Five Reasons To Be Happy Following the Cowboys, Dolphins Game

Aug 23, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive back Tyler Patmon (far right) celebrates with teammates after catching a touchdown pass against the Miami Dolphins during the second half at Sun Life Stadium. The Dolphins won 25-20. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

1. Defensive Turnovers

Although at times this preseason the Cowboys defense felt like it had the consistency of a wet napkin, every fan should be happy about the number of defensive turnovers in Saturday’s Cowboys/Dolphins game. It’s something we’ve come to associate with a Rod Marinelli defense. And it’s no accident. With almost every tackle made last night against Miami, we saw defenders constantly swiping/punching/lunging at the ball. It’s a technique ingrained into his players.

Some, like Chicago Bears cornerback Charles Tillman, have made it into an art form. Under Marinelli, the Peanut Punch forced an incredible 10 fumbles for Tillman in 2012. That same year, the Bears defense recorded and incredible 24 interceptions, 44 total takeaways, and 41 sacks as a unit.

Now, Marinelli is bringing that same mentality to Dallas. Although he doesn’t have the same amount of talent as he did while in Chicago, Marinelli’s effect on this horrid defense will certainly be felt in 2014. And Saturday’s three turnovers by the Miami Dolphins is a testament to that. Amazingly, it was rookie corner Tyler Patmon who was responsible for all three of 6those turnovers last night.

The first happened early in the second quarter when Patmon forced a fumble by Miami’s Dion Sims via placing his helmet on the ball while tackling the Dolphin tight end. After a quick scramble for the pigskin, Cowboys safety Barry Church emerged with it. The second turnover was an interception of Dolphin’s starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill by Patmon. The pass was simply under-thrown by Tannehill to his intended receiver and Patmon was able to easily undercut the route and intercept the ball.

The third turnover was an amazing interception turned defensive touchdown by Patmon on Miami quarterback and former Cowboy Matt Moore. The back-up QB had difficulty handling the shotgun snap and was late delivering a screen pass. Patmon, who was following his receiver in motion, broke on the near lateral pass and danced into the endzone with ease.

Although those were the three “official” turnovers in the game by the Cowboys defense, it could have been a lot worse for the Dolphins. Early in the second quarter, rookie linebacker Anthony Hitchens forced a fumble during a special teams’ tackle that Miami recovered. In the following drive, linebacker Bruce Carter nearly picked off a Tannehill pass on third down that forced the Dolphins to punt.

With about seven minutes in the first half, Carter also blocked a punt that was called back due to a questionable formation penalty. At the start of the fourth quarter, rookie safety Ryan Smith had a near interception slip through his fingers. Finally, rookie cornerback Terrence Mitchell had a forced fumble go out of bounds.

If fans can have only one glimmering light of hope from the Cowboys loss to the Dolphins on Saturday, it has to be the amount of turnovers this “bend but don’t break” defense was able to record (or nearly record) during this preseason match-up.