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If Trysten Hill is unable to provide real difference-making answers inside, then it’s left to Neville Gallimore and the usual collection of bargain-basement free agents that the Joneses tend to seek out.
By Tim Cowlishaw
OXNARD — I felt something was missing from an important Cowboys’ equation even before arriving here to watch training camp, about 25 miles from the first Thousand Oaks camp I covered 35 years ago. And after one practice… something’s still missing.
As you know, the Cowboys plan to recover from last year’s 6-10 disaster not just by restoring Dak Prescott and his protective tackles on offense but by retooling, refining and rearranging a defense that allowed more points than any in Dallas history and ranked 31st at stopping the run. The drafting of linebackers Micah Parsons and Jabril Cox, the sense of putting Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch on notice and the key addition of coordinator Dan Quinn are all designed to give one the belief that the Cowboys shall be wildly different at linebacker.
But... what if the defensive tackles look about the same?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to condemn anyone for what I saw in one unpadded practice. But for those watching, Trysten Hill was working on conditioning drills with trainer Britt Brown and is not expected to practice anytime soon. Lest you forget, he suffered a torn ACL against the New York Giants, a gruesome injury rendered a footnote by the broken ankle Prescott endured in the same game.
While Dak is out running around and looking fine in his protective red jersey, Hill strains cords and pushes sleds and performs football-type activities but that’s it. As a result, Neville Gallimore and Carlos Watkins were your starting tackles in drills Tuesday. Gallimore was a third-round pick from Oklahoma a year ago who was tossed into the fire and got nine starts in 2020. Carlos Watkins was part of the only run defense worse than the Cowboys and made 11 starts for the Houston Texans last season. Behind them are rookie sixth-round pick Quinton Bohanna, an immense young fellow from Kentucky, and Osa Odighizuwa, a third-round selection from UCLA. Some journeyman help from Brett Urban, a starter three years ago in Baltimore and part-time last year in Chicago, is available if needed.
Does any of this sound like the sort of thing that will free Parsons and Smith and the rest to make tackles and stop opposing running games in their tracks?
That’s exactly what coach Mike McCarthy is hoping, and I can’t sit here and say he’s wrong. It’s just that the total focus on linebacker seemed to ignore a big part of the problem, the reason Smith was making tackles further down the field than ever before. If the defensive front can’t hold the line to some degree, your linebackers have no real chance.
“The players in front of you in any run defense can make your job easier,” McCarthy said. “The size, the length, particularly inside, I’m excited to see the impact these guys can make in our run defense. I’m looking for more production from our linebacker group, not only from the players but from how we’re playing.”
McCarthy thinks Gallimore has added significant size since arriving here, and the former Sooner at least sounds ready for the considerable task at hand.
“In order to get to third down, you’ve got to handle first and second down," Gallimore said. “We take full ownership for last year. We’ve got to make it easy for the linebackers to fly around, for the DB’s to cover the receivers. We’re going to show everybody we’re not satisfied."
Much appears to be riding on a complete recovery from Hill, and needless to say it’s a difficult thing when an inside tackle is coming back from a major knee injury. To this point, the second-round pick from Central Florida has provided mostly question marks in his first two seasons. He fell out of favor quickly with coordinator Rod Marinelli and never made a single start as a rookie, then got hurt in Week Five a year ago.
If Hill is unable to provide real difference-making answers inside, then it’s left to Gallimore and the usual collection of bargain-basement free agents that the Joneses tend to seek out. If this team is counting on either of the rookie defensive tackles to play regularly in year one, that speaks of more desperation than this defense can really afford.
Regardless, it’s almost time to get serious about this stuff. Even if the Cowboys have been here a week, Wednesday will mark their first padded practice — a rather obvious departure from how this and other franchises once prepared for a season.
“In underwear, we’ve kicked it out of the park,” McCarthy said Tuesday.
Put some clothes on these guys, and maybe we’ll begin to understand why anyone thinks 2021 doesn’t have to look like 2020 all over again for the Dallas defense
By Tim Cowlishaw
OXNARD — I felt something was missing from an important Cowboys’ equation even before arriving here to watch training camp, about 25 miles from the first Thousand Oaks camp I covered 35 years ago. And after one practice… something’s still missing.
As you know, the Cowboys plan to recover from last year’s 6-10 disaster not just by restoring Dak Prescott and his protective tackles on offense but by retooling, refining and rearranging a defense that allowed more points than any in Dallas history and ranked 31st at stopping the run. The drafting of linebackers Micah Parsons and Jabril Cox, the sense of putting Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch on notice and the key addition of coordinator Dan Quinn are all designed to give one the belief that the Cowboys shall be wildly different at linebacker.
But... what if the defensive tackles look about the same?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to condemn anyone for what I saw in one unpadded practice. But for those watching, Trysten Hill was working on conditioning drills with trainer Britt Brown and is not expected to practice anytime soon. Lest you forget, he suffered a torn ACL against the New York Giants, a gruesome injury rendered a footnote by the broken ankle Prescott endured in the same game.
While Dak is out running around and looking fine in his protective red jersey, Hill strains cords and pushes sleds and performs football-type activities but that’s it. As a result, Neville Gallimore and Carlos Watkins were your starting tackles in drills Tuesday. Gallimore was a third-round pick from Oklahoma a year ago who was tossed into the fire and got nine starts in 2020. Carlos Watkins was part of the only run defense worse than the Cowboys and made 11 starts for the Houston Texans last season. Behind them are rookie sixth-round pick Quinton Bohanna, an immense young fellow from Kentucky, and Osa Odighizuwa, a third-round selection from UCLA. Some journeyman help from Brett Urban, a starter three years ago in Baltimore and part-time last year in Chicago, is available if needed.
Does any of this sound like the sort of thing that will free Parsons and Smith and the rest to make tackles and stop opposing running games in their tracks?
That’s exactly what coach Mike McCarthy is hoping, and I can’t sit here and say he’s wrong. It’s just that the total focus on linebacker seemed to ignore a big part of the problem, the reason Smith was making tackles further down the field than ever before. If the defensive front can’t hold the line to some degree, your linebackers have no real chance.
“The players in front of you in any run defense can make your job easier,” McCarthy said. “The size, the length, particularly inside, I’m excited to see the impact these guys can make in our run defense. I’m looking for more production from our linebacker group, not only from the players but from how we’re playing.”
McCarthy thinks Gallimore has added significant size since arriving here, and the former Sooner at least sounds ready for the considerable task at hand.
“In order to get to third down, you’ve got to handle first and second down," Gallimore said. “We take full ownership for last year. We’ve got to make it easy for the linebackers to fly around, for the DB’s to cover the receivers. We’re going to show everybody we’re not satisfied."
Much appears to be riding on a complete recovery from Hill, and needless to say it’s a difficult thing when an inside tackle is coming back from a major knee injury. To this point, the second-round pick from Central Florida has provided mostly question marks in his first two seasons. He fell out of favor quickly with coordinator Rod Marinelli and never made a single start as a rookie, then got hurt in Week Five a year ago.
If Hill is unable to provide real difference-making answers inside, then it’s left to Gallimore and the usual collection of bargain-basement free agents that the Joneses tend to seek out. If this team is counting on either of the rookie defensive tackles to play regularly in year one, that speaks of more desperation than this defense can really afford.
Regardless, it’s almost time to get serious about this stuff. Even if the Cowboys have been here a week, Wednesday will mark their first padded practice — a rather obvious departure from how this and other franchises once prepared for a season.
“In underwear, we’ve kicked it out of the park,” McCarthy said Tuesday.
Put some clothes on these guys, and maybe we’ll begin to understand why anyone thinks 2021 doesn’t have to look like 2020 all over again for the Dallas defense
