Down the stretch last season, there was some confusion over which end of the pass defense was letting the Cowboys down the most.
Was it the fault of the pass rush that quarterbacks had a ton of time to find open receivers, or the secondary's inability to cover guys long enough for the players up front to get home?
Evidently the Cowboys felt the secondary was the primary issue. They loaded up on the cornerback position this offseason, signing top free agent Brandon Carr, then traded up six spots on draft night to land Morris Claiborne, the top corner in free agency.
The plan is to keep Mike Jenkins in the fold, giving the Cowboys some of the best cornerback depth in the league.
Thanks in large part to having the best pass-rusher in football, DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys did finish seventh in sacks in the first year under Rob Ryan, collecting 42, but that number could be even more this year if receivers aren't flashing open so quickly.
At the same time, Ryan could try to give Ware more help by sending more blitzers.
"I think up front we're going to be even more aggressive when it comes to the rush," Ware said. "At the end of the day we've got a lot of confidence in the guys in the back to play man-to-man, to play whatever zone coverage, whatever they're doing, and letting the guys up front get to the quarterback."
Pass defense is often a chicken-or-egg proposition, and Ware believes the Cowboys' front end and back end can work well in tandem.
"He's not going to have his first-step read," Ware said of opposing quarterbacks. "He's going to have to go to the second and third guy, and that's going to add a little more time for us to get pressure on the quarterback."Down the stretch last season, there was some confusion over which end of the pass defense was letting the Cowboys down the most.
Was it the fault of the pass rush that quarterbacks had a ton of time to find open receivers, or the secondary's inability to cover guys long enough for the players up front to get home?
Evidently the Cowboys felt the secondary was the primary issue. They loaded up on the cornerback position this offseason, signing top free agent Brandon Carr, then traded up six spots on draft night to land Morris Claiborne, the top corner in free agency.
The plan is to keep Mike Jenkins in the fold, giving the Cowboys some of the best cornerback depth in the league.
Thanks in large part to having the best pass-rusher in football, DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys did finish seventh in sacks in the first year under Rob Ryan, collecting 42, but that number could be even more this year if receivers aren't flashing open so quickly.
At the same time, Ryan could try to give Ware more help by sending more blitzers.
"I think up front we're going to be even more aggressive when it comes to the rush," Ware said. "At the end of the day we've got a lot of confidence in the guys in the back to play man-to-man, to play whatever zone coverage, whatever they're doing, and letting the guys up front get to the quarterback."
Pass defense is often a chicken-or-egg proposition, and Ware believes the Cowboys' front end and back end can work well in tandem.
"He's not going to have his first-step read," Ware said of opposing quarterbacks. "He's going to have to go to the second and third guy, and that's going to add a little more time for us to get pressure on the quarterback."
