The Cowboys are on the verge of playing their biggest game of the year on Sunday Night against the hated Eagles and it could be a game that ultimately knocks the losing team out of the playoff race.
For the Cowboys, they’ll need to find a way to defeat the Eagles in the trenches. Our offensive line should be able to turn it around this time around, but the defensive line remains the weak point off attack on defense. It’s been the same all year long, but eventually the inability to sack the QB is going to bite us in the ass. Whether it’s against the Eagles or perhaps in the playoffs, the lack of a pass rush will be too easy for the likes of Aaron Rodgers or other elite QB to just tear apart.
There are rumblings that the defensive staff is down on Henry Melton, the highly paid defensive tackle we signed this past offseason. He was not looked as a savior, but it was thought he would be more disruptive than he has been. At 4.5 sacks, and none over the past 4 weeks, things are looking bad for him getting his club option (3yr/$24m) picked up by the Cowboys at the end of the season. He’s been good, but he’s also disappeared in more than a few games.
In addition, I wonder if there’s something else happening behind the scenes on the defensive side of the ball. They started out playing solid and the whole crew kinda reverted back to shades of 2013. In talking with a few other’s, there are some thoughts that Rod Marinelli is going to jump ship whether Garrett remains or not, and this could be the domino effect we are seeing on defense and it could be part of the reason Melton is not playing as well. If you know the DC is going to be gone to Tampa Bay next season, then is could effect players. Again, I’m not saying this is the case, but I do wonder if this is the root cause to recent deficiencies.
For Dallas’s future on defense, I think they’re going to make a run at Ndamukong Suh and Jerry Jones will find a way to make it work, and he’ll find a way to get the other guys signed as well. Suh is represented by Jimmy Sexton who also represents Bill Parcells and Jason Witten, so Jerry is quite familiar with him as well. Suh recently said Sexton would pick the team he would play for, Read More Here.
Outside of some incredible renaissance performance by Melton, I don’t see them bringing him back. He’ll be a free agent in 2015.
I’ve said it before, this defense needs some nastiness to it and they don’t have it in the trenches. We have it at the LB position with Rolando McClain, but the guys up front need to set the tone. We had that nastiness during our Super Bowl runs in the ’90s with Leon Lett and Charles Haley. If we get Suh in Dallas, this defense will feed off the menacing play and it’ll pay off.
We have Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence to build around, we just need another player or two on the defensive line that plays with a mean streak and sets the tone in the trenches.
Where does the money come from?
It’ll come from re-structuring of a few deals and the releasing of under performing guys like Brandon Carr. DeMarco Murray has priced himself out of Dallas’ price range, especially at the running back position. Murray is playing lights out for a big pay day, and who can blame him, but it won’t come from Dallas. The Cowboys like what they have seen from Joseph Randle, and I look for them to give him the reigns in 2015 along with a later round draft pick. The biggest question will be what to do with Dez Bryant? I don’t see him going anywhere, but will we just franchise tag him and will that cause blow-back on his part?
These are all going to play out in a few weeks, but hopefully for us, these discussions won’t ramp up until after the playoffs or Super Bowl. We need to get to the playoffs.
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