It is important for the Cowboys to use Cleveland’s defensive aggression against them.
One of the best parts about the SB Nation network is the friendships that we have across it all with folks who cover the other 31 teams in the National Football League.
For years we have generated all sorts of content around back and forth discussions with these people, all obviously in the name of garnering as much information that we can for the sake of the Dallas Cowboys. Gaining an understanding about opposing teams from those who know them best is invaluable.
Thankfully we will be continuing that tradition this season here on the blog in a number of ways and one of them is the weekly conversations that I will have with people around those parts. This week I spoke to Jared Mueller from Dawgs By Nature, a conversation that you can watch below.
It is Week 1 so we admittedly don’t know a ton about any team as the season has yet to officially begin. We obviously have all of last year to go off of and everything that we learned throughout training camp and the preseason, but all of the pages of 2024 are blank.
Despite this being the case, one thing I wanted to know from Jared was what the Cowboys could do that he would find to be impressive. As an example if an opposing offense mitigated Micah Parsons then I think it is fair to say we would all walk away thinking highly of that team/player. I wanted to know that answer.
Jared was kind enough to provide it.
It will be important for Dallas to use Cleveland’s aggression on defense against them
We are all well aware of the fact that the Browns boast one of the best defenses in the NFL at the outset of the season. Their entire group is stout, but they also happen to employ the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Myles Garrett.
So what the Cowboys could do to impress Mueller? He didn’t answer anything about Garrett specifically but he sort of included him. Mueller noted that the Browns are an incredibly aggressive defense and if the Cowboys are able to use that against them then he would walk away thinking highly of the group.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats the Browns had the 14th-highest blitz rate in 2023 which is obviously not incredibly high; however, Mueller certainly knows the group better than we do.
Despite such an almost average blitz rate the Browns were second in the NFL last year as far as quarterback pressure percentage was concerned (the Cowboys were first). They are very good at putting heat on things and to Jared’s point (which can be specifically viewed/heard at the 25-minute mark of the conversation) if Dallas is able to steer into the ice, so to speak, they may be able to weaponize it and turn it into gains while on offense.
It is important for an offense to not get too far ahead of themselves and if the Cowboys do then they may get set up for a costly mistake. Patience is difficult to maintain sometimes, but it will be important on Sunday afternoon.
