Always the horses, seldom the jockey...
Daily Commentary on the Dallas Sports Scene - By Bob Sturm - Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket - The Athletic Dallas - The Athletic - Bob Sturm
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a first half pass against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Sunday, December 10, 2017. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
Decoding Linehan
It seems like during this past month or so, it has been in fashion to pick apart young Dak Prescott to identify how he is not the best quarterback you have ever seen. It was once fashionable to wonder if he is the next franchise quarterback, but with the worst three-week span of offensive play in memory, the questions of his future were increasing along with those waxing nostalgic for a time when Tony Romo could sit in a kitchen chair without his back locking up.
It is true, by the way. There are some things Prescott cannot do like Romo could. There are some things Prescott cannot do that Troy Aikman could. Or Roger Staubach. But perhaps we could concede that no two players are exactly alike, and that there are probably things Prescott can do that Romo absolutely could not.
And maybe there is more than one way to skin a cat, too.
On Sunday, Prescott killed the blitz of the New York Giants. He did it so much that people were wondering why the Giants would continue to do something that was damaging their situation so badly. That doesn't happen much against young quarterbacks -- blitzes failing so badly that the defensive coordinator comes under fire for not realizing he is being taken advantage of by the kid -- but that is what happened Sunday.
The Giants would blitz, then Prescott would find the correct hot read and destroy him. It wasn't that hard, partly because the Giants do not have one-on-one personnel that can handle their business these days, and partly because Prescott nearly had a perfect day from a mental standpoint.
He has had a near-perfect season. Would you believe that since they installed this statistic in 1991, this is nearly the best season in Cowboys history?
According to our friends at STATS, the 2017 version of Prescott is exceeded only by the best year of Romo's career. And, for that matter, considering that we are talking about 27 different seasons of Cowboys quarterbacks -- many of them run by Aikman and Romo -- Prescott has already registered two of the top four in the first two seasons of his career. Based on the fact it took Romo until the 2014 season to fully master the blitz, would it be OK to give Prescott credit for this?
It would seem in this NFL world that this is a rather important component. Prescott destroyed the Giants' blitz on Sunday and, by the looks of it -- as he sits as the career leader against the blitz with a passer rating of 105.0 (Romo at 90.0, Aikman at 86.2, Drew Bledsoe at 83.9 at and Quincy Carter at 62.6 are the four other Cowboys quarterbacks with 200-plus throws against the blitz in their careers) -- he has done this since Week 1 of Year 1 as a Cowboy.
You may remember Bill Parcells once telling Romo a paraphrase of this: "Someday, you will want them to blitz you because that is when you will get those big plays."
It appears that Prescott -- whether you know it or not -- is already at a level of performance where his numbers indicate he has a mental acuity that is very, very good.
I would argue it goes back to his calmness. That reminds me of another Parcells-ism from his quarterback rules that were posted on the locker of Romo once upon a time:
"Don't panic -- when all around you is chaos, you must be the hand that steers the ship. If you have a panic button, so will everyone else. Our ship can't have panic buttons."
The Cowboys were in a real fight Sunday, but the quarterback's ability to kill the blitz was how Dallas won the game. And in a season when Prescott has been blamed for quite a bit, I think it is worthwhile for his critics to be informed of this attribute, where he seems to take a backseat to almost nobody who has ever worn the shirt. You will not blitz him continuously and find success.
WEEKLY DATA BOX
Sunday was the second-biggest yardage day of the year (at San Francisco was No. 1) and the biggest yardage day through the air. Another solid day on third down, and those yards per attempt at 11.1 is ridiculous. But they had three 50-yard passes to really inflate the production nicely. Also, average yards to go on third down was way down at 4.8, which is the second-best mark of the season (also behind the San Francisco road game). This is all good across the board, which is hard to believe since this was a 10-10 game midway through the fourth quarter.
DAK PRESCOTT THROW CHART
The Cowboys took more shots Sunday and the receivers let their quarterback down, but overall, you will take that over the throws not being good enough. On a tough day, Prescott responded well and stuck with it. Then his receivers started making the plays, too.
PERSONNEL GROUPINGS
I really am interested in how 13 Personnel (one running back, three tight ends and one wide receiver) is more and more becoming the offense on early downs. They like the matchups. Below we will look at what it provides, because they ran some different variations of the set that are worth discussing.
Let's look at some tape:
A third-and-1 on the first drive of the game. The Giants roll out the Cover 0 blitz -- no safety available because you are blitzing Cole Beasley's guy, so Landon Collins has to roll downhill to get to him. I have no idea why you would try this on third and short, but the Giants are feeling lucky. I love that later the Cowboys will come back to this and are ready if the Giants try it again. Look at how easily Prescott sees this and how easily the third-down conversion is because, of course, Beasley needs just 36 inches to move the chains.
I am sure they said, "Next time, stay inbounds and make Collins catch you." It broke the game open.
Another third-and-short -- this time it is third and 3. Here, the Giants rush five, then drop a rat in the hole to sit on Jason Witten and Beasley underneath. So, Cover 1 -- Rat/Robber -- and this is where Prescott uses his escape to move the chains. Look at Rod Smith take out the blitzer. Beautiful stuff and fine awareness by Prescott. Also, notice the Beasley double-team. In-breaking routes always bring a second man on Beasley. He may not be helping your fantasy team, but he still is attracting a crowd.
Next play, 10:54 to go in the second quarter -- they are in 12 Personnel. They send Dez Bryant to pull a double-team to the post and slide James Hanna underneath on a rounded-off dig route. Prescott delivers a really nice throw, and they are marching.
As you can see, the Giants are blitzing, Alfred Morris has to pick up the guy off the edge and Prescott has to deliver a throw. This is when you got the feeling Prescott was trusting his arm Sunday. Burn another blitz and carry on.
Prescott's next throw is two snaps later. They're in 13 Personnel and have the Giants off balance here. Look at all of the traffic those three tight ends generate. Watch the congested middle, and then notice Bryant is one-on-one on the outside with a corner who is fresh off the practice squad -- No. 25, Brandon Dixon. There is nothing fancy here, as Bryant just runs right past him. The throw is fine and Bryant just drops it. Maybe he can't believe how open he is.
Bryant is having a frustrating season and wants to make dominating plays every week. Unfortunately, there have been a few plays he needs to make -- the touchdown against Green Bay, the throw down the sideline against Philadelphia and the pass here -- that have been 100 percent on him. He is much better than this, but this does demonstrate that when an offense goes south, there is blame to be shared by all parties.
Here is the very next play and Prescott again is playing very well. Look at this nice job of extending the play and then putting the throw right on Beasley to the sideline. But the sun makes the play for the Giants and the drive is killed. Two bad breaks end a really promising drive.
Full marks to Bryant for getting back on the horse. I am not sure why the Giants want to roll the bones again and blitz seven for another Cover 0, but the Cowboys are waiting. This is just too easy. Dixon is not tackling Bryant on a slant and if he misses high, it is over.
You can't miss high, sir. This will fail 10 out of 10 times. I blame the coaches for putting him in that spot, but he also should know who Bryant is. Walk-in touchdown.
But again, the score is just 10-10. Midway through the fourth. The Cowboys' past four drives have seen no blitzes and also have seen no points. But the Giants get antsy again.
Third and 2, 8:07 to play.
The Giants have been torched on each blitz they have tried. Not only do they blitz, but they send the house again? And they ask Collins to try to get to Beasley again? In space? I really wonder about the brain power of this Giants staff that made that call. Goodness gracious. The Cowboys were begging them to do something stupid, and they obliged. There is simply no chance Collins -- as awesome as he is -- can make this play.
The very next play, with no Collins on the field, the Cowboys roll out 13 Personnel again. They know the Giants are going to be watching Bryant -- remember the throw down the sideline on 13 that was dropped? -- so they have Witten run that seam route where he widens out his man to the sideline and then angles back in to gain leverage, leaving a spot for Prescott to drop a dime in there. He does, and this is a huge throw and touchdown to take the lead.
Finally, again, no Collins deep, the Giants' reserves are worried about Beasley and Bryant, which leaves a painfully slow backup linebacker on Smith in the open field. No blitz here, just a man trying to run with a man who is too fast with no help over the top. Intramural plays don't often work, but the Giants have nothing left for Smith, so this is a stat-padder for all involved.
Easy work, most against the blitz and some not. Prescott wins with his brain power and intelligence. If your strongest attributes are composure and intelligence, you can win with that.
Nice job against a reckless and undermanned Giants defense. Sound coaching would be to sit back and play conservatively when you don't have your guys. The Giants weren't doing that, and the Cowboys executed the plan wonderfully.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cole Beasley (11) passes by New York Giants strong safety Landon Collins (21) during a 54 yard reception during the second half of play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday, December 10, 2017. Dallas Cowboys defeated the New York Giants 30-10. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)
The Morning After
For roughly two hours and 35 minutes Sunday, the Cowboys and Giants played an incredibly tedious affair that would be easy to forget. Two teams that didn't care for each other, unfortunately, had no idea how to get out of their own ways, let alone take a rival down in front of an incredibly unimpressed stadium half full of Giants enthusiasts.
It was a very difficult game to watch and at 10-10, we had just watched a forgettable stretch of the game where 10 consecutive series resulted in a combined nine punts and one missed field goal. It was brutal for both offenses. At least the Giants appeared to be securing their very high draft pick and seemed happy to achieve yet another loss. For the Cowboys, clinging to their slight remaining playoff hopes, this was yet another disgusting day in which the offense could not get to where it wanted to go with regularity.
This week, it appeared to be the fault of the receivers for much of the afternoon. Terrance Williams had a ball hit him in the face in the end zone on the first drive on what would have been a nice catch for a touchdown, but it was surely one that he expects to make. Dez Bryant dropped a simple slant on that same first drive and would come back in the second quarter and drop a huge gainer down the left sideline (possibly another touchdown) that also would go through his hands and hit him in the face mask. It was not his finest moment, and the complete shade he enjoyed on that route suggests he just flat-out missed it. The sun would claim a third down to Cole Beasley on the next play and the Cowboys' second-quarter drive ended with a missed field goal by Dan Bailey (oddly, not the one referenced in the paragraph above, but a totally different one on a very poor day for the best kicker in franchise history).
Things were not going very well, and now the Cowboys faced yet another third-down situation -- third and 2 from their own 26 -- when they had converted just one of their past six. This was a third-and-short, but that didn't stop Giants interim coach Steve Spagnuolo from dialing up a pretty aggressive blitz to try and cause a big play.
The Giants brought the house -- everyone they could send -- despite it looking like that was the one part of the game plan the Cowboys' offense had sorted out. If you will recall, last year, on the same exact weekend, the Cowboys visited the New York Giants on 10 days of rest in Week 14 and looked like they had never seen a blitz before. The Giants trashed the Cowboys 'entire offensive game plan, even with Ezekiel Elliott in top form, and humiliated the Cowboys in a decisive win that day.
Fifty-two weeks later, the Cowboys returned to the scene of that crime playing against a Giants team with about half of its roster that went to the playoffs last year. This has been a season of massive disappointment for those Giants, and it has resulted in the expected firings of both coach and general manager.
Yet their defensive coordinator from last year is now coaching the team, and it appeared he was convinced that last year's game plan was the one to dust off. That means, on third downs, he was going to rattle Dak Prescott with pressure -- sometimes with five while doubling the prime targets, other times with seven and simply overwhelming the Cowboys quarterback with rushers.
The trouble with that decision of his was this: He did not have the necessary cover guys to do what he chose to do. If you are going to put guys in space on a one-on-one basis to stop a receiver after the catch, he is going to have to be sure of his tackling ability. Yet, the three biggest plays of the game were all in these scenarios.
The biggest one was right before halftime from midfield, where the Cowboys could just not get anything going to that point on offense. But on a second-and-6, the Giants brought seven. That puts Brandon Dixon -- a guy who was brought up from the Giants' practice squad three weeks ago -- in a one-on-one situation with Dez Bryant on a slant route. Bryant catches the ball and then, with the strength of a receiver who doesn't often get brought down by the first man, swings Dixon off him and sprints to the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown. It was a fine job by Bryant, for sure, but it made you wonder why the Giants thought that was a good idea.
To be fair, the Giants blitzed seven different times Sunday. The results for the Cowboys? Five first downs and two touchdowns. In other words, the Giants blitzed seven times Sunday and lost on all seven plays.
The very first one was a lucky break for the Cowboys, as a five-man blitz resulted in Landon Collins batting a ball in the air and Rod Smith running under it to move the chains. OK, lucky bounce. But from there, the Cowboys moved the chains on a third-and-1 out to Beasley for 4 yards and a first down against seven-man pressure. A third-and-3 scramble from Prescott against a five-man blitz. Then, a 16-yard pass to James Hanna against five-man pressure, followed by 11 yards to Williams on a crosser against another five-man rush.
So by the time Bryant broke the Dixon tackle to give the Cowboys their first touchdown, the Giants were 0 for 6 on blitzes in the first half. Yet the score was 10-10, so they were right where they wanted to be in pretty much every other category.
From that Bryant touchdown before halftime until this third-and-2 midway through the fourth quarter, the Giants never brought an extra man and the Cowboys never put a drive together. The Giants were playing straight up against Alfred Morris and the normal Cowboys attack, and they were withstanding things very well.
Frustration was mounting and the Cowboys were not able to break the code at all, which is why I was so surprised the Giants and Spagnuolo decided to stick their hands back into the cookie jar again on this third-and-2 situation at 2:34 p.m. Central time.
This play from the Cowboys' 26 is a third-and-short, but the Giants are bringing seven again. And, just like the Bryant touchdown, they cut their own throats. Because they bring so many, the high safety, Collins, is being asked to chase Beasley (because Beasley's man is coming on the blitz). This makes some sense if Beasley is running a vertical, but as anyone who has ever watched a Cowboys game knows, he never runs verticals. Who on the Giants' coaching staff thought this was a good idea? There is no possible way Collins can close down Beasley from that far away, and if he doesn't, because they blitzed so many defenders, there may not be anyone else to tackle Beasley for a long, long time.
Fifty-four yards later, the game had changed dramatically.
This is the way football works. People want the one team to make "halftime adjustments" or something that brings solutions out of nothing, but it is often the opposition that gives you an opportunity, not anything different you call. If the Giants do not elect to blitz that one time in the second half -- despite six unsuccessful blitzes earlier in the game -- the opportunity may not be there and the Cowboys may continue to punt. We don't know why Spagnuolo was so reckless in the face of evidence, but that may be why 2-11 teams get to 2-11.
The opportunity was given, and Dallas took advantage. Again.
One play later, the Cowboys set the Giants up with 13 Personnel -- from where they always run or throw quick passes -- and sneaked Jason Witten down the seam, with Bryant distracting the defense underneath, for a touchdown.
It is 17-10, and the game would end on the next drive. Prescott converted yet another third down when Rod Smith was split out on the only "empty" play of the entire game and ran a slant underneath against a linebacker who also had no help (because the safety above him went to Bryant, hoping to sit on a slant route). Rod Smith against backup linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, who had just been brought back to the Giants after being waived by the Chicago Bears in September, was another one-on-one battle where if you don't tackle him, nobody will.
Eighty-one yards later, the Cowboys had found their big plays again. Three 50-yard passes would double the team's total in one afternoon. There had been a 53-yard pass to Brice Butler in Arizona, a 72-yard screen to Ezekiel Elliott in San Francisco and a 56-yard gain to Terrance Williams against the Chiefs. But it won't surprise anyone to know that those were the first huge gainers since Elliott's suspension began -- and to find all three on the same afternoon likely tells you as much about the state of the opponent as it does about the Cowboys' offensive issues being completely solved. But then again, let's not look gift horses in the mouth, please.
We don't know where the Cowboys go from here, but we do know they returned to the Giants' stadium 52 weeks later and clearly had a much different day on third downs:
Dec. 11, 2016 -- Prescott and the Cowboys go 1 for 15 on third down.
Dec. 10, 2017 -- Dallas slices up the Giants' blitz and goes 7 for 14 on third down.
If nothing else, it surely looked like a real fine grade on the mental testing of Prescott's ability to find the right place to go with the football if the Giants planned on rattling him. He wasn't going to let that happen and, as any mature quarterback would, he invited the blitz so he could burn the defense with its own attack.
It wasn't easy, but in the end, it was a pretty solid result for the young quarterback to bust out of a slump with a career-high day in passing yards (332) and three touchdowns.
On to the next one. This opponent was quite accommodating. We assume the next few will put up far more resistance.
Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle David Irving (95) tackles Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) during the second quarter at FedEx Field on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017, in Landover, Md. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)
Marinelli Report
This is Week 9 in the NFL, which allows us to contemplate many of the larger and deeper questions about the standing of the league and the teams we follow. It is the halfway point in many respects, so there is easily enough information on hand to get a good idea of what we are looking at each Sunday.
One of the main questions of training camp and the early season was how good the defense could actually be. From that came dozens more: How much of their own weight could they support? How much could they be counted on to do their own work? How much would they need to be protected? Could they help win a game or even win a game on their own? Who would get the sacks? Who would be on the field? And on, and on ...
Now, ranking the team relative to the rest of the league is an important exercise, but for today's purposes, I wanted to merely rank the Cowboys' defense relative to itself -- or, its own production in 2016.
Last year's defense ranked quite well in many statistics, believe it or not. For instance, it gave up the fewest rushing yards per game in the NFL. Now, many of us suggested that was a credit to "score effects" rather than the likelihood that the 2016 Cowboys were something similar to the 2000 Ravens, but they still only allowed 83 rushing yards per game. They also only allowed 19.1 points per game, good for fifth-best in the league. Again, was this because the offense held the ball so much? Stop the run, stop points.
They were mediocre in 2016 for sack rate (5.7 percent) and horrendous at interceptions (30th), in addition to getting carved for 260 passing yards per game (26th). But they were average at most other stats -- 15th in third-down defense; 14th in red-zone defense; 14th in yards per game; 13th in yards per play. These are all what you need. As long as the defense falls within the confines of league average or so, you will win a ton of football games if your offense is elite.
So, how does 2017 look through seven games? Let's look at the same categories.
-- Rushing defense (yards per game) has fallen from first to 15th; 83 yards allowed per game to 106.
-- Rushing defense (yards per play) has fallen from 11th to 24th; 3.9 yards per carry to 4.5.
-- Third-down defense has fallen from 15th to 26th; 39 percent to 43 percent against.
-- Red-zone defense has fallen from 14th to 22nd; 53.7 percent to 56.5 as the rate at which touchdowns are being conceded.
-- Points per game has fallen from 5th to 20th; 19.1 per game to 23.
But there have been upgrades to some numbers.
-- Passing yards per game have dropped by 41 yards, from 260 to 218.9. That moves the Cowboys from 26th to 15th.
-- Yards per pass allowed has moved from 15th to fourth; 6.23 in 2016 to 5.38 in 2017.
-- Sack rate has increased immensely, from 19th to seventh; 5.7 percent has shot up to 9.6. That is very exciting.
-- Interception rate has hardly budged. From 28th to 30th. Consistency does exist.
So are they better than their defense in 2016? Well, football is a connected sport and the offensive impact is certainly there. Also, the Cowboys have just padded some numbers by playing two ridiculous offenses in a row (Washington played with no offensive line!), so we are about to test these theories in November pretty hard.
But, for now, we would have to say the defense has showed some signs of being better and has definitely shown signs of having players who now scare opponents. Two of them, in fact. DeMarcus Lawrence and David Irving have put the league on notice. You can bet Kansas City has been studying them all week to prepare for Sunday.
Let's look at the Washington report card for a moment:
WEEKLY DATA BOX
Sunday was the third time this year (NY Giants, San Francisco and Washington) the Cowboys held their opponent under 300 yards. That is phenomenal. This also was the fourth time they held the opponent under 5 yards per play (NY Giants, Arizona, San Francisco, Washington), which is also quite nice. Add in four sacks and three takeaways (one was a special teams takeaway and another was the blocked field goal, which was the day's biggest play) and you have a really nice game in the elements where the Cowboys were clearly dictating play from an undermanned Washington defense.
Did they have a massive personnel advantage? Yes. But we have not seen that properly exploited in the past. On this Sunday, there is no question the opponent was bruised and beaten by the day's end, which is a real testament to the fine work of Rod Marinelli's men. Since pointing out the issues with low takeaway totals during the bye week, the defense has been able to go take the ball six times to raise the season total to 10 and put them right in the middle of the league.
KIRK COUSINS THROW CHART
The Cowboys had a few busts in coverage, but for the most part they kept everything to quick and out to the flanks. They also were able to bring pressure all day, which requires Cousins to get the ball out or take another hit.
Meanwhile, as you would hope, Marinelli again stepped up the blitz rate to cause confusion and get some free rushers. We are seeing Jaylon Smith being used as an occasional blitzer finally and he is responding well in that capacity.
WEEKLY BLITZ RATES
Here is a look at playing time for the defense. We are posting this to look for the snaps of the defensive line -- we want the best D-linemen to play about 60-70 percent, ideally. We want them fresh when the opposing O-line is tired. We want rest advantages in the fourth quarter that depth affords. Looking below, you would have to say the team agrees.
WEEK 8 SPLASH PLAYS - AT WASHINGTON
SEASON TOTALS - THROUGH 7 GAMES
And then John Daigle made me another chart to again show you the annual leaderboard and the splash rate, which is how many snaps per splash play a player is averaging. You can see that the year Lawrence is having is without equal through seven games since we started tracking this stat.
Lawrence already exceeded the top splash man of 2014? Goodness.
On to the tape!
How about Richard Ash getting his first big tackle for loss here? Ash (No. 76) is another player in the search to build up the defensive tackle spot, especially the 1-technique spot for this team. The personnel department has gone from Cedric Thornton, Terrell McClain and Stephen Paea at the 1-tech to Maliek Collins moving over, Ash and Brian Price. For one thing, that is managing payroll and finding younger pieces. Ash is 25 and signed off the Jacksonville practice squad from last year, but check this explosion out. Very nice.
Collins makes this sack happen as he gets that rookie backup right guard in space, and that is no contest. Look at the chase of Irving. He is just too athletic to deal with as a defensive tackle in the open field for most quarterbacks (which makes that Aaron Rodgers scramble a few weeks back look even more unlikely). This is great work from the front and we see Taco Charlton and Tyrone Crawford at the defensive end spots with Irving and Collins inside.
Here is the blocked field goal. There is a lot to watch here, but I want to point out Lawrence again. I am just on this mission to quiet down anyone saying he is only playing for a contract. This should disprove that nonsense. If you are worried about cash, you are getting out of the way in this spot. He is Orlando Scandrick's lead blocker and trying to get this into the end zone. And he appears faster than most everyone in the play besides Scandrick, who he is right on the hip of the whole play. Huge play. Crawford with the block and great effort to flip the field to try to change the game. Which they did.
This is textbook Irving. I am not sure he has many pass-rush moves. He lingers, keeps himself free, waits for chaos and cleans up all the messes. It is really remarkable given how successful he is that most of his work comes from the second phase of the rush. Here, Lawrence has the first shot at Cousins and Irving ends the play. Just like the sack before, he is not the first guy home. But he is generally the guy to end it.
Six-man pressure here that generates a takeaway, too. Crawford gets there first, but the Redskins are in no shape to deal with this early in the third quarter on a third and 9. Lawrence gets on the ball, but imagine being Cousins here. The whole play is caving in from the snap. The ball has to come out quicker if he is to have a chance when six are coming.
Here is the five-man fire-zone blitz. That brings a defensive back and linebacker from one side and drops the defensive end into coverage on the other side. So, Scandrick (No. 32) and Smith (54) are coming and Crawford (98) is dropping. Here is a rough idea of what I mean below -- even though Scandrick would be the Cowboys' blitzer instead of the SAM linebacker -- from SmartFootball's Alabama blog.
But man, Lawrence is so explosive when he gets close. I'm serious when I say Lawrence-Irving is as dominant as anything we have seen in years and years around here. That poor rookie right guard, Tyler Catalina, is just out of his league on this day. Brandon Scherff would have had some better answers for this.
Here is the pick-six for Byron Jones. Really a simple drop into a fairly vanilla zone to end the game. Nothing fancy here. But this is what a collapsing pocket can produce.
Oh, look, it's Irving again making that play happen. Somehow, he deflected this pass and made that pick-six possible with a ball up for grabs against a zone.
Great effort, but now Kansas City rolls in and it will present the toughest test in quite a while. That will tell us plenty about this defense. November is here, and Ezekiel Elliott is not.
