Dallas Cowboys 4 keys to victory: Don’t eat the cheese in week 4
By John Herndon
Dallas Cowboys Key 2: The pass rush
Dan Quinn has to be feeling like Maximus Decimus Meridius in the coaches booth with his defensive line rotation. Monday Night they unleashed fire and brimstone. Their ability to provide pressure with just four rushers allows your defense to drop seven players.
The Commanders lead the league in sacks allowed at 15 and the Cowboys lead the league in sacks at 13. Last week they allowed 20 pressures, 8 quarterback hurries, and 9 sacks against the Eagles.
The Dallas Cowboys pressured Daniel Jones 24 times, sacked him five times, and kept sending the troops after him all night long.
The levee should break upfront against Washington’s offensive line.
Micah Parson should add to his sack number. He is the Achilles of this defensive line and truth be told, the entire defense. Dan Quinn has assembled and surrounded him with his own band of Myrmidons in DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler Jr, Anthony Barr, and Sam Williams flying off the edge.
Parson and his Myrmidons were like a rising tide, sending waves of pass rushers against the Giants out matched offensive line and pressuring Daniel Jones into submission. Everyone took part in the seize.
If you can generate pressure with just four, you are ahead of the curve and cooking with gas. This allows the defense to deploy their 7 other defenders in coverage. You never want to rely on blitzing to manufacture a pass rush on a consistent basic.
But when the Giants offensive line believed they had made the proper adjustments in their line protection, that’s when Dan Quinn hit them with a blitz, as Donovan Wilson came off the right side like he was shoot out of a canon.
The defensive line must keep applying pressure. Pressure breaks pipes. Pressure forces quarterbacks into making mistakes.
It is worth mentioning how deep the safeties are on this Cowboys roster. Next year’s off-season question is what will Dallas do with Donovan Wilson?