Cowboys’ Parsons, Lawrence continue troubling identity, still leaving meat on the bone

Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence combined for a stellar day against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys top pass-rushing pair combined for 18 pressures and three sacks , en route to a dominant defensive win to open the 2024 season.

And it could have been so much better.

For as good as Parsons and Lawrence played in Cleveland, they left opportunities on the field. As the infamous Jospeh Randle once said of DeMarco Murray’s NFL-best 1,845 rushing yards, “there was a lot of meat left on the bone.”

Randle saw first-hand the greatness of Murray’s career season in 2014 but very bluntly stated it could have been even better. It’s a very similar situation facing Parsons and Lawrence this week. Both players enjoyed spectacular days in Cleveland but both players also left plays on the field.

On two occasions Lawrence had Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson within his grasp and both times Watsons escaped, unsacked. On two occasions Parsons had Watson within his grasp and both times Watsons escaped, unsacked. On all four plays the pass rusher had two hands on the QB and inexplicably failed to complete the sack.

The failure to capitalize on a situation such as this is nothing new for the Cowboys. Last season Dallas led the league in pressure rate yet only finished 14 ^th in actual sacks. It’s a three-year trend that can now be described as an identity.

Many will point to the pressures Lawrence and Parsons are getting as successes onto themselves, and they’re somewhat correct in thinking that. Pressures can lead to rushed decisions, poor passes, incompletions and even interceptions. They have significant value, just not close to the value of an actual sack.

Based on a 12-year study, the average sack is valued at -1.856 expected points for the offense whereas a simple pressure is just -0.074 expected points. To anyone who isn’t overly familiar with EPA, that’s an enormous difference.

For as nice as all the pressures are each week, it would make sense to for the Cowboys to focus more on completion of the play. It might cause them to slow down a fraction of a second, but the results would be worth it. Again, a sack results in an EPA impact that’s 25 times that of a simple pressure.  It’s worth losing out on a pressure or two each week if it better positions the pass rusher to complete the play.

At this point it seems to be in the DNA of the team so it’s not an overnight fix, but it’s something to acknowledge, something to discuss, and hopefully something to work on going forward.

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