PFF: Cowboys have 2 of NFL's top positional tandems
Batman and Robin. Peanut butter and jelly. Jack Black and… the other guy in Tenacious D.
A truly formidable duo is more than just the sum of two impressive parts. And that maxim is perhaps even more true on the football field than anywhere else. Sure, a superstar player- at any position- can cause the opponent to dramatically alter its gameplan to try to contain the threat, but when there’s an equally lethal weapon at the same position also on the field, it can leave even the best team in a mad scramble.
More than just a big roundhouse punch, a dangerous duo provides a two-fisted attack that offers no break, no respite, no easy way out.
PFF has named its top tandems at several key positions heading into the 2024 regular season, and the Cowboys have a premier pairing on both sides of the ball.
Tyler Smith and Zack Martin were selected as the league’s top offensive guard combo. Martin’s nine Pro Bowls and seven first-team All-Pro nods make him an obvious nominee, but Smith’s inclusion here is made even more impressive by the fact that he was drafted to be the Cowboys’ left tackle of the future and played there for his first pro season (earning PFWA All-Rookie honors) before finally switching to guard in 2023 (and making the second-team All-Pro in the process).
In fact, Smith has been so good at guard that Dallas abandoned their Tyler-Smith-for-Tyron-Smith succession plan and just drafted someone else to play outside instead.
As PFF’s Gordon McGuinness notes of the Cowboys’ twin guards:
“Martin over the past two seasons hasn’t been at his previous level of earning 90.0-plus PFF grades, but he has still been one of the top pass-blockers at the position. His 75.1 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2023 ranked 10th after he allowed just 24 quarterback pressures from 655 pass-blocking snaps.
“Left guard Tyler Smith is ascending, coming off a season in which he ranked eighth among guards in PFF run-blocking grade (80.7).”
Defensively, the Cowboys’ twosome of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence was named the best edge rushing partnership in the league, beating out the Browns’ Myles Garrett and Za’Darius Smith and the Steelers’ T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
Per McGuinness:
“Parsons earned a 93.7 PFF pass-rushing grade in 2023, racking up 106 quarterback pressures from 532 pass-blocking snaps. Opposite him, Lawrence posted a 79.3 PFF pass-rushing grade and was a phenomenal run defender, trailing only Maxx Crosby in PFF run-defense grade (92.2).”
Parsons has been an absolute wrecking ball since entering the league in 2021, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year accolades that season and being a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year in every season so far. But since he was moved full-time (more or less) from linebacker to edge rusher, he’s breathed new life into DeMarcus Lawrence’s career, too.
DeMarcus Lawrence and the Cowboys pass rush creates problems…immediately
pic.twitter.com/7rx8THjk0T
— Joey Hayden (@_joeyhayden) October 9, 2022
Lawrence was already an eight-year veteran when Parsons took his first snap as a Cowboy. Though he ended up missing most of Parsons’s rookie year with a foot injury, he found when he returned that opposing offenses were having to double-team Parsons, giving him new opportunities to hunt. In his first full campaign as No. 11’s bookend, Lawrence notched a career high in solo tackles and enjoyed his first career scoop-and-score, thanks in large part to the extra attention that Parsons demands on every play. And it’s perhaps no coincidence that Lawrence has made just as many Pro Bowls since Parsons’s arrival as he had prior.
Whether it’s Smith and Martin on offense or Parsons and Lawrence on defense, the Cowboys are blessed to have a pair of dynamic duos that do what any terrific tandem should.
Two great players that play great together.
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