There’s no doubt that the Dallas Cowboys have a defensive problem, but they certainly don’t have a DeMarcus Lawrence problem.

There’s a prevailing narrative bubbling below the surface of a certain subsection of the Cowboys’ fan base that believes that Lawrence isn’t playing well and has seen a huge regression to his play this season – which, honestly, couldn’t be further from the truth.

With that in mind, it’s time to dive into why Lawrence isn’t playing as poorly as his sack total may indicate, using an emphasis on Dallas’ most recent game against the New York Jets.

Production isn’t as bad as the lack of sacks indicate…

It’s true that Lawrence hasn’t had as productive of a start to the season as he’d like in terms of rushing the passer, and he’d be the first one to tell you so, but it’s also true that his production hasn’t been poor either, as the sixth-year defensive end has been credited with 19 total pressures, per PFF, and 2.5 sacks for a pass-rush productivity (PRP) of 7.2.

What’s interesting is that even though Lawrence hasn’t had as fast of a start to this season as he did in 2017 and 2018 (11.8 and 9.4 PRP, per PFF), he’s actually been more productive in the first six games of 2019 than the last six games of 2018. In the last six games of 2018, Lawrence had a PRP rating – “a formula that combines sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times they rush the passer,” per PFF – of 5.4 compared to a 7.2 PRP in the first six games of this season, per PFF, proving that the regression narrative is foolish.

So, if you weren’t complaining about Lawrence’s productivity in 2018, especially toward the end of the season, you shouldn’t be complaining about it now. The Cowboys certainly want to see Lawrence become more productive as the season goes along, but his current production is hardly alarming given the circumstances.

Having said that, traditional stats fail to illustrate Lawrence’s effectiveness this season, especially given the circumstances (more on that later), but thanks to the improvements in tracking and charting in the NFL analytics community, there are some advanced statistics that help tell a more accurate story.

For example, Lawrence ranks seventh among defensive ends (and first on the Cowboys) in Total Points Saved (13), per SIS’ DataHub. Total Points Saved is a metric that “takes the common currency of EPA (expected points added) and distributes the value gained or lost on a play to the different players involved based on their impact on the play (full explanation of Total Points Saved).”

Moreover, Lawrence currently ranks ninth (24%) among edge defenders in ESPN’s Pass Rush Win Rate metric, which “tells us how often a pass-rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds.”

This goes to show that even if Lawrence isn’t getting pressure at the same rate as in year’s past, he’s still regularly beating blocks and is a huge net positive for the defense as a whole.

This is demonstrated even further when you see Dallas’ splits with and without Lawrence this season. Per The Quant Edge’s Injury Impact Tool, the Cowboys give up a 45.5% run success rate and a 44.9% pass success rate (explanation on success rates) this season with Lawrence ON the field compared to a 62.5% run success rate and 55.6% pass success rate with Lawrence OFF the field. Moreover, the team has a higher sack percentage with lower explosive run and pass rates with Lawrence on the field.

…Despite poor circumstances

Speaking of circumstances, it’s also important to note that Lawrence is currently playing through three separate injuries - knee, shoulder (the right one) and heel - after missing all of training camp because of offseason labrum surgery on his left shoulder. Now, he would never use injuries as an excuse, but it would be foolish to say the injuries aren’t affecting Lawrence’s play and it does help explain Lawrence’s ‘slow’ start.

Being a leader on the defense, it’s understandable why Lawrence refuses to make excuses or explain his or the defense’s play this year. However, Lawrence’s injuries definitely help explain why he hasn’t been quite as productive to start this season as in previous years.

The area where it’s easiest to see the effect of Lawrence’s injuries is with his snap counts. In 2018, Lawrence played, on average, 72.9% of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps. In 2019, he’s played, on average, just 61.8% of the team’s defensive snaps, per Lineups.com.

Moreover, Lawrence is lauded for being one of the most well-rounded DEs in the NFL for his ability to be equally effective against the run and pass. However, Lawrence’s limited snap counts have caused Dallas to pick and choose their spots, playing Lawrence in more passing situations than running ones - 168 pass-rush snaps versus just 79 run defense snaps this season, per PFF - which limits Lawrence’s opportunities to disrupt the opposing team’s run game.

On top of that, Lawrence is receiving a ton of attention from opposing teams. This is the best indicator that Lawrence is still an effect DE who offenses fear, as NFL offenses only regularly double team/chip players who they think can wreck their game plan. Going into Week 5, Lawrence was double-teamed at the highest rank among edge defenders, per ESPN’s Seth Walder.

Even though Lawrence will go to extreme lengths to not make excuses for himself or the defense, in the week leading up to the Jets games, even he admitted the extra attention is different than in year’s past:

“I can say it feels different,” Lawrence said. “They can switch it up, bring slot protection over to me or put two extra tight ends in the game, but I feel like that defines who I am. I’m a threat to them, so they’ve got to use two of their players to put on me. It’s really all about getting better from it and learning where I can still make plays within two people being on me.”

While, this past week, the New York Jets did occasionally send help Lawrence’s (above clip), they opted to take a different approach to limit Lawrence – the short passing game. One of the best ways to slow down an effective pass rusher is by getting the ball out before they can affect the QB.

Against the Cowboys, Jets QB Sam Darnold's average time to throw was 2.24 seconds - second-fastest in Week 6, per PFF, which prevented a couple of Lawrence’s pass rush wins upfront from turning into pressures.

Film Review

The Jets game this past week is a perfect example of why traditional stats such as sacks, tackles and pressures don’t tell the full story.

Per PFF, Lawrence was credited with just two tackles and one total pressure in that game, giving the appearance that Lawrence was essentially a ghost last Sunday; however, as you will see, that’s not the reality.

Despite New York getting the ball out quick and occasionally sending help toward him, Lawrence was still able to make his presence felt in some high-leverage situations. Here’s a great example:

On this play, the Jets are facing a 3rd-and-15 with Lawrence aligned with a wide outside shade over New York’s right tackle, Chuma Edoga (No. 75). Moreover, the Jets actually opted to chip Robert Quinn on this play, which gifted Lawrence the rare one-on-one pass rush opportunity where there wasn’t a quick pass.

Once the ball is snapped, Lawrence attacks vertically and uses one of his best moves to carve the corner – the long arm forklift. Given his length, the long arm (inside hand) portion of this move allows Lawrence to maintain distance from the tackle, making it difficult for the tackle to latch onto his frame. The forklift portion, where Lawrence uses his outside hands to grab Edoga’s outside wrist, which softens the edge by getting the Jets right tackle to hinge, turning his shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage.

Given Edoga’s position and inability to latch on to Lawrence’s frame, the Cowboys DE is able to speed skate around the corner and flatten to the QB. He doesn’t record the sack, but Lawrence is able to lay a hand on Darnold, forcing the Jets QB to step up into the pocket, where Quinn is waiting in the wings.

Darnold was still able to get the ball off, but he had to throw it away, which brought up fourth down and forced New York punt.

Here’s another example:

On this play, New York is facing 3rd-and-13 while Dallas chooses to rush three and drop eight into coverage. Lawrence is once again aligned with a wide outside shade over Edoga.

Once the ball is snapped, Edoga attempts to quick set Lawrence in an attempt to quickly get his hands on the Cowboys DE and distort his line to the QB. Unfortunately for him, Lawrence is prepared, as he effectively parries Edoga’s initial strike, which not only keeps Lawrence free of discernable contact but also allows him to begin to threaten Edoga’s outside edge.

From there, using effective hand fighting and surface area reduction, Lawrence is able to block the rest of Edoga’s strikes to keep himself clean as he corners and flattens to the QB.

Lawrence doesn’t touch Darnold, but he forces him off spot, and the Jets QB makes an inaccurate throw as a result, which got the defense off the field and forced New York to punt.

Moreover, even though Lawrence saw a reduced snap count against the run versus New York (just 16 run defense snaps versus 27 pass rush snaps in Week 6, per PFF), that didn’t stop him from making his presence felt. Here’s an example:

Lawrence has long been one of the NFL’s best defensive ends at chasing down running backs in backside pursuit on zone runs, which is exactly what happens here.

Lawrence does a great job of taking an angle not to where Le’Veon Bell was when he got the ball but where he was going to be when he crossed the line of scrimmage. He does a great job of hugging the line of scrimmage and avoiding traffic to chase down and tackle Bell for the short gain.

Lawrence wasn’t done being a nuisance in backside pursuit either:

On this play, the Jets are wise enough to not leave Lawrence unblocked, as they used a double team where the right tackle and tight end both initially block Lawrence before the tackle climbs to the second level while the tight end then overtakes the block. Unfortunately for them, that’s not enough to Lawrence, who fights through the blocks before hogtying Bell to bring him down for a short gain.

Lawrence also showed how he can make an impact on a play without making a tackle:

On this play, Lawrence ‘wrong-arms’ the pulling guard, which spills Bell outside, where the defenders have better leverage to get off blocks. Spilling ball carries outside is an effective way to take advantage of Dallas’ speed on defense, as it enables the defenders to chase down ball carriers moving parallel to the line of scrimmage rather than perpendicular. ‘Wrong arming’ the puller forces the RB the adjust his course, which gives the pursuit more time to chase down the ball carrier.

Lawrence didn’t make the tackle, but his contribution on this play certainly set the Cowboys defense up for success.

Final Thoughts

Despite all of his injuries and frequent double teams/chip blocks, Lawrence is still figuring out ways to positively affect the game for the Cowboys defense, often in ways that are tough to quantify with traditional stats.

Don’t blame Lawrence for the Cowboys defensive troubles, as he’s far from the issues plaguing Dallas on that side of the football this season.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

-- Film room: 3 things we learned from Cowboys’ loss to the Jets, including why Dak Prescott isn’t the problem, nor the solution

-- Film room: What’s wrong with the Cowboys’ run defense? The issues span multiple levels

-- How Tony Pollard's flashes vs. Miami offered glance at Cowboys backfield's frightening potential

Twitter: @JohnOwning