Archer: DeMarcus Ware to have surgery

DeMarcus Ware to have surgery

February, 11, 2014


By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com



IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware will undergo surgery on his right elbow on Feb. 18, but he anticipates being able to take part in most of the offseason program.

Ware has played the last two years with the problem and hoped rest would have taken care of the issue, but he said it flared up early in training camp and bothered him throughout the 2013 season.

"It's been killing me," Ware said. "It's hurt really bad and that's why I would wear an elbow pad to stop from getting it hit but that didn't do much. It would get irritated even when it was barely touched."

Ware said the surgery will help protect a nerve that was exposed when he would bend his arm, "so when I would get hit, it would lose its power," he said.

Ware, who had surgery last year on his right shoulder, had a career-low six sacks in 2013 and missed the first three games of his career with a quadriceps strain. Ware started the season with four sacks in the first three games but was slowed by the quadriceps strain, a stinger and back injury, in addition to his elbow soreness.

"Rest helped it," Ware said. "I'm getting my work in. I'm pushing up 315, 405 (pounds) and I'm doing everything, running. My body feels great. Straight up, it feels really, really good. My quad, I can do all of that. I can do everything. Nothing is inhibiting me. If I had to go into the season now, I feel better than I did going into the season with the shoulder (surgery) ... Now I feel like once we get the elbow cleaned up and fix the nerve deal, it's, 'Let's roll.'"

DeMarcus Ware more motivated than ever

February, 12, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- The voice on the other end of the phone sounded different on Tuesday afternoon.

After nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, DeMarcus Ware knows who he is.

No player has more sacks in team history than Ware. Only three defensive players in team history have been selected to more Pro Bowls than Ware, and Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro and Randy White are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But for the first time since his rookie year, Ware has doubters.

In 2005 the Cowboys made Ware the 11th pick in the draft. Could he make the move from defensive end in college to 3-4 outside linebacker? Could he make the jump from Troy University to the NFL? Bill Parcells immediately compared him to Lawrence Taylor, raising the stakes.

Ware did not disappoint. He had eight sacks as a rookie, forced three fumbles and had 19 quarterback pressures.

In his second year he was named to the Pro Bowl and earned that honor every year through 2012.

But 2013 was a down year and the doubters have returned.

He is coming off a career-low six-sack season. He missed the first three games of his career in 2013. He will be 32 in July. The move to the 4-3 defense hurt Ware.

“I want to be quiet,” Ware said. “I just want to let my actions speak for themself. But I do chuckle a little bit because I know there’s a tornado coming.”

And that’s the difficult decision the Cowboys face. He is set to make $12.25 million this season. The Cowboys need all of the salary-cap space they can get but have to determine how they get it from Ware. Do they restructure his contract again or ask him to take a pay cut? Do they simply cut him?

The Cowboys do not have a replacement for Ware already in-house. In a bad season he had six sacks. Anthony Spencer, Ware’s counterpart, had one season with more than six sacks before 2012 and the Cowboys put the franchise tag on him twice.

Ware’s seven straight seasons with at least 11 sacks have people always expecting more. That’s fair. He expects more. The Cowboys expect more.

But back to the sound of Ware’s voice. Not that he has lacked motivation, but he sounded like a guy ready to prove people wrong; that he is not done and age is not catching up to him. The Cowboys have to weigh whether 2013 was the end or just a down year.

The nightmare would be to see Ware in another uniform in 2014 and returning to Pro Bowl form with a season filled with sacks.

“People are going to doubt you regardless,” Ware said. “Let’s say you had a 20-sack season, it’s ‘Can he do it again?’ One year you had 19 sacks. Can you do it again? One year you had 15 sacks. Can you do it again? It’s going to be that every year. I’m going to be healthy. I’m going to shut my mouth and be quiet and let my work on the field characterize who I am. I’m not going to sit here and talk about what I’m going to do. I’m going behind the scenes and do what I need to do and get the job done, and at the end of the day there’s going to be a bandwagon everybody needs to jump back on.”
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I am pretty sick and tired of our "core" players talking about how fricking "determined" they are only to see them come out and play small.

Prove it, softie.

Ware wants to practice more too
February, 13, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- Earlier in the offseason, coach Jason Garrett said DeMarcus Ware needs to practice more if he wants to return to Pro Bowl form.

Ware agrees.

“I feel when I practice more or just practice in general I do play better,” Ware said. “When you’re out there, you do your reps, you’ve seen it, but there’s nothing like simulating going against full speed.”

With hamstring, quadriceps, shoulder, back and elbow injuries in 2012 and ’13, Ware felt he would be better served being stronger on game day than aggravating an injury in practice.

“My mentality is if there’s anything, I’m going to play through it,” Ware said. “If you want me to play in a game, I’m going to give all I got. What I would do in practice, the contact stuff I wouldn’t make it through it so I wouldn’t do it. Let me get a couple of run plays in here so I can see the runs, see the plays and what they do. With the pass rush, if we’ve got some stunts, I want to go through that so I got the timing right.”

Garrett believes the time off impacted Ware’s numbers. In 2012-13, Ware was on the daily injury report 57 times. He has been listed as a full participant 14 times. He has been listed as limited 22 times and as did not practice 21 times. Of the 96 practices the past two seasons in which a daily injury report was filed with the league, Ware was limited or out 43 times.

In the last two seasons Ware has recorded 17.5 sacks. In 2010-11, Ware was on the daily injury report 18 times. He was listed as a full participant twice, limited 11 times and did not practice five times. In those seasons he had 35 sacks.

"He's missed a lot of practice time over the last couple of years because of all these injuries and that's something that can impact a player, even a player of his caliber," Garrett said earlier in the offseason. "You need to practice. You need to make sure you have the skills necessary to play your best come Sunday and he's done an amazing job from a mental and physical toughness standpoint of playing in these games. We've got to get him to the point where he's healthy and he can practice and get himself ready to play the way he's capable of playing."

Oh boy, he's sure to return to form now!

Old players having offseason surgeries, formula for championships all accross the league.

I won't feel good about this until Jerry Jones comes out and says he thinks Ware will be outstanding again after this surgery. That's the only thing that will ease my mind.

E_D_Guapo said:

I won't feel good about this until Jerry Jones comes out and says he thinks Ware will be outstanding again after this surgery. That's the only thing that will ease my mind.

Click to expand...

That and then we can hear Marinelli echo those thoughts to just make it so.

Ware can't be relied upon to be our number one pass rusher anymore. It sucks because in his prime, he was one of the best ever, but the staff needs to bring in someone who can apply pressure consistently. I wouldnt be opposed to making our first 3 rounds in the draft all on the defensive line, but lord knows we need a third WR

Dallas Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware has successful surgery on elbow
By Rainer Sabin
rsabin@dallasnews.com
9:03 am on February 19, 2014 | Permalink

INDIANAPOLIS — DeMarcus Ware had successful surgery Tuesday on his right elbow, which had been giving him problems the last two seasons.

The injury, combined with other physical ailments that included a bothersome back and a quadriceps strain, contributed to his subpar performance this past season, when he collected a career-low six sacks and wasn’t invited to the Pro Bowl for the first time since his rookie season.

Ware’s status with the team is uncertain as the Cowboys look to trim their bloated payroll. He has a $16.003 cap number and his base salary is $12.25 million.

“DeMarcus had a hell of a career but when we’re in the cap situation that we’re in and obviously counting as much as he is obviously you have to look at it along with several others,” the club’s executive vice president Stephen Jones said Wednesday.

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Had could be a very telling word in that quote.