It’s an understatement to say the Dallas Cowboys defense has been a revolving door over the first five games. DeMarcus Lawrence and DaRon Bland are currently on injured reserve and rookie Marshawn Kneeland will join them soon enough due to a lateral meniscus tear.
That list doesn’t include third-year defensive end Sam Williams, who has 8.5 sacks in 32 career games as a role player.
Even rookie cornerback Caelen Carson missed a second straight game in Week 5 with a shoulder injury. That has led to two different starters opposite Trevon Diggs – Andrew Booth in Week 4 and Amani Oruwariye in Sunday’s win over the Steelers.
The injuries along the defensive line have thrusted Chauncey Golston, Carl Lawson and Tyrus Wheat into prominent roles. However, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has made one notable personnel change that seemingly doesn’t have anything to do with injuries.
Cowboys have benched LB Damone Clark for rookie Marist Liufau
Eric Kendricks and DeMarvion Overshown played all 58 defensive snaps against the Steelers. As the clear alphas of the linebacker room, that should be the case most weeks. However, rookie Marist Liufau was third in the pecking order for the second straight week with 24 snaps.
Damone Clark, meanwhile, didn’t see the field at all. The former fifth-round pick played 26 and 41 defensive snaps, respectively, in the first two games. He was reduced to 12 snaps in Week 3 before playing only four snaps against the Giants.
A longtime fan favorite, Clark’s playing time has completely disappeared, though he has become a prominent special teams player for coordinator John Fassel. After playing a combined 17 snaps in the first two games, Clark has played a combined 63 special teams snaps in the last three games.
That brings us to Liufau, who has had a steady dose of playing time for the last month after he played just nine snaps in Week 1. The Notre Dame product was the Cowboys’ fourth-highest-graded defensive player on Sunday, per PFF. His 71.8 grade was the highest among Dallas’ linebackers.
Liufau had a signature moment in the fourth quarter when he executed a textbook punch tackle to break up a pass on 3rd-and-1. The Steelers converted on fourth down, but it was arguably the highlight of the night in a game full of defensive highlights.
Missed tackles have been a huge problem for Zimmer’s defense early this season, but Liufau is a perfect nine for nine on tackle opportunities, per PFF. He and Mazi Smith are the only defensive players who have played more than 100 snaps and have yet to record a missed tackle.
Not to take anything away from Smith, but that is obviously more impressive for a linebacker than a defensive tackle.
The arrow is pointing up for Liufau. Zimmer likes to get creative with his personnel, but it might not be long before Liufau has a prominent role on this defense. In the meantime, don’t expect to see much, if any, of Clark.
