going into yesterday's game 2023 draftees Mazi Smith and DeMarvion Owershown had 25 total tackles combined in their NFL careers.
other than Dak playing lights out, the difference in these 2 organizations was most apparent for me watching those 2 guys play like all pros yesterday and just wondering how? heading into that game mazi in particular was one of the lowest graded DL in all football. lower than nacho, chatman, and even riley/djd. right up until yesterday mazi smith was considered a evan neal level bust. overshown wasn't a bust but he hadnt played at all last year and he entered yesterday with 15 total career tackles and 0 pass break ups. he had 9 and 1 and was everywhere.
i'd posted a thread on the cowboys roster a few days ago and neither of them was even on the PFF graphic in their nickel package, here's the picture of their graphic in their base D that shows them on field:
one of the big reasons why the cowboys defense was getting shredded in prior weeks was that they lost veterans from last year but hadn't yet found viable replacements. hankins, armstrong, vander esche. old friend damone clark wasnt playing well. yesterday he only took 4 snaps as overshown basically took over the 2nd LB role. the reason their secondary hasnt been good is the same (they lost gilmore, bland, etc) and that clearly impacted them yesterday, but their saving grace was that they fixed their run D at the point of attack.
the biggest reason they'd been getting shredded was their interior DL which was so bad they traded an asset for jordan phillips. mazi somehow morphed into dexter lawrence yesterday, and as daboll said in his post game their ability to stop the run combined with our inability to do so was a key difference in the game.
there are obviously a bunch of reasons why the cowboys have won every game against the giants in the dak era starting with dak, but right up there is that they are simply a lot better at drafting and developing young players. their first round pick from 2023 mazi smith stepped up yesterday, banks continues his sophmore slump. their 2023 3rd round pick is breaking out, ours is sitting on the bench and somehow less useful than he was as a rookie last year.
these were 2 new names in the cycle that has rinsed and repeated for a decade. other teams draft picks progress, and none more than dallas, ours regress.
parsons and diggs had quiet games too. also lawrence. functional teams can scheme to take away super stars or at least minimize them somewhat. the cowboys did that to burns giants did it to parsons. that's why you need to be able to develop depth, especially on defense.
other than dak/ceedee yesterday wasnt about dallas out-starring the giants. or out coaching them, they were the sloppier team with penalties. their defense held up at the point of attack and made more plays, and they tackled better.
their secondary was patch work and gave up a lot of yards but i think they expected that so they sat back and tried to tackle effectively - which they did. they prevented any big catch/runs.
i think nabers faceplanted himself into that concussion but i do think there's something to the fact that he was worn down not just from taking so many hits but also so much running. presnap motion and all the routes he ran, he clearly was running on fumes the last few possessions.
i admire how daboll has been able to get so much production from nabers but it's all for naught if it saps him of his ability to create big plays. another area where they should be more focused on developing other WRs to not need to funnel the entire offense through nabers.
Now. I am not saying I “Knew” Mazi smith would struggle….. but yeah, I kinda had my suspicions.
If you take his numbers for four games played they are pretty good for a red shirt rookie.
If you take his numbers for four games played they are pretty good for a red shirt rookie.
the fact that he had a torn ACL last year make his development less likely as opposed to more so im not really seeing your point.
mine was that dallas was able to get 2 big performances out young guys without track records. 1 of whom had been prior considered to be trending bust. that makes yesterday's win for them a credit to their entire program.
by contrast the giants season so far has been driven almost entirely by 1 player (Nabers). that is not sustainable, and it showed last night being unable to have enough players around him step up.
parsons and lawrence both had quite games and got hurt. diggs too. these guys stepped up.