With at least one sack in all five games this season, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was asked about how big of a disappointment it would be to finish a game without one.
The expression on Lawrence’s face gave the answer before he did. “It ain’t happening,” he added for clarity.
Lawrence has a league-leading and career-best 8.5 sacks so far this season, so at least 11 more would rank him among the team’s best single-season sack leaders. Although sacks didn’t become an official NFL statistic until 1982, the Cowboys still recognize the 23 sacks Harvey Martin had in 1977 as their team record. DeMarcus Ware had 20 in 2008 and 19.5 in 2011.
It also almost certainly guarantees Lawrence a big pay day.
Lawrence, a second-round pick in 2014, is scheduled to become a free agent after this season. The Cowboys could lock him up to a long-term deal before then or tag him, but they aren’t likely to let him leave.
Dallas has not had a defensive end with double-digit sacks since Ware, though defensive tackle Jason Hatcher had 11 in 2013.
Lawrence said he would “love to be a Cowboy for the rest of my life.”
“We’ll talk about that when the time comes,” Lawrence said. “I’m just going to keep racking up my numbers, and we’ve just got to get the job done as a team. If the team wins, we all win. That’s the main thing.”