DL Stephen Paea an unsung hero as Cowboys bludgeon the Giants

Cotton

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DL Stephen Paea an unsung hero as Cowboys bludgeon the Giants
His stat line won't floor anyone, but a closer look at his game film will most definitely.
Patrik Walker

Stephen Paea isn't a household name, but he's angling to be an impact player in 2017.

A big part of that reason is that, for him, it comes with a football reunion. Paea will rejoin forces with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who was was DC for the Chicago Bears in 2011 -- the year the team selected Paea in the second round of the NFL Draft. That connection is a big reason Marinelli lobbied to bring Paea in, and he's wasting no time impressing in Dallas Cowboys' training camp.

Paea joins the league's best run-stopping defensive unit in the Cowboys, and the team is hoping he can step in and fill the void left by defensive lineman Terrell McClain -- who left for the rival Washington Redskins in this year's free agency sweep.

Paea has been a force on the defensive interior this summer, and it's spilling over into the regular season. While his stat line from the Week 1 outing against the New York Giants won't impress, his game film most certainly will

Paea was key in penetrating the heart of the Giants' defensive line, making it impossible for quarterback Eli Manning to sit in a set pocket -- creating a domino effect that helped defensive end Demarcus Lawrence go off for five tackles (four solo), three tackles for a loss and two sacks.

Charles Tapper would kick in with an additional sack as well, the first of his NFL career in his first ever professional football game.

Paea wound up playing 70% of the defensive snaps (39), and did everything Marinelli expected of him. The Giants ended with only two rushing first downs and a paltry 35 yards total for the game. They averaged only 2.9 yards per carry, as the Cowboys' league-leading run defense took hold and mangled them like a starving pit bull who caught wind of a steak.

And Paea led the interior charge, something he knew was expected of him by Marinelli this year.

“[My goal is to] just be aggressive in there,” Paea said during training camp, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “A lot of guys they think of a nose tackle, they’re just there playing with your hands and just playing the run, but Rod just wants more out of the nose tackle. If you don’t pass rush as a nose, then you’re not doing your job, so that’s what he wants from the nose tackle.”

And he says practicing against the likes of All-Pro's Zack Martin and Travis Frederick have only helped him in the process, after already spending time with several NFL teams hoping to make a lasting impact.

“We all have that next-man mentality,” Paea said. “I’m out here just taking advantage of all opportunity for me to compete out here. Going out here against the best offensive line in the NFL is a great opportunity for me to get better – make Sunday a little easier for me.”

If he can make a splash in 2017 while operating under a one-year, $2M deal, it'll be yet another nod to the Cowboys' intelligently frugal front office.

Jackpot.
 

GForce78NJ

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for a team who is trying their best to budget in free agency so we can sign our own when the time comes, we sure do hit on our free agents pretty damn well.
 

DLK150

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I didn't expect him to do shit given how lousy he was in Washington. But I guess he was miscast in a 3-4.
Most likely. It's not like Dallas hasn't tried to fit square pegs in a round hole over the years.
 

UncleMilti

This seemed like a good idea at the time.
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:lol
 

ravidubey

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He's playing like we hoped Thornton would have last season. With that one improvement everyone on the defense gets better.

With Tapper playing well and Lawrence bucking for a big payday, all of a sudden this DL is looking a lot deeper and stronger.
 
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