The Dallas Cowboys are 8-1 and everything is amazing.
Well, maybe not everything, but just about everything in the football world is, at least.
Yesterday, the Cowboys traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, a city they haven’t won a game in since 1997 and pulled it out in dramatic fashion. And when I say dramatic, I mean dramatic.
Lead change after lead change, three scores in the final two minutes of the game, and an Ezekiel Elliott touchdown run when it looked like the Cowboys were simply setting up a field goal. Yeah, it was awesome.
As the Cowboys continue to roll onto their 8th straight win, three components of the team receive the most praise: the quarterback, the running back, and the offensive line. This praise is all well deserved. The offensive line is the best in all of football, Ezekiel Elliott looks like he might be the best running back in the league, and Dak Prescott is playing better than anyone could have anticipated.
One player in particular stood out to me during yesterday’s win, however, and it sort of goes against all of the conventional Cowboys praise.
That player is defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence.
Yes, Zeke had the game of his life and Dak continued to make every big throw, but Lawrence showed up Sunday in a way we haven’t seen him show up throughout his career. Oh, and staff writer Brian Martin predicted this just a few days ago.
The second half of the 2015 season was brutal for Dallas in the win column, but was fantastic for Lawrence in the sack column. After finishing the year with 7 sacks in 8 games, D-Law seemed poised to takeover as the Cowboys leading pass rusher this season.
After serving a four game suspension to start the 2016 season, Lawrence seems to have finally hit his stride, and played his best football in the win over Pittsburgh. Lawrence finished Sunday’s game with 4 tackles, 1 tackle-for-loss, 1 forced fumble, and a sack.
Yes, a sack! Something we haven’t seen out of Lawrence yet this year.
https://gyazo.com/ddbade069e5968edc9f614754fbae0a8
On the forced fumble, Lawrence comes all the way across the field to rock Le’veon Bell, forcing him to drop the ball and give Bryon Jones a chance to recover it. Lawrence shows an excellent motor on this play, tracking the play from the backside and working his way down the line of scrimmage.
https://gyazo.com/13acceca887895eace445265a2368eae
On his tackle for loss, Lawrence refuses to be fooled by the Steelers’ trickery. He works his way up the field, beats the offensive lineman who was sent to lead block for Antonio Brown, and lights up Brown in the backfield. This is an excellent play from Lawrence, and one I hope to see more of from him in the future.
https://gyazo.com/7f9d7210c745cf4afa056eef19414a25
Last but not least, let’s enjoy Lawrence’s first sack of 2016 one more time. First, D-Law beats Marcus Gilbert around the edge with a solid speed rush. Then, as the pressure starts to get into Ben Roethlisberger’s face leaving him unable to step up in the pocket, Lawrence comes from behind and gets the sack.
The offense will rightfully receive all of the credit for this week’s win. They deserve it, believe me, but we should also take a moment to realize how good DeMarcus Lawrence was yesterday. Hopefully, he will be able to harness this performance and put on a show next Sunday as well.
