With secondary intact, Dallas Cowboys will scorch NFC foes
By Brad Austin
While injuries made them vulnerable most of the season, the intact Dallas Cowboys secondary will ignite a playoff fire to torch opponents.
Though battling through adversity, the Dallas Cowboys secondary was the most vulnerable attack point of the 2016 defense.
Of the top seven secondary players, only one corner and one safety started all 16 games. Four key members missed a combined 20 games due to injuries.
A clearer picture is seen through snap counts and games started.
Brandon Carr (CB) – 1,011 snaps – 16 starts
Byron Jones (FS) – 982 snaps – 16 starts
Anthony Brown (CB) – 715 snaps – 10 starts
Barry Church (SS) – 672 snaps – 12 starts
Orlando Scandrick (CB) – 642 snaps – 10 starts
J.J. Wilcox (SS)- 555 snaps – 4 starts
Morris Claiborne (CB) – 404 snaps – 7 starts
The entire group has only played together twice all season…Week 1 and Week 9.
The first Giants loss came with Scandrick slowed from past knee surgery and rookie Brown making his pro debut. Even so they held New York to 203 yards passing.
While closer to full health and more experienced together in Week 9, the full unit limited Philadelphia to 194 passing yards in the win.
Two games together, neither offense threw over 203 yards. For reference, only two NFL defenses (Denver and Houston) allow under 207 passing yards per game.
When the NFC Divisional playoff game arrives in Dallas, the Cowboys secondary will enter as its healthiest, most battle-tested version yet.