Cowboys DT Tyrone Crawford not satisfied with one sack or his play

Defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford had a sack against the Miami Dolphins last Friday and was hailed as an example of the hope and progress for the defense that heads into the season filled with questions.

But the numbers have never told the entire story for Crawford and he says that sack was the high point of what was an overall disappointing performance for him.

“The numbers don’t matter. Sacks and those stats are overrated,” Crawford said. “I think I played bad, but I got a sack so people will tell me I played good. I’ve definitely got to do better. I have to play lower. I have to do my job better. We are going to be working on that.”

Crawford said he played too high and had a lot of missed alignments and missed assignments against the Dolphins, reminding him of his season in 2015 when he just had five sacks. Never mind that Crawford playing through an injured shoulder last year, he has high standards for himself that he didn’t meet then or against the Dolphins last Friday.

“I don’t expect that out of myself,” Crawford said. “I don’t expect to not do my job well. I had a year of that last year, not doing my job well. Everybody thinks I had a bad year because of the number of sacks, but there are other things you have to look at in football in order to be going a good defense. Yeah, I got a sack the other day, but I don’t think I played well.”

The game against the Dolphins was the first of the preseason for Crawford, who sat out the opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

Crawford will get another chance to improve his performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday.

This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 8:06 AM with the headline "Cowboys DT Tyrone Crawford not satisfied with one sack or his play."