IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli had a heart-to-heart conversation with his defense about the lack of sacks on Wednesday.

On the season, the Cowboys have six sacks, tied for 30th in the NFL. There are eight players with more sacks and four teams with more third down sacks (10) than the Cowboys.

"He's never just calm but he gets his point across," defensive end Anthony Spencer said of Marinelli's talk. "He exerts himself in a way that he means we need to get it done."

The Cowboys are getting pressures (75) on the quarterback, but the key thing is to bring the player down, particularly on third-down plays. On the season, the Cowboys have just two third-down sacks with three coming on second down.

Marinelli is using a rotation of players for the defensive line that would think he has fresher players to push the pocket. But it's not working on a consistent basis.

In the win over the New York Giants last week, Marinelli didn't blitz as much as in previous games. Marinelli chose to let the four linemen provide the pressure and let the secondary handle the passing game more than normal.

Last season after seven weeks, the Cowboys had 20 sacks, 15 coming from three players, Jason Hatcher (6), George Selvie (5) and DeMarcus Ware (4).

"In places we are (getting pressure) but we still got to work on it," Spencer said. "It's something we want to improve. Just probably winning the one-on-one rushes, we talked about it (Wednesday). We're working on it."