To the detriment of the Cowboys’ defense, Sean Lee missed most of the last two seasons with injury. In 2015, he’s healthy and is making a huge difference for the team. If you take away the 17 points that the Giants scored directly off turnovers (a TD off of a fumble recovery, an interception returned to the 1 yard line, and a field goal after the Giants failed to get a first down off another interception), the Cowboys have only allowed 19 points, which would be second best in the NFL, and that includes a garbage time TD by the Eagles.
Lee has been a huge part of that defensive dominance. He’s been all over the field in the first two games, and it was especially evident during the Cowboys-Eagles game last Sunday, where he earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He showed that he’s an athletic guy who is fast and fluid in coverage and also stout and aggressive against the run, which is exactly how he played before those two season ending injuries. So, without further ado, let’s get down to the tape for Lee last Sunday:
1-10-PHI 32 (Q1, 9:03) (Shotgun) D.Sproles left end to PHI 28 for -4 yards (S.Lee).
On this play, the Eagles are running a sweep to the left with Darren Sproles. They have Ryan Matthews and LG Allen Barbre go to the outside to block for Sproles, and assign C Jason Kelce to block Sean Lee. Lee reads this play perfectly and reacts to it very well. He sees Sproles motion into the backfield, then sees Barbre kick out to block, and this tells him it’s a sweep play to that side, and he immediately attacks. Lee’s quick diagnosis and aggressiveness are important on this play, because they prevent Kelce from reaching him in time to block him. Kelce simply wasn’t fast enough to the second level, but it’s not really his fault in my opinion. First of all, with how quickly Lee diagnoses the play, you can’t expect Kelce to catch up to him. Secondly, Kelce gets his legs kind of tangled up with DT Nick Hayden when he’s trying to release from the line of scrimmage, and he stumbles, which also prevents him from reaching Lee. After Kelce can’t reach him, Lee has a clear path to tackle Sproles, and does a good job to bring the elusive runner down for a loss.
2-14-PHI 28 (Q1, 8:32) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to D.Murray to PHI 35 for 7 yards (S.Lee).
One of the components that makes Lee a valuable asset to the Cowboys is that he’s a very solid tackler. This play shows that. It’s second and long, and the Eagles throw to Murray in the flat. Morris Claiborne is the first on the scene, and he can’t bring Murray down. On this play, Lee does a good job of getting himself in position to clean up the missed tackle and prevent a larger gain.
1-10-PHI 20 (Q1, 1:39) (Shotgun) D.Murray right guard to PHI 22 for 2 yards (S.Lee; A.Hitchens).
There are a couple of things that you can glean from this play. The first is that the Cowboys did not respect the threat of Sam Bradford as a runner at all. This should be concerning for Eagles, because the read option is an important part of Chip Kelly’s offense, and if he’s not willing to let Bradford run (or Bradford shies away from running), then these kinds of looks don’t help the Eagles at all. The second thing you notice on this play is Lee’s speed. He starts off the play between the LT and TE, but ends up in the A gap on the opposite side. The Cowboys gave kind of an exotic run defense look, with Hitchens attacking the line of scrimmage and Lee scraping over the top. Hitchens beats Kelce’s block, and knocks Murray off balance for Lee to finish him off.
2-8-PHI 22 (Q1, 1:18) (No Huddle, Shotgun) D.Murray right tackle to PHI 20 for -2 yards (B.Church).
On this play, Lee greatly affects the result but doesn’t get the tackle. Lee hits Murray in the backfield, but isn’t able to bring him down. While Lee does a good job of being in the right spot, he’s not doing anything special by making this play. Instead, it’s a blocking failure that sets him up in position to clean up (Murray is able to spin away from Lee’s grasp and into Church’s arms, but Lee probably deserves an assist on this play). The Eagles have a zone blocking scheme on this play, and Gardner and Kelce are double teaming #97 Terrell McClain. McClain absolutely blows Kelce up, driving him far into the backfield. He also drags Gardner along with him, but Gardner made a big mistake in trying to continue to help Kelce. Instead, he should have moved to block Lee. Gardner’s mental failure on this play allowed Lee to be right in the hole when Murray hit it, and caused the loss of yardage.
1-10-PHI 15 (Q2, 10:23) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to D.Sproles to PHI 17 for 2 yards (S.Lee; M.Claiborne).
This play shows good awareness by Lee of the defenders around him, which helps him make an effective tackle. When trying to tackle a player like Sproles, it’s best to have two guys to contain him because he is so shifty. On this play, Lee realizes that he has Claiborne to the outside, so he sets up towards the inside of Sproles. This forces Sproles to try to split the defenders, and Lee and Claiborne combine to make the tackle for a minimal gain.
2-8-PHI 28 (Q2, 6:44) (No Huddle) D.Murray left end to PHI 25 for -3 yards (S.Lee).
On this play, Lee helps bait Murray into a cutback that isn’t there, which causes the lost yardage. The Eagles are running inside zone again, but there isn’t really a hole that appears in the middle of the line. However, Lee flattens down and follows the flow of the line, which causes there to be open space in his direction. Murray sees this and tries to cut the ball back, but Lee is too good for that. He’s able to see the cutback and quickly close on Murray to bring him down for a loss.
2-15-PHI 34 (Q3, 9:28) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short right to D.Murray to DAL 48 for 18 yards (B.Church; J.Crawford).
This play was one of a relatively low number of successful plays for the Eagles last Sunday, and it shows what happens when you actually block Lee and take him out of the play. The Eagles are running a screen, and Lee is the nearest LB, so he’s theoretically tasked with stopping the play in its tracks. However, Jason Kelce gets off a good cut block on Lee, which takes him out of the play, and the Eagles get a first down off of the play.
1-10-DAL 48 (Q3, 9:03) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short right to D.Murray pushed ob at DAL 46 for 2 yards (S.Lee).
On the very next play, the Eagles try to go back to the well again, this time on a flat route to Murray. Without an offensive lineman in front of him to block him out of the play, however, Lee stops the play in its tracks. He shows great sideline-to-sideline speed to get to Murray and prevent him from gaining significant yardage.
1-10-DAL 16 (Q3, 6:48) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to J.Huff to DAL 7 for 9 yards (S.Lee).
Similarly to the first pass play, this play shows a good example of Lee making a cleanup tackle that wasn’t his responsibility. On this play, there are three players (the two CBs to the bottom of the screen and the LB nearest that side at the snap) that should be making the play before Lee gets there, but all of them are taken out of the play by blocks. Lee takes a great angle and is able to bring Huff down, which definitely saves a TD by the Eagles.
2-3-DAL 3 (Q3, 5:28) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short middle intended for Z.Ertz INTERCEPTED by S.Lee at DAL -7. Touchback.
A couple of plays after he prevents a screen pass from being a TD, Lee stops any chance the Eagles had of scoring by intercepting a pass. The Cowboys appear to be in man coverage across the board, and Lee has drawn Ertz. Once he initially goes to engage Ertz, he locks on to him and provides pretty great coverage. Ertz tries to leak open to the right of the offense, but Lee sticks with him. I guess Bradford thought Ertz was going to pop open, but I can’t really fathom why he threw this pass. Lee had Ertz blanketed when he started his throwing motion. As it was, Lee’s great coverage meant that Bradford’s throw fell right into his lap, and Lee turned around enough to make the interception deep in the end zone.
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