranting and raving. I can’t defend Monte and Marinelli any further than I can defend them. But I hope the average fan understands.
“Now if you want to blame Jerry, the scouting department and Stephen [Jones] and all of those guys for not doing a better job of scouting walk-ons, of not knowing who is working down at the bakery or the service station, then you should get on them, heavily.”
Anything else?
“Pretty good speech, huh,” Lacewell said.
Four starters who were unable to play or finish the loss to the Saints — defensive end DeMarcus Ware, defensive tackle Jason Hatcher, cornerback Morris Claiborne and safety J.J. Wilcox — should return for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. But two more starters are lost in linebackers Sean Lee and Justin Durant.
Garrett can’t do much more than pound his message of “be your best regardless of circumstances.” The coaching staff has studied why this defense has already given up 42 plays of 20 or more yards through the air.
“That’s one of the things we looked at during the bye,” Garrett said. “We really focused on the number of big plays we’ve given up and if there are some trends in regards to that and what we can do as a coaching staff and what our players need to do in terms of the execution.
“There are a lot of different factors that went into that. We addressed some things as a staff. Hopefully we’ll convey to our team and hopefully it will be an area where we can get better.”
Hopefully? The level of conviction that this battered defense will improve can’t rank higher.
The expectations were much different two months ago.
“I thought coming out of training camp we were going to be great,” Lacewell said. “No one wants to hear this now. This is the same fool who everyone says, ‘We’re glad he left town.’
“But we had probably, on paper, as good of a front four as we’ve had, with two excellent corners. Now, the one guy, the traitor, whatever his name is.”
That would be Jay Ratliff, who now resides in Chicago.
“He would never speak to me again if I started talking about him,” Lacewell said.
But back to the Cowboys and their defensive plight over these final six games.
“I don’t see any relief,” Lacewell said.
“The fortunate thing is they’re playing in the East.”
