Defense Receives Attention Even With The Absense of Owens

All eyes will be on the wide receivers and how they perform without the talented, but troubled, Terrell Owens going into the 2009 football season. Yet it is on the other side of the ball where more changes in personnel have occurred. And of yeah, did we mention the Head Coach is also the team’s defensive coordinator. If only T.O. was that dysfunctional.

HC/DC/JJ puppeteer Wade Phillips basically served this same role last season when he took over play-calling duties midway through the year. But now he will be responsible for game planning and schemes throughout the week before he makes a single signal. How this translates onto the field will be crucial, as much as how his defense will stack up after filling holes from departing players. This much is certain. By starting with defensive star DeMarcus Ware, this defense will be a strength against the passing game.

Ware will be an outside presence from one side of the field, but the other will have a question mark where veteran Greg Ellis will need to be replaced. Anthony Spencer will be called on in his third season to fill that void, but Phillips is also hoping one of the rookies (Victor Butler, Brandon Williams) will push for some playing time. Along the line, after DE Chris Canty vaulted to the New York Giants, Dallas went out and made an initial splash in free agency and signed Igor Olshansky from San Diego. His production rivals Canty, coming at a lesser cost, so the Cowboys may finish ahead.

Another void left by free agency was filled the same way when Zach Thomas was replaced by Keith Brooking at inside linebacker, another veteran with a lot less tread on the tires. With a stable of players along the front seven, there are fewer concerns than what is in the secondary, where a maligned SS Roy Williams, and his replacement most of last season, Keith Davis, are gone. Also absent from the competition is young and talented Alan Ball, who hopes to do at cornerback what he can’t seem to do at safety. His position is in jeopardy, but that left just one strong safety on the roster, free agent Gerald Sensabaugh, who signed a one-year deal.

This area was addressed in the draft, but not on day one where the Cowboys, already without its first-round pick, traded out of the second round and passed on more highly-touted safeties William Moore from Missouri or Rashad Johnson from Alabama. Instead, the Cowboys waited until the later rounds and selected Michael Hamlin (no relation to Ken Hamlin, starting free safety with the Cowboys), along with bookend corners from Cincinnati, DeAngelo Smith and Mike Mikens, to add depth to the secondary. With SS Stephan Hodge, who may line up at linebacker but will play a role on special teams, this squad seems prepared to carry out the instructions of Phillips, who is excited to see how the new personnel will complement his design to put pressure on the quarterback and cause turnovers.

With or without Owens, there are enough weapons on this team to put points on the board. And if Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett breaks away from his tendency of depending on a talented, but turnover-prone Tony Romo to be the primary source of offense, instead relying more on a solid rushing attack with a core of solid running backs, there won’t be any added pressure on the wide receivers to make up for Owens’ numbers. Besides, we all know the offense will be great for most of the year. It’s in December when we have to take a wait-and-see approach.

Until then, the defense will have to find the right parts and start to build a championship unit to compete in late-season games – especially if the offense is faltering under Romo, Garrett, and Company. If not, the defensive coordinator could come under fire from the head coach, which could create a soap opera even T.O. could be proud.