It is not often that an offensive lineman is scrutinized before a major rivalry game with playoff implications in December. However, that is the case in Dallas in Week 14 when Philadelphia comes to town. Many eyes will be on Terence Steele, the Cowboys offensive tackle whose brutal performance contributed to the Cowboys’ disappointing 28-23 loss to the Eagles five weeks ago.
Again, it’s not often you can say this, but Terence Steele was most likely the reason the Cowboys lost that game. He was in a lot of pain. One blog said of his blocking numbers, “That’s staggering.”
They were, indeed. Steele allowed 12 quarterback pressures and four sacks, out of the Cowboys’ five sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. He let quarterback Dak Prescott be sacked seven times.
Terence Steele of the Cowboys received a PFF grade of 31.7 in Week 9. His grade for pass-blocking was 15.0. He wouldn’t say whether it was the worst game of his career, but if the PFF grading system is to be believed, it was.
“I don’t know, probably,” he said Wednesday in the locker room. “I don’t keep score. I just try to improve every week.”
While the Cowboys appeared to have improved since then, the big question may be whether or not Terence Steele has improved since then. Expect the Eagles to investigate.
On Wednesday, he stated that he is more confident. “Just taking it day by day,” Steele explained. “Trying, each day, to get better and better and keep stacking days and that will stack confidence.”
Terence Steele signed a contract worth $82.5 million in September.
Terence Steele’s struggles in Philadelphia were exacerbated by his inability to recover from a torn ACL in Week 13 of the 2022 season. Steele had surgery and is now ready to return to the field.
. In the meantime, the Cowboys took a risk by giving him a $82.5 million contract extension in September. They may have wanted to wait to see if he was healthy before making that deal, but a strong performance on Sunday could certainly alleviate concerns about Steele in the future.
One of the issues Steele mentioned in Philadelphia was dealing with snap counts due to crowd noise from Eagles fans. He also stated repeatedly that he needed to improve his fundamentals.
Trust my technique,” Terence Steele said. “Getting off on the snap count is huge. That will be an advantage here at home. Really trusting my technique, that’s really all it came down to.”
He added that he has not seen much that has been different from the Eagles defense, even if they have had some shifts in personnel
“They’ve got great depth especially on the D-line. They’re going to find a way. Either they’re going to bring guys in or whatever but, no, they haven’t changed much,” Steele said.
Steele’s Cowboys teammates had his back.
Steele also mentioned that, despite having one of his toughest days on the field, he found plenty of solace off the field with his teammates. After the Eagles debacle, the Cowboys defended Steele to a man.
“The guys in this locker room, the coaches, the culture they built, we’re all going to have each other’s back no matter what,” Steele said in a statement. “I’ve felt that way since the day I arrived in 2020. The guys in my immediate vicinity have beenDak Prescott was asked about Steele in the days following the first Philadelphia game. He didn’t waste any time defending him.
They have undoubtedly aided me.”
“Terence would be the first to tell you that he wants to play better and I know he’s going to play better,” Prescott told reporters last month. “He’s a guy who’s been through this before.” You talk about how, as an undrafted free agent, he had to step in for guys right away and didn’t have the success or perhaps didn’t play to his standards early on, but then he got it going and had some great years under him.
“He’s not going to allow one game to put him down in a dump and he’s not going to allow one game to dictate the way he plays the rest of the season.”
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