‘I Played Pretty Good’: Malachi Lawrence Assesses His Start In Dallas Cowboys’ 23-13 Loss To Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Dallas Cowboys rookie Malachi Lawrence started at outside linebacker in Sunday night’s 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, and he said he learned during the week that he would be up.

Dallas drafted Lawrence 23rd overall out of UCF in April after trading the No. 20 pick to the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished his college career 10th on UCF’s all-time sacks list with 20.

Malachi Lawrence Lines Up Opposite Rashan Gary

Lawrence lined up opposite Rashan Gary in the starting lineup. He broke up a deep pass for Christian Watson on second-and-6 at the Dallas 26 in the third quarter, and Green Bay settled for a 44-yard field goal two plays later.

Lawrence’s pass breakup was 1 of 8 for the Dallas defense. He said he felt he had some good rushes.

“I believe I played pretty good. I feel like I had some rushes, some good rushes. I could have had a little better, more rushes. I had a PBU where I had to guard a receiver, so I feel like I played pretty good,” Lawrence said.

Gary had 3 quarterback hits, and Dallas finished with 8 quarterback hits and 3 sacks of Jordan Love. Green Bay ran 26 times for 57 yards.

Lawrence Learned He Would Be Up During The Week

Lawrence’s start came 10 days after the Cowboys’ 24-16 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 8. Dallas also played without linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who was inactive.

“I found out sometime during the week. I forgot what day, but it was just sometime during the week. Coach had just told me that I’ll be up,” Lawrence explained.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Dallas made some changes against Green Bay from a personnel standpoint. He did not name them.

Lawrence Says Dallas Cowboys Cannot Dwell On 2-4 Start

Green Bay converted 9 of 10 third downs in the first half and 2 of 8 after halftime. Lawrence said the plan once the Packers started throwing was to get after the quarterback and cover on the back end.

“It wasn’t really any adjustments. We just really came out with the same mindset, but now we’ve got to stop that run. Once they start passing it, get after the quarterback, get some pressures, and then just cover in the back end. And so we just discussed that during halftime,” Lawrence said.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker runs the Dallas defense. Lawrence said the halftime meeting ended with position coaches going over what the defense was doing well.

“Like, we had a meeting over there. It was kind of like CP would talk to us first, then we’d go with our position coaches, just what we need to work on and stuff, what we’re doing good,” Lawrence said.

Dallas fell to 2-4 with its second straight loss, and 11 games remain on its schedule. Lawrence said the Cowboys cannot dwell on the loss.

“Two and four is tough. And there’s 11 games, and you can go 13 and four. Like, it’s possible. So, like I said, we just have to come together. We can’t dwell on this loss. We have to learn from it, though,” Lawrence said.

The defense still has to come together with the right mindset, Lawrence said. He said Dallas still has games to win.

“We all have to be together, have the right mindset, and just come in and work because we still have games to win. We still have more games in front of us, and we’re going to win those,” Lawrence said.

The Cowboys play at Philadelphia eight days after the Green Bay game. Lawrence said they can watch the film and then leave the loss in the past.

“Right, it’s real tough. A loss is always tough. But you have to flush it. You can’t just dwell on a loss because then you won’t gain anything from it. Like I said, we can watch the film after this and then leave it in the past because we’ve got another week ahead of us. Like I said, we can’t dwell on it,” Lawrence said.

Dallas visits Philadelphia on Monday, Oct. 26, at Lincoln Financial Field. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. CT on ESPN and ABC.