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Cowboys ‘Slower’ on Grass, Reveals Garrett

Originally posted on FanNation Cowboy Maven
By Tim Kelly | Last updated 9/25/23

While the NFLPA pushes for all 32 teams to move from turf fields to natural grass to prevent injuries, there's some thought that such a move would hurt the Dallas Cowboys as much as any team in the league.

On NBC's "Football Night in America," former Cowboys quarterback and coach Jason Garrett had an interesting theory on what contributed to Dallas losing to the lowly Arizona Cardinals in Week 3. Do-it-all defender Micah Parsons appeared to be an MVP candidate through the first two weeks of the season, and Dallas' defense looked like it could be an all-time unit. Garrett opined that part of the reason Parsons and the Cowboys defense seemed mortal Sunday was because they played on grass at State Farm Stadium.

"...I do think Dallas is a little slower on defense when they play on grass," Garrett said. "When they're at home on that fast track, it's like they've got 14 guys on defense."

Long-time New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty -- now a studio analyst with NBC -- added some fuel to this fire, saying that just a few years ago, coach Bill Belichick arrived at a similar conclusion when evaluating the Cowboys team as a whole.

"It's funny you say that," McCourty said. "We played the Cowboys in 2019. We're playing them at home in New England, and we talked about that. Watching film, coach Belichick was showing film from Dallas at home. And it's a shot ... it's [Tony] Pollard breaking a long run. He's like 'These guys look great. It's great we're not playing them at home.'

"Because when you get to play them at home and you get the elements ... for us it was a cold game in New England with rain ... in Arizona it was grass ... you get them on those different elements, you don't really see the same exact team."

It should be noted that the Cowboys lost cornerback Trevon Diggs to a season-ending torn left ACL between Week 2 and Week 3, an injury that not only will force Dallas to be without one of their best defenders for the remainder of the season, but also probably had an emotional impact on the team as they prepared for the Cardinals.

At the same time, it's telling that both Garrett -- who coached the Cowboys through the 2019 season -- and the Patriots organization have arrived at a similar conclusion about Dallas being worse on grass than turf.

And if the Cowboys know internally that they are better-equipped to play on turf than grass, it makes losing to the Cardinals that much more egregious. Because guess which teams have grass at their stadiums? The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. And by losing to the Cardinals Sunday, the Cowboys made it more likely they'll have to go on the road to face one or both of those teams in the postseason.

This article first appeared on FanNation Cowboy Maven and was syndicated with permission.

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