Dallas Cowboys battered defense continues taking hits

Injury setbacks still mounting for battered Dallas Cowboys’ defense

It’s hard to imagine a less inspiring start for the newly revamped Dallas Cowboys‘ defense. The debut of the most anticipated front seven in recent history was a flop. The twist of adding injuries to insult is only rubbing salt in the wounds.

Cowboys fans absorbed a devastating gut punch when former All-Pro defensive tackle Gerald McCoy lost his season to injury early in camp. His strength and burst paired with Dontari Poe‘s brawn was sure to be a load for any opponent to handle.

However entering last Sunday night in Los Angeles, high hopes for a dominant front four remained abound. Poe, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Everson Griffin are all three known disrupters in the league.

Second year defensive tackle Trysten Hill was reportedly one of the camp stars raising his game to a starter level. Imagine the surprise when Cowboys fans saw an unheralded Rams offensive line push them around with regularity.

VANDER ESCH VALIDATES CONCERNS

Cowboys nation was on pins and needles wondering if Leighton Vander Esch‘s repaired neck would hold up in extreme contact. While it wasn’t the neck that sidelined him for 6-8 weeks, it was a broken collarbone.

Seeing how tentatively he was filling holes and engaging contact before the injury, it’s only natural to believe the broken collarbone was somewhat related to his protecting the neck. Either way, Dallas’ hulking middle linebacker will miss several weeks.

ALSO READ: Is Leighton Vander Esch the next Sean Lee?

SEAN LEE ON ICE GETS EXTENDED

In Vander Esch’s absence, the obvious game plan was to rely on veteran linebacker Joe Thomas for two more games until Sean Lee could make his return from injured reserve. Not so fast.

NFL Network reporter Jane Slater reported on Wednesday that Sean Lee underwent hernia surgery last week in Philadelphia and his return is now delayed until mid October. File this one under ‘are you kidding me?’.

Lee was limited to individual work with trainers for weeks of training camp. Clearly they knew he wasn’t healthy enough for anything more. So after weeks of no significant improvement, they elect to have surgery with a six weeks recovery time on the opening week of the season?

If the surgery decision had been made at the start of camp, Lee would be healing on injured reserve now and still on schedule to return in Week 4. Which is the timetable fans believed he was on before this news dropped.

INCOMPETENCE OR IGNORANCE

Dallas lost McCoy to an injury they were already so aware of that insurance against it was specifically written into his contract. Lee spent weeks nagging through a hernia and avoiding surgery, when he could’ve been half way surgically healed by now.

Aside from injury, Dallas finally moved on from safety Jeff Heath only to start his 2019 back-up Darian Thompson in his place. At nose tackle, Poe looked like an unmotivated 340-pound Volkswagen getting blown off the ball last week.

Vander Esch is out for six to eight games. Lee will miss at least four or five. Randy Gregory can’t return to the field until October 25 in Washington, missing the next five games. Ironically that’s the same week Lee will likely return.

Brandon Carr is currently Dallas’ only hope for a safety upgrade. To say the Cowboys defense is in trouble is putting it mildly. However, they still have enough talent to hold serve waiting for reinforcements if the familiarly stale offense finds its creative guts.