Tag: run defense

Packers edge rusher room with a run defense mindset

Improvement for the Green Bay Packers’ defense as a whole probably begins with being better against the run in 2023. In order to accomplish that, it’s not only the interior defenders who have to improve but all 11 defenders on the field have to be …

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Improvement for the Green Bay Packers’ defense as a whole probably begins with being better against the run in 2023. In order to accomplish that, it’s not only the interior defenders who have to improve but all 11 defenders on the field have to be better, including the edge rushers.

At this time of the year, with OTAs taking place, it’s always important to note that the pads are not on yet. However, during Tuesday’s practice that was open to the media, the edge rusher position group held up well against the run. There were several instances where the ball carrier either had to bounce back inside because there was nowhere to go as they tried to stretch the field, or they ended up running out of bounds for a minimal gain, unable to get around the corner.

A primary role of the edge rushers on running downs is to set the edge, which if done correctly as described above, makes bouncing outside, or getting around the corner a difficult task for the running back, and funnels them back toward the middle of the field. Although the edge rusher group that the Packers have is very good at getting after the quarterback, this is one aspect where the unit can improve.

Things can go poorly when an edge rusher is either unable to get off blocks or by being overly aggressive and treating the running play like a pass-rush opportunity. This can lead to them abandoning their responsibility on the edge and crashing down toward the quarterback and ball carrier, creating all sorts of space along the boundary for the running back.

Run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery said a few weeks ago that being better against the run will take all 11 defenders to do so and that being a good run defense team beings with “mindset.” Following Tuesday’s practice, I asked Preston Smith what that mindset means to him and the edge rusher room.

“You have got to play violent from start to finish, especially in the run game,” said Smith. “We preach in our room violent get off and violent hands, and that has to roll over to the run game. So when you’re getting off the ball, you have to get off violently, and when you engage the offensive lineman, you have to do it violently, and you have to get off blocks violently to make tackles and make sure that we make good tackles behind the line of scrimmage and that we make plays that help the defense put us in great situations like second and long or third and long.”

Depending on whether or not Rashan Gary is available for Week 1, there may be none or one roster spots available, assuming the Packers keep five edge rushers. Including Gary, the roster locks include Smith, JJ Enagbare, and Lukas Van Ness. Although from a contract standpoint, getting out of Justin Hollins’ deal would be easy for the Packers if they were to release him, with how he is being utilized during OTAs, seeing ample playing time with both the ones and twos, it’s hard to envision him not being on the team this season.

That right there is already five players. But if Gary begins the season on the PUP list still recovering from an ACL injury, it does open the door for undrafted rookie Brenton Cox, who Matt LaFleur specifically named on Tuesday as one of the young players who has impressed over the last few weeks.

During his time with the Packers, Hollins held up well against the run, ranking 27th in PFF’s run-stop rate metric. Run defense, compared to rushing the quarterback, can come with a more difficult learning curve for young players with the nuance and technique that goes into playing that role effectively. So now in his second season, Enagbare taking a leap forward will go a long way in helping this edge rusher unit against the run. When it comes to Van Ness, at least early on, I suspect that he will be primarily used as a pass rusher.

It’s not a coincidence that during the last few games of the season, when the Packers happened to be playing their best football, they went from allowing 5.0 yards per rush to just 4.4, which over the course of the season would have ranked 15th, a far cry from the 28th spot where they finished. When the defense is able to limit the run game on early downs, every member of the defense benefits.

It puts the offense in second and third and long situations, making them more predictable, and allows the defensive front to pin their ears back and really get after the quarterback. If the defensive front is able to slow the run, it also provides Joe Barry with the flexibility to play with more defenders in the secondary to limit the passing game, which is something else that we saw from this Packers defense late last season as well.

“We got to be better, across the board, point blank,” said Jerry Montgomery about the run defense. “I’ve got to be better and get my guys to play to that standard, but it takes 11. We got to be physical at the point of attack, build a wall, stay square, but we do, second level and third level have to do the same. So we have to put it all together, and we plan on doing that.”

Run defense is ‘mindset’ that Packers defense trying to unlock

Getting better against the run starts with a mindset, according to Packers run defense coordinator Jerry Montgomery.

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How does a Green Bay Packers defense with eight first-round picks on it improve in 2023? If you ask Kenny Clark, it starts with better tackling and holding up against the run.

When it was all said and done, the Packers’ defense in 2022 allowed 5.0 yards per rush, which ranked 28th in the NFL, and by Football Outsiders’ all-encompassing DVOA metric, Green Bay ranked 31st in run defense.

When an offense is able to find success running the ball on early downs, it keeps them ahead of the sticks, which then opens up the playbook, and for defenses, it becomes much more difficult to diagnose what’s coming next. Then, in an effort to slow the run game, defenses may put more defenders near the line of scrimmage, thus making them more susceptible to the passing game. These are just a few of the negative trickle-down effects that happen to a defense.

On the flip side, when Green Bay was able to contain an opponent’s rushing attack, it put the offense in predictable third-and-long situations. This allowed the pass rush to pin its ears back and for the secondary to play more aggressively. It’s not a coincidence that when the Packers’ defense was playing its best football at the end of the season, they were also doing a much better job of slowing the run.

In spurts here and there, the Packers’ defense has shown that they can slow the run, but what they are lacking is consistency. When run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery was asked on Wednesday what makes a good run defender, he said it all comes down to a player’s mindset.

“It’s a mindset,” said Montgomery. “At the end of the day, it’s a mindset. We had a great conversation in our room a couple of weeks ago. We are watching Kenny do it, and then we are watching other guys try to do it, and they’re being taught the same thing, but it’s in the mindset in which you do it. Kenny is trying to knock your head off across from you every single time while these other guys are just trying to the technique.”

“When it clicks for them,” added Montgomery, “you go back and watch TJ Slaton against the Minnesota Vikings here, and him pick up a 300-pound center and put him five yards back down there on the goal line and then grab the running back by the back of the neck and yank him down. That’s a mindset, he can do that every single time, but he has to make that decision. My job is to hold them accountable every single day, make sure they’re working and playing to that ability, but when they get into the game, I can’t hold their hand.”

The Packers have no shortage of pass rush options on the roster along the interior defensive line, but how they will balance that playing time with the need for early down run stoppers remains to be seen.

I went into greater detail on this topic here, but in short, Green Bay has Slaton as their run-stuffer, along with Clark, who can make an impact, but it’s not as if Clark can play every defensive snap either. If he’s out there on rushing downs, at some point, he will be off the field on passing downs.

Given the makeup of the current interior defensive line room, Devonte Wyatt, who still has to develop his run defense technique, according to Clark, is going to have to step up on those early downs. Rookies Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks are likely to primarily be pass rush options early on, although perhaps with their versatility, the Packers line them up at defensive end on first and second downs to help set the edge.

Although the defensive front is the first line of defense, stopping the run takes a collective effort from all 11 defenders. Edge rushers need to contain the ball carriers, not letting them bounce outside, while linebackers and safeties need to shed blocks and fill run gaps, along with sound tackling being a must from everybody. For the Green Bay defense, all the above are areas where they will have to be better in 2023.

“Consistently across the board, the front seven has to be better,” said Montgomery. “From the front to the backers and even the third-level guys that eventually have to fit and come help us, we have to all be on the same page. When we are fitting a run, we have to know who we are looking at, and even if we are playing certain personnels against personnel we might not necessarily always line up against, we have to do a great job of knowing what our job is, what our key is, how we see it, and how we trigger it, so we all fit on the same page.

“We got to be better, across the board, point blank. I’ve got to be better and get my guys to play to that standard, but it takes 11. We got to be physical at the point of attack, build a wall, stay square, but we do, second level and third level have to do the same. So we have to put it all together, and we plan on doing that.”

When the defense is able to contain the run, of course, every player on that side of the ball benefits, but oftentimes so will the Green Bay offense. A bottled-up run game leads to third and longs and puts the ball back in the Packers’ hands, either via a punt or perhaps a turnover in a predictable passing situation. In the red zone, it could mean holding the opponent to a field goal rather than giving up a touchdown.

On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Joe Barry discussed the importance of the defense being better situationally. For a Packers team that most likely has a small margin for error in 2023, those handful of plays throughout a game that provide the offense with an extra possession or two from a defensive stop or hold an opponent to three points instead of seven could be the difference between a win and a loss when you don’t have a four-time MVP at quarterback able to erase those mistakes. And as Clark said, all of that begins with being a better tackling and run defense unit.

Reinforcements required on rushing downs along Packers’ interior DL

Coming out of the draft, the Packers could still use a veteran run-stuffer along the defensive line.

The Green Bay Packers entered the 2023 NFL draft with the interior defensive line as one of the positions they had to address, as they were short on both depth and experience. While they would add Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks, there is still a question or two that remain, including how will Green Bay handle early downs or obvious running situations?

The only true run-stuffer that the Packers have is TJ Slaton. Presumably, he will be taking a large number of those early down snaps as he now enters his third NFL season. Joining him will be Kenny Clark and potentially Devonte Wyatt in some instances as well.

On Madden, that configuration works. But in real life, Clark and Wyatt can’t be playing 100% of the defensive snaps each week, either. If the Packers prioritize having them on the field on running downs, then the trickle-down effect of that is that they may be off the field on passing downs. If Green Bay wants either available for passing situations, there will be running downs where one or neither player may be on the field.

With Wooden and Brooks, the Packers won’t have the same luxury of bringing either player along slowly as they did with Wyatt. However, ideally, when it comes to maximizing what each player can do and putting them in positions to be successful, both should primarily be used on passing downs, where Brian Gutekunst and the Packers’ staff identified that Wooden and Brooks could have the greatest impact.

“Both of those guys (Brooks and Wooden) have extensive skill set to rush the passer, the production to rush the passer,” said Gutekunst after the draft. “We talk about versatility with those guys and I think they’re able to go up and down the line of scrimmage to rush the passer and that was another goal for us.”

If the Packers were going to make an outside addition to their roster via free agency, adding to the interior defensive line room would make a lot of sense. A few players that still remain unsigned include Matt Ioannidis, Akiem Hicks, Shelby Harris, and Chris Wormley.

But as we know, the Packers are limited on cap space with just $9.6 million available, according to Spotrac, and they still need about half of that to sign their draft class. On offense, the Packers are giving their young skill position players the opportunity to showcase what they can do before deciding whether or not to make another addition. Gutekunst could be taking a similar approach on the defensive side of the ball. Also, adding a sixth interior defensive lineman, when routinely only four or five see playing time each week, takes away from another position group when it comes to a roster-building standpoint.

So what is going to be the Packers’ solution to his question? As of now, and with how the position group is constructed, my guess is that we see at least one of Wyatt or Clark on the field during early downs or obvious running situations. Wooden and Brooks, each with experience as edge rushers, could line up at defensive end on rushing downs and be tasked with setting a strong edge to keep the ball carrier from bouncing outside. Lukas Van Ness could be moved inside in these situations as well. There is also the hope that either Chris Slayton or Jonathan Ford can emerge over the summer as a candidate who could take a few early down snaps when needed.

The Packers’ run defense was again porous last season, ranking 28th in yards per rush allowed at 5.0 and 31st in run defense by DVOA. However, during the final five games of the season, Green Bay was much improved in this aspect, allowing only 4.4 yards per carry, which over the course of the entire season, would have ranked 15th.

Not coincidentally, the defense as a whole was playing its best football during this stretch. When the Packers are able to contain the run, it puts the opposing offense in third-and-longs and predictable passing situations, allowing for the defensive front to pin its ears back getting after the quarterback, while the secondary can play more aggressively as well.

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Packers game planning for Justin Fields with run defense tested again

One week after the Green Bay Packers defense was run over by the Philadelphia Eagles, they will face another run-heavy opponent in the Chicago Bears, who will put this porous unit to the test. Led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Eagles rushed for a …

One week after the Green Bay Packers defense was run over by the Philadelphia Eagles, they will face another run-heavy opponent in the Chicago Bears, who will put this porous unit to the test.

Led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Eagles rushed for a whopping 363 rushing yards against Green Bay at 7.4 yards per rush. Hurts totaled 157 yards while running back Miles Sanders rushed for 143, with most of his damage coming between the tackles. Undisciplined football by the Packers, which included over 20 missed tackles, poorly set edges, and an inability to shed blocks, was fully taken advantage of by the Eagles.

Quarterback Justin Fields and the Chicago running game can also give the Packers fits. Fields would miss last week’s game with a shoulder injury, and as of now, his status for this Sunday’s game is still up in the air. However, for Matt LaFleur and the Packers, they will be game-planning as if he is going to be under center.

“I would say the majority of the plan is directed toward him being in there,” said LaFleur on Wednesday. “Obviously, with him not playing last week, that’s another week for him to get healthy and get rest. It’s a guessing game, but you have to hedge your bet in that area.”

On both designed runs drawn up by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, along with Fields adlibbing when needed, he has rushed for 834 yards this season at 6.9 yards per rush, seven touchdowns, and is tough to bring down. He also has 10-plus rush attempts in his previous two games played.

“We’d be foolish not to plan for Justin because if you don’t, you will get gutted,” added LaFleur. “That quarterback run game they have is pretty spectacular, and it doesn’t always show up in the run game, but even on his ability to drop back and if nothing is there to find a window, or an escape lane and make you pay in that regard. So I think we’re going to have to have everybody in tune and on the same page because you can’t give that guy a sliver of light or he will make you pay.”

If Fields can’t go, it will either be Nathan Peterman or the recently signed Tim Boyle under center for Chicago. Although neither brings the same mobility to the position that Fields does, which could very well shift the Packers’ game plan, Green Bay still needs to be prepared for a Bears’ run game that leads the NFL in rush attempts per game.

The Packers won’t have to contend with Khalil Herbert, who is on IR and has been one of the more dynamic backs in the NFL this season, averaging 6.0 yards per rush, but David Montgomery can cause problems, as the Packers know well. Despite oftentimes facing a heavy dose of eight-man boxes, Montgomery is still averaging 4.0 yards per rush and has been difficult to bring down, ranking 13th in total yards after contact, along with being tied for seventh in missed tackles forced.

The last time these two teams met back in Week 2, the Bears rushed for 180 yards at 6.7 yards per rush, led by Montgomery’s 122 yards on only 15 attempts. The Green Bay run defense certainly wasn’t great, but it’s worth mentioning that a good chunk of these yards per picked up when the Packers had a two-score lead and were defending against the big pass play. Chicago, meanwhile, continued to stick with the ground game.

As bad as things were last week against the Eagles, the Packers did slow Derrick Henry and the Titans rushing attack the week before. While Joe Barry was slow to adjust versus Philadelphia and often stayed put in his base nickel defense against Tennessee, we saw more blitzes and six-man fronts. This then left Green Bay more susceptible against the passing game, which Ryan Tannehill took advantage of, but one would think that the game plan will look closer to this than what we saw in Philadelphia, given how often the Bears run the ball and that they will be without Darnell Mooney–although with this defense, you never truly know what to expect.

However, as LaFleur again reiterated on Wednesday, it doesn’t much matter what they have called defensively if the players are going to miss 20-plus tackles. From a schematic standpoint, the Green Bay defenders were in a position to make plays, said LaFleur earlier in the week; they just simply didn’t.

“We are going to have to get multiple hats on the ball because it’s not only Justin Fields; they have tremendous running backs as well,” said LaFleur. “It’s collectively as a unit you have to have multiple hats on the ball, and you have to do a great job of not only grabbing cloth or finding ways to get a guy on the grass, whether it’s a knife tackle or what we call a roll tackle, you have to have a great tackling plan. We have to own our leverage and know how to leverage the ball, and know where your help is at instead of over-pursuing and allowing a cutback lane where there is nobody there. If your leverage is to your right, you better stay inside out on the ball carrier and let your help get to your right.”

It goes without saying, but whether or not Fields is able to play is going to have a major impact on the game, not only from a rushing standpoint with his playmaking but that added threat under center can help the passing game as well. But regardless of who is under center for the Bears, the Packers should be prepared for a heavy dose of the run game. However, can they find a way to slow it down this week?

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Pete Carroll: Seahawks ‘had our chances,’ but Raiders outplayed them

The Seattle Seahawks were clearly outplayed in Week 12 when they fell to the Las Vegas Raiders in overtime Sunday at Lumen Field.

The Seattle Seahawks are still recovering from their overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, including coach Pete Carroll.

“For us, we had our chances to win the football game,” Carroll said after the game. “They were obvious, so clear. You all know them. To give them the opportunity to stay in there and hang in there, they’ve been hanging, they’ve been in close games all year long. Nothing different for them. They get the big play to win the thing, which isn’t really the statement of the game.”

Taking a look at the big picture, the Seahawks didn’t deserve to win in the end.

“We gave up way too much in the running game,” Carroll said. “We did not play the run worth a darn in getting that done. We didn’t rush the passer as well as we needed to either. That’s just what happened in this game. I give them credit. They outplayed us and got their win.

“But it’s really frustrating because the game was there to be won.”

If you missed the final play of the day, here’s another look if you can stomach it  . . .

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‘It’s a statement’: Cowboys run defense shuts down Saquon Barkley, preps for December stretch

The defense has learned from their mistakes in Green Bay. They held Barkley and Daniel Jones to a combined 53 rushing yards, a season low. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Decimated by an illness going around the facility, the Cowboys defense faced a tall task in trying to shut down Giants running back Saquon Barkley on Thanksgiving Day. Barkley came in as the league’s second-leading rusher, with nearly 1,000 yards total and averaging over 95 yards on the ground per game.

Dallas didn’t allow him to get even halfway there, limiting him to just 39 yards on 11 carries in a 28-20 Cowboys win that ended up being not as close as the final score would indicate.

“I thought we did pretty good. He might have had one, maybe two explosive runs. But for the most part, [we] contained him and made sure everything was short,” linebacker Micah Parsons said afterward of the Giants star. “I think we did a pretty good job for the way he’s been playing this year.”

Barkley’s longest run on the day was 10 yards. Although he did rush for a second-quarter touchdown, he didn’t inflict further serious damage on a Cowboys run defense that had been gashed for over 200 yards just 11 days prior.

“That thing that happened in Green Bay, you know, it’s just a part of our journey,” offered safety Jayron Kearse. “If that doesn’t happen, then who knows if we’re here. We just continue to fight and just learn from our mistakes.”

After a sluggish first half from the entire team, the Cowboys defense buckled down noticeably after the break. They didn’t make many mistakes at all in the final thirty minutes; the Giants’ four second-half possessions ended in two turnovers on downs, a punt, and a too-little-too-late touchdown with under two minutes to play.

“Yeah, we had to come out and fight. Definitely not a pretty first round,” Parsons told reporters. “Definitely not the way you want to start but, for the most part, we came out in that second half and dominated.”

Parsons logged two second-half sacks on Daniel Jones to bring his season total to 12 and helped hold the normally mobile passer to just 14 rushing yards, well below his typical per-game average of 41.

Barkley and Jones combined Thursday for just 53 yards on the ground, their lowest output of the season. In all, the Giants as a team rushed for just 90 yards on the day.

That domination is even more impressive given the number of Dallas defensive players who have been dealing with a seasonal bug. No fewer than seven Cowboys- all on the defense- were listed on Wednesday’s practice report with illness.

Tarell Basham, Johnathan Hankins, and Kelvin Joseph were all among the inactives because of it. Neville Gallimore, Dante Fowler, Donovan Wilson, and DeMarcus Lawrence all battled through it to play Thursday. Quinton Bohanna is just getting over it after sitting out versus Minnesota on Sunday.

But the depleted ranks didn’t diminish the swarming spirit of the unit as a whole, especially with the national spotlight shining on a divisional clash that would determine second place in the NFC East.

“I’m pretty sure everyone stayed positive,” Parsons said at his locker. “I think it’s just the flu bug going around. Everyone is catching it. Even the Giants caught it; it’s obviously going around. But just staying positive, knowing that if someone goes down, we know that we’re so deep over here. Just knowing that the next guy can cover the play no matter what.”

Now two games removed from their colossal letdown at Lambeau, the Cowboys defense appears to be making good on their internally-imposed priority of everybody simply doing their job and not trying to do too much.

That will continue to be critical in the weeks ahead as the gauntlet of opposing rushers doesn’t let up. Indianapolis’s Jonathan Taylor, Houston’s Dameon Pierce, Jacksonville’s Travis Etienne, Philadelphia’s Miles Sanders, and Tennessee’s Derrick Henry- all in the league’s top 10 in rushing yards per game-  are up next over the next five outings.

“We’re definitely going in the right direction,” Kearse said. “When it comes to just being sound in our task and our fundamentals when it comes to our job. Just handling our responsibility. You definitely saw that tonight, holding a phenomenal back like Saquon to the yards that he had. It’s a statement for the things to come if we continue to do the right thing.”

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Micah Parsons fears more big rushing days for Cowboys’ opponents: ‘It’s going to keep happening’

After giving up 200+ ground yards for the 2nd straight game, Parsons vented about some on the defense not stepping up. “It has to change.” | From @ToddBrock24f7

Micah Parsons was visibly dejected as he sat in the visitors locker room at Lambeau Field following Sunday’s overtime loss to the Packers.

The Cowboys linebacker was clearly upset about the loss in which the defense allowed Green Bay to score the final 17 points of the contest. It marked the 196th time in franchise history the Cowboys had held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter… but the first time they had ever lost.

Parsons called the collapse “disgusting,” but he also seemed to bracing himself for something bigger and more ominous that he senses could be looming on the horizon in Dallas.

Packers backs Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon combined for over 200 yards on the ground in Week 10, and the Cowboys run defense faces a murderer’s row of running threats for the rest of the regular season. And that has the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year concerned.

“We’ve just got to be accountable,” Parsons explained to reporters after the 31-28 overtime final. “We’ve got to hold our gaps. We’ve got to come downhill and stop it. It’s going to keep happening until we stop it. Period. We can rush as much as we want, but until we put this flame out, of this running the ball stuff, we’re never going to be as good as we need to be. Period. We’ve got to get better.”

Nine games in, the Cowboys are allowing 143.1 rushing yards per game. Only three teams are posting worse numbers in the category. And after now giving up over 200 rushing yards in back-to-back outings, backs like Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook, the Giants’ Saquon Barley, and Indianapolis’s Jonathan Taylor (the Cowboys’ next three opponents) have to be licking their chops.

The Dallas defense is loaded with highlight-reel stars and physical maulers, but Parsons implies that there’s something else going on within the unit’s larger group dynamic.

“I would take any of these guys any day of the week when it comes to physicality,” said Parsons. “But in terms of being accountable- staying and knowing you’re doing your job- that’s what it is. People think this is an ‘I’ game because certain people splash. This is a ‘we’ thing. It’s not just one person. If he doesn’t get the call, that’s on us. If he doesn’t stunt, whether he does, it’s on us. It’s a ‘we’ thing; we’ve got to depend on everybody to do their job. And if one person’s not doing their job, everything’s in shambles. It’s something that I’m very upset about, and it has to change.”

Exactly what will change before Sunday’s showdown with the 8-1 Vikings is unclear. But Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones has faith in the man who’ll be in charge of implementing it.

“We have complete confidence in Dan Quinn,” Jones told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan on Monday. “I know that he’s going to continue to grind on it, and certainly we can be better. We have to be better. Obviously, that’s the way teams are going to attack us. How many times do you ever see an Aaron Rodgers game where he throws it 20 and they run it 40? Probably not very often. But we’re probably going to keep seeing that, and I know Dan, he’s the best of the best. I know he’ll keep going back to the drawing board with our players. We’ve got a great group of guys who’ve got a great mentality, a great play temperament.”

Parsons, the unit’s centerpiece, played 95% of the team’s defensive snaps on Sunday and finished the game tied for first among Cowboys in total tackles. He’s admittedly banged up, and had to have his ankle re-taped at one point in Green Bay. But he was still plenty effective, even if he didn’t have any of those splash plays he himself mentioned.

It can be argued that Parsons was made easier for the Packers to target because he spent the majority of Sunday at the same position. Rather than frequently moving him up to the defensive line, Quinn left him at linebacker for over 50 of his 61 Week 10 snaps. Covering for the inactive Anthony Barr may have been necessary, but it also seemed to, for all intents and purposes, neutralize Parsons’s best skill.

He rushed the passer just nine times.

“Obviously, when the other team breaks the huddle, they’re looking to find him. But one of the things Dan has been great at is moving him around,” Jones said. “But it was one of those games where they did a good job with him and, as you said, they didn’t throw it many times.

“You just didn’t feel that explosive play [from him], which seems unbelievable, because he seems to do it almost every game.”

Except he didn’t against Green Bay. And, as Parsons himself is so upset about, neither did anybody else on the Cowboys defense.

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Cowboys activate DE Tarell Basham from IR, facing gauntlet of top RBs

Out since Week 1 with a quad injury, Basham returns just as the Cowboys defense preps for a murderer’s row of opposing rushing threats. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys are getting back a key piece of their run defense puzzle just in time.

Defensive end Tarell Basham has been activated to the 53-man roster after sitting out the past seven games. He suffered a quad injury in the season-opening loss to Tampa Bay and was at the end of his 21-day practice window that began on Oct. 19.

The former third-round draft pick was a significant run-stopper for Dallas last season. Now he’ll return just as the team prepares to face a gauntlet of top rushing threats, starting with Green Bay’s Aaron Jones. Jones is expected to play this week despite sustaining an ankle injury in Week 9 that forced him to exit the game early; his 5.6 yards per carry is currently 12th-best in the NFL.

Looking ahead, it’s a murderer’s row of opposing rushers. Star running backs Vikings’ Dalvin Cook, the Giants’ Saquon Barkley, and the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor all follow on the Cowboys’ schedule. And after that: Dameon Pierce, Travis Etienne, Miles Sanders, and Derrick Henry. Each is currently in the top ten in rushing yards except for Taylor, and he was last year’s rushing champ.

The Cowboys are allowing an average of 135.1 ground yards per game, ninth-worst in the league.

Head coach Mike McCarthy reinforced the importance of stiffening up against the run in his Wednesday press conference.

“We understand that when people look at our defense, it’s like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to try to run the ball on these guys,'” the coach told reporters. “We know that’s the way people want to come at us. The numbers reflect that if you look at the number of attempts that we have seen- especially late- so we understand it’s a starting point. But we’re also not ignorant and blind to what comes off of those is action throws and an opportunity to try to take some shots on our guys. Our run defense will be critical because it puts us in favorable down-and-distance [situations] to do what we do best, and that’s obviously rushing the passer.”

Basham was on the practice field Wednesday, with his imminent return boding well for the entire Cowboys’ defensive line rotation as they hit the back half of the regular season.

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[lawrence-newsletter]

Raiders Maxx Crosby is NFL’s top run-stopping DE through 4 weeks

Maxx Crosby leads all NFL DE’s in every run stop category while being top five in sacks.

I recall this narrative that was being spun about Maxx Crosby during his rookie season that said he was a situational pass rusher. In other words, he was put in the game in obvious passing situation and had to come out in short yardage. Even at that time, I kept wondering where that narrative started because it was simply not true. Not ever. Not even as a rookie.

Four years later, that narrative seems to be forgotten. At least those to promulgated it would like it to be. Because it’s been obvious for some time that Crosby is as much of a force from the defensive end spot against the run as he is against the pass. And that’s saying a lot.

Need any further proof? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

According to Pro Football Focus, Crosby leads the way in just about every run stop category they track including run stops (15), run stop percentage (16.1%), solo tackles (16), combined tackles (20), and run defense grade (81.2)

His 16.1% is by far the best run-stop percentage among DE’s — 2.4 points better than the next on the list.

Here is the full top five

Maxx Crosby 16.1%
Jihad Ward 13.7%
Sam Hubbard 11.8%
Odafe Oweh 11.3%
Cameron Jordan 10.4%

Crosby also leads the league in tackles for loss (8). Not just among defensive ends. At any position. And if you’re wondering about his pass rushing; his four sacks tie him for fifth in the league. Nearly as many sacks as the rest of the top five run-stopping DE’s combined (4.5).

He’s a unicorn.

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[lawrence-newsletter]

Chargers NT Linval Joseph turned on the jets vs. Eagles

Linval Joseph is one of the more athletic big men in the NFL.

At 6-foot-4 and nearly 330 pounds, you would not expect a person of that size to be fast at all.

Well, Chargers nose tackle Linval Joseph is here to defy those odds.

Head coach Brandon Staley said Joseph was clocked at 16 miles per hour at one point during last Sunday’s victory over the Eagles, which was the fastest mark in the game among defensive tackles.

That would not be the first time that Joseph showed he could turn on the jets.

In 2018 while he was with the Vikings, Joseph knocked the ball out of quarterback Carson Wentz’s hands and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown.

The big man athleticism was not Joseph’s main highlight against Philadelphia. Instead, he was a key piece of the turning point of the run defense in the second half.

Not only did he take on single and double teams, but Joseph also used his brute strength to shed blocks and make plays on ball carriers, finishing the game with nine tackles, which was the most by any Charger in Week 9.

Currently, Joseph has 19 run stops, which ranks second in the league among all interior defensive linemen, per Pro Football Focus.

Set to be a free agent at the end of the season, Joseph is making his case to be re-signed.