IRVING – During Ronde Barber's 16 seasons as a defensive back in the NFL he has been exceptional at making tackles on running plays.
The Dallas Cowboys don't have starting cornerbacks that necessarily fit that mold. During his last 15 years in Tampa Bay, Barber has finished a season with less than 70 tackles only once, that includes four consecutive seasons with at least 97. Cowboys starting cornerback Brandon Carr has finished with 70 or more tackles only once and that was his rookie season in Kansas City. Morris Claiborne, the Cowboys' other starting corner, combined on 55 during his rookie season.
This is not to say that either of the Cowboys' starting corners can't tackle, it's just unrealistic to expect them to do it as well as Barber. Carr and Claiborne are known for their ability to stay with some of the game's best athletes on the outside, not step in and stuff the run.
Barber's name has been mentioned lately around Valley Ranch because the five-time Pro Bowler was certainly the Buccaneers' best corner while Monte Kiffin was in charge of Tampa Bay's defense. With Kiffin in Dallas, many are wondering how the Cowboys corners will transition into the new Tampa-2 scheme.
Cowboys defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, who doesn't have any coaching connections to Kiffin, has been watching film of his boss' old defenses. Barber is a player he has likely studied at great length. But Henderson's not expecting Carr and Claiborne to be another player.
"You can look back in the past and see how they played things and their effort and how they ran to the ball," Henderson said Thursday. "You want your guys to see that. And to show them, ‘Gosh, if you trust the system and you do the things they ask you to do in the system, it works.' It has a history of working. You use the past.
"Not to say you want (them) to be Ronde Barber. I don't want either of our corners to be Ronde Barber, but I do want them to say, 'Gosh, this guy has created a great career for himself playing this way and that is what we want to do. We want you to use your unique skill set but we want you to play this way because it has a history of being successful.'"
Henderson said he has also been watching tape of how the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks have run the same scheme. Henderson is hoping the Cowboys can duplicate the success those teams had intercepting passes last season. The Cowboys tied for last in the league with seven interceptions in 2012. Chicago, Seattle and Tampa Bay each had 18 or more.
"I know we left opportunities on the field," Henderson said. "We dropped a number of them. We miss-played a number of them. You hate to do that. But we did. We have to better going forward."
On Wednesday, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Claiborne and Carr "fit well" into the new scheme. He added that switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 was made largely because they want to force more turnovers. If the switch is a success, Carr and Claiborne could benefit from more opportunities to pick-off passes.
"We feel like Brandon Carr and Mo Claiborne are guys that can play man-to-man, can play zone," Garrett said. "They both have great ball skills, so the opportunity to play a little more zone, with their eyes to the football a little bit more, hopefully they can make more plays."
