The Landry Trophy 
At this point, we’ve covered the concepts of defensive gaps and techniques, and then we applied those concepts to the fundamental 4-3 defensive base formation: the 4-3 over. If you haven’t read the first two chapters, I would advise you … Read more
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In last week’s post, I covered some of the more fundamental defensive football concepts: gaps and defensive linemen techniques. I went through an overview of how gap theory is used to choke running lanes, and we saw how defensive linemen will position themselves in pre-snap techniques to ensure the … Read more
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Remember those lectures in school when towards the end, the teacher would look up to ask if anyone had any questions, to which most students sat with drool on their chin? Most of the time, almost no one cared about the subject, or paid any attention to the material, … Read more
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There’s obviously been a lot of talk regarding who the Cowboys are going to pick at 28. Several names have been tossed around, and with the draft queued up for 7 p.m. CDT tonight, the staff here at Inside The Star wanted to put our official predictions down … Read more
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This is an interesting time on the NFL schedule. We’re in that sort of post-free agency purgatory where teams have re-tooled and shuffled players around, but are still looking at the opportunity for major upgrades in the NFL draft. There’s a good 6-7 weeks between the start of the new … Read more
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Not unlike most Cowboys fans, I was extremely displeased by some of the play of the Seattle Seahawks last night. We knew it would be a tough first half, given the third preseason game is typically the “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, but there were times where … Read more
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When you think about training camp battles, which ones are your favorites? The first one that comes to my mind is Dez Bryant vs. Orlando Scandrick. Both guys are competitors on every snap and think the ball is theirs when it comes out of Tony Romo’s golden right … Read more
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The Cowboys made the switch to the base 4-3 defense after their 2012 campaign produced a mild 8-8 record. Since the change in 2013, the team has only carried 6-7 linebackers on their opening day roster. As it stands right now, the team has 11 linebackers on the roster. That number may vary slightly as we near training camp, but because our base defense requires three stand up linebackers, I can’t imagine it to drop much before cuts to 75. This presents a relatively interesting situation to our personnel department as they’re going to have to figure out who makes the cut.
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The other day I turned on some of Ezekiel Elliott’s college tape just for fun. I was at work thinking about just how talented he was, and got the itch to watch him wreck. Play after play, it’s amazing to me how well he does everything. When he runs, he runs with purpose and direction. He makes guys miss in the open field, can lower his shoulder and bulldoze his way to a first down, or can bounce an outside run to the sideline, gain the edge, and explode down the field.
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If you’re like me, one of the first things you did when the Dallas Cowboys drafted Jaylon Smith was drop your jaw. I mean, how could the Cowboys take someone at 34th overall who very likely won’t play a snap this season, and may never take another one again? Once I turned on the tape of him at Notre Dame, that answer became a lot less murky. Ladies and gentlemen, Jaylon Smith is an absolute star at linebacker. Throughout his college career, he has showed instincts, anticipation, patience, toughness, and knowledge.
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