Bell Tolls: Rod Marinelli pushing the right buttons in Dallas

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY Sports

They call it a loaf, and it's exactly what it sounds like.

If you're a member of the Dallas Cowboys defense, this is not a good thing.

"There's no gray area at all," Cowboys linebacker Bruce Carter said. "We have a lot of guys flying around. If you're not doing what everybody else is doing, you'll stand out easily."

This speaks to an element of success for a no-name Cowboys defense that has undoubtedly overachieved on the way its divisional playoff game at Green Bay on Sunday.

Rod Marinelli, promoted this season to coordinate the defense, keeps track of loafs. And the week-to-week tallies, and a chart, are shared with the entire defense.

What's a loaf? If a defender gets blocked to the turf on a play and is a bit slow getting up, that's a loaf.

Imagine two defenders chasing a receiver bent on piling up yards after the catch. If one of the defenders passes the other while they are in pursuit, somebody's going to get a loaf.

"Hey, we keep emphasizing, 'There are no houseguests on our defense,' " Marinelli told USA TODAY Sports. "We all tackle."

Remember how bad the Dallas defense was supposed to be this season? The widespread preseason projection: Maybe even worse than last year.

Yet the defense has made steady progress this season, establishing itself as a unit that hustles like crazy.

Guess that happens when no one wants to be called out in front of the entire team.

Marinelli used to coach the same way when he won a Super Bowl ring as the D-line coach on Jon Gruden's staff with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and his group included a Hall of Famer in Warren Sapp and a Pro Bowl-credentialed Simeon Rice.

His standards haven't changed with a defense that is short on big-name talent.

"There's nothing magical about it," Marinelli said. "It's just being consistent in our approach. That's how we do business. Once they believe that's how we win, they'll do it."

In addition to his "loaf chart," Marinelli emphasizes strip attempts, too. Turnovers can be the lifeblood for a defense, but they don't happen by chance.

It takes a conscious effort to pull the football out, and some hustle to give it the full effort.

"As soon as you don't emphasize it, you don't do it," Marinelli said. "Sometimes, you have a game where you don't have any, but the strip attempts are there. If you have enough attempts, eventually you're going to get some."

The results are running pretty deep.

Dallas' defense has not only improved as the season has gone on, but it has developed quite the knack for producing big plays as the games progress.

No defense in the NFL compiled more turnovers in the second half this season than the Cowboys (22), which coincides with the team's NFL-best +12 turnover ratio in the second half of games.

Furthermore, 17 of Dallas' below-average 28 sacks have come in the second half of games.

Marinelli thinks those numbers not only reflect the emphasis flowing from his "loaf chart" and attention paid to the strip attempts, but also the eight-man rotation he's been using on the defensive line. With snaps spread out, Marinelli thinks his D-line has been fresher in crunch time.

That was certainly the case in last weekend's playoff-opening victory against the Lions, when Dallas rallied from a 14-point deficit and the defense allowed just six points after the first quarter.

The Cowboys opened the second half against Detroit with a turnover on the first snap of the third quarter – defensive end Jeremy Mincey deflected Matthew Stafford's pass at the line of scrimmage, allowing for linebacker Kyle Wilber to snag the interception – then closed the game out with rookie defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence's strip-sack.

"They just keep playing," Marinelli said after the game. "That's what we talk about. Don't blink. Just keep playing."

Safety Barry Church, the team's leading tackler, believes another reason for the unit's play can be traced to the players who won't be on the field for Dallas on Sunday. During the offseason, the Cowboys cut their most accomplished defender. DeMarcus Ware, in a salary cap move. They lost a double-digit sack pass rusher through free agency, D-tackle Jason Hatcher. Then the leading tackler from 2013, linebacker Sean Lee, was wiped out in minicamp by a season-ending torn ACL.

"Last year, we had more talent," Church said. "But we relied on our stars too much to make all of the plays. Now it's more of an all-for-one mentality. And everyone is accountable."

Now comes the biggest test yet of this unit's mettle – particularly if Aaron Rodgers is not affected severely by the calf injury he is nursing.

Rodgers has gone 16 games, including postseason, without throwing an interception at Lambeau Field, with his string of 477 passes including 38 TDs.

Finishing the game strong could be a good thing. But there's a distinct need to start fast.

Green Bay's perfect home record has been stamped by fast starts that set the tone and force opponents into a game of catch-up.

The Packers have scored an NFL-high 151 points in the first quarter this season and averaged 39.8 points per game at home.

That's a trap the Cowboys need to avoid if they will have any chance of springing an upset.

"We've got to start fast," Church said. "The past two weeks, against Washington and Detroit, we had to come back. So we've got to be on our P's and Q's. It will make a big difference, if we can weather the storm early."

Surely, loafing won't cut it.

Other items of interest as the NFL's divisional playoffs roll on….

Who's hot: Andrew Luck. The Colts quarterback, who led the NFL with 40 TD passes during the regular season, passed for 376 yards and a TD against the Bengals – his third consecutive 300-yard game in the playoffs. He could match Dan Fouts' NFL postseason record if he racks up 300 at Denver on Sunday. Yet another significant number for Luck in the playoff opener was zero – as in turnovers. The Colts were the only team to make the playoffs this season with a negative turnover ratio (-5), and that key barometer on Sunday will start with Luck.

Key matchup: Julius Thomas vs. LaRon Landry. When they opened the season with a loss at Denver, the Colts had no answer for the massive tight end. Thomas scorched Indianapolis for seven catches and 104 yards, with three TDs. Landry, the free safety, couldn't match up, and neither could linebackers Jerrell Freeman and D'Qwell Jackson were they had turns covering "Orange Julius." What now? D-coordinator Greg Manusky is pressed to come up with something – or hope that the ankle injury that derailed Thomas late in the season is still a problem.

Rookie watch : Zack Martin. The prowess of Dallas' strong O-line is exemplified by the first-round pick from Notre Dame – who along with St. Louis D-tackle Aaron Donald were the only rookies selected to the Pro Bowl. Remember all the fuss about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones being so tempted to draft Johnny Manziel? Looks like Jones made the correct non-move on Johnny Football.

Pressure's on: Peyton Manning. The Broncos quarterback carries an 11-12 career playoff mark that fuels the annual questions – fair or not -- about his postseason legacy. But never mind what happened a decade ago. Manning had his two lowest-rated passing games of 2014 during the final month of the season. And now comes his former team, with the burgeoning star who replaced him in Indianapolis.

Stat's the fact: Packers receiver Jordy Nelson earned his first career Pro Bowl selection while posting an NFL-best five TDs of at least 50 yards, one more than Washington's DeSean Jackson. Since 2010, Nelson has 14-such long-distance TDs, which is also most in the league during that span, ahead of Jackson's 11 50-yard TD strikes.