Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli takes blame for woeful defense
Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is not the head coach.
That is Jason Garrett.
But Marinelli says blame him for the Cowboys underachieving in 2019.
Marinelli doesn’t miss tackles or over run plays. He doesn’t fail to fall on fumbles right up under him or let quarterbacks slip out of sacks for big gains.
But Marinelli is the one falling on the sword for the woes of a Cowboys defense that entered the season purportedly as talented as any in the league in the front seven but finds itself unable to stop the run and or get to the quarterback with any consistency.
The Cowboys defensive problems were on full display in Thursday’s 31-21 loss to the Chicago Bears. It was their third straight loss, fourth in the last five game and seventh in the last 10.
“I will take full responsibility,” Marinelli said to the Star-Telegram about the woeful performance against the Bears. “Things we are coaching. Obviously I am not emphasizing well enough and we didn’t do it. That’s a reflection on me. It’s cut and dried. That is what coaching is. Things we needed to get done. It starts with me, nobody else. I take responsibility for this loss. I didn’t get it done. Sometime you think you got it done. But obviously I didn’t do a good enough job explaining some of the options and stuff. I didn’t get it done. It’s all me.”
Chicago entered the game struggling on offense, averaging just 17 points a game and ranking 28th in the league in rushing and 28th passing. But they scored a season-high in points against the Cowboys.
And maligned Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky had his best game of the season. He completed 23 of 31 passes for 244 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He was also part of a rushing attack that gashed the Cowboys for 152 yards.
David Montgomery led the way with 86 yards and Tribusky added 64.
The defense contributed to their own demise with three third-down penalties that extended drives which the Bears turned into touchdowns. Defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Michael Bennett were flagged for being off sides. Safety Xavier Woods was flagged for holding.
The Bears converted seven of 12 third downs.
None of that was on Marinelli.
Garrett thinks the players were pressing during the Bears game and lost their fundamentals.
“I just think the biggest thing across the board on defense is we just have to be more disciplined and more fundamentally sound,” Garrett said. “And that’s really been our calling card around here for a long time. And that’s really what I was referring to. I felt it during the game. We tried to address it during the game. You certainly saw it on tape. It’s just the gap principles. Winning you gaps, setting the edge of the defense. Doing your job. The roles and responsibilities that everybody on every play.
“And sometimes what happens is really in every position on your team, it’s the potential you have to go make this play. And when you do that, all of a sudden you leave a gaping hole for a runner or for maybe the quarterback to get out or all of that.”
And then there’s the fact that Marinelli is the defensive coordinator in name because secondary coach/passing game coordinator Kris Richard calls the plays on defense.
Marinelli is in the charge of the defensive line and he blames his guys up front for the majority of the team’s woes in stopping the run and not getting the quarterback consistently.
And Marinelli wouldn’t waver when it was pointed out that the players on defense are not performing up to their talent.
Lawrence had 24.5 sacks the past two years and was given a five-year, $105 million contract in the off-season. He has just five sacks and just one half over last five games, in which the Cowboys have lost four.
Defensive end Robert Quinn leads the Cowboys with 9.5 sacks but he has struggled against the run.
The most disappointing position is linebacker, where Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch have taken a step back. And that was before Vander Esch missed the past three games with a neck injury and may be done for the season.
“Talent that is not directed well, that is my part,” Marinelli said. “If it is not directed well it doesn’t matter if you have talent. You can take non talented guys that want it and get them to do it. I haven’t done it.”
Marinelli can’t make the plays for his defense. But he’s says it’s a failure on his part. And he acknowledged there have been problems all season.
“You can’t look at it that way,” Marinelli said. “I am not getting it across to some of the things we have to do. That is on me. I take full responsibility.”
Does he think the players quit?
”I would never say that,” Marinelli said. “It’s on the coach. If they are not doing the things then I’m not explaining it well. I accept that. It’s on me. 100 percent. If I got the point across they would be doing it. It’s certainly not that simple.”
The players have to make plays.
But at least Marinelli is holding himself accountable and taking responsibility.
Who else is doing that?
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 11:34 AM.
