Willkommen » Dallas defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli remembers

FRISCO Sheldrick Redwine Jersey , Texas (AP) — the night the Cowboys traded up in the second round of the 2014 draft to grab DeMarcus Lawrence because they thought he was the last pass rusher on the board with the skills to become elite.Four years and several significant draft decisions later, Dallas is in line for its highest defensive ranking since 2003, and on the verge of joining that Bill Parcells-coached team as a defense-first playoff qualifier.The Cowboys reversed the offense-dominated formula of quarterback Tony Romo’s era without a sky-high draft pick such as star running back Ezekiel Elliott, the No. 4 overall choice two years ago.Instead, they stuck with their plan in the middle and the end of the first round, and took a number of second-round gambles that are in various stages of paying off.“I just think we’ve been diligent in the way we look at the people we’ve drafted, the movement, the skills, the attitude, the character, hitting,” Marinelli said. “Is it really important to them? We’ve just kind of stayed on course with that. You start seeing it.”The defense kept Dallas afloat in the playoff race while the offense struggled through the first half of the season. Then came a breakthrough performance against New Orleans that’s part of a five-game winning streak. Dallas (8-5) can wrap up the division title with a win at Indianapolis (7-6) on Sunday.Lawrence, the first pass rusher Dallas drafted after releasing franchise sacks leader DeMarcus Ware, was second in the NFL last season with 14 1/2 sacks. He’s unlikely to reach that number again but gets praise across the board for how well he has played following his breakthrough season.Randy Gregory is emerging opposite Lawrence after the Cowboys took a chance on him late in the second round in 2015 despite off-field concerns. He played just one of 32 games the past two seasons because of substance-abuse suspensions but has five sacks in seven games, offset somewhat by some crucial penalties.Dallas took another second-round gamble the next year on linebacker Jaylon Smith, who missed his rookie season recovering from a knee injury sustained in his final game at Notre Dame. After an uneven debut last year, Smith appears to be the middle linebacker of the future now.Leighton Vander Esch was the 19th choice in this year’s draft and has emerged as a star in the absence of 2016 All-Pro Sean Lee Austin Seibert Jersey , who is close to returning from a hamstring injury.Byron Jones, a late first-rounder in 2015, is thriving in a move to cornerback after mostly playing safety his first three seasons. Chidobe Awuzie starts on the other side as a second-round pick last year.Maliek Collins has been solid at defensive tackle as a third-round pick, same as veteran leader and self-described utility lineman Tyrone Crawford four years earlier.“We’ve had to make an emphasis on it, to pick guys,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We’ve selected guys high in the first round, in the second round, in the third round. I think you’re seeing the fruits of those selections over the last few years.”There are a couple of late-round picks in safety Xavier Woods and nickel cornerback Anthony Brown and two undrafted starters in safety Jeff Heath and defensive tackle Antwaun Woods, a third-year player who started training camp as a fourth-stringer in his first year with Dallas.Vander Esch has a chance to be the first rookie to lead the club in tackles since the team’s coaches started tracking the stat in 1981. The Cowboys rank fifth overall and second in scoring defense.“I just feel like we’ve haven’t gone away from the system and what it is and how we’re supposed to run it, how we’re supposed to play,” Crawford said of Marinelli’s ball-swarming style. “As far as being a hustle-style defense and knowing that the star of the defense is the defense, we kind of embrace that.”The Cowboys drafted Vander Esch out of Boise State despite the need for a receiver after releasing franchise career touchdown catch leader Dez Bryant. Their first three picks in 2017 were defensive players.The only high defensive pick whose impact is in question is 2017 first-rounder Taco Charlton, who was a healthy scratch last week against Philadelphia after battling a shoulder injury for several weeks and returning for one game.“You can’t overdo it and get too many. We understand,” Marinelli said of defensive first-round picks. “But I think those first-rounders are guys that can impact the passing game. And the other guys, we’ve got to go make them players.”NOTES: DE Randy Gregory missed practice Thursday for unspecified personal reasons but was expected back Friday. … RG Zack Martin didn’t practice for the second straight day as he battles a recurring left knee injury. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Case Keenum is on the move again. The Denver Broncos have agreed to trade the veteran quarterback to the Washington Redskins, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Thursday.The teams will also swap 2020 draft picks Trysten Hill Jersey , with Denver receiving a sixth-rounder and Washington a seventh-rounder, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be announced until next week.Keenum’s contract will be reworked with the Broncos and Redskins each picking up half of the $7 million he was guaranteed in 2019.The Broncos decided to move on from Keenum last month when they agreed to acquire Super Bowl-winning veteran Joe Flacco from the Baltimore Ravens. Like the Keenum trade, the Flacco trade cannot become official until the start of the league year .March 13.For the second consecutive offseason, the Redskins opted to trade for a quarterback. Keenum enters the equation to try to replace 2018 addition Alex Smith , who broke his right tibia and fibula in November and is expected to miss the entire 2019 season.Keenum will likely compete with longtime Redskins backup Colt McCoy to be their Week 1 starter. The 31-year-old joins his fifth NFL team after stints with the Texans, Rams, Vikings and Broncos.A year ago, Keenum was coming off a career year in Minnesota, where he went 11-3 and led the Vikings to the NFC championship game. That made him a hot commodity in free agency, second only to Kirk Cousins among available quarterbacks.After the Vikings signed Cousins, Keenum signed a two-year, $36 million deal with Denver that included $25 million in guarantees.Broncos general manager John Elway hoped he’d finally found a worthy successor to Peyton Manning after failures by Mark Sanchez, Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch. But Keenum also found it difficult to thrive in the quarterback-crazed city where both Elway and Manning continue to cast long shadows.The Broncos went 6-10 last season, leading Elway to fire coach Vance Joseph and hire Vic Fangio. After his career year in Minneapolis, Keenum threw for 18 touchdowns and a career-high 15 interceptions in 2018.Elway said at the NFL combine that he’d prefer for Keenum to rework his deal and stay in Denver as the backup Connor McGovern Jersey , but he left it up to Keenum, saying he’d honor a release request or would try to trade him if a suitable partner emerged.Keenum got off to a slow start last year, throwing interceptions in Denver’s first eight games. Preaching patience became a weekly mantra of his with Keenum expressing confidence he and his new teammates and coaches would eventually adjust to each other in time to make a late-season run.By December the Broncos weren’t rolling but staggering, bedeviled by an injury epidemic that had waylaid three O-line starters and the team’s top two tight ends. On Dec. 5, Emmanuel Sanders, who rose to No. 1 receiving threat when Demaryius Thomas was traded to Houston, tore an Achilles at practice.The Broncos lost their final four games, finishing 6-10 for their first back-to-back losing seasons since the Nixon Administration. That led Elway to fire Vance Joseph and replace him with Vic Fangio. Keenum wasn’t among the players who attended Fangio’s introductory news conference because he was on vacation out of the country.As he cleaned out his locker after the final game, Keenum said, “I learned a lot this year. I learned what it is to be a franchise quarterback.”But Elway would soon move on to his fifth starting QB since Manning retired a month after winning the Super Bowl three years ago.Even before the deal with Washington came together, Keenum seemed to indicate he would be moving on, telling the Sports Spectrum Podcast, “My time with the Broncos has been really special. I have enjoyed every second of it. I have absolutely been so proud to wake up every day and to walk into that building to represent the Broncos as their quarterback. … It was an honor.”