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By Bob Sturm Oct 14, 2020
Two things have been unquestionably true about the 2020 Cowboys defense.
One, they needed to try some new things and implement them post-haste.
Two, they needed to try some new players and figure things out on the fly without a camp or an offseason providing the reps needed to integrate a new system and new players.
Clearly, the first month has been a disaster for the defense, and many in the public seem to have already lost faith in Mike Nolan, Jim Tomsula and the rest of the accomplished coaching staff in place. I’ll be honest; the results of the Cleveland game, in particular, demonstrate a defense that was so far below the standard that I would not suggest those questions were in any way out of line.
But on Sunday — albeit against a perfect hand-picked offense that is just as incompetent as Dallas’ defense has been — we started to see major progress.
Sometimes defense is about trusting your eyes and playing fast. If you are confused, you play with a tentative posture, and that is never good in the NFL.
I think the best example was Jaylon Smith on Sunday. He was clearly the Cowboys’ best defender despite being one of the most disappointing so far overall.
We have had this conversation plenty. DeMarcus Lawrence is the other very highly compensated player on this defense who always gets called out by fans, but I can show you multiple instances per game where Lawrence is doing important things all over the field that help out despite not being considered “splash plays.” He is never out of place or out of motor. He is either dominant or just quietly good.
Jaylon is different in that respect.
There have already been too many weeks when Smith is not contributing to the positive splash plays but also appears to be the bust on mistakes by the defense. You count on your best players to do most of the good and almost none of the bad. Lawrence is always, at least, not the problem. With Jaylon, there are weeks when he seems to be the biggest offender, and that is terrifying to a team that gave him a contract extension and counts on him to lead the other 10 players on the field to the promised land.
We should not assume that he has turned the corner, as he needs to be this guy about 70 percent of the weeks like other top LBs truly are. We also have no idea how much of the Jason Garrett offense he knows by heart and was sitting on.
But I will never qualify a top performance as chopped liver. Jaylon was magnificent, and hopefully, he is getting ready to help make this defense much better than the first month has shown.
Meanwhile, I do think we should talk about blitzing. First, let’s lend some context.
Over the last five years, the team that blitzed the least in the NFL was the 2019 Los Angeles Chargers at 14.5 percent. The team that blitzed the most over that time frame for a full season was the 2019 Baltimore Ravens at 56 percent. The average NFL team is roughly 28 percent during that same timeframe.
Here’s where the Cowboys rank since 2015
- 20.3 percent in ’15
- 20.1 percent in ’16
- 21.7 percent in ’17
- 20.8 percent in ’18
- 24.2 percent in ’19
Dallas had been very cautious about sending pressure in the first few weeks of the 2020 season, with a 21.1 percent number that was very low overall. Again, they had no offseason and no real identity yet.
Then, while trying to rally in Week 4, it was 17 pressure calls (even if Cleveland never passed enough to find any sort of success). Now let’s look at what they did Sunday — 18 pressure calls for 37 percent! Through five weeks, Dallas is up to 16th in the NFL for the season and top-10 in pressures the last two weeks.
Sample sizes are small, but I believe it is clear that right about the moment you lost patience with this defense, the coaching staff decided to turn up the pressure calls and allow their players to play more downhill.
Will it work? Nobody knows, and I am sure the real tests will start Monday with Kyler Murray. But with 35 blitz calls in the last two games, I would suspect the Cowboys have learned that playing fast is vital, and there is no faster way to play than trying to rush offenses into mistakes.
This is a game-changing blitz call and play right here:
2Q – 5:08 – 1st-and-10
The Giants love a play-action call on 1st-and-10 at this spot on the field, and Dallas is in a base look to stop the run. But they aren’t doing that at all.
They have Trysten Hill going to the A-Gap and Lawrence rushing hard outside the rookie Andrew Thomas. This will leave the B-Gap wide open.
Notice Anthony Brown right down Main Street — RB Wayne Gallman, who was just the target of the fake, now sees that Brown is past him — but Lawrence is already right around the fourth overall pick of the 2020 draft in a blink. He is getting home without help.
Meanwhile, here comes Brown as well, which leaves Daniel Jones knowing he might be in trouble here.
Lawrence is getting the sack, but he also wants the fumble, so he tries to get his outside paw around Jones to force it loose.
And the ball falls right to Brown, who is in a dead sprint to the end zone. Beautiful work.
Dallas is blitzing on most third downs, but the more often they can bring pressure early on first and second downs, the more ambushes will be successful. This is where Anthony Brown and Jourdan Lewis excel.
WEEKLY DATA – Week 5
I know, I know. The Giants scored 34 points, Bob. Why are you acting like Dallas played well?
Well, because most of the data concludes they did:
300 yards of total offense is a great success. (The league average is 367.)
4.8 yards per play is excellent. (Average is 5.7.)
6.0 yards per attempt is very good. (Average is 7.4.)
You want more than one takeaway, but they also only conceded two explosive plays.
34 points included a pick-six against Prescott and a fumble by Andy Dalton at the 17-yard line. And, yes, the Giants are horrid. But, overall, the defensive effort was easily the best of the year (not saying much). If the Cowboys keep doing this, they can win plenty.
QB NEXT-GEN THROW CHART
I don’t know if I would be completely out on Daniel Jones if I were a Giants enthusiast, but he has a long way to go. Darius Slayton had a nice day, and Golden Tate is always a threat, but that offense was built for Saquon, and he won’t return this year, either. In other words, they are a mess.
Keep in mind, a blitz is not just five-plus rushing at the quarterback. It is an “unexpected rusher,” and therefore, sometimes four-man pressures are blitzes (such as a zone blitz where another man is dropping). But pressure was a factor, and that is the way moving forward.
EXPLOSIVES (20+ yard plays)
Any time you can play a full game and only allow two explosives, you will be very happy.
Here is the latest on Splash Plays, and check out Jaylon Smith’s day.
Splash Plays - Week 5
| Q - TIME | D/D | PLAYER | SPLASH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-10:05 | 1/10/46 | Jaylon Smith | Holding Penalty Drawn |
| 2-15:00 | 1/10/40 | Lawrence - Hill | Run Stuffed |
| 2-6:31 | 1/10/25 | A Smith | Run Stuffed |
| 2-5:46 | 2/9/26 | A Smith | Heavy QB Pressure |
| 2-5:08 | 1/10/37 | Lawrence | Sack |
| 2-5:08 | 1/10/37 | Lawrence | Fumble Forced |
| 2-5:08 | 1/10/37 | Brown | Fumble Recovered |
| 2-5:08 | 1/10/37 | Brown | Touchdown Return |
| 2-4:17 | 2/7/28 | Thomas | Pass Broken Up |
| 2-1:13 | 2/5/28 | J Smith | Run Stuffed |
| 2-1:07 | 3/4/27 | A Smith | Heavy QB Pressure |
| 3-12:39 | 2/6/43 | J Smith | Run Stuffed |
| 3-11:08 | 1/10/35 | J Smith | Tackle For Loss |
| 3-9:45 | 3/16/41 | Griffen | Heavy QB Pressure |
| 3-4:56 | 2/10/25 | A Woods | Holding Penalty Drawn |
| 3-3:46 | 3/13/22 | Griffen - J Smith | Sack |
| 3-1:20 | 1/10/24 | A Smith J Smith | Tackle For Loss |
| 4-10:23 | 2/4/11 | J Thomas | Tackle For Loss |
| 4-1:50 | 1/10/24 | Diggs | Pass Broken Up |
| 4-1:39 | 1/10/38 | J Smith | Tackle For Loss |
In hockey, they love the cliche that “our best players have to be our best players” to basically point out that our stars better lead us, or we are in trouble. Sunday was an easy day to see that Jaylon, Lawrence and Aldon Smith are making a difference. Is it a flash in the pan? Let’s hope not. The offense has been doing the lifting, but now the defense has to come on strong.
Season Totals - 2020 Splash Plays
| PLAYER | TOTAL SPLASHES |
|---|---|
 Aldon Smith | 12 |
 Jaylon Smith | 10 |
 Trevon Diggs | 8 |
 DeMarcus Lawrence | 8 |
 Joe Thomas | 7.5 |
 Everson Griffen | 7 |
 Trysten Hill | 5 |
 Jourdan Lewis | 4 |
 Antwaun Woods | 3 |
 Xavier Woods | 2.5 |
 Chido Awuzie | 2 |
 Anthony Brown | 2 |
 Daryl Worley | 1 |
 Brandon Carr | 1 |
 Dontari Poe | 0.5 |
 Donovan Wilson | 0.5 |
| 74 |
The top players are starting to rise to the top there.
The Cowboys had 22 players play defensive snaps on Sunday, which might be close to a modern record. That is a ton, and it suggests a few things. First, they really want Leighton Vander Esch and Chidobe Awuzie back as soon as possible. Second, it says they are unhappy with a lot of spots. While some places want a rotation, the Cowboys are currently more concerned about someone stepping up. Third, it declares open tryouts on these spots, and I love that. Here is the snap distribution for Sunday:
Look, I know it was just the Giants, and I know it wasn’t perfect. But this was a real step forward after the Browns game. If they can build on it for Monday night, they can win the Cardinal game, too. Dallas will have way more talent and problems to deal with, and they might need to hit on a few game-changing ambush plays, but this is what you want to see. A coaching staff pushing personnel changes, competition for spots and looking at tactical adjustments to find that hidden 10 percent of improvement might help determine a division title.
In other words, this was much easier to analyze this week than other weeks. I saw progress. I also saw some good fortune in the fake field goal being erased, and the Cowboys getting a proper call on that offensive pass interference touchdown. Still, this is what you want to see.
Now Trysten Hill is down with an ACL injury that really hurts a year of great progress, so they may need to visit the waiver wire for defensive tackle depth. I’m not sure how close LVE is, but they could sure use him, too.
Plenty to consider, but enough good news to bravely prepare for Week 6 and Kyler Murray.