NFL
Sean Lee Addresses the Dallas Cowboys Dreadful Defensive Problems
Unless you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan, it’s almost laughable. The Cowboys, under first-year head coach Mike McCarthy, are allowing points at a record-setting pace. Despite the woeful start, Dallas is tied for the NFC East in wins with its 2-4 record. Veteran Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee is on injured reserve but recently gave his view on what’s going on with the defense.
The Dallas Cowboys are a mess
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Head coach Mike McCarthy couldn’t have expected this. The Dallas Cowboys are allowing the most points in the NFL and had to rely on his team to outscore their opponents this season. Then quarterback Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending ankle injury. Combine those two and you get a 38-10 loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals.
The team is in disarray. Reports have come out that multiple anonymous players have bashed the coaching staff. The biggest problem, however, is the defense. Under defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, the Cowboys have allowed at least 34 points in each of the last five games. McCarthy was asked if the players are buying into Nolan’s system.
“Oh definitely,” McCarthy said to The Dallas Morning News. “It’s a change. It’s well documented and it’s a conversation we’ve openly had, the changes from our system to the last system here. I competed against the old system and it’s an excellent system. But this is something that we wanted to do defensively and frankly, we’re in the infant stages of it. Our volume has been cut way back and it’s for the right reasons. Until we get to where we can build off it that’s where we’ll be. But to me that’s part of these first-year challenges.”
Veteran Sean Lee remains sidelined
Linebacker Sean Lee is a veteran of the Dallas Cowboys defense. His absence definitely is a factor. Lee was a second-round pick out of Penn State in the 2010 NFL draft. The Dallas Cowboys selected him with the 55th overall pick.
Lee has been sidelined after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia. Throughout his career, Lee has suffered his share of injuries. Last season was the only time in his career that Lee has participated in all 16 games. Lee said he hopes to return to practice this week and is looking forward to helping the struggling Dallas defense.
“I’m feeling great physically and the hope this week is to get out to practice and do some things, depending on what the trainers want me to do,” Lee said during a press conference this week. “The surgery was tough. It was a core muscle surgery where they had to reattach abs to my pelvic bone. The first couple of weeks were hard but the last couple of weeks I’ve made a lot of jumps and I feel great.”
Lee gives his opinion on the struggling defense
While veteran linebacker Sean Lee hasn’t been on the field during the Dallas Cowboys’ recent struggles, he’s watched from the sideline. He understands what the team is going through. Lee believes there’s a learning curve with the new defense and it’s going to take some time.
Lee said the coronavirus (COVID-19) has limited their hands-on experience and that, combined with learning the new system, has been the biggest issue. “You can do mental reps as much as you want,” Lee said to The Dallas Morning News. “The Zoom meetings were incredible. We learned a lot.
“But at the end of the day, you need to be on the field experiencing different looks, different offenses, to the point where you’re really comfortable at it. I think that’s what we’re doing now. We’re working extremely hard. We all know we’re not where we want to be. But the guys are working hard. The coaches are working hard. And I think we’re slowly going to continue to show progression.”