Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: For Cowboys, It's All About The Defense

Lovie Smith Says Marinelli Will Bring Out Best Of Defense - Rowan Kavner, DallasCowboys.com
Smith and Cowboys DC Rod Marinelli go back a long way, and Smith is confident Marin elli will bring the Cowboys defense back on track, even though the switch to the 4-3 defense may have taken a little longer than hoped for.

"You want it to happen as soon as possible, but it’s different from place to place on how long it takes, what all you have in place there," Smith said. "We’ve gone different places and had success early some places, some places it takes a little bit longer."

"I don’t know exactly the talent (in Dallas) well enough, but he’s going to bring out the best. Whatever the potential is there, that’s what you’re going to get from Rod, from all the other guys. There’s going to be clarity with everything that he wants done. There’s no BS to him. It’s in black and white. You hear a lot of people talking about the fundamentals and what you have to do, that’s what Rod does on a daily basis."

Jason Garrett's job security could be tied to Cowboys' defense - NFL.com
Entering the final year of his contract, Jason Garrett knows he needs to get the Dallas Cowboys' defensive line in order. A healthy DeMarcus Ware might provide the answer to their defensive front four woes.

Cowboys’ Garrett likes realigned coaching staff | Clarence Hill, Star-Telegram
It would be a little shocking if he didn't.

Cowboys Wise To Avoid Trap Of Drafting Need - Bryan Broaddus, DallasCowboys.com
Stephen Jones splashes some cold water in the face of all the mock drafts with successive defensive linemen at the top.

"It’ll be nice to come out of the draft at some point with a defensive front guy, defensive lineman or two," he said. "But no, I don’t think we can just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to take the first two picks and it’s got to be defensive linemen.’ I think you get in trouble that way."

Cowboys Looking Into Ways To Fix Hamstring Woes - Rowan Kavner, DallasCowboys.com
This is one Dallas Cowboys story that is guaranteed to get zero national headlines, but it's still huge for Cowboys fans. And even though Kavner doesn't provide any specifics, it appears the team is working on getting the hamstring issue fixed.

The Cowboys are looking internally to figure out how to fix their numerous hamstring problems that have burdened them in recent years.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones said the team is looking at how it behaves now, how it’s behaved in the past when the hamstring injuries weren’t happening and why they’re happening more often. He said everyone, from the strength and conditioning coaches to the trainers and executives, obviously aren’t content with the situation.

Are Dallas Cowboys more hesitant to draft players with injury histories than in years past? | Rainer Sabin, DMN
Sabin writes that the Cowboys haven't changed their medical grading system for NFL prospects, but the team aims to be a little more circumspect when evaluating a player with an injury history in college.

"The bigger thing you look at is when you take a player that is injured is will he overcome it or does he have a chronic history of just having a hard time staying healthy whether it’s by the way he plays, do you think, hey, this was a one-time injury and and he hasn’t been hurt historically and we think he will overcome this injury and go on and be fine?" Jones said.

Stephen Jones on Dallas Cowboys’ plans for free agency: ‘Hopefully we will be efficient’ | Rainer Sabin, DMN
The Cowboys may have a little more cap space now than intially anticipated, but they won't be aggressive in free agency.

"Hopefully we will be efficient," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones. "It’s probably where I’d leave it. I wouldn’t say [we'll be] active."

Cowboys coaches, scouts get on same page - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Archer writes that the defensive coaches and scouts spent the last two weeks discussing what type of players the Cowboys want for their 4-3 scheme.

"You have some players that you have issues with because they don't fit your system necessarily," Jones said. "Even though Sharrif [Floyd] may have been a first-round type player in our old system, he might not have been a first-round player for what we want in our system as an under tackle. I mean, we think in our system we can find nose tackles later in the draft that do a good job. I think under tackles are hard to find, great ones are."