IRVING, Texas (AP) -Having successfully made the conversion from defensive end to linebacker, Greg Ellis is now learning the finer points of yet another position: defensive back.
Seriously.
At 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds, Ellis is not a conventional cover guy. And, in his 11th season, he’s the first to admit he is a little old to be learning new tricks.
But when Dallas Cowboys coaches were deciding how to handle Kellen Winslow in the opener, they turned to him. The results were so good that Ellis might do it again Monday night against Philadelphia’s L.J. Smith.
“Can you imagine me out there at corner?” Ellis said earlier this week, still bewildered even after playing in the secondary in Dallas’ 28-10 victory over Cleveland. “It’s like, `You look kind of funny out there.’ That’s how it felt, too – funny. But it was for the team and I think it helped us get accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.
e the coaches chose to use and he didn’t get off and have three touchdowns and 150 yards receiving, so it was a good move.”
Winslow was limited to five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Ellis wasn’t always on him – for instance, not on the 2-yard TD – but he did a good enough job when he was.
Ellis’ main duty was to jam Winslow in the first 5 yards, where it’s legal to hit him. That was the easy part for Ellis, who had a career-best 12 1/2 sacks last season and has 69 in his career.
The strange part was sticking with Winslow after those 5 yards.
Ellis had no idea what to do. So, he started from scratch, asking the secondary coaches for tips and leaning on teammates, including newcomer Adam “Pacman” Jones. He also followed the advice he usually gives young pass rushers to pick someone they want to emulate, then watch all the film they can find. Ellis dug so deep into the video vault that he ended up studying “guys I didn’t even know.”
“They might be rookies, but they know a lot more about covering than I know,” he said.
Ellis was mostly worried about chasing Winslow if he got free. So he focused on the proper techniques for jamming and rerouting a receiver, but also asked about the best way to try keeping up should he get beaten.
th this thing. Give me some last-minute pointers.”
Newman pretended like he was a receiver and put Ellis to the test.
“I just looked at his footwork and gave him a run-through of what we do as cornerbacks,” Newman said. “He had his feet wide. I just told him to know your feet and shuffle rather than just lunge and try to get him. … I think he did pretty good, especially for me telling him (what to do) 45 minutes before the game started and he’s going out and trying to do it.”
Ellis was a defensive end the first eight years of his career, and a very good one. Then Bill Parcells switched the defense to a 3-4 and moved Ellis to linebacker.
Fearing he was being forced out, Ellis begged to be released or traded. Dallas wasn’t about to do so and he wound up playing well until tearing his left Achilles’ tendon.
Then came the 2007 draft and the Cowboys spent their top pick on an outside linebacker. Ellis’ fears returned, only heightened because he was a year older and now considered damaged goods. Once again, Dallas kept him and he wound up having a great season, getting voted NFL Comeback Player of the Year and earning his first Pro Bowl trip.
Ellis began dabbling in coverage when he moved to linebacker, but it was pretty much picking up people in his vicinity or charging at running backs in the flat.
. He didn’t think much of it, though, until the Wednesday before the opener, when coaches revealed the game plan.
“I was like, `Are you sure?”’ he said. “They were like, `He’s yours. Stay with him.”’
Ellis didn’t put up a fuss. Quite the opposite. He’s finally realized that being called versatile is a lot better than being called a malcontent.
“You’ve got to embrace it or you’ve got to go,” Ellis said. “I’m going to try to embrace it, enhance it, master it if I can.”
And, best of all, joke about it.
“I’m going to change my number to look more like a cornerback,” he said. “That 98 is not cornerback material.”
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