SturmStack Rewind: March 20, 2017

DeMarcus Ware was an absolute Cowboys legend even if some did not recognize it when it was happening.

Sometimes, I will go find some old projects that I completed from years back and share them with you when the relevance is particularly high. This was back when I was working at the Dallas Morning News. Amazingly, their website changes have nuked and destroyed most of those materials I wrote for them, but I was able to preserve some of them in my files.

This one is an example of that.

DeMarcus Ware was one of my favorite Cowboys and yet I was always struck on how his own fanbase seemed to have very mixed emotions about his career and general greatness amongst the best Cowboys in franchise history.

Well, this was what I wrote in March of 2017 from the week he officially retired. I wanted to remind anyone who needed reminding that this was player was a dominant force of nature. I hope you enjoy:

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You know who you are. You know if this applies to you. If it doesn't, you know the guy who needs to read this. Make sure he gets the link this morning.

The nonsense must end. I know people say mean things when they feel cornered or hurt. I understand how we rationalize things in our head to morph into the truth -- even if it is nonsense. It is how we sleep through the night. It is how we cope.  I get it. Nobody wants to follow the team that loses. Everyone wants to follow the champ. 

In these parts, it has been over two decades of barren land since the dynasty. It has been a rough go of things and therefore, the Cowboys fan can act out in anger. They can play the blame game. That is actually a reasonable position if you want to direct it at the top. Incompetence has hurt this thing from the decision makers for far too long. Maybe they are figuring it out, but that doesn't erase 20-some seasons of poor work.

But, this goes out to all of you with tepid reviews of the work of DeMarcus Ware. I expect Cowboys fans to minimize the accomplishments of Eli Manning or Brian Dawkins or Aaron Rodgers or whatever rival you wish to argue about. But, Ware? How did Ware get on your bad side? He left? The Cowboys cut him, you might recall, after the 2013 season. He was owed a ton of money, the Cowboys low-balled him after another 8-8 season, and off he went to play for Denver. It worked out for him, but around here, there was a group of Cowboys fans who were pretty loudly chipping away at his legacy.

Actually, if memory serves, he was being minimized long before that. When he was still a Cowboy, I would hear from you who wondered what he had ever done. You know, besides being the best at his position in the entire league from 2005 until his career ended.  

The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

No. It isn't. That is a fact. He had 138.5 sacks over that run and nobody else was within 11. Jared Allen was at 127. Julius Peppers had 113.5 and Robert Mathis had 109 for the only players with 100. Ware was well above them all. And, no, there aren't too many Super Bowl rings there, right?

You know, because nobody ever said a defensive end was going to carry a team to a Super Bowl. They would do their part, but they aren't great at playing QB.  

He won a Super Bowl. Had 2 sacks in Denver's win over Carolina. Also, not an opinion. Here they are:

And, 

That capped off his career. And man, was it a good one. Unqualified greatness, right?

Wrong. The emails and tweets roll in from supposed Cowboys fans. The same who  will defend Romo's career to the death, because, you know, he never had a great team around him. So, you can't ask Romo to put up team accomplishments. But, wow, those individual ones.

I'm sorry. What does that even mean? A QB isn't held responsible for Jerry's silliness, but a DE is? 

Let's hear this obnoxious rationale. 

"Well, Bob, he never got big sacks. He never did much in the 4th quarter."

Wrong.

DeMarcus Ware sacks by quarter: 1st Q - 34.5; 2nd Q - 40.5; 3rd Q - 25; 4th Q - 38.5. It appears he had quite a few sacks in the 4th quarter.  

In fact, in Ware's career, no player in the sport had more sacks in the 4th quarter than DeMarcus Ware. In the entire sport.  

But, yeah, keep telling yourself that he disappeared at the end of games. 

"Well, Bob, his sacks were on early downs. Not the important ones."

Right. Well, you might have me on this one. Over his career on 3rd downs, he actually finished 2nd in the entire sport. One sack behind Elvis Dumervil on 3rd down, 52-51.  Second in the NFL.  

I suppose that will have to do.  

The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Not really. Ware needs nobody to defend him. But, in this day of the hot take and the undefended positions, someone must simply offer the eyeball test.  

He was the greatest Cowboy I have ever covered and the greatest pass rusher of his generation. He is a 1st ballot hall of famer and most likely a rubber stamp ring-of-honor guy. 

But, you keep telling yourself that he was "always injured."  

Actually, he missed 3 starts as a Cowboy. Or, roughly, 40 fewer than Romo. He wasn't always injured. But, he played through a shoulder injury that caused most to declare he was finished - when he clearly was not.  

Cap hell claimed a victim. And it was the greatest Cowboy since the Triplets.

The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Ok. That one really was just my opinion.

But, these sacks from his final season in Dallas are real.

Kansas City tried to fool him on the bootleg.  He wasn't having it.

Nobody closed down in the pocket like he did.

Have mercy on these poor Rams.  

Think a good thought for Jake Long and his family after that.

And now a few from his first year in Denver. He had a hat-trick against the great Joe Staley. I much enjoyed them:

That wasn't the fake-spin move on Staley. Just the one that set it up.  People forget he got a sack on that one, too.

There is the beauty. Wow. Watch it a dozen times.

And if you are going to get two, you might as well get three.

Forgive me if I sound defensive, but I have been around long enough to see people trash Alex Rodriguez, Derian Hatcher and Steve Nash when they left. I have seen people rationalize nearly ever great athlete who has rolled through town as "not that great" when they left.  

They all have their own stories and their own verdicts. I am not here to defend them.

And frankly, I never imagined we would live in a world where I would need to defend the greatest pass rusher of this generation.

But, here I am. He was best at getting to the QB in every category and every situation. And if there aren't enough "big" sacks in Dallas, it was because his organization betrayed him. You are smart enough to see that with the QB, but for some reason, a big group acts like Ware should have won more games by himself.

Don't turn on the diamond who was surrounded by the cow poo-poo.  He was brilliant and deserves unanimous adoration among his home market.  

Again, I realize it is only 5 percent of you that require this reminder, but there you go. I just spent the morning defending someone who needs no defense.  

Unqualified greatness.  What a career.