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By JON MACHOTA
Special contributor to SportsDayDFW.com
Retired defensive tackle Warren Sapp has never been short on opinions. The seven-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion began his 13-year career in Tampa Bay and ended it with the Oakland Raiders in 2007.
Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was Sapp’s defensive coordinator in Oakland for four years, so the NFL Network analyst is the perfect person to discuss how Ryan will fit in Dallas.
Sapp joined the Ben and Skin Show (KESN-FM) Tuesday to chat about Ryan and the effect he will have on the Cowboys’ defense.
“Trust me, I know the man is going to leave no stone unturned, and the horses you have in Dallas should fit him like a T,” Sapp said. “I mean, we just didn’t have every level in Oakland. I mean, we had a couple pieces here and there, and once Rob saw it my way and realized that we needed a four-man rush and not the three-man rush, we got up to (being ranked) the third defense in the NFL.”
As one of the best tackles to play in the NFL over the last 20 years, Sapp has witnessed his share of quality defenses. And he believes that the NFL lockout won’t hurt Ryan’s ability to implement his system.
Sapp preached Tuesday about how defenses are ahead of the offenses when training camp starts, and he doesn’t see it being different when the NFL resumes play. His opinion is that the Cowboys have the players on defense to be successful and Ryan is the right guy to lead them.
“Trust me, don’t worry about it,” Sapp said. “The 11 guys on the field that he has in-tuned to what they’re doing, they’re going to love it, because it empowers the people on the field that you make the decisions. You know your strengths, you know your weaknesses, you know your teammates, and that’s the best thing that Dallas has.
“All their guys are pretty much intact. And when you have guys that are intact, and you look around, and I know (Keith) Brookings and I know Bradie James , there’s (DeMarcus) Ware, there’s Anthony Spencer, there’s (Jay) Ratliff, we know our system, we know our guys. Now we just have to implement our strengths to what Rob has us doing. Trust me, it’s going to be real easy for them to get to where they want to go. He loves matchups, and Dallas (causes) matchup problems all across the board. They have athletes. … That defense will bite this year, I promise you that.”
So which Cowboy defender will benefit most from Ryan’s system?
“I think all of them are going to play well,” Sapp said. “But I really got to see Anthony Spencer stepping his game up. You can’t have DeMarcus Ware , 80 sacks and 25 forced fumbles since ’05, (playing dominate football by himself) because you always need two (dominant defensive players). I wasn’t going to win a championship without Simeon Rice. You have to have somebody set the stage, and that’s Ratliff, and then you got to have somebody take them off the stage, and that’s Spencer and that’s Ware.
“Spencer has to pick up his game, and I really think that he’s going to flourish in Rob’s system. Because there’s no way that somebody that big, that strong, that fast (should finish) with five sacks.”
Special contributor to SportsDayDFW.com
Retired defensive tackle Warren Sapp has never been short on opinions. The seven-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion began his 13-year career in Tampa Bay and ended it with the Oakland Raiders in 2007.
Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was Sapp’s defensive coordinator in Oakland for four years, so the NFL Network analyst is the perfect person to discuss how Ryan will fit in Dallas.
Sapp joined the Ben and Skin Show (KESN-FM) Tuesday to chat about Ryan and the effect he will have on the Cowboys’ defense.
“Trust me, I know the man is going to leave no stone unturned, and the horses you have in Dallas should fit him like a T,” Sapp said. “I mean, we just didn’t have every level in Oakland. I mean, we had a couple pieces here and there, and once Rob saw it my way and realized that we needed a four-man rush and not the three-man rush, we got up to (being ranked) the third defense in the NFL.”
As one of the best tackles to play in the NFL over the last 20 years, Sapp has witnessed his share of quality defenses. And he believes that the NFL lockout won’t hurt Ryan’s ability to implement his system.
Sapp preached Tuesday about how defenses are ahead of the offenses when training camp starts, and he doesn’t see it being different when the NFL resumes play. His opinion is that the Cowboys have the players on defense to be successful and Ryan is the right guy to lead them.
“Trust me, don’t worry about it,” Sapp said. “The 11 guys on the field that he has in-tuned to what they’re doing, they’re going to love it, because it empowers the people on the field that you make the decisions. You know your strengths, you know your weaknesses, you know your teammates, and that’s the best thing that Dallas has.
“All their guys are pretty much intact. And when you have guys that are intact, and you look around, and I know (Keith) Brookings and I know Bradie James , there’s (DeMarcus) Ware, there’s Anthony Spencer, there’s (Jay) Ratliff, we know our system, we know our guys. Now we just have to implement our strengths to what Rob has us doing. Trust me, it’s going to be real easy for them to get to where they want to go. He loves matchups, and Dallas (causes) matchup problems all across the board. They have athletes. … That defense will bite this year, I promise you that.”
So which Cowboy defender will benefit most from Ryan’s system?
“I think all of them are going to play well,” Sapp said. “But I really got to see Anthony Spencer stepping his game up. You can’t have DeMarcus Ware , 80 sacks and 25 forced fumbles since ’05, (playing dominate football by himself) because you always need two (dominant defensive players). I wasn’t going to win a championship without Simeon Rice. You have to have somebody set the stage, and that’s Ratliff, and then you got to have somebody take them off the stage, and that’s Spencer and that’s Ware.
“Spencer has to pick up his game, and I really think that he’s going to flourish in Rob’s system. Because there’s no way that somebody that big, that strong, that fast (should finish) with five sacks.”
