The dots were easy to connect between Rod Marinelli and Tampa Bay, given his expiring contract and long-term relationship with Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith.
But the Cowboys defensive coordinator said he was never close to rejoining Smith this offseason.
“I just love it here,” Marinelli said of the Cowboys, via Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com. “I love football and this place, it just reeks with tradition and winning and wanting to win, wanting to be the very, very best. I think that’s as exciting as anything.”
Marinelli was rewarded with a three-year contract after helping the Cowboys bounce back this season, going from last into the league in defense in 2013 to 15th in points allowed this year. That was enough of a bump to help them get from 8-8 to 12-4 and the playoffs.
They were also second in the league in takeaways with 31, and Marinelli said that’s the best sign moving forward, though they need to add more parts.
“I think we laid really a strong foundation of what we want in terms of how hard we want to play, the discipline of the system, physical and takeaways,” Marinelli said. “You have a pretty good feeling where we’ve got to get stronger and that’s the rush. The rush has got to better and that will improve us as much as anything. It came on well the last quarter of the season, so there’s something to hopefully build on.”
The Cowboys were again plagued by injuries this year, but Marinelli clearly put his guys in good positions, and the return of middle linebacker Sean Lee and some help up front could have them contending again next year.
