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Gosselin: Why pass-rush poor Cowboys can find Super Bowl hope in 2006 champion Indianapolis Colts
By Rick Gosselin
In saying goodbye to DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory and Rolando McClain, the Cowboys can say goodbye to their pass rush.
At least for the month of September, if not longer.
Defensive ends Lawrence and Gregory have been suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, and middle linebacker McClain has been ordered to sit even longer -- 10 games -- for his violations.
The Cowboys finished 25th in the NFL in sacks last season with a paltry 31, and that trio combined for 10 of them. Greg Hardy chipped in six more sacks and cornerback Terrence Mitchell one. Neither was invited back for the 2016 season, so subtract another seven from the sack till.
The Cowboys did little to address the glaring weakness of their Super Bowl dream this offseason. They signed a defensive end (Benson Mayowa) in free agency with two career sacks in three seasons and a defensive tackle (Cedric Thornton) with four career sacks in five seasons. They also spent a third-round draft pick on a tackle (Maliek Collins) and a fourth-rounder on an end (Charles Tapper).
If you took the best NFL seasons from all the defensive linemen who figure to be on the opening day roster, the Cowboys would report to Oxnard later this month with the potential for 12 1/2 sacks from their front line in 2016. That's a bit light to be talking Super Bowls. The NFL began counting sacks in 1982. The average number of sacks for the 68 teams that have reached the Super Bowl since then has been 43.
But there is hope. The Cowboys do have a role model -- the 2006 Indianapolis Colts.
Those Colts are the only team to reach the Super Bowl in a non-strike season with fewer than 30 sacks. And they won when they got there.
Indianapolis managed only 25 sacks that year but still finished 12-4 to capture the AFC South. The Colts then knocked off Kansas City, Baltimore, New England and Chicago in the postseason to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
The 2016 Cowboys have the same blueprint as the 2006 Colts. Indianapolis was all about offense that season with a franchise quarterback (Peyton Manning), Hall of Fame receiver (Marvin Harrison), talented rookie runner (Joseph Addai) and a couple of Pro Bowl blockers (Tarik Glenn, Jeff Saturday).
The Colts finished second in the NFL in scoring that season and third in yards. That allowed Indianapolis to overcome a defense that finished 21st in the NFL, 23rd in points allowed and 30th in sacks.
But there is one big difference that hovers over the comparison.
The Colts had two elite pass rushers coming off the edge in Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. Freeney had been a Pro Bowler by then, and Mathis was on his way to becoming one. Both would lead the NFL in sacks in their careers and both would become members of the NFL's 100-sack club.
In short, the opposition needed to game plan to stop them. And that season, anyway, those game plans were quite effective. Mathis wound up with 9 1/2 sacks and Freeney 5 1/2. At least one had to be double-teamed every game and quite often both were doubled.
That invites two key questions. First, is there a pass rusher capable of 9 1/2 sacks on the 2016 Cowboys? The best individual season by any of their linemen was eight sacks by Lawrence in 2015, and he's already been ordered to sit a quarter of this season. Secondly, is there a pass rusher whom offenses need to scheme to stop and invest a double-team? Tyrone Crawford? David Irving? Mayowa?
Be serious.
When you double up one player, that often opens the door for another. DeMarcus Ware was the blocking focal point of the Cowboys defense from 2006-13. That focus on Ware allowed Greg Ellis, Jay Ratliff, Anthony Spencer and Jason Hatcher all to have Pro Bowl seasons. Even the focus on Hardy last season allowed Lawrence to have his best season.
In the 27-year Jerry Jones era, there has been only one other season when the defensive line lacked any star power -- when there wasn't that one pass rusher who needed to be slowed. Whether it was Hall of Famer Charles Haley, Pro Bowlers Leon Lett and Tony Tolbert or first-round draft picks Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Jim Jeffcoat and Greg Ellis, from 1989 through 2013, there was always the potential for a sack at the snap of the ball.
No such threat existed in 2014, though. With a front that included Crawford, Nick Hayden, Jeremy Mincey and George Selvie, the Cowboys didn't threaten quarterbacks. That became glaringly apparent in the 2014 NFC semifinals at Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers completed 24 of 35 passes for 316 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to end the Cowboys' season.
The Cowboys managed only 28 sacks that season. Selvie led the team with six. In the Jason Garrett era, the Cowboys have managed only 34 sacks per season. That's still light.
Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli likes the quantity pass rush. He likes fresh legs that can chase the quarterback in waves. That works quite effectively when you can include Pro Bowl pass rushers such as Simeon Rice, Julius Peppers, Warren Sapp and Henry Melton into your waves as Marinelli did at Tampa and Chicago.
No such Pro Bowl pass rushers exist on the Cowboys, including and especially in September.
So the rally cry becomes the 2006 Colts.
By Rick Gosselin
In saying goodbye to DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory and Rolando McClain, the Cowboys can say goodbye to their pass rush.
At least for the month of September, if not longer.
Defensive ends Lawrence and Gregory have been suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, and middle linebacker McClain has been ordered to sit even longer -- 10 games -- for his violations.
The Cowboys finished 25th in the NFL in sacks last season with a paltry 31, and that trio combined for 10 of them. Greg Hardy chipped in six more sacks and cornerback Terrence Mitchell one. Neither was invited back for the 2016 season, so subtract another seven from the sack till.
The Cowboys did little to address the glaring weakness of their Super Bowl dream this offseason. They signed a defensive end (Benson Mayowa) in free agency with two career sacks in three seasons and a defensive tackle (Cedric Thornton) with four career sacks in five seasons. They also spent a third-round draft pick on a tackle (Maliek Collins) and a fourth-rounder on an end (Charles Tapper).
If you took the best NFL seasons from all the defensive linemen who figure to be on the opening day roster, the Cowboys would report to Oxnard later this month with the potential for 12 1/2 sacks from their front line in 2016. That's a bit light to be talking Super Bowls. The NFL began counting sacks in 1982. The average number of sacks for the 68 teams that have reached the Super Bowl since then has been 43.
But there is hope. The Cowboys do have a role model -- the 2006 Indianapolis Colts.
Those Colts are the only team to reach the Super Bowl in a non-strike season with fewer than 30 sacks. And they won when they got there.
Indianapolis managed only 25 sacks that year but still finished 12-4 to capture the AFC South. The Colts then knocked off Kansas City, Baltimore, New England and Chicago in the postseason to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
The 2016 Cowboys have the same blueprint as the 2006 Colts. Indianapolis was all about offense that season with a franchise quarterback (Peyton Manning), Hall of Fame receiver (Marvin Harrison), talented rookie runner (Joseph Addai) and a couple of Pro Bowl blockers (Tarik Glenn, Jeff Saturday).
The Colts finished second in the NFL in scoring that season and third in yards. That allowed Indianapolis to overcome a defense that finished 21st in the NFL, 23rd in points allowed and 30th in sacks.
But there is one big difference that hovers over the comparison.
The Colts had two elite pass rushers coming off the edge in Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. Freeney had been a Pro Bowler by then, and Mathis was on his way to becoming one. Both would lead the NFL in sacks in their careers and both would become members of the NFL's 100-sack club.
In short, the opposition needed to game plan to stop them. And that season, anyway, those game plans were quite effective. Mathis wound up with 9 1/2 sacks and Freeney 5 1/2. At least one had to be double-teamed every game and quite often both were doubled.
That invites two key questions. First, is there a pass rusher capable of 9 1/2 sacks on the 2016 Cowboys? The best individual season by any of their linemen was eight sacks by Lawrence in 2015, and he's already been ordered to sit a quarter of this season. Secondly, is there a pass rusher whom offenses need to scheme to stop and invest a double-team? Tyrone Crawford? David Irving? Mayowa?
Be serious.
When you double up one player, that often opens the door for another. DeMarcus Ware was the blocking focal point of the Cowboys defense from 2006-13. That focus on Ware allowed Greg Ellis, Jay Ratliff, Anthony Spencer and Jason Hatcher all to have Pro Bowl seasons. Even the focus on Hardy last season allowed Lawrence to have his best season.
In the 27-year Jerry Jones era, there has been only one other season when the defensive line lacked any star power -- when there wasn't that one pass rusher who needed to be slowed. Whether it was Hall of Famer Charles Haley, Pro Bowlers Leon Lett and Tony Tolbert or first-round draft picks Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Jim Jeffcoat and Greg Ellis, from 1989 through 2013, there was always the potential for a sack at the snap of the ball.
No such threat existed in 2014, though. With a front that included Crawford, Nick Hayden, Jeremy Mincey and George Selvie, the Cowboys didn't threaten quarterbacks. That became glaringly apparent in the 2014 NFC semifinals at Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers completed 24 of 35 passes for 316 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to end the Cowboys' season.
The Cowboys managed only 28 sacks that season. Selvie led the team with six. In the Jason Garrett era, the Cowboys have managed only 34 sacks per season. That's still light.
Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli likes the quantity pass rush. He likes fresh legs that can chase the quarterback in waves. That works quite effectively when you can include Pro Bowl pass rushers such as Simeon Rice, Julius Peppers, Warren Sapp and Henry Melton into your waves as Marinelli did at Tampa and Chicago.
No such Pro Bowl pass rushers exist on the Cowboys, including and especially in September.
So the rally cry becomes the 2006 Colts.
