Wednesday, July 29, 1998

Cowboys defense gets a few new wrinkles

By MIKE BALDWIN

The Daily Oklahoman

WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Compared to an offense that is undergoing an overhaul, the Dallas Cowboys' defensive changes are subtle, a tune-up.

But there have been changes.

It's been well-documented how the offense is adapting to Chan Gailey's new philosophy, but there have been alterations on defense, too. One formation will resemble the 3-4, but that's an inaccurate description.

"It's not a 3-4. It's more like an over-shifted four-man front than a 3-4," Gailey said. "You could (compare) it to an outside linebacker if you wanted to, but it's really not a 3-4 defense."

The changes were designed by defensive coordinator Dave Campo and his assistants in an attempt to better utilize good team speed on defense. For example, defensive end Kavika Pittman will sometimes line up as a "glorified linebacker."

"We felt Kavika's best asset was his speed, quickness and athletic ability," Campo said. "Instead of putting him in a situation where be would be double-teamed by a 330-pound tackle and a 280-pound tight end, we're putting him in position where that doesn't happen very often."

They're also hoping to put defensive tackle Leon Lett and other linemen and linebackers in mismatches. By moving players around, it will force offensive coordinators to guess who will line up where.

"We used to slide the front four," said scouting director Larry Lacewell, a former defensive coordinator. "In other words, you could put the tight end in a certain spot and they would know exactly where everyone would be. Now you don't know where they'll be."

In addition to being more effective against the run and generating a better pass rush, the coaching staff is hopeful the subtle changes will make it easier to devise in-game adjustments.

"We really like the versatility this gives us," Gailey said. "It really takes advantage of our linebackers, the way they play. The secondary's not changing drastically out of it. It's more the front seven and how they'll play, over-shifting and under- shifting, keeping the offense off balance."

Even though the sack total (38) was comparable to the three Dallas teams that won Super Bowls earlier this decade, no defensive lineman had more than six sacks last season.

"We had to blitz too much just to get a pass rush," Campo said. "What I'm hoping is we'll get a better pass rush so we can blitz when we want to, not because we have to. We got some sacks off the blitz, but if you do it too much it catches up with you."

The offense may need several weeks, possibly months, to pick up Gailey's sophisticated playbook, but the defensive changes are taking hold early in camp.

"The biggest problem you have is adjustments," Gailey said. "When the guy goes in motion, how do you adjust? When they shift the backs, how do you adjust? When you want to put a blitz in and they motion (one way), does the blitz shift from one side to the other? Does it stay on? It's a little bit new so there's an adjustment period. It takes time."

More important than picking up the new scheme is evaluating players, especially the battle for the starting free safety vacancy. The development of young defensive ends Greg Ellis and Pittman is also critical.

"It could take us all pre- season to see who plays well in certain situations," Campo said. "We've had this scheme in through mini- camps. It's just a matter of deciding who plays where so they can learn their responsibilities. Once we get that determined we like the versatility this will give us."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)