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Risky moves, poor decisions have kept Cowboys' defense average under Jason Garrett
Jean-Jacques Taylor
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- Jason Garrett has spent the past five seasons putting together a dynamic offense that is among the NFL's best.
The same can't be said about the Dallas Cowboys' defense, a largely anonymous group of players who garner little respect outside The Star, the team's lavish training facility.
Linebacker Sean Lee is the only current defensive player who has ever made a Pro Bowl. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick has more career sacks (9.5) than anyone on the team, which tells you all you need to know about the pass rush. Lee is the team's career leader in interceptions (12), which means the secondary hasn't made many plays.
"We're just trying to build our team in a way that gives us the best chance to win. The idea that we're trying to do this on offense or that on offense, that's really not a consideration," Garrett said. "We're trying to build our team with the kind of guys we want to play with, the kind of guys we want to win with, the kind of guys who want to be part of a team, and that's everybody that we bring in.
"We feel good about the guys we have on defense. We'll continue to try to get better there. We have added guys in the offseason, both in the draft and free agency, who we think can help our football team and play the way we want to play in the system that we do play."
Garrett and the Cowboys have tried to build an elite defense, but risky moves and poor decisions have kept it average during most of his tenure.
A ball-control offense and big-play passing game with Tony Romo at the helm were supposed to compensate for the defense's weaknesses. Without Romo, who's expected to miss 6-10 weeks because of a compression fracture in his back, the Cowboys' defense will need to play better than expected.
Here's a look at four reasons Garrett has been unable to put together an elite defense:
Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne
The Cowboys tried to put together a dynamic cornerback tandem in 2012. First, they signed free agent Carr to a five-year, $50 million deal. Then they moved up eight spots in the draft to select LSU’s Claiborne with the sixth pick.
The Cowboys said Claiborne was their highest-rated cornerback since Deion Sanders, which created high expectations he has yet to meet. Claiborne has had problems staying healthy in Dallas, and that has affected his performance. He has played in just 40 of 64 possible games and has played in more than 11 games just once -- in his rookie season.
When he has played, Claiborne hasn't been a play-maker. He has three career interceptions.
Still, Garrett refuses to give up on him. "There's too much to like about him. He's a really good football player, and he's a good person," Garrett said. "He's had a lot of different adversities to overcome, both as a player and some things he was dealing [with] in his life.
"He handled them the right way, fought through them the right way and kept coming back. He wasn't deterred. He was hardened by the different situations in a good way."
Most years, Carr wouldn't have received a contract worth $10 million a year, but that was the going rate for cornerbacks in 2012, so that is what he and Cortland Finnegan, the other good free-agent cornerback that year, received. (Finnegan's deal was with the Rams.)
Carr has been solid in Dallas, though he has a contract that most associate with elite players. Carr, like Claiborne, hasn't forced turnovers. He has started each of the 64 games since he arrived in Dallas but has just six interceptions and none in the past 36 games.
The Cowboys hope a move from left cornerback to right cornerback will result in more takeaways.
"I like the right side," Carr said during the offseason. "I used to play right corner prior to coming here. I just felt like switching.
"I think it’s a different game on the right and the left side. The right side, the boundary is more of the X receivers and things of that nature. The left side, you get combinations with the slots and multiple formations on that side.
"It's a challenge on both sides. I just prefer it. I like the right side."
Perhaps an increased comfort level from Carr and a healthy season from Claiborne will give the Cowboys the quality cornerback play they need.
Second-round gambles
Jerry Jones makes no apologies for the gambles he is seemingly always making in the second round of the draft.
"We're not buying bonds," Jones is fond of saying.
Since Garrett became head coach in 2011, the Cowboys have taken linebacker Bruce Carter, tight end Gavin Escobar, defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory and linebacker Jaylon Smith in the second round. All but Escobar, who has caught only 26 passes in three seasons, were risky draft picks.
Carter suffered a torn ACL as a senior at North Carolina, which is why he was available in the second round. Lawrence and Gregory had off-the-field issues, and Smith suffered a severe knee injury and nerve damage in a bowl game four months before the draft.
Carter played well at times, but the Cowboys did not offer him a second contract, and he's now with the New York Jets, his third team in the past three years. Lawrence and Gregory are serving four-game suspensions for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. Gregory is currently in rehab and faces the possibility of an additional 10-game suspension. The Cowboys have no idea if he'll play this season.
Smith is working hard, but there's no guarantee that the nerve in his leg will ever regenerate and allow him to play. He's the ultimate risk.
If he can play, there's a chance he could be a dynamic linebacker for a decade because he has that kind of skill. If he can't, it'll be one more wasted second-round pick.
Lawrence had nine sacks in his last eight games the past season, and he showed the potential to be a Pro Bowl player, but now he's one more failed test away from a 10-game suspension and two failed tests away from a yearlong suspension.
"Have you ever made the same mistake twice? We all make mistakes. He's made a mistake," Garrett said last month. "The biggest thing you want everyone to do is accept responsibility for it and be accountable for it and then do what you need to do to rectify it."
The Cowboys don't have a defensive lineman on the roster who has more than eight career sacks. How they're going to pressure New York's Eli Manning on Sunday remains a mystery.
"Some of the best pass rushes I've been around have to do with one great pass rusher," Garrett said, "and some of the best pass rushes I've been around have to do with guys rotating in and staying fresh and creating different matches across the board, depending on the situation."
Rolando McClain
McClain is everything the Cowboys want in a linebacker. He's big, fast, physical and cerebral, and he makes plays. He can play first, second and third down.
In 2014, McClain finished second on the team with 108 tackles, including nine for loss and two sacks. He didn't play as well last season but still finished third on the team with 97 tackles in 11 games. He had nine tackles for loss and 10 quarterback pressures.
This time around, he's facing a 10-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, and he failed to report to training camp. The Cowboys don't expect him to play for the team again.
Dallas signed him to a one-year deal worth $5 million that included weekly roster bonuses as incentives to stay active each week. Apparently, it wasn't enough incentive. This was one more risky player acquisition that didn't work out.
The Cowboys acquired McClain from Baltimore after he told the Ravens that he was retiring. This occurred after he sat out the 2013 season.
"We're going to talk about the players who are here," Garrett said recently.
Greg Hardy
The Cowboys, desperate for a pass-rusher since they released DeMarcus Ware after the 2013 season, signed Hardy to a one-year deal worth as much as $13 million prior to the past season.
Hardy combined for 31 sacks with the Carolina Panthers in 2012 and 2013 before spending 15 games on the commissioner’s exempt list in 2014 because of his role in a domestic violence incident. The NFL also suspended him for the first four games of the 2015 season.
He couldn’t shake off the rust of missing 19 games and produced just six sacks while being consistently disruptive in the locker room. His inability to provide a pass rush contributed to the Cowboys' 4-12 season.
Jean-Jacques Taylor
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- Jason Garrett has spent the past five seasons putting together a dynamic offense that is among the NFL's best.
The same can't be said about the Dallas Cowboys' defense, a largely anonymous group of players who garner little respect outside The Star, the team's lavish training facility.
Linebacker Sean Lee is the only current defensive player who has ever made a Pro Bowl. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick has more career sacks (9.5) than anyone on the team, which tells you all you need to know about the pass rush. Lee is the team's career leader in interceptions (12), which means the secondary hasn't made many plays.
"We're just trying to build our team in a way that gives us the best chance to win. The idea that we're trying to do this on offense or that on offense, that's really not a consideration," Garrett said. "We're trying to build our team with the kind of guys we want to play with, the kind of guys we want to win with, the kind of guys who want to be part of a team, and that's everybody that we bring in.
"We feel good about the guys we have on defense. We'll continue to try to get better there. We have added guys in the offseason, both in the draft and free agency, who we think can help our football team and play the way we want to play in the system that we do play."
Garrett and the Cowboys have tried to build an elite defense, but risky moves and poor decisions have kept it average during most of his tenure.
A ball-control offense and big-play passing game with Tony Romo at the helm were supposed to compensate for the defense's weaknesses. Without Romo, who's expected to miss 6-10 weeks because of a compression fracture in his back, the Cowboys' defense will need to play better than expected.
Here's a look at four reasons Garrett has been unable to put together an elite defense:
Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne
The Cowboys tried to put together a dynamic cornerback tandem in 2012. First, they signed free agent Carr to a five-year, $50 million deal. Then they moved up eight spots in the draft to select LSU’s Claiborne with the sixth pick.
The Cowboys said Claiborne was their highest-rated cornerback since Deion Sanders, which created high expectations he has yet to meet. Claiborne has had problems staying healthy in Dallas, and that has affected his performance. He has played in just 40 of 64 possible games and has played in more than 11 games just once -- in his rookie season.
When he has played, Claiborne hasn't been a play-maker. He has three career interceptions.
Still, Garrett refuses to give up on him. "There's too much to like about him. He's a really good football player, and he's a good person," Garrett said. "He's had a lot of different adversities to overcome, both as a player and some things he was dealing [with] in his life.
"He handled them the right way, fought through them the right way and kept coming back. He wasn't deterred. He was hardened by the different situations in a good way."
Most years, Carr wouldn't have received a contract worth $10 million a year, but that was the going rate for cornerbacks in 2012, so that is what he and Cortland Finnegan, the other good free-agent cornerback that year, received. (Finnegan's deal was with the Rams.)
Carr has been solid in Dallas, though he has a contract that most associate with elite players. Carr, like Claiborne, hasn't forced turnovers. He has started each of the 64 games since he arrived in Dallas but has just six interceptions and none in the past 36 games.
The Cowboys hope a move from left cornerback to right cornerback will result in more takeaways.
"I like the right side," Carr said during the offseason. "I used to play right corner prior to coming here. I just felt like switching.
"I think it’s a different game on the right and the left side. The right side, the boundary is more of the X receivers and things of that nature. The left side, you get combinations with the slots and multiple formations on that side.
"It's a challenge on both sides. I just prefer it. I like the right side."
Perhaps an increased comfort level from Carr and a healthy season from Claiborne will give the Cowboys the quality cornerback play they need.
Second-round gambles
Jerry Jones makes no apologies for the gambles he is seemingly always making in the second round of the draft.
"We're not buying bonds," Jones is fond of saying.
Since Garrett became head coach in 2011, the Cowboys have taken linebacker Bruce Carter, tight end Gavin Escobar, defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory and linebacker Jaylon Smith in the second round. All but Escobar, who has caught only 26 passes in three seasons, were risky draft picks.
Carter suffered a torn ACL as a senior at North Carolina, which is why he was available in the second round. Lawrence and Gregory had off-the-field issues, and Smith suffered a severe knee injury and nerve damage in a bowl game four months before the draft.
Carter played well at times, but the Cowboys did not offer him a second contract, and he's now with the New York Jets, his third team in the past three years. Lawrence and Gregory are serving four-game suspensions for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. Gregory is currently in rehab and faces the possibility of an additional 10-game suspension. The Cowboys have no idea if he'll play this season.
Smith is working hard, but there's no guarantee that the nerve in his leg will ever regenerate and allow him to play. He's the ultimate risk.
If he can play, there's a chance he could be a dynamic linebacker for a decade because he has that kind of skill. If he can't, it'll be one more wasted second-round pick.
Lawrence had nine sacks in his last eight games the past season, and he showed the potential to be a Pro Bowl player, but now he's one more failed test away from a 10-game suspension and two failed tests away from a yearlong suspension.
"Have you ever made the same mistake twice? We all make mistakes. He's made a mistake," Garrett said last month. "The biggest thing you want everyone to do is accept responsibility for it and be accountable for it and then do what you need to do to rectify it."
The Cowboys don't have a defensive lineman on the roster who has more than eight career sacks. How they're going to pressure New York's Eli Manning on Sunday remains a mystery.
"Some of the best pass rushes I've been around have to do with one great pass rusher," Garrett said, "and some of the best pass rushes I've been around have to do with guys rotating in and staying fresh and creating different matches across the board, depending on the situation."
Rolando McClain
McClain is everything the Cowboys want in a linebacker. He's big, fast, physical and cerebral, and he makes plays. He can play first, second and third down.
In 2014, McClain finished second on the team with 108 tackles, including nine for loss and two sacks. He didn't play as well last season but still finished third on the team with 97 tackles in 11 games. He had nine tackles for loss and 10 quarterback pressures.
This time around, he's facing a 10-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, and he failed to report to training camp. The Cowboys don't expect him to play for the team again.
Dallas signed him to a one-year deal worth $5 million that included weekly roster bonuses as incentives to stay active each week. Apparently, it wasn't enough incentive. This was one more risky player acquisition that didn't work out.
The Cowboys acquired McClain from Baltimore after he told the Ravens that he was retiring. This occurred after he sat out the 2013 season.
"We're going to talk about the players who are here," Garrett said recently.
Greg Hardy
The Cowboys, desperate for a pass-rusher since they released DeMarcus Ware after the 2013 season, signed Hardy to a one-year deal worth as much as $13 million prior to the past season.
Hardy combined for 31 sacks with the Carolina Panthers in 2012 and 2013 before spending 15 games on the commissioner’s exempt list in 2014 because of his role in a domestic violence incident. The NFL also suspended him for the first four games of the 2015 season.
He couldn’t shake off the rust of missing 19 games and produced just six sacks while being consistently disruptive in the locker room. His inability to provide a pass rush contributed to the Cowboys' 4-12 season.