Call this a race to the bottom. Right now this is how it must feel if you are a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Late Monday night owner/GM Jerry Jones told the media his best defender at camp, cornerback Orlando Scandrick, will miss the first four games of the NFL season. Performance enhancing drugs is why Scandrick will miss games against the 49ers, Titans, Rams and the NBC Sunday Night Football game Sept. 28 against the Saints.
NBC might as well go ahead and flex out of that Dec. 14 game at JerryWorld against the Eagles right now.
During my time at Oxnard, Jones and his son Stephen were trying to sell the media that the 2014 Cowboys defense "on paper" was better.
Then injuries started happening in Oxnard.
Second round draft pick Demarcus Lawrence suffered a broken foot. Corner Mo Claiborne missed parts of camp with a knee injury. Defensive end Anthony Spencer has yet to put on pads or even start running as he tries to come back from micro-fracture surgery. Defensive tackle Henry Melton injured his groin and will miss camp practices against the Raiders on Tuesday and Wednesday. Defensive end Tyrone Crawford is day to day with a calf. Shall I go on?
The Cowboys don't have any pass rushers healthy right now. The defense Rod Marinelli wants to run is based on the front four defenders being able to stop the run and get to the quarterback. I just don't see them have those blue chip type D-lineman you need to get that done.
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Last year's defense that included DeMarcus Ware, Jason Hatcher and Sean Lee finished last in the NFL. Those three players are gone and their 2014 replacements are not an upgrade. The Chargers topped the Cowboys by 20 points in the pre-season opener where the defense allowed 152 yards of rushing and allowed 395 total yards.
After three seasons of 8-8 records I just don't see how this defense will allow the club to be .500 again. Right now the Cowboys could end up being one of the worst teams in the NFC, if not the worst.
Fans want to give me this stuff about how good the offense is and how they will put up a lot of points. Scoring is fine but unless you make stops in the NFL, you won't win. Remember the 51-48 loss to Denver last season?
We are on track to seeing the same thing if Cowboys defenders can't get healthy. Scandrick missing all of September is going to hurt a lot more than people on my Facebook page realize.
