Sean Lee vs. the Eagles (14 tackles, 2 PDs, 1 INT)

3-1-PHI 29 (Q3, :52) (No Huddle, Shotgun) D.Murray up the middle to PHI 32 for 3 yards (N.Hayden).

Hayden got off of his blocker to bring Murray down on this play and therefore got credit for the tackle, but Lee once again helped make the play happen. Gardner gave a little help to Lane Johnson before moving towards Lee. On this play, Lee did a great job of executing a fundamental run defense concept: stacking and shedding a blocker. As a run defender, you want to “stack” your blocker, which generally means getting your pad level under his, standing the blocker up. Then you want to shed him when the runner goes by so you can make the tackle. In this case, Gardner is falling forward, so when Lee engages him he actually slows him down a bit. This causes Murray to run into Gardner’s back, which with Hayden hitting him from behind is enough to bring him to the ground. The play isn’t quite over for Lee though. After Lee sheds Gardner, he immediately jumps on Murray. Even if Hayden hadn’t wrapped himself around Murray’s legs, Lee would have made the play himself.

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1-10-DAL 31 (Q4, 15:00) (Shotgun) D.Murray left end to DAL 28 for 3 yards (D.Lawrence).

This is yet another play where Lee does not get credited with the tackle but was in great position to make it. It’s kind of amazing that he was credited with 14 tackles in this game and was still in position to make a handful more that he didn’t need to, as it shows just how omnipresent he was. On this play, Ertz is supposed to block Lee, but Lee is simply too fast for him. He reads the inside run, crashes down, and completely avoids Ertz. Demarcus Lawrence also beat Brett Celek soundly on the play, which let him get to the ballcarrier before Lee did.

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2-7-DAL 28 (Q4, 14:33) (No Huddle) S.Bradford pass incomplete short right to R.Cooper (S.Lee).

The Eagles send Riley Cooper in motion before the snap, and he ends up as a wingback behind offensive linemen. On this play, the Eagles hope that Cooper will get lost in the confusion of the offensive line, and that he will leak out open on a quick dumpoff. Bradford stumbles during his dropback, which doesn’t help the situation, but Sean Lee also does a great job of recognizing what the Eagles are trying to do and charges quickly on Cooper, knocking the ball away from him.

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1-10-PHI 34 (Q4, 4:47) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to J.Matthews ran ob at PHI 47 for 13 yards.

This is one of the few errors Lee had in this game. The Eagles are down big, so they’re trying to score quickly and the Cowboys are running a defense that looks to prevent big plays. This means that underneath routes like the crossing route that Matthews runs on this play are likely to be successful, but letting the player get out of bounds is a cardinal sin. On this play, Lee is in a zone and Matthews is his responsibility, as he is running directly through the zone. Lee plays too soft here, and gives Matthews a big cushion on the play. This lets Matthews get a couple of steps ahead of Lee, where he makes the catch and takes the ball out of bounds for a fresh set of downs as well as a stopped clock.

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1-10-PHI 20 (Q4, 4:13) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete deep left to R.Cooper.

Sometimes, in the NFL, you’re going to get beat. The guys on the other side of the ball are usually really good too, after all. What you don’t want to do in the NFL, however, is continually make the same mistake again and again. That’s why I really like this play from Lee, because even though he allowed a nice catch and run on the previous play, he came back and corrected that mistake on this play. He’s in a pretty similar situation, and when Huff runs through his zone on the crosser he attacks the route instead of sitting back on the play. The throw is not in that direction, but if it had been Lee was in good position to make the play stall for probably no gain.

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2-10-DAL 21 (Q4, 3:23) (No Huddle, Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short middle to J.Matthews to DAL 12 for 9 yards (B.Church; S.Lee).

At this point, the Eagles have very little hope of winning, so what the Cowboys want to do is tackle the offensive player in the field of play to keep the clock running and let time tick out on the Eagles. The Cowboys are playing a very safe coverage, and they drop 8 players into middling to deep zones. Bradford chooses to go to Matthews over the middle, and Lee is able to close quickly and prevent any gain after the catch, which was a theme for him throughout this game.

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2-1-DAL 1 (Q4, 2:03) (No Huddle, Shotgun) D.Murray right end to DAL 1 for no gain (S.Lee).

On this play, Lee does a fantastic job of finding a hole in the offensive line to get penetration in the backfield and stop Murray from scoring. The Eagles do not appear to try to account for him because they are running to the other side of the formation, but he blows up the play and forces a third down because of his speed to get into the backfield before Murray can get further upfield.

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C.Parkey kicks onside 9 yards from PHI 35 to PHI 44. S.Lee (didn’t try to advance) to PHI 44 for no gain.

It seemed fitting that after being the key cog in the Cowboys’ defense all game that Lee recovered the onside kick to seal the victory for the Cowboys.

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It becomes obvious that a linebacker is playing well when the announcers are constantly calling his name. Last Sunday, Lee had his name called quite a bit, tallying 14 tackles against the Eagles. He was the heart of the Cowboys defense, and did a number of things very well, from blowing up running plays in the backfield to making tackles to save big yards after the catch to intercepting a pass in the red zone and even recovering an onside kick.

After missing all of 2014 with an ACL injury, Lee doesn’t appear to have missed a beat. He not only made the 14 tackles, but was in position to make a number of others if the defensive line hadn’t made them first. He showed excellent play recognition skills, great sideline-to-sideline speed, solid tackling, and good technique for taking on blocker. If Lee can continue this stellar form throughout the rest of the season, the Cowboys will have a formidable defense for opponents to contend with.