Cowboys’ improving pass rush has to push Luck

Tyrone Crawford saw the story about the nice things Andrew Luck tells opposing players after sacks or big defensive plays.

His reaction?

“I’m hoping I get a couple compliments,” Crawford said, smiling.

That would certainly bode well in the Dallas Cowboys’ efforts to beat the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday, and move a step closer to the postseason.

Getting pressure on the quarterback is always important, particularly this week. Luck leads the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns, and the Colts will surely try and expose the Cowboys’ defense.

The best way to offset that is by getting Luck out of his rhythm early on.

“Certainly, we want to get around him and affect him — somehow, some way,” coach Jason Garrett said.

For Garrett’s and the team’s sake, the Cowboys are finally showing some signs of life in the pass rush. It’s been a question mark from Day One when they lacked a proven sack artist after the departures of DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher.

But Crawford is having the breakout season most had hoped for, and veteran Jeremy Mincey has been better than expected. Henry Melton has also had his moments of getting to the quarterback.

The Cowboys still rank near the bottom of the league in sacks with 23, but that’s an improvement from where they were a month ago. They had been on pace for a franchise-low 16 sacks but have produced 11 sacks in the past four games.

“It was tough early on, man, but we’ve got a resilient group of men,” Mincey said. “We’re starting to learn how to stay in our lanes and do things the right way. We always had an ability to do it, but we were always out of sync at times. Last week, everyone did their jobs, and we were at the right place at the right time.

“We have to do that this week. Andrew Luck is a fierce competitor and you’ve got to knock him out of his rhythm early. It’s tough to do, but we’ve got to rush him well.”

As stated, developing a pass rush is something the Cowboys knew would be an uphill battle going into the season

Anthony Spencer was the most accomplished of the group with 32 1/2 career sacks, but he was coming off microfracture surgery on his knee. Melton was another guy with a track record, but also returning from a significant injury.

Nobody really knew what to expect from Mincey, who had a career-high eight sacks with Jacksonville in 2011, or Crawford, who missed last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

To their credit, the Cowboys felt they also addressed the void through the draft by trading up to take Boise State’s DeMarcus Lawrence 34th overall. Lawrence, though, has been a relative nonfactor since fracturing his right foot in training camp and missing the first eight weeks of the season.

“It’s time for me to show up,” said Lawrence, who had 20 sacks in two seasons at Boise State, but has yet to record an NFL sack in five games.

“Time for me to go out there and start making plays. I feel like I know the playbook well enough that I should be able to go out there … get after the quarterback.”

This Sunday would be the perfect time for Lawrence to emerge with the rest of them. Everybody knows the difficulty of containing Luck, someone Tony Romo feels like will eventually take the baton from superstars such as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

At 6-foot-4, 238 pounds, Luck is the prototypical pocket passer who is athletic enough to elude pressure and run when he has to. Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli remembers preparing the Bears defense to stop Luck in his NFL debut back in 2012.

Marinelli’s group fared well; Luck completed only 51 percent of his passes and was intercepted three times in a 41-21 loss. But Marinelli knew the best was yet to come from Luck.

“We knew this guy is special,” Marinelli said. “I admire the guy. He’s tough. He sets up in that pocket and he’ll finish throws, take hits. And, if it’s out there, he’ll run. He’s got a great feel for running.

“He’s as good as we’ll see all year.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2014 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Cowboys’ improving pass rush has to push Luck."