Dallas City News

There isn’t much that hasn’t been said positively about the Dallas Cowboys defense in their season opening win against the Cleveland Browns. The 33-17 statement win on the road puts the team in the familiar position of starting strong on this side of the ball and giving an offense full of players that didn’t get reps in the preseason time to take form. The Cowboys were able to do this under Dan Quinn, and didn’t miss a beat in announcing to the league that Mike Zimmer’s defense is here to pick up right where the now-Commanders head coach left off.

With a ton of room for improvement and fine tuning on both sides of the ball, the Cowboys still had six sacks, two interceptions, and a forced turnover on downs against Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper, and the Browns offense. The Cowboys’ game plan was able to put the Browns in a position where they had to drop back and be a one-dimensional passing team, which not only told us a lot about a secondary still without CB DaRon Bland, but also the rotation on the defensive line.

The defensive tackle position was a work in progress for the Cowboys all through training camp, the preseason, and right up until the start of the regular season as they looked to give Zimmer the right guys to work with on the interior. These new additions in Linval Joseph and Jordan Phillips both made their team debuts on Sunday, but it was carryover players Osa Odighizuwa and Chauncey Golston that led the way in snaps at DT over Joseph, Phillips, and last year’s top draft pick Mazi Smith.

Dallas Cowboys Defensive Tackle Snap Counts at CLE Browns

The Cowboys big lead might have led to unusual snap counts in Week 1, especially as the Browns were forced into more passing situations which don’t play to the strengths of Smith and Joseph, The Cowboys defense clearly looked at their best when put in this position to rush the passer constantly, where edge players DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons mostly stole the show.

It will be interesting to see if this rotation at tackle stays the same when Dallas finds themselves in more evenly matched games against balanced offenses. Did we see just the “obvious passing downs” rotation, or can will Golston continue to get a lot of run at tackle?

The Cowboys young linebacking group responded well to the defensive alignment in front of them against the Browns, filling gaps and staying off blocks to make plays all over the field as DeMarvion Overshown shined and veteran Eric Kendricks had the first interception of the season. This is what Zimmer is looking for up front, seeing Odighizuwa make good on being one of the rare players that didn’t see a single snap all preseason. He is the Cowboys’ clear number one at the 3-technique spot.

It is also important to note when talking about how the Cowboys line up across their front four that Micah Parsons saw a few snaps on the interior against the Browns, Lawrence is capable of doing the same, as is rookie defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. Having the benefit of confusing an opposing offense with who may be rushing from where is obviously something Zimmer wants to take advantage of, but more stout run-stuffing players like Smith or Joseph can make this difficult. Phillips is a hybrid player that takes interior linemen by surprise with his ability to rush the passer at his size, and this role will be valuable to avoid wear and tear on the best rusher of this group in Odighizuwa.

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images

The Cowboys run defense may not be 100% fixed, but the fact is they put in a solid performance on the road in their first game playing a new scheme at full game speed. Doing so while the snap count shows so much room for Mazi Smith and Linval Joseph to help them against more physical run teams is encouraging. September football is truly about learning for the first time what a team’s players can do in game situations, and right now the Cowboys defense is showing they can stay assignment sound up and down the depth chart.

If Dallas’ offense gets off to the hot start at home like they did last year, look for the defense to be able to continue prioritizing players that can affect the quarterback lining up in the front seven over the next two weeks. Despite what some fans have been saying since the end of the season, and more recently when the Cowboys felt the need to add at DT late in the process, this doesn’t mean that Mazi Smith can’t still play an important role for this defense.

The team is just getting started with the looks that Zimmer can deploy, and having versatility at all three levels is a huge reason why they feel comfortable with the way this defense can evolve. Defensive tackle is an important position to have depth at, and based on the first regular season game the Cowboys have veteran depth just waiting to play more snaps when called upon.