National Football League

Cowboys look to break out of sack slump against Commanders

Updated Jan. 5, 2023 4:40 p.m. ET

The Dallas Cowboys know that Sam Howell's head will be spinning when he makes his first NFL start on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX), and they know what they need to do. They need to rush him relentlessly. They need to confuse him constantly. They need to spin his head even more.

In other word, the Washington Commanders rookie quarterback should be an inviting target against one of the best pass rushes in league.

Of course, that's assuming the Cowboys' pass rush still is one of the best in the league.

It was once, but that was before the Dallas defense — and its pass rush in particular — slipped into a month-long slump. In early December, the Cowboys led the NFL with 48 sacks through 13 weeks. But they've had just three sacks over the past four games and now rank third.

It's an unthinkable drought for a team led by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Micah Parsons, who has 13 sacks on the season, but just one in five games since Thanksgiving. Defensive end Dorance Armstrong (8 sacks) has just one in those same five games. And defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence hasn't had a sack in the past six games.

When Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was asked a week ago how concerned he was, he said, "I think the only people who need to be concerned about our pass rush are who we line up against."

Then Dallas went out and sacked Titans quarterback Joshua Dobbs just twice in the first start of his six-year NFL career.

"The sack numbers weren't high," said Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. "But we were able to pressure the quarterback and knock him off the spot, create a takeaway and create some momentum."

The Cowboys did hit Dobbs 10 times in that game, which was a huge improvement over the six hits in their previous three games — including the zero hits they had on Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew one week earlier. But even Quinn admitted what defensive players often dismiss: Sacks matter.

And the Cowboys just aren't getting them right now.

"I don't know if it's one size fits all to say every game we'd love to rip it and go," Quinn said. "But you do want to have chances to finish on the QB because in those moments obviously the yardage is a big deal, but also having chances to knock the ball off the QB, that's really having the icing on the cake."

Dallas' defense, without that icing, has been in a rut, too. The Cowboys are 3-1 during the sack drought — with the lone loss coming in overtime on a pick-six thrown by quarterback Dak Prescott in Jacksonville — so it's hard to argue they're in a crisis. But the defense definitely isn't the same. Through the first 12 weeks of the season, Dallas was giving up 309 yards and 17 points per game.

But in the last four, without the same pressure on the quarterback, the Cowboys have given up an average of 397 yards and 24 points — a significant increase at the worst possible time of the year.

They should have a chance to turn things around against Howell, the fifth-round pick whose only NFL action came in the preseason. And it's not just because he's a rookie. Howell will also be behind an offensive line that has given up 45 sacks this season — seventh-most in the NFL. That includes 13 in the past four games.

Also, Commanders coach Ron Rivera might tinker with his offensive line in this game, too, giving some young players a chance to play. He specifically mentioned rookie guard Chris Paul, a seventh-round pick who would be making his NFL debut.

That all should line up great for a Cowboys defense that has pressured quarterbacks on 8.8% of their dropbacks this season, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com, and still grades out as the second-best pass rush in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus — all despite the lengthy slump. Maybe the chance to tee off on a rookie quarterback will shake this talented defense out of it.

One way or another, though, Quinn is confident that the Cowboys defense — and its pass rush — will be there when it matters most.

"To play great defense, it ain't easy," Quinn said. "You have to go through the fire a little bit. And it's OK to go through the fire a little bit. It would be nice if all the games were [ones in which] you rip them all, sack everybody and get a bunch of takeaways. But that's not it. I think you do learn from the ones you really have to fight and scratch for."

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Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.