IRVING, Texas - From Sunday to Sunday, this is shaping up as a pretty good week for one DeMarcus Ware.
Not only did the All-Pro pass-rusher register two more sacks in helping the Cowboys past a tough Falcons squad last week, but Monday he become the highest-paid player in franchise history with a record-breaking $78 million contract extension over the next six years.
So how will he celebrate? How about by facing the Seattle Seahawks - a team he torched last year for three sacks. To make matters worse, the Seahawks are completely dismantled on the offensive line, headlined by the recent move to put perennial Pro Bowler Walter Jones on injured reserve this week.
Jones will have microfracture surgery on his left knee, an injury that caused him to miss the first part of this season.
His replacement Sean Locklear, suffered a high ankle sprain last month and still hasn't fully recovered. Now that leaves Damion McIntosh, a nine-year veteran who just joined the Seahawks two weeks ago, to start this Sunday and face one of the NFL's elite defenders.
"There are some great right-side rushers in this league," Seattle head coach Jim Mora Jr. said. "It seems like each week, another team has got one. DeMarcus is an elite, elite one. We have to have a nice plan for that. And even when you have a nice plan for that, sometimes a guy with his ability can ruin the plan. He's a great one."
Even though McIntosh will get the start against Ware this week, it's not like Jones fared much better last season when they met on Thanksgiving. Ware feasted on the Seahawks for three sacks, two of them on Jones.
Although Ware was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for that effort, he also injured his knee late in the game, jeopardizing his health for the next game. But Ware never missed a beat, and continued his prowess against opposing quarterbacks, ending the season with 20.0 sacks.
It's been a slow start this year, especially to Ware's lofty standards as he recorded no sacks in the first four games. But since he suffered a stress fracture in his foot two weeks ago, ironically things have picked up dramatically for Ware. He had two sacks against Kansas City and two more last week against Atlanta.
Ware has remained on the injury report, but head coach Wade Phillips said he believes his top pass-rusher is close to 100 percent.
"I don't think he's injured . . . he may have some pain at times, or he may be not quite as quick at times pushing off, but I don't see him as injured," Phillips said. "I don't see him being inhibitive in a lot of ways. He's had four sacks in the last two games and he's been all over the field. I don't think he's hurting too much."
That's good news for the Cowboys, and bad news for the Seahawks, who will use five different starting lineups in seven games this year.
Phillips said the Cowboys can try to exploit some mismatches on the line, but said Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is always difficult to get to, regardless of his blockers.
"You try to get match-ups you think are beneficial to you, especially defensively," Phillips said. "But (guard, Rob) Sims is coming back, he's a starter for them. The quarterback, in that West Coast Offense, is going to try to get rid of the football quickly. He gets back there and gets rid of the ball. So it's still going to be tough to get to him back there. I would imagine they're going to try to get rid of it quickly."
However, that was Atlanta's plan last week with Matt Ryan, who had only been sacked twice this season before being dropped four times on Sunday.
Two of those came from Ware, who should be all smiles again this week - for more reasons than one.
Home | Email | Print | Register for New Alerts | RSS
Nick Eatman - 
