DeMarcus Lawrence Goes On Explicit Rant, Says Cowboys Plan To ‘Choke Out’ The Saints
Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence just gave the Saints a lot of unnecessary bulletin board material.
While speaking with Calvin Watkins of The Athletic on Tuesday (11/27), Lawrence took a shot at the Saints offensive line when he was asked if they are the best he's faced all season.
I don't know, (expletive) I got to see first. They ain't faced us. We don't know yet, we can talk about it afterwards. I'll be honest with you too.
That's a fair reply. The Saints are first in pass protection and second in run blocking through 11 regular season games. On the flipside of that coin, Dallas is giving up the fourth-fewest yards per game on the ground. The Saints offense versus the Cowboys defense is undoubtedly the narrative in this Thursday Night matchup.
But Lawrence continued with an expletive-laced rant that has raised eyebrows across social media and NFL analysts alike.
Look, I'll be the first to go on the record and say that Dallas is very capable of beating New Orleans, but it's almost as if Lawrence believes that the Saints success is some sort of fluke that will be exposed this coming Thursday.
To be fair, the Cowboys defense is third in the league only allowing 19.4 points per game—but are now set to face a Saints team that leads the league in points per game at 37.2. I could dive deeper into the numbers from all the teams that the Saints have beaten on their current ten-game winning streak, but instead, I'll just focus on the teams that both the Cowboys and Saints have played this season.
Dallas has even beaten some of the Saints’ previous opponents, taking down Washington 31-23, Atlanta 22-19, Philadelphia 27-20, and New York 20-13, though they did drop an earlier game to Washington 20-17. The average score of those five contests comes up to 23-19.
Against those same teams, the Saints defeated Washington 43-19, Atlanta 43-37 (and again, 31-17), Philadelphia 48-7, and New York 33-18. New Orleans’ average score against common opponents of the Cowboys has been 40-20.
As you can see, those numbers trend over multiple games with opponents that both teams have faced at home and on the road. Due to these glaring numbers, the internet held no punches in their reaction to Lawrence's tough talk.
Even Dallas Cowboys super fan Skip Bayless cringed at Lawrence's statement.
For what it's worth, the Saints have definitely taken note.
Still, the game must be played, and we'll see the outcome on Thursday. Game on!