Ellis' switch only adds to Cowboys defense
by foxsports:
OXNARD, Calif. - To hell with T.O. Who needs him? If the Dallas Cowboys are going to the playoffs this season, their bigger and faster defense will carry them.
A couple Cowboys nodded in agreement with that opinion, but not Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams. "I don't know if I want any part of saying that," Williams said. "I like T.O. But, yes, we have a chance to be a really good defense."
And, if that happens, Bill Parcells should pin a medal on Greg Ellis, who tied for the team lead (8) in sacks last season. Ellis, the antithesis of Owens, arrived in camp believing he was a defensive end. It was the position he played at North Carolina and for eight NFL seasons.
"After two or three practices, Coach Parcells told me to go down and do some individual workouts with the linebackers," Ellis said. "I didn't think much of it at first."
A couple days later, according to Ellis, Parcells approached him on the practice field and told him he was making him a full-time outside linebacker, moving ahead of last year's starter Al Singleton.
"You sure?" Ellis said to Parcells. "I didn't really fight or argue with him. But it's been like starting at ground zero. If I was a young guy, the switch might have been a little easier. I don't know the terminology. It's a huge learning process for me. I still have that fish out of water type of feeling. If it doesn't work out for me, then what does that mean for my career?"
Ellis used to be bored in team meetings, but now he sits in the front row of his linebacker meetings and admits to falling asleep with his playbook most nights. He was always a film student, but now he's doing more and more simply to learn about pass coverages and where he should be. Every night is like cramming for a final exam.
Although Ellis sounds worried about failing, Williams believes the switch is going to work out. "He's doing a good job and the more comfortable he is, the better he will get," Williams said. "Greg is a workaholic. He does not want to fail at anything. He pushes himself each and every day. Believe me, he's going to make it."
The Dallas defense simply looks huge on the field, considering Ellis is a 265-pound outside linebacker. Most days the unit seems to dominate the offense in drills. The secondary, led by Williams and cornerbacks Terence Newman and Anthony Henry may be the best in the NFL.
The stat geeks have figured out that the Cowboys will field the biggest defense in team history. The defensive line will average 6-4, 305 pounds and the four starting linebackers will average 6-3, 257 pounds. How much bigger are the Cowboys? Well, say 20 more pounds per lineman and 14 more pounds per linebacker compared to last season.
"When Bill got here, he told me that pretty soon I was going to be the smallest guy in the defensive huddle," said defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. "Bill had a certain vision for the type of player he wanted and after last year's draft the transformation was pretty close. Moving (Ellis) was the final piece."
You look around the NFL; a lot of teams are going lighter, especially at defensive end. Zimmer talked about the Falcons and Colts, two teams in particular. But Parcells is going with the "Planet Theory," one preached by the late George Young when the coach and former general manager worked together with the New York Giants. You know, the find the biggest guys on the planet.
"We are pretty damn big," Zimmer said. "When we hit somebody, they will know it."
I made a comment to Parcells about how good the defense looked while in camp, and he nodded and agreed. "We could be pretty good," he said.
What has made the defense bigger and quicker is the fact that second-year players Chris Canty and Marcus Spears are the starting defensive ends. DeMarcus Ware and Ellis are the outside linebackers with Akin Ayodele and James Bradie inside. First-round pick Bobby Carpenter, an outside 'backer at Ohio State, has been shifted inside. He'll be a reserve this season unless he beats out Ayodele. Bradie was the team's leading tackler last season with 109, 27 more than Williams, who always is around the ball.
The Cowboys love Bradie, who is known as a very serious, conscientious young player. He has become a natural team leader. Last season in a production meeting with Fox Sports, Bradie answered all of analyst Troy Aikman's questions and when the interview was over, he started asking Aikman questions. He wanted to know from Aikman how to instill some championship attitude in his teammates. He was curious about how that works and when do you know, basically asking pointers from a Hall of Famer on how all that works. He is a very special young player and a Parcells' favorite.
Parcells has a simple theory on the size of his defense.
"Bigger is better if you can run, too," the coach said. "This is a big man's game. There are only so many big people on the planet. You need to get them stationed somewhere along your offensive and defensive lines."
Still, the major experiment remains Ellis. He will probably play more than some of the other starters on Monday night against the New Orleans Saints because Zimmer wants to see how he adjusts to certain looks and coverage. "We need to know his strengths and weaknesses so we can help him and adjust our coverages," Zimmer said.
In the past, Ellis was the talker along the defensive line, getting his teammates lined up properly. Now, Ellis sounds lost and needs someone talking to him, telling him the coverage and what to expect from the opposition. Newman, who plays on the same side as Ellis, helped him last week against Seattle.
"We're talking to him as much as we can," Williams said.
Ellis is definitely worried about covering Saints rookie Reggie Bush. "That rookie has a special burst," Ellis said. "The coaches are thinking about all the sacks I can get going against running backs and tight ends, but how about the wheel routes I have to cover against a back like Bush. I can stay for 5-10 yards, but 40 yards down the field. I don't know about that."
Ellis was hoping that some of the veteran receivers would give him pointers, but that hasn't happened yet. He said he even asked receivers coach Todd Haley. "He told me not now, that I had to wait to the regular season," Ellis said. "This is training camp and everyone is in competition for jobs right now. I guess that's their thinking."
The bottom line, though, is that Dallas figures to have a very solid defense regardless if Ellis turns into another Willie McGinest or Mike Vrabel, those linebackers who could rush and cover when the New England Patriots were winning three Super Bowls.
"The most exciting thing about the defense is that we have great depth," Williams said. "Anybody can be a starter on the team. We've been doing OK in camp. Some times we get lackadaisical and the offense gets something going against us. That's one thing I've learned in this league is that you can turn it off and on. You can't take anyone for granted. When you do, that's when you get beat."
OXNARD, Calif. - To hell with T.O. Who needs him? If the Dallas Cowboys are going to the playoffs this season, their bigger and faster defense will carry them.
A couple Cowboys nodded in agreement with that opinion, but not Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams. "I don't know if I want any part of saying that," Williams said. "I like T.O. But, yes, we have a chance to be a really good defense."
And, if that happens, Bill Parcells should pin a medal on Greg Ellis, who tied for the team lead (8) in sacks last season. Ellis, the antithesis of Owens, arrived in camp believing he was a defensive end. It was the position he played at North Carolina and for eight NFL seasons.
"After two or three practices, Coach Parcells told me to go down and do some individual workouts with the linebackers," Ellis said. "I didn't think much of it at first."
A couple days later, according to Ellis, Parcells approached him on the practice field and told him he was making him a full-time outside linebacker, moving ahead of last year's starter Al Singleton.
"You sure?" Ellis said to Parcells. "I didn't really fight or argue with him. But it's been like starting at ground zero. If I was a young guy, the switch might have been a little easier. I don't know the terminology. It's a huge learning process for me. I still have that fish out of water type of feeling. If it doesn't work out for me, then what does that mean for my career?"
Ellis used to be bored in team meetings, but now he sits in the front row of his linebacker meetings and admits to falling asleep with his playbook most nights. He was always a film student, but now he's doing more and more simply to learn about pass coverages and where he should be. Every night is like cramming for a final exam.
Although Ellis sounds worried about failing, Williams believes the switch is going to work out. "He's doing a good job and the more comfortable he is, the better he will get," Williams said. "Greg is a workaholic. He does not want to fail at anything. He pushes himself each and every day. Believe me, he's going to make it."
The Dallas defense simply looks huge on the field, considering Ellis is a 265-pound outside linebacker. Most days the unit seems to dominate the offense in drills. The secondary, led by Williams and cornerbacks Terence Newman and Anthony Henry may be the best in the NFL.
The stat geeks have figured out that the Cowboys will field the biggest defense in team history. The defensive line will average 6-4, 305 pounds and the four starting linebackers will average 6-3, 257 pounds. How much bigger are the Cowboys? Well, say 20 more pounds per lineman and 14 more pounds per linebacker compared to last season.
"When Bill got here, he told me that pretty soon I was going to be the smallest guy in the defensive huddle," said defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. "Bill had a certain vision for the type of player he wanted and after last year's draft the transformation was pretty close. Moving (Ellis) was the final piece."
You look around the NFL; a lot of teams are going lighter, especially at defensive end. Zimmer talked about the Falcons and Colts, two teams in particular. But Parcells is going with the "Planet Theory," one preached by the late George Young when the coach and former general manager worked together with the New York Giants. You know, the find the biggest guys on the planet.
"We are pretty damn big," Zimmer said. "When we hit somebody, they will know it."
I made a comment to Parcells about how good the defense looked while in camp, and he nodded and agreed. "We could be pretty good," he said.
What has made the defense bigger and quicker is the fact that second-year players Chris Canty and Marcus Spears are the starting defensive ends. DeMarcus Ware and Ellis are the outside linebackers with Akin Ayodele and James Bradie inside. First-round pick Bobby Carpenter, an outside 'backer at Ohio State, has been shifted inside. He'll be a reserve this season unless he beats out Ayodele. Bradie was the team's leading tackler last season with 109, 27 more than Williams, who always is around the ball.
The Cowboys love Bradie, who is known as a very serious, conscientious young player. He has become a natural team leader. Last season in a production meeting with Fox Sports, Bradie answered all of analyst Troy Aikman's questions and when the interview was over, he started asking Aikman questions. He wanted to know from Aikman how to instill some championship attitude in his teammates. He was curious about how that works and when do you know, basically asking pointers from a Hall of Famer on how all that works. He is a very special young player and a Parcells' favorite.
Parcells has a simple theory on the size of his defense.
"Bigger is better if you can run, too," the coach said. "This is a big man's game. There are only so many big people on the planet. You need to get them stationed somewhere along your offensive and defensive lines."
Still, the major experiment remains Ellis. He will probably play more than some of the other starters on Monday night against the New Orleans Saints because Zimmer wants to see how he adjusts to certain looks and coverage. "We need to know his strengths and weaknesses so we can help him and adjust our coverages," Zimmer said.
In the past, Ellis was the talker along the defensive line, getting his teammates lined up properly. Now, Ellis sounds lost and needs someone talking to him, telling him the coverage and what to expect from the opposition. Newman, who plays on the same side as Ellis, helped him last week against Seattle.
"We're talking to him as much as we can," Williams said.
Ellis is definitely worried about covering Saints rookie Reggie Bush. "That rookie has a special burst," Ellis said. "The coaches are thinking about all the sacks I can get going against running backs and tight ends, but how about the wheel routes I have to cover against a back like Bush. I can stay for 5-10 yards, but 40 yards down the field. I don't know about that."
Ellis was hoping that some of the veteran receivers would give him pointers, but that hasn't happened yet. He said he even asked receivers coach Todd Haley. "He told me not now, that I had to wait to the regular season," Ellis said. "This is training camp and everyone is in competition for jobs right now. I guess that's their thinking."
The bottom line, though, is that Dallas figures to have a very solid defense regardless if Ellis turns into another Willie McGinest or Mike Vrabel, those linebackers who could rush and cover when the New England Patriots were winning three Super Bowls.
"The most exciting thing about the defense is that we have great depth," Williams said. "Anybody can be a starter on the team. We've been doing OK in camp. Some times we get lackadaisical and the offense gets something going against us. That's one thing I've learned in this league is that you can turn it off and on. You can't take anyone for granted. When you do, that's when you get beat."
posted by The Gryphon at 9:15 AM
<< Home