Cowboys’ DeMarcus Lawrence dodges injury while tying career-best sack total: ‘They just come in bunches’
It’s been a long time coming for DeMarcus Lawrence.
On Monday night against the Giants, the Cowboys defensive end recorded three sacks, something he hadn’t done in a single game in almost exactly four years.
In fact, prior to Week 3’s triple-bagging of Daniel Jones, November 2018 was the last time Lawrence ended a game with more than one sack. And after being shut out in Weeks 1 and 2, the nine-year veteran was relieved to finally put an opposing quarterback on the ground again.
“The first two games didn’t go as well as I planned,” Lawrence told reporters in his postgame remarks following the 23-16 win. “Had to keep going out fighting, each and every day, to get to these sacks. They just come in bunches.”
But sacks haven’t come in single-game bunches like that for Lawrence very often. Monday’s Meadowlands trifecta tied his career-best; it’s a number he’s hit just twice before as a pro. (And oddly enough, all three of Lawrence’s three-sack games have come during the last week of September: in 2017, 2018, and now 2022.)
The bunches have been plentiful for the Cowboys as a whole unit, though. After getting to Jones five times, the team leads the NFL with 13 sacks after just three weeks. That pace would see them finish the year with a new single-season record, besting the 1984 Bears and their 72 sacks by one.
While 4.3 sacks per game would be a difficult rate to sustain, Lawrence was just happy to get himself on the team’s leaderboard. He’s in second place, one sack behind linebacker Micah Parsons… and he says he’s ready to overtake the reigning defensive Rookie of the Year next week versus Washington.
“Most definitely,” the former second-round draft pick out of Boise State promised.
The pair started a friendly bet during the summer, with the veteran Lawrence announcing that he wanted to lead the team in sacks again after giving up the crown to Parsons in just the youngster’s rookie campaign.
Parsons, for his part, has accepted the challenge, knowing that the competition only makes the Dallas defense more potent.
“Super excited,” Parsons said Monday night after the victory in New York. Parsons logged two quarterback hits, but no sacks in the contest. “He’s on my neck right now, telling me he’s coming for me. I owe Tank something. That’s the competitor; we expect that out of him. I believe he’s a premier top rusher in this league. I know he’s been itching, going through his injuries and things like that, but he’s been as dominant as can be recently. I can’t do this without him.”
For a while Monday night, though, it looked like he might have to.
Lawrence left the field in the third quarter with what appeared to be a foot issue. He stayed on the turf for a while talking with trainers, finally walking off under his own power. But he visited both the sideline medical tent and the locker room for further testing on his left foot, the same one he broke in 2021, subsequently missing 10 games.
Monday’s scare made for a nervous stretch of time, but Lawrence was able to return to the game in the fourth quarter, finishing the evening with six tackles to go with his trio of sacks on just 39 defensive snaps.
“I’m okay. The body should be hurting after a tough-fought win like that. I’ll be all right,” he assured media members afterward. “I didn’t know. I didn’t want to chance it and mess it up more than it what it was. But it was just a little soreness.”
Despite a short week coming in preparation for a visit from Washington, the 30-year-old vows he’ll be on the field: looking to add to his sack total, maybe with another bunch of them. That would put Lawrence ahead of his younger teammate, who maintains that their bet isn’t for more than anything except bragging rights… and a mutual desire to propel the Dallas defense even further this season.
“It’s just a respect thing,” Parsons explained. “It’s a competitive thing. Nothing on the line except who wants to be greater.”
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