The Landry Hat
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Dallas Cowboys: 3 who stepped up, 3 who stepped down

By Lucas Mascherin

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Leighton Vander Esch #55 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a play in the first quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Leighton Vander Esch #55 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a play in the first quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) /

Step Down: Leighton Vander Esch, LB

Last season, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch took the league by storm. He placed third in total tackles last year. That is a great feat for any player, never mind a rookie.

Had Darius Leonard not had the monster year that he had, LVE very well could have won the rookie defensive player of the year award. LVE keeping up with the year he had last season would be incredible.

He has taken a step down … well because not many people can do what he did once, never mind multiple times. Vander Esch is on pace to have 123 total tackles this season, 17 less than last season.

Vander Esch was given a lot of credit because of how good he was at securing a tackle. Last year he only missed 10 tackles, good for missing only 6.7 percent of the time. This season he already missed nine tackles, equal to 14.3 percent.

Sure, LVE has held throws his way to a 2.2 percent less completion percentage than last season, but he also already gave up two touchdowns in comparison to three all of last season. He is also giving up more yards per completion and quarterbacks have a higher passer rating than last season.

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It hurts for me to see LVE take this much of a step back. The biggest concern for me is his missed tackles. I think he will be able to turn it around after this bye week, but for the first half of the season he has taken a step down.

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