The Dallas Cowboys caught some attention Sunday night in Green Bay for following through on a projection that had been made the previous week. In the wake of the team’s Week 5 disaster against the Buccaneers, one bright spot that was pointed out was the performance of rookie edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, who had struggled early in the season but broke through with his first career NFL sack against Tampa. And, it turned out, tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford had also left his mark on the memories of coaches.
It should not have been a surprise, then, that the Cowboys took a new tack on the team’s starting lineups when Week 6 vs. Green Bay came around. In that game, Lawrence not only got more run, but he bumped Donovan Ezeiruaku out of the starting spot altogether . Spann-Ford did the same thing on the offensive side, replacing Jake Ferguson, a two-time Pro Bowler who’d been struggling with blocking even before dropping a pass that might have set the Cowboys up for a tying score in Week 5.
Cowboys Sticking With Malachi Lawrence and Donovan Ezeiruaku, for Now
But, the thinking behind those moves for the Cowboys remains somewhat of a mystery. Did the Cowboys objectively think that Lawrence would be better for this defense? Or that Ezeiruaku needed to lose his job to get some of his fire back? Same for Ferguson–was he replaced for underperformance or simply because coach Brian Schottenheimer felt that Span-Ford was better?
At the team website, DallasCowboys.com, insider Mickey Spagnola said the only factor was getting wins now, and not some high-minded message from Schottenheimer.
Wrote Spagnola: “Not sure these changes were meant to be any sort of motivational messages. Thought the way Lawrence had been playing, along with Brevyn Spann-Ford, they earned the right to play increased snaps. Lawrence was mighty active the Tampa Bay game and was rewarded with his first NFL start. And we’ve seen Spann-Ford blocking much better than Ferguson when they were in two-tight sets and has done a good job of making himself available in the short passing game.
“This is as Jason Garrett used to say a game of meritocracy; you reap what you earn. So now it’s up to Ezeiruaku and Ferguson to make sure they up their performances to retake what they had at those positions.”
Both new starters are not sure to hold their jobs–the Cowboys depth chart currently reads that the starting tight end is, “Ferguson or Spann-Ford,” and has the edge lineup as Ezeiruaka or Lawrence.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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