Don’t buy the stats. These two high-profile Dallas Cowboys defenders have regressed.
As you examine why the Dallas Cowboys are 5-4 — and throw objects at your TV — the play of their Royal Family linebackers requires further “constructive criticism.”
Jaylon Smith looks more like the guy who is still recovering from major knee surgery, even though he is now years removed from that procedure.
Leighton Vander Esch has played like a rookie in his first NFL preseason game. That and he’s most likely playing with an injury.
Sean Lee is doing the best he can, and every now and then he’s still got it.
After defensive end Tank Lawrence, the reason the Dallas Cowboys were going to be better on defense in 2019 was the play of “Jaylon LVE.”
They’re not. The Cowboys are weak up the middle because their two best linebackers are having a weak season. They are better than what they have showed this season, and they need to play like it.
Don’t buy what any tackle total tells you.
If Smith and LVE don’t return to how they played in 2018, then 2019 is going to finish poorly for the Cowboys. For a team to be successful, your best players have to be your best players.
For the record, Cowboys defensive coordinator Kris Richard said Thursday that both linebackers are playing well this season. In this day’s NFL, Richard has no choice but to say that.
“They are playing well. They are out there; everyone is working as a cohesive unit,” he said. “That’s all we can ask for.”
That’s what you ask for from the backups. You ask for more from guys who are special players. Smith and LVE demonstrated in 2018 that they have special abilities.
“There is always room for improvement,” LVE said Thursday. “They are going to scheme against you and do everything they can to beat you, but you have to find ways to make plays.”
I asked Richard, what if I were to write that the pair is not playing as well a season ago. Would I be right or wrong?
“Wrong,” he said, professionally I should add. “We can sit down and watch it together.”
I’m all for it.
Smith and LVE were bad against the Vikings
Speaking of game film, most of the attention about the Cowboys’ loss against the Minnesota Vikings focused on the coaching and play calling of Jason Garrett and Kellen Moore. But Smith and LVE were just as ... not good.
The Vikings ran at and passed at Smith, LVE and Lee all game. They couldn’t cover running back Dalvin Cook, and tight end Kyle Rudolph had what essentially amounted to an easy afternoon.
The Vikings ran for 153 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per carry. Rudolph caught two touchdowns.
Kirk Cousins, a quarterback who was 1-6 against the Cowboys as a starter, was sacked one time and routinely executed swing passes that went for positive chunks of yardage.
Smith and LVE finished with 13 tackles each. But reviewing the game film of those 26 tackles was not good.
The average gain on the plays LVE was credited in helping stop was 5.5 yards per play. The only time he was involved in a stop that went for negative yardage was the Vikings’ final drive, when they were draining the clock.
Smith was not that much better; the average gain of the plays he was involved in stopping was 4.3 yards.
Before the final Vikings’ throwaway drive, this pair combined to make two stops that went for no yards, or negative yardage.
A season that must improve
Both Smith and LVE rank No. 1 and 2 on the team in tackles. Given the scheme and their respective positions on the team, linebackers are going to rank among the top five in tackles.
It’s where these stops occur that is the issue.
What neither of these men has done this season is contribute the type of plays that wins a game.
Smith has 2 1/2 sacks; LVE has 1/2 a sack. They have combined for five tackles for losses, forced three fumbles, defended two passes and hurried the quarterback six times. Neither player has recovered a fumble or intercepted a pass.
The Cowboys need those numbers to go up.
“We have done some good things, but we are not anywhere we want to be,” Vander Esch said. “We all want to be better and do great things in the second half of the season.”
It’s the second half of the season now. No time like the present.
