The Cowboys ended the 2009 regular season by shutting down the league's most explosive offense and following it up with back-to-back shutouts of the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. The second-best team in points allowed, the Cowboys defense came into their own in the second half of the season. Can they repeat that performance in 2010?
Dallas Cowboys Season Preview: Defensive Line
A 3-4 defense depends on big guys up front that clog up running lanes, occupy blockers and allow the linebackers to make big plays. So what's a 300 pound Jay Ratliff doing where a 340 pound defensive tackle should be? Breaking the mold. Ratliff has defied the idea that a 3-4 defensive tackle must be a mountain by using quickness and penetrating ability to force the opposing offense into double teaming him.
Ratliff is joined on the line by big guys Marcus Spears and Igor Olshansky and playmaking depth like Stephen Bowen, Jason Hatcher and Junior Siavii, which means Wade Phillips can employ a nice rotation without seeing a huge drop-off in talent.
Dallas Cowboys Season Preview: Linebackers
Coming off a 20 sack season in 2008, it wasn't a stretch to declare DeMarcus Ware the best linebacker in football, but it's not just his ability to get to the quarterback that won him that title. As good as he is at making opposing quarterbacks feel how hard turf is, Ware is just as good playing the run. And in 2009, Anthony Spencer emerged opposite him, giving the Cowboys a devastating one-two punch at outside linebacker.
Along with Brady James and Keith Brooking, the Cowboys starting linebackers are perhaps the best in football. And it doesn't stop there. If preseason has shown us one thing, it's that the Cowboys have plenty of depth at this position. But the real diamond among the backups is rookie Sean Lee who should earn a role on the team as the nickle linebacker. Lee was known in college for making plays, and his debut in the third preseason game certainly showed his knack for being near the football.
Dallas Cowboys Season Preview: Defensive Backs
Terence Newman has long been one of the most underrated cornerbacks in football. While he is easy to overlook when looking at stats -- Newman has never been an interception machine -- he does one thing better than almost anyone in football: cover the opposing wide receiver. Combine this with Mike Jenkins emerging as one of the rising stars in the NFL and Orlando Scandrick's ability to cover the slot, and the Cowboys look pretty good at cornerback.
And it's the play of Newman, Jenkins and Scandrick that allowed the Cowboys to roll the dice and let Ken Hamlin go in the offseason. After adding Gerald Sensabaugh at strong safety in 2009, who was a major upgrade in coverage from Roy Williams, Alan Ball will provide the same type of upgrade in 2010. This will allow the Cowboys to throw extra bodies at the opposing quarterback knowing their defensive backfield has it covered.
But there is one area in sore need of improvement, and that is the ability to get turnovers. The Cowboys were dismal at picking off the ball in 2009. This is an area they must improve in if the Cowboys want to make that long trek to Dallas in February.
Back to Cowboys Examiner Dan Telvock's season preview.
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