Defense - Front 7

There's plenty to complain about with last night's game.. from Shotty, to Cromartie giving up 2 td's, giving up big plays to Witten, and obviously the negatives get beaten into the ground around here so there are plenty of threads about that.. but I want to bring up something positive that has barely been mentioned, and that's our front 7.

DL Rotation: You can already see that having several linemen to rotate in and out is going to be huge for us. We held the Cowboys to 2.5 yards a carry. Felix Jones couldn't get anything going. DeVito obviously made the huge play to strip Romo and Pouha was his usual run-stuffing self. Marcus Dixon I was very impressed with.. he was on the field for huge parts of the game, and is seemingly going to be a major part of the rotation, especially for 3rd downs. Looks like he and Pitoitua will be coming in for pass rush situations along with Wilkerson to keep everyone fresh.

Setting the Edge The linebackers are so good at stopping the run and don't get the credit they deserve. People always seem to want Bryan Thomas cut, which is ridiculous.. he is so underrated, and Collinsworth pointed it out during the game. He's so strong at the point of attack and doesn't allow RB's to get outside. Very impressive game from him and Pace on the edges I thought.

Pass Rush Obviously the Achilles Heel for us, but we actually did get a lot of pressure, especially in the first half. Bart Scott had a few shots at Romo and blew up a few plays. Romo is very good at getting away from pressure, or else we might have had a few more sacks, with Pace and Thomas getting close a few times. Getting pressure on the QB will obviously be the thing we talk about all year, but for one game anyway, I think the front 7 looked very good.

 

Yeah I think they went with less linemen anticipating the Cowboys airing it out. Jacksonville has McCown as their QB and no elite receivers.. they're all about MJD and pounding the ball, so having an extra 350 pound lineman could be the smart move.