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By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com
ARLINGTON, Texas -- We can stop talking about the worst defense in the NFL last season. This Dallas Cowboys defense is different.
Not dominant, but different. And no doubt good enough to give a team with an elite offense a chance to win on a weekly basis.
If there were any demons hanging around from last season's historically horrible defense, they were exorcised in the first half of Sunday night's 38-17 rout of the New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans offense that humiliated the Dallas defense last season, setting an NFL record with 40 first downs and cruising to 625 total yards in a blowout, entered halftime with a goose egg on the scoreboard.
"We kind of put it on our shoulders this game that we're going to impose our will in this game like they did to us last year," safety Barry Church said. "For the first half, we were able to do that. The second half, they got a couple of scores, some leaked yardage, but I feel like for the most part, this defense was able to impose its will against this Saints team."
Sure, the Saints put up some pretty numbers in the second half. New Orleans finished with 438 total yards and two touchdowns, piling up a lot of that yardage in garbage time, if such a thing exists for a Cowboys team prone to epic collapses over the last few years. However, the Dallas defenders strutted into the home locker room at AT&T Stadium after the win. They punished the team that punked them 10 months ago.
"We gon' hit! We gon' hit!" shouted middle linebacker Rolando McClain, whose strip of tight end Jimmy Graham was one of three turnovers the Cowboys forced.
That forced fumble epitomized the physical, opportunistic style that Rod Marinelli, who took over the defensive coordinator reins after last season, demands of his defense. A picture of Graham holding the ball loose was posted outside the Cowboys' Valley Ranch locker room all week, with Marinelli scrawling in red ink and all caps around the edges, imploring his men to pounce on the Pro Bowl opponent's flaw.
That's exactly what McClain did. He ran down Graham after a reception over the middle and jarred the ball loose upon impact to allow safety J.J. Wilcox to make the recovery late in the third quarter.
The Cowboys didn't need this kind of outing to boost the bruised egos of a defense that couldn't do right a year ago. This simply confirmed that they can be the kind of defense they expect to be in the second season in a 4-3 scheme.
"We had a ton of confidence," cornerback Orlando Scandrick said. "We knew that if we came out and we were physical, we did the fundamental things well -- run and tackle, do our assignments – it'd be great. It could have been worse for them and it could have been better for us. We gave up a few points at the end that kind of irks us. We want to get better."
There are reasons to believe that the Dallas defense should get better. Defensive end Anthony Spencer made his season debut Sunday after a year-long recovery process from microfracture knee surgery. Defensive tackle Henry Melton, a 2012 Pro Bowler like Spencer, continues to chip off rust after missing most of last season due to a knee injury, recording his first full sack as a Cowboys by dropping Drew Brees. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, the Cowboys' prized second-round pick, will come off the short-term injured reserve after Week 8.
And the edge this defense plays with isn't going anywhere.
"Coming off being the worst defense in the league last year, we definitely have to play with a boulder on our shoulder," Church said. "So we're just going out here and showing people we're an improved defense. Once we get everything down pact and we stay healthy, we'll be a force to be reckoned with."
ARLINGTON, Texas -- We can stop talking about the worst defense in the NFL last season. This Dallas Cowboys defense is different.
Not dominant, but different. And no doubt good enough to give a team with an elite offense a chance to win on a weekly basis.
If there were any demons hanging around from last season's historically horrible defense, they were exorcised in the first half of Sunday night's 38-17 rout of the New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans offense that humiliated the Dallas defense last season, setting an NFL record with 40 first downs and cruising to 625 total yards in a blowout, entered halftime with a goose egg on the scoreboard.
"We kind of put it on our shoulders this game that we're going to impose our will in this game like they did to us last year," safety Barry Church said. "For the first half, we were able to do that. The second half, they got a couple of scores, some leaked yardage, but I feel like for the most part, this defense was able to impose its will against this Saints team."
Sure, the Saints put up some pretty numbers in the second half. New Orleans finished with 438 total yards and two touchdowns, piling up a lot of that yardage in garbage time, if such a thing exists for a Cowboys team prone to epic collapses over the last few years. However, the Dallas defenders strutted into the home locker room at AT&T Stadium after the win. They punished the team that punked them 10 months ago.
"We gon' hit! We gon' hit!" shouted middle linebacker Rolando McClain, whose strip of tight end Jimmy Graham was one of three turnovers the Cowboys forced.
That forced fumble epitomized the physical, opportunistic style that Rod Marinelli, who took over the defensive coordinator reins after last season, demands of his defense. A picture of Graham holding the ball loose was posted outside the Cowboys' Valley Ranch locker room all week, with Marinelli scrawling in red ink and all caps around the edges, imploring his men to pounce on the Pro Bowl opponent's flaw.
That's exactly what McClain did. He ran down Graham after a reception over the middle and jarred the ball loose upon impact to allow safety J.J. Wilcox to make the recovery late in the third quarter.
The Cowboys didn't need this kind of outing to boost the bruised egos of a defense that couldn't do right a year ago. This simply confirmed that they can be the kind of defense they expect to be in the second season in a 4-3 scheme.
"We had a ton of confidence," cornerback Orlando Scandrick said. "We knew that if we came out and we were physical, we did the fundamental things well -- run and tackle, do our assignments – it'd be great. It could have been worse for them and it could have been better for us. We gave up a few points at the end that kind of irks us. We want to get better."
There are reasons to believe that the Dallas defense should get better. Defensive end Anthony Spencer made his season debut Sunday after a year-long recovery process from microfracture knee surgery. Defensive tackle Henry Melton, a 2012 Pro Bowler like Spencer, continues to chip off rust after missing most of last season due to a knee injury, recording his first full sack as a Cowboys by dropping Drew Brees. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, the Cowboys' prized second-round pick, will come off the short-term injured reserve after Week 8.
And the edge this defense plays with isn't going anywhere.
"Coming off being the worst defense in the league last year, we definitely have to play with a boulder on our shoulder," Church said. "So we're just going out here and showing people we're an improved defense. Once we get everything down pact and we stay healthy, we'll be a force to be reckoned with."
