Time flies when you’re having fun, or when you’re making your way through an NFL season. It’s hard to believe it’s already Week 12 of the 2019 campaign when it seems like only yesterday the curtain was going up on the first act, but Week 1 is now a distant memory.
For the Dallas Cowboys, they are one of a handful of teams in the league this year yet to stake a claim to their true identity. We know the club is a powerful offensive juggernaut, but special teams seems to just be hoping they won’t get too embarrassed on any particular play and the defense hasn’t declared themselves a force.
They will need to find their identity to go on the necessary run to lead to a second-straight playoff appearance.
The unit has undergone a few changes from how things looked to start the year, and it’s interesting to see the differences in personnel.
Hybrid defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford started the year at right defensive end. Robert Quinn was suspended the first two games of the season due to a PED suspension the player believably claims was a pharmacy error. It was supposed to be his starting spot, but Crawford was going to be a major part of the DL rotation anyway.
However his hip continued to bother him after offseason surgery, and he was placed on injured reserve following Week 6 after missing two early games.
As Quinn obviously locked down the RE spot, the team was still hurting for contributions for Crawford’s other role, as a part-time three-technique. That led to a midseason trade for Michael Bennett. Bennett, despite committing five penalties in his first three games, has been a key contributor since coming over from the Patriots.
Antwaun Woods missed some time early with a knee injury, and that brought free agent Christian Covington further into the equation.
While the Dallas linebackers have pretty much enjoyed the rotation planned for them, with Sean Lee and Joe Thomas spelling their two premiere players Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, performances overall have been a bit hampered.
Smith clearly looked hobbled through several early games where his pursuit and effort looked more reminiscent to 2017 than his breakout 2018. Vander Esch has dealt with neck and back injuries in recent weeks, hampering his play.
Lee is getting the lion’s share of the sub snaps, outsnapping Thomas 319 to 144, but an argument could be made their usage should flip.
The secondary has gone through some changes just like the DL.
Slot corner Anthony Brown had struggled with both injury and his performance this season. After a year-plus of calls from the Cowboys Wire peanut gallery and other parts of Cowboys Nation, Jourdan Lewis finally started getting regular playtime over the last couple of weeks.
Like Crawford, Brown is now done for the year with a triceps injury, meaning Dallas is down two starters from their opening week depth chart.
In addition, safety Jeff Heath has been hampered the last few games, leading to Darian Thompson to fill in. Heath wasn’t good, but the difference between he and Thompson has been severe.
Fortunately for Dallas, Heath has returned to full participation in practice this week, in preparation for the Patriots. Will it be enough?
The Cowboys currently rank 20th in defensive DVOA, a Football Outsiders’ metric that measures quality on a per-play basis with considerations for opponent quality and game situation. They finished 9th in 2018.
They’ll need to move back towards that level if they want to make noise down the stretch.
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