DQ Report, Wk 10 - Always Blitzing Devito

Cowboys show no mercy by sending pressure early and often to rattle Giants

In retrospect, as we put this Giants game to bed today with a strong look at the defense, it is clear that the Cowboys coaching staff sat in their room a week ago and made the strong decision to make sure that Sunday was a statement.

You may say that it is ridiculous to make an example of the shorthanded Giants because what would that actually accomplish in the big scheme of things? What would the point be?

I suppose the best answer is that they wanted to make sure that any sort of feelings about this next stretch of games will not be taken lightly. The coaching staff sure seemed to ignore the voices on the outside that would tell you that “none of this matters until you play the Eagles and 49ers” anyway.

Mike McCarthy and Dan Quinn took another approach.

The way both game plans were revealed suggested that they disagree about the value of obliterating lesser opponents. They surely seem to tell us that the good vibes of the offense and defense fully flexing its muscles will get morale up, confidence soaring, and send a message around the league that they were one play from going into Philadelphia and quieting that bunch.

We showed you what the offense was doing yesterday – throwing deep on first down and frequently. Today, we look at the defense and as we continue to see the Cowboys attempt to goose their sack totals back up to where they need to be. This has been a topic that we haven’t discussed too much, but I assume the Cowboys are well aware of the reality.

Let’s cover it here. From the start of 2021 to the end of 2022, Dallas was one of the best sack teams in the NFL. In fact, they were second out of the 32 teams, trailing only the Eagles pass rushers, 99-95. During that span, the average NFL team had 79. So, very healthy and all good.

Well, in 2023, Dallas had seven sacks in Week 1 and the entire NFL was put on notice. They have 26 this season which is off their pace and pretty much league average where the average team is at 24.5 right now. But, if we subtract Week 1, the Cowboys vaunted defense actually falls to 20th in the NFL with 19 and the average NFL team in that same span is at 22.

That is a problem. Its a problem because without Trevon Diggs, they need the sacks to cover the fact that the cover players are not at the level they would need. They also need the offense to score more and to pull more weight because the dominating Cowboys defense is not dominating like it did in 2021 and 2022.

They are still very good, but if you are wondering why the Cowboys have decided to blitz a lot more this season – and on Sunday against a very hapless Giants offense they blitzed more times than any other game this season with 21 and a 54% blitz rate - there is your best indicator. They sense they need to goose their sack totals because from the Jets game on September 18 all the way to the visit to Philadelphia on November 5th, the defense had just 14 sacks in seven games. 2 per game is just not nearly enough to be a lead defense.

So as we walked you through a few weeks ago, Dallas is now making blitzing a huge part of their diet – something we haven’t seen in years. They are up to fourth in the NFL and are trying to remain the defense that terrifies opponents when they get off the bus for how their protection is going to be destroyed. But, they are having to bring extra guys to get there – in doing so, they risk lesser coverage behind it.