Dallas Cowboys defense proves it can win without Sean Lee

The Dallas Cowboys were thought to need a wide receiver with their first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. The front office had a different plan.

Entering the 2018 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys were largely thought to need a wide receiver to replace the recently released Dez Bryant. Several NFL thinking hats went on record to claim that any pick but a wide receiver in the first round would not address the Cowboys biggest need.

Andy Benoit from SI.com panned the Cowboys actual first round draft pick, Boise State linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. In a post from April 26, 2018, Benoit wrote that Dallas’s biggest need was at wide receiver. Marcus Mosher of Bleacher Report and Lance Zierlein from NFL.com also shared that same view.

After Week 3, The Sporting News threw shade on the Cowboys for passing on Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley. They went so far as to compare Ridley’s stats (currently 15 receptions for 264 yards and six touchdowns) to all six wide receivers on the Cowboys roster. They labelled linebacker as a luxury position for America’s Team with wide receiver being a necessity.

So why walk down memory lane and justify the pick of Vander Esch? Simple – Sean Lee’s hamstring. During the game against the Detroit Lions, the Fox broadcast team reminded everyone that the Cowboys were 1-4 in 2017 when Lee did not start.

You can add another loss to the Cowboys record for games Lee did not finish as he re-injured his hamstring in the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10 of last year. Here is how the team performed without Lee:

• Week 4: Rams – 35 points allowed (Loss)
• Week 5: Packers – 35 points allowed (Loss)
• Week 10: Falcons – 27 points allowed (Loss)
• Week 11: Eagles – 37 points allowed (Loss)
• Week 12: Chargers – 28 points allowed (Loss)
• Week 13: Washington – 14 Points allowed (Win)

In the six games without Lee, the Cowboys defense yielded 176 points or nearly 30 points per game. In the 10 games that Lee played the entire game, the defense surrendered only 156 points.

The Cowboys selected Vander Esch because they know what it means to play without Lee and enough linebacker depth. In Sean’s career, he has never played in 16 games in a season with an asterisk beside the 2016 season when he did not played in the last game for precautionary reasons.

There was a lot to smile about in the Lions victory last weekend. Quarterback Dak Prescott played better. Place kicker Brett Maher‘s four field goals allows Cowboys fans to forgive the cutting of Dan Bailey. Running back Ezekiel Elliott touched the ball nearly 30 times.

However, the Dallas Cowboy’s defense, without Sean Lee, played well enough to win by holding the potent Detroit Lions offense to only 24 points. That fact justifies to me that passing on a wide receiver in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft was not a mistake.