- 187
- 10
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2006
IRVING, Texas - For most Cowboys fans, last Thursday couldn't have been going any better.
Not only was it Thanksgiving Day, probably enjoying the day off with family and friends, and better yet, feasting on a big turkey. Their Cowboys team wasrolling through some bird of their own, blasting the Seahawks with ease.
And then it happened. Not long after watching Marion Barber limp off, then back on, and then off again with a toe injury, arguably the team's mostdominating player suffered that type of injury that makes you cringe and possibly look away from the TV.
I'd hate for there to be many fans who wait until after the game for their Thanksgiving feast. Watching Ware lay there on the Texas Stadium turf mighthave been appetite-losing worthy.
Here is the team's, and maybe even the NFL's best defensive player, already with three sacks on the day, face-first on the ground.
I'm sure the same fans who were hoping for Ware to get his fourth sack of the contest quickly hollered at Wade Phillips for leaving him in the game thislong.
At any rate, it was a scary scene.
Now, we all know the good news that followed. Ware had an MRI on Friday which revealed just a hyper-extended left knee and more importantly, no ligamentdamage. Although he didn't participate in Monday's practice, it's likely that Ware will practice this week and is expected to play Sunday inPittsburgh.
It was written here on Friday and discussed this week, too, but talk about an early Christmas present.
This team just can't lose DeMarcus Ware.
He's one of three irreplaceable guys on this team. In the last 12 months, we've seen what happens when two of them go down.
The offense just wasn't the same at the end of last year without Terrell Owens. And of course, the offense could barely function without 10 healthyfingers on Tony Romo.
But defensively, I got this feeling - call it a hunch - that the Cowboys won't be nearly the same without Ware. Yeah I know, I'm a regular SherlockHolmes.
This Cowboys team just can't go without Ware. Sure, they'd function. Greg Ellis and Anthony Spencer are both first-round picks and could handle thejob. But this entire defense doesn't work without pressure. The middle linebackers need it, the cornerbacks definitely need it, too.
It starts and stops with the pass rush and no player in the league has done it better than Ware this year.
And before we get into this topic, for the record, if there was a fourth irreplaceable guy, especially for this game, it would have to be Barber. Hisrunning style is absolutely crucial for this game against a Steelers team that would start blitzing Romo today if it could. Barber's ability to pick uptough yards is downright vital for the Cowboys to have any chance of winning.
But again, Romo, Owens, Barber - all offensive players. Surely, the Cowboys will need them to score points against the NFL's top-ranked defense.
However, the Cowboys can't let Big Ben Roethlisberger have a field day either. And that's where Ware comes into the picture. In fact, that'swhere he's been all year.
Front and center.
I have to admit, I personally thought Ware had no shot of besting his 14 sacks from last year. Even though he had improved his sack totals each of his firstthree years from eight in 2005, 11 ½ in 2006 and then 14 last year, I thought at some point, offenses would try to take him out of the game.
Ok, so he gets 15 sacks . . . with four games left to play? Seriously.
This guy is unbelievable. When it comes to timing the snap count, beating the tackle, not to mention making some of the game's best, like Seattle'sWalter Jones, look like rookies and getting the quarterback to the ground, Ware is in a class of very few.
But the scary part is that it doesn't stop there.
Just look at the last two games for all the proof needed. Against San Francisco, here's Ware running stride for stride with 49ers tailback Frank Gore onwhat the offense figured to be a mismatch. We've got a Pro Bowl-caliber back streaking down the field against an outside linebacker, basically a defensiveend. But when it comes to pure athleticism, Ware has Gore beat, and most running backs, too.
Ware stayed with him the entire play and knocked the ball out at the last second.
Covers the pass? Check.
And against the run? That might even be the best part of his game.
His teammates think so.
"I think he's just as good or better against the run than he is as a pass rusher," veteran linebacker Zach Thomas said. "And he'sleading the league in sacks. That just tells you. Usually you don't have a guy that can play both the run and the pass. Usually if they're a great passrusher teams try to run right at them because they're kind of light. But with DeMarcus it's not that way."
No teammate has seen more of him or knows him better than defensive end Marcus Spears, who was selected nine spots later in the first round of the 2005draft. Spears and Ware have been roommates on the road, not to mention good friends off the field during their still-young pro careers.
Like Thomas, Spears says that what makes Ware so special is his versatility.
Any way you like it, he can beat you.
"I think he's progressed every year," Spears said of Ware. "He has become a lot stronger of a football player. He is dismantling peopleon the field. You have a lot of outside linebackers in this league with a lot of sacks right now. They either can run fast or they have some pass-rush moves.But D-Ware plays the run like a down lineman.
"He also can get to the quarterback with a power rush or he can run past them. The facets of his game are what make him exceptional."
The question now is, just who is noticing?
Opponents know, especially the left tackles and the quarterbacks. Coaches probably see it, too. In fact, if you remember back in the Tampa Bay game on Oct.26, that was the game Ware saw his streak of 10 straight games with a sack come to an end. But afterwards, it was Bucs coach Jon Gruden who called Warearguably the best football player in the NFL.
He might not have recorded a sack, but he was all over Jeff Garcia that day as the Cowboys held Tampa Bay to just three field goals.
And by the end of the season, you wonder if Ware has a chance to get some of the same recognition.
Defensive Player of the Year . . . why not? The guys in Pittsburgh might have something to say about that. And what happens in this week's game could goa long way in deciding such a race.
But while awards are fun to speculate and argue about, we don't need them to tell us how great players like DeMarcus Ware are.
In fact, after seeinghim on the ground last Thursday, just having him on the field is good enough . . . not to mention, crucial. Home | Emhttp://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5
Not only was it Thanksgiving Day, probably enjoying the day off with family and friends, and better yet, feasting on a big turkey. Their Cowboys team wasrolling through some bird of their own, blasting the Seahawks with ease.
And then it happened. Not long after watching Marion Barber limp off, then back on, and then off again with a toe injury, arguably the team's mostdominating player suffered that type of injury that makes you cringe and possibly look away from the TV.
I'd hate for there to be many fans who wait until after the game for their Thanksgiving feast. Watching Ware lay there on the Texas Stadium turf mighthave been appetite-losing worthy.
Here is the team's, and maybe even the NFL's best defensive player, already with three sacks on the day, face-first on the ground.
I'm sure the same fans who were hoping for Ware to get his fourth sack of the contest quickly hollered at Wade Phillips for leaving him in the game thislong.
At any rate, it was a scary scene.
Now, we all know the good news that followed. Ware had an MRI on Friday which revealed just a hyper-extended left knee and more importantly, no ligamentdamage. Although he didn't participate in Monday's practice, it's likely that Ware will practice this week and is expected to play Sunday inPittsburgh.
It was written here on Friday and discussed this week, too, but talk about an early Christmas present.
This team just can't lose DeMarcus Ware.
He's one of three irreplaceable guys on this team. In the last 12 months, we've seen what happens when two of them go down.
The offense just wasn't the same at the end of last year without Terrell Owens. And of course, the offense could barely function without 10 healthyfingers on Tony Romo.
But defensively, I got this feeling - call it a hunch - that the Cowboys won't be nearly the same without Ware. Yeah I know, I'm a regular SherlockHolmes.
This Cowboys team just can't go without Ware. Sure, they'd function. Greg Ellis and Anthony Spencer are both first-round picks and could handle thejob. But this entire defense doesn't work without pressure. The middle linebackers need it, the cornerbacks definitely need it, too.
It starts and stops with the pass rush and no player in the league has done it better than Ware this year.
And before we get into this topic, for the record, if there was a fourth irreplaceable guy, especially for this game, it would have to be Barber. Hisrunning style is absolutely crucial for this game against a Steelers team that would start blitzing Romo today if it could. Barber's ability to pick uptough yards is downright vital for the Cowboys to have any chance of winning.
But again, Romo, Owens, Barber - all offensive players. Surely, the Cowboys will need them to score points against the NFL's top-ranked defense.
However, the Cowboys can't let Big Ben Roethlisberger have a field day either. And that's where Ware comes into the picture. In fact, that'swhere he's been all year.
Front and center.
I have to admit, I personally thought Ware had no shot of besting his 14 sacks from last year. Even though he had improved his sack totals each of his firstthree years from eight in 2005, 11 ½ in 2006 and then 14 last year, I thought at some point, offenses would try to take him out of the game.
Ok, so he gets 15 sacks . . . with four games left to play? Seriously.
This guy is unbelievable. When it comes to timing the snap count, beating the tackle, not to mention making some of the game's best, like Seattle'sWalter Jones, look like rookies and getting the quarterback to the ground, Ware is in a class of very few.
But the scary part is that it doesn't stop there.
Just look at the last two games for all the proof needed. Against San Francisco, here's Ware running stride for stride with 49ers tailback Frank Gore onwhat the offense figured to be a mismatch. We've got a Pro Bowl-caliber back streaking down the field against an outside linebacker, basically a defensiveend. But when it comes to pure athleticism, Ware has Gore beat, and most running backs, too.
Ware stayed with him the entire play and knocked the ball out at the last second.
Covers the pass? Check.
And against the run? That might even be the best part of his game.
His teammates think so.
"I think he's just as good or better against the run than he is as a pass rusher," veteran linebacker Zach Thomas said. "And he'sleading the league in sacks. That just tells you. Usually you don't have a guy that can play both the run and the pass. Usually if they're a great passrusher teams try to run right at them because they're kind of light. But with DeMarcus it's not that way."
No teammate has seen more of him or knows him better than defensive end Marcus Spears, who was selected nine spots later in the first round of the 2005draft. Spears and Ware have been roommates on the road, not to mention good friends off the field during their still-young pro careers.
Like Thomas, Spears says that what makes Ware so special is his versatility.
Any way you like it, he can beat you.
"I think he's progressed every year," Spears said of Ware. "He has become a lot stronger of a football player. He is dismantling peopleon the field. You have a lot of outside linebackers in this league with a lot of sacks right now. They either can run fast or they have some pass-rush moves.But D-Ware plays the run like a down lineman.
"He also can get to the quarterback with a power rush or he can run past them. The facets of his game are what make him exceptional."
The question now is, just who is noticing?
Opponents know, especially the left tackles and the quarterbacks. Coaches probably see it, too. In fact, if you remember back in the Tampa Bay game on Oct.26, that was the game Ware saw his streak of 10 straight games with a sack come to an end. But afterwards, it was Bucs coach Jon Gruden who called Warearguably the best football player in the NFL.
He might not have recorded a sack, but he was all over Jeff Garcia that day as the Cowboys held Tampa Bay to just three field goals.
And by the end of the season, you wonder if Ware has a chance to get some of the same recognition.
Defensive Player of the Year . . . why not? The guys in Pittsburgh might have something to say about that. And what happens in this week's game could goa long way in deciding such a race.
But while awards are fun to speculate and argue about, we don't need them to tell us how great players like DeMarcus Ware are.
In fact, after seeinghim on the ground last Thursday, just having him on the field is good enough . . . not to mention, crucial. Home | Emhttp://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5
