Jerry Jones Expands On Why He Is Not Overly Concerned About The Defense

Before you question if the elder Jones has seen his optometrist (or his defense) lately, bear in mind that Jones is speaking about what he and the coaches have seen that most of us have not. The Dallas Cowboys are banking on guys like defensive linemen Anthony Spencer, Terrell McClain, Henry Melton, Jeremy Mincey, George Selvie and Amobi Okoye. These are players who have seen little to no action in Oxnard, and whom the team expects to be contributors once the season begins on September 7th. Still, Jones is not blind to the challenges Rod Marinelli's unit will face in the upcoming season.

"Bottom line is, it’s a team thing and we’re going to have to do it in a lot of different ways before this season is out to get where we want to go. We will, as we move along, I think, be a much better team on into the season defensively than we start out, just simply because of our personnel." - Jerry Jones

Jones is correct in at least one assessment: Dallas' defensive unit will definitely have to be a team effort this time around. Gone are superstars like DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee. In their places will be young men like DeMarcus Lawrence, who is trying to establish himself in the NFL and Rolando McClain, who is trying to revitalize what was once a promising opportunity. They will be joined by the above mentioned players and some guys who at best might be described as rotational players. The question this season is "Will it be enough?"

The Cowboys septuagenarian owner assures us that it will be, though many would disagree.

"What I am seeing is certain combinations that we put out on the field that are real effective, and have been and were effective against Oakland. They’ve been effective against our own offense. They actually had some plays that were effective against San Diego. We’re doing all kinds of combinations of players from position combinations as well as within an individual skill set. For instance, defensive linemen, several different ways that we can go. It’s going to be a numbers thing with some imagination, a little bit of risk-taking. It’s got to be."

At least Jerry has one thing correct. The Cowboys will have to take risks. At times they will have to do things like trust the beleaguered secondary to cover their men while the team sells out on the blitz to generate pressure on opposing passers. Coach Marinelli is going to have to do his best impression of Doc Holliday (the wild west gambler not the Marshall University football coach) and bet everything on a single turn of the cards. Jerry knows that the team will not always come up a winner, but that is why he is banking on having an ace in the hole.

"Certainly we’re challenged on defense. We’re going to have to score a lot of points. But I think we can."