Film room: The real reason Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t meeting expectations as a pass rusher

It would be unfair to say Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence has played poorly through the first two weeks of the season. He’s remained one of Dallas' most effective run defenders, especially against Atlanta.

It is fair to say he hasn’t lived up to expectations as a pass rusher.

Lawrence has zero sacks and just two pressures, by far his worst start to a season production-wise since his rookie year, when he missed the first eight weeks of the season due to injury. The slow start this season is atypical for Lawrence, who usually starts the season on fire from a pass-rush perspective -- he accumulated at least eight total pressures in his first two weeks in each of the past three seasons.

The problem with taking too much issue with Lawrence’s play is that there are some things out of his control that could explain the slow start.

First, Lawrence had to learn a new defensive scheme in much less time than he’d normally have due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of working out the kinks over the course of months at OTAs, minicamp and training camp, Lawrence had to cram everything into about a month of on-field work.

Second, the Rams basically did everything in their power to limit the impact of Dallas' pass rush in Week 1. Los Angeles ran a gamut of play-action passes, screens, quick passes and misdirection plays while sending a steady diet of chip blocks Lawrence’s way, making it difficult for him to be effective.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan basically echoed those thoughts in his news conference later in the week, saying:

“... it’s hard for a pass rusher to get a sack on a bootleg or a sack on a quick empty pass, things like that. It’s just not -- not that they cannot, but it’s there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for that in the game, and certainly in the first half. So, but credit to the Rams. They did a real good job in the first half of executing their plan."

Third, Lawrence appeared to suffer a knee injury early in the third quarter against Atlanta (above clip), causing him to miss considerable time in the second half. It really hampered his overall athleticism for the snaps he did receive in the half.

While all of these are valid reasons in explaining some of Lawrence’s slow start, they aren’t the real reason he has yet to terrorize quarterbacks.

It’s certainly not a hand technique thing -- Lawrence still deploys a plethora of sequenced moves to defeat the hands of offensive linemen. But even when he does execute masterful hand technique, he’s still not winning fast enough to affect the passer before the ball leaves his hand.

The real reason for Lawrence’s inability to generate pressure, in my estimation, has been the lack of refinement in his get-off from a two-point stance (standing up).

Lawrence has played almost exclusively from a three-point stance (hand in the ground) throughout a career that has seen him become one of the NFL’s most well-rounded and skillful edge defenders. He’s had to transition to playing more frequently from a stand-up position, and it’s greatly interfering with his ability to generate pressure off the edge.

Let’s take a closer look:

Pay attention to Lawrence’s front foot (right foot). From a two-point stance, the pass rusher should drive and roll off that front foot without picking it up. Notice when the ball is snapped, Lawrence drop steps with that front foot by taking a small backward step before firing forward. Despite Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford reacting to the snap at the same time, Crawford is able to comfortably beat him across the line of scrimmage -- that shouldn’t happen considering Crawford outweighs Lawrence by 20-plus pounds.

That may seem like a small detail, but it makes a huge difference when rushing the passer. The get-off is arguably the most important phase of a pass rush. A quick get-off is extremely important because it puts immediate stress on an offensive tackle’s pass set, which typically leads to mistakes by the tackle.

Rushing the passer is essentially a race to the quarterback, and a false step gives the quarterback just a tick longer to get the ball out. That tick could be the difference between turning a would-be sack into a pressure, or a would-be pressure into no pressure.

Here’s a great example:

From a big-picture perspective, this is an effective rush that’s considered a “win” for Lawrence -- he’s able to apply pressure and lay a hit on quarterback Jared Goff. Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein was barely able to put a hand on Lawrence, who used masterful sequencing from a failed cross chop to a side scissor (two-hand swipe) to beat Havenstein’s hands and grease the edge on his way to Goff.

That quarterback hit, however, could have been a sack if not for Lawrence’s notable false step out of his stance.

Look at how close Lawrence was to a sack even after the false step:

There’s no doubt that without the false step, Lawrence would have secured his first sack of the season. Lawrence would have likely arrived at Goff just as he was getting ready to throw, which at least could have led to a sack and, at best, could have been a sack-fumble.

In addition to the false step, rushing from a two-point stance does require some footwork and timing adjustments. In a two-point stance, Lawrence’s inside foot is forward; in a three-point stance, his outside foot is forward.

This changes a bit of the movement patterns. For example, from a three-point stance, Lawrence could threaten a tackle inside with his first step because his inside foot is the one taking the first step. From a two-point stance, Lawrence can’t threaten with an inside move until his second step. And that’s the case with any pass-rush move, as little footwork adjustments are necessary depending on the stance.

In a typical year, Lawrence probably has time to work out those kinks during OTAs, minicamp or training camp. Because of the shortened offseason, he probably didn’t have enough time to get the necessary reps to ingrain the new movement patterns, leading to rushes like the one above, when Lawrence’s feet and hands weren’t in sync and his timing was off.

With that inside foot forward, offensive tackles are more likely to jump set Lawrence -- something he rarely saw when playing from a three-point stance when he could threaten inside.

Here’s future Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas talking about how tackles can disrupt rushers who have that inside foot forward:

Because the offensive tackle isn’t immediately threatened by an inside move when a pass rusher has his inside foot forward, the tackle can jump set (or quick set) the pass rusher without much risk and a lot to gain.

Lawrence has struggled to beat the jump sets of offensive tackles so far. He’s just not comfortable attacking them due to a lack of experience in rushing from a stand-up position.

You’re probably thinking, “OK, but how do the Cowboys fix the issue?”

From a technique standpoint, the best way to eliminate Lawrence’s pesky false step out of the two-point stance is to force him to put more weight on that front foot. The more weight that’s loaded on the front foot, the harder it is to pick up, making it more difficult to take a false step.

While those slight technique changes would help fix the false step issue, they don’t help Lawrence’s lack of comfort with the movement patterns from a two-point stance. With the pass rush struggling mightily, the Cowboys don’t have time to let Lawrence work out those kinks in-season.

The Cowboys would be wise to let Lawrence revert back to a three-point stance for a majority of the snaps, tabling the transition to a two-point stance until he has more time to sort things out in a normal offseason.

By reverting back to rushing with his hand in the dirt, Lawrence will be free from false steps and the discomfort of a new stance, allowing him to be the dominant pass rusher we’ve come to know.

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