The Dallas Cowboys are typically a personification of Murphy’s Law. “What can go wrong… will go wrong” and all of that. This isn’t a session to cry over spilled milk. DeMarcus Lawrence, the “War Daddy” is down, and though encouraging that he is only suspected to be down 6-8 weeks (especially so in an elongated 17 game schedule), they will certainly miss him while he’s out.
Back to Murphy and his law, they looked promising in Week 1 against Tom Brady and his electric band of Buccaneers. It was only one game, totally aware but compared to last season’s debacle, it was something of encouragement about that side of the ball and something that hadn’t been there all of last season.
DeMarcus Lawrence has always been a huge part of what they’ve gotten done over there on that side of the ball during his tenure, for good or bad and rightfully so, in taking some of the blame for last season’s poor showing but on last Thursday, he was awesome. The numbers weren’t overwhelming or awe-inspiring, but the impact was massive.
Dallas Cowboys: D-Law’s Impact
He lined up everywhere and did everything for the Cowboys’ defense. With as fast as Tom Brady gets it out and with the way they go about protecting him, you’ll only get so much off against him, but Lawrence was a huge part of the reason they were able to do as much as they did.
They didn’t know where he was coming from. Plus, he can play, both, the run and the pass. With him down though, what will the Cowboys do there? Who’ll be that projectile, the missile, the targeted wrecking ball that they can line up across the front of the formation?
Well, they have two guys that only played a combined 30 snaps in last week’s opener. While that may have just been a Week 1 thing, it, very well, could have just been the typical nature of what is to come.
Smith would absolutely excel in that role, as it would limit his need to do the things he doesn’t excel at. He could just focus on his strengths, lining up and concerning himself with going one direction, and with as much controlled power and speed possible. For Leighton Vander Esch and believe it or not, it could be a way of allowing him to turn it loose while also helping him to not get so banged up.
Dallas Cowboys: How In The Heck So…
Follow here for a second. As a linebacker, a ton of your stuff is reactive and that means that even though you have a chance to deliver a blow, a lot of those battles are brought to you or occur in the open field.
That’s a high-impact situation or simply putting you in a position where you won’t be able to protect yourself while delivering or absorbing whatever the situation calls for. By being a guy that’s just tasked with going one direction, such as the role Lawrence played along the line in Week 1, it would allow LVE to be in total control of most things.
He can deliver the blow, but also protect himself a bit more. He’ll be totally behind everything and coming at it from a more traditional angle, as opposed to the weird angles, positions, and stops he’s had to make from the linebacker’s position and areas that have also seen him banged up a ton.
Perhaps, it’s all wishful thinking. They might not be capable. However, I believe they are and you have to try something… anything and for multiple reasons. The defense still needs that from someone. Lawrence, obviously, won’t be able to do it for a while. And lastly, those two guys have too much ability to not be on the field doing something. They should be able to do that… one would imagine.