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Rod Marinelli maniacal about Cowboys forcing turnovers
January, 6, 2015
By Jean-Jacques Taylor | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas - Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has done the impossible by making the Cowboys one of the NFL's best teams at forcing turnovers.
The Cowboys have forced a turnover in 16 consecutive games, including 12 in December. They added three more in Sunday's 24-20 wild card win over Detroit.
The Cowboys are now 10-0, when forcing at least two turnovers in a game.
There’s nothing fluky about the Cowboys taking the ball away. It’s all orchestrated by Marinelli, who's maniacal about his players attacking the ball every play. Dallas recovered 13 fumbles this season. Only four teams had more.
"You hold people to a certain standard of how we’re going to play,” Marinelli said. "A lot of people give lip service in the offseason, but as the season goes on, they don’t stress it as much.
"Every day we work on stripping the ball, sprinting to the ball and tackling. We work on it every day of the year. We talk about it every day of the year, and we watch it on film. We grade effort. There’s nothing magical about it. It’s consistency in our approach."
The Cowboys added two more forced fumbles on sacks by Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Lawrence in the fourth quarter.
“We’re just relentless on it. As soon as you don’t emphasize it, you don’t do it,” Marinelli said. "Sometimes, you can have a game where you don’t get any, but the strip attempts are there.
"I keep looking for strip attempts. If you have enough attempts, eventually you’re going to get it out. If the attempts aren’t there, there’s no way it’s coming out.”
The Cowboys also play so much zone defense that the linebackers and defensive backs are always looking at the quarterback, so they see tipped passes like the one Kyle Wilber intercepted in the third quarter. Teams that play man-to-man often tier back turned to the quarterback, when the ball is thrown.
More important, the Cowboys are getting most of their turnovers at winning time. The Cowboys have forced 17 turnovers in the fourth quarter, including two against Detroit.
But it's going to be difficult taking the ball away from Green Bay.
The Packers turned the ball over just 13 times, tying New England for fewest in the league. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw just five interceptions in 520 attempts.
He hasn’t thrown an interception at Lambeau Field since 2012.
January, 6, 2015
By Jean-Jacques Taylor | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas - Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has done the impossible by making the Cowboys one of the NFL's best teams at forcing turnovers.
The Cowboys have forced a turnover in 16 consecutive games, including 12 in December. They added three more in Sunday's 24-20 wild card win over Detroit.
The Cowboys are now 10-0, when forcing at least two turnovers in a game.
There’s nothing fluky about the Cowboys taking the ball away. It’s all orchestrated by Marinelli, who's maniacal about his players attacking the ball every play. Dallas recovered 13 fumbles this season. Only four teams had more.
"You hold people to a certain standard of how we’re going to play,” Marinelli said. "A lot of people give lip service in the offseason, but as the season goes on, they don’t stress it as much.
"Every day we work on stripping the ball, sprinting to the ball and tackling. We work on it every day of the year. We talk about it every day of the year, and we watch it on film. We grade effort. There’s nothing magical about it. It’s consistency in our approach."
The Cowboys added two more forced fumbles on sacks by Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Lawrence in the fourth quarter.
“We’re just relentless on it. As soon as you don’t emphasize it, you don’t do it,” Marinelli said. "Sometimes, you can have a game where you don’t get any, but the strip attempts are there.
"I keep looking for strip attempts. If you have enough attempts, eventually you’re going to get it out. If the attempts aren’t there, there’s no way it’s coming out.”
The Cowboys also play so much zone defense that the linebackers and defensive backs are always looking at the quarterback, so they see tipped passes like the one Kyle Wilber intercepted in the third quarter. Teams that play man-to-man often tier back turned to the quarterback, when the ball is thrown.
More important, the Cowboys are getting most of their turnovers at winning time. The Cowboys have forced 17 turnovers in the fourth quarter, including two against Detroit.
But it's going to be difficult taking the ball away from Green Bay.
The Packers turned the ball over just 13 times, tying New England for fewest in the league. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw just five interceptions in 520 attempts.
He hasn’t thrown an interception at Lambeau Field since 2012.
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