Tough Cowboys defense still not satisfied with success
They complained about giving up 14 points in a playoff game. That's what two consecutive shutouts can do for a defense.
It makes those players cocky. It makes them perfectionists. It makes them damn good, not willing to settle at a time when settling sends you home.
That's the Dallas Cowboys defense. After back-to-back shutouts to close out the season, making them the top-ranked scoring defense in the NFC, the Cowboys gave up 14 points to the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
And they bitched about it.
The battle cry in the locker room afterward: We wanted another shutout.
Forget that they were moving on in the postseason thanks to the 34-14 blowout of the Eagles, and forget that was an Eagles team that featured the big play in the regular season. It didn't seem like it was good enough.
"We wanted another shutout," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said.
The Eagles' only score when the game mattered came on a 76-yard catch by Jeremy Maclin when Mike Jenkins fell down. It was a gimmick play with Mike Vick faking a run and then lofting the pass to Maclin.
Other than that: Nothing.
The Cowboys sacked Donovan McNabb four times and the QB ended with a 68.5 passer rating. Receiver DeSean Jackson, he of the big pre-game talk, had three catches for 14 yards, although he did score the other meaningless touchdown late.
Jackson was the one who said the Eagles would "sting they ass" on his Twitter page leading up to the game.
The only stung asses went home on the plane to Philadelphia, courtesy of a defense that swarmed like a shaken-up beehive, and Dallas moved on to play Minnesota in this weekend's divisional round.
"If you have a defense like that you have a chance at this time of the year no matter how the offense is playing," Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said. "Teams that end up winning this thing usually have a great defense."
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| DeMarcus Ware and Dallas disrupted the Eagles' game plan. (Getty Images) |
This is a defense that gave up 33 and 31 points in two losses to the New York Giants, the last coming Dec. 6 in a 31-24 loss. They also lost the next week 20-17 to San Diego, but they haven't lost since.
In the last four games, counting last week, they've given up 31 points, and that includes limiting New Orleans, the top-scoring team in the league, to 17.
Ask the Cowboys players why the defense is playing so well and you get the same one-word answer.
"Wade."
That would be coach Wade Phillips, who also doubles as the defensive coordinator. Phillips is outstanding at putting together game plans and his knowledge of the 3-4 defense is as good as any coordinator in the game.
He's such a good defensive mind that some even speculated that if he were let go by the Cowboys he'd have a chance to stay on as a well-paid -- as in $3 million a season -- defensive coordinator. That's moot now since Phillips isn't going to be fired as head coach, which means he'll also be back to run the defense next season.
"The way Wade does things is why we're so good on defense," defensive end Igor Olshansky said. "Nobody does it better."
Besides Phillips, the biggest impact on the defensive improvement has been the play of outside linebacker Anthony Spencer. DeMarcus Ware, playing on the other side, is a force. But the Cowboys needed somebody on the other side to show up.
That's been Spencer.
After going 10 games without a sack, he had six in the final six games and had one last week against the Eagles in the playoff victory. It's tough to match up with the Cowboys when you have two speed rushers coming off the edge.
The timing for Spencer couldn't have been any better. This is a player the Cowboys drafted in the first round of 2007. He had only 4½ sacks coming into this season and when he didn't get any in the first 10 games, the word no draft pick wants to hear was buzzing.
Bust.
Now he's big part of what's happening on the field and a big reason the Cowboys are so tough in third-down situations.
"Some people will say that, but I just think we were getting better as we went on," Spencer said. "I can't say it's not me, but I can't say it is. It's just been clicking for us."
With Spencer and Ware flying off the edges and an improved secondary, the Cowboys will provide problems for the Minnesota passing game. The key to the game could be how well Minnesota tackles Bryant McKinnie and Phil Loadholt block Spencer and Ware.
"We know that Wade will put us in a position to make the plays," Spencer said. "He's done it all year. There's no reason to think that will stop."
Are they the new version of the old Doomsday Defense? It might be early for that comparison, but if they control Brett Favre and that game it might be time for a nickname of their own.
