Marinelli Wants Defense to be “Thieves”

Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli has made creating turnovers goal No. 1 for the Dallas defense

The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has a clear goal in 2013, under new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and new defensive line coach Rod Marinelli. In a word, that goal is “turnovers.”

Marinelli is something of a turnover wizard. As the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator last season, his unit led the NFL with 44 takeaways. The Cowboys had 16.

In Sunday night’s Hall of Fame game, the team posted two turnovers, including a pick-six--not bad, but Marinelli wasn’t exactly impressed by the pair of takeaways.

We left three or four out there,” Marinelli said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “That’s where it’s the good and the bad. We’ve got to get them all. That’s what this thing is about. The takeaways are so important to winning. It’s just about winning and attitude to get to the ball. We didn’t have enough strip attempts. We have to just keep staying on it.

“… We want them to be a bunch of thieves.”

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