History suggests Cowboys’ hopes hinge on sack success

By Rick Gosselin/The Dallas Morning NewsThe 2000 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the gold standard for Rod Marinelli.He was the defensive line coach of the Buccaneers then and unleashed his ‘rush men’ on the NFL. That’s when Marinelli established his reputation as a defensive guru, as the pass-rush whisperer. His Bucs terrorized quarterbacks that season, finishing second in the NFL with 55 sacks.That set the template that Marinelli has been trying to duplicate ever since. But he hasn’t come close. His rush men finished in the 40s in sacks three more times in Tampa and once in Chicago. But his troops have never managed another year like that 55¬sack assault in 2000.And Marinelli has never had a worse season than 2014. He now coordinates the Dallas defense, and the Cowboys managed a paltry 28 sacks — the first time in his 19¬year NFL coaching career his troops couldn’t get into the 30s, much less the 40s or 50s.Marinelli sounded the alarm in the offseason, and Jerry Jones listened. To compete for a Lombardi Trophy, you must be able to rush the passer. The NFL instituted sacks as an official statistic in 1982 and since then, the 33 Super Bowl champions have averaged 43.6 sacks.That’s a far cry from 28.But seemingly overnight the Cowboys changed the dynamic of their pass rush and have given Marinelli a front four that, across the board, may one day rival any he’s ever coached.The Cowboys signed Pro Bowl end Greg Hardy in free agency and drafted Nebraska All-America Randy Gregory in the second round. DeMarcus Lawrence, the club’s highest draft pick in 2014, missed most of 2014 with a broken foot but flashed in the playoffs. He’ll be in the mix from the start. Marinelli also is a fan of Tyrone Crawford at the key under tackle position.Hardy will miss the first four games with a league suspension and Gregory could have some struggles as most rookies do. But let’s say for argument sake that all four of those defensive linemen collect nine sacks this season. That still wouldn’t match the front four of the 2000 Bucs.Hall of Fame tackle Warren Sapp collected 16 that season, end Marcus Jones 13, tackle Anthony McFarland 6 and end Chidi Ahanotu 3 1/2. That’s 39 1/2. Sapp, Jones and McFarland were all first-round draft picks, by the way. The starting 11 of the Bucs that season collected 49 sacks.The starting 11 of Marinelli’s 2014 Cowboys collected 16 sacks. Tampa Bay received only three sacks from its starting linebackers, but Ronde Barber contributed 5 1/2 sacks blitzing off the corner. The cornerback on the 2015 Cowboys with blitz capabilities was Orlando Scandrick, but his season ended in Oxnard with a knee injury.The philosophy of Marinelli’s Tampa Two scheme is to play the run on the way to the quarterback. The 2000 Bucs excelled there as well, finishing in the top 10 in run defense on their way to the playoffs. The 2014 Cowboys also finished in the top 10 in run defense but spent too much time in the trenches and not enough time in the offensive backfield.In Hardy, Gregory and a healthy Lawrence, the Cowboys now have the speed to invade opposing backfields.“The talent is there,” said Marinelli of his remodeled front four. “But it’s more than talent. It’s the ability to work every day. You have to be tough. You have to be physical. You have to disrupt the run and come off the ball every single play. It’s all the get off. We’re reading upfield. We want to get energy and movement up the field fast. It sounds easy, sounds fun ... until you have to do it. It’s a grind.“You can have talent. We had talent in Tampa. But they worked. They were tougher than nails. Chicago, the same way. We put it together toward the end with Julius Peppers. Henry Melton. But it’s a tough front to play.”Hardy will be a key when he returns. He gives Marinelli the flexibility of lining him up anywhere across the front for match-up purposes. A bigger key is Crawford, who plays the most demanding — and the most important — spot in the front: the under tackle.Sapp was the under tackle in this scheme in Tampa. He’s in the Hall of Fame. John Randle played under tackle in this same defensive scheme for the Vikings in the 1990s. He’s in the Hall of Fame. Keith Millard preceded Randle there at Minnesota. He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1989. Tommie Harris played there for Marinelli in Chicago. He was a Pro Bowler. Jason Hatcher also played there for Marinelli in Dallas. Another Pro Bowler.“It’s a tough hat to wear,” Marinelli sad. “It’s a big hat. But there are a lot of guys who have worn it well.”Now the Cowboys need Crawford to wear it well. They need Hardy to rebound from a year off, Lawrence to accelerate his second year growth and Gregory to flash his presumed first-round potential. The Cowboys need sacks in 2015. That will allow them to survive the loss of Scandrick on the corner. That will create turnovers.This Cowboys front may not get 55 sacks like those 2000 Bucs. But it needs to get into the 40s. A Super Bowl berth could hinge on it. But Marinelli now has a cast to get there.