Why Cowboys Had To Replace Rob Ryan, Part II: Adapting To A Changing Landscape

[btcutter]

Fantastic article on defense!

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/...i-monte-kiffin

[Teague31]

Good read

[MichaelWinicki]

A powerful read.

Everyone should read it– twice.


Terrific explanation on why Rob Ryan's 3-4 defense is out of date.

[jday]

Originally Posted by btcutter

Fantastic article on defense!

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/...i-monte-kiffin

Very good read. But it is discouraging, as well. The Cowboys seem to be a long way off from having the personnel to pull this defense off, particularly considering our overall defenses speed.

[TheCount]

Great article. Now I'm wondering where the one is about the offense, or do we wait till AFTER the change is made to say it had to be made?

Isn't this also, in some ways, an indictment against resigning a 32 year old gunslinger? I'm not anti-romo, but if you want to sell the Ryan fire as a re-imagining of our Dallas Cowboys, maybe it's time to also bring in a QB that can run this so-called next generation offense.

[BlueStar3398]

They said on "The Break" that some of the Defensive staff were not getting along at the end of the season. Jerome Henderson was not attending meetings with some of the staff for some reason.

[Chocolate Lab]

Meh, that article is way off. Jimmy didn't invent the 1-gap 43; that's ridiculous.

Nor did he have any success against OU at Okie State -- he never beat them, and gave up 38, 63, 27, 27 and 21 points to them.

Know why he beat them at Miami? Because he had insane talent on those teams, especially up front. Jimmy's teams lived in other teams' backfields and that beat basically every offense, not just Oklahoma's wishbone. Jerome Brown and Co. will do that.

And I like how he totally ignored Kiffin's record vs the spread the last couple of years.

Funny how just two years ago it was Rob who had the high-tech, whiz-bang offense that had buffaloed Brady and Brees. Now it's all outdated and 72-year-old Kiffin has the defense for the latest and greatest.

I'm not even against the 43 cover-2 or Kiffin at all. At the very least I think we'll be more sound and won't beat ourselves with mistakes as often. But there's a lot of hope-reaching in this "article".

[TheCount]

Hate to double dip, but man does this sound good:

Instead of telling defensive linemen to 2-gap and watching them get fooled by the option on every play, he switched entirely to a 1-gap system. Johnson simplified things for them by giving them one job and telling them to attack...

I'll also add that while they say Jerry became aware of this, this year. There's some evidence to suggest they were thinking 4-3 before that. Remember when they said they'd have taken Wagner in the 2nd if they hadn't grabbed Claiborne?

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by jday

Very good read. But it is discouraging, as well. The Cowboys seem to be a long way off from having the personnel to pull this defense off, particularly considering our overall defenses speed.

I know what you're saying...

But I think there are several players on the defense that have more than enough speed to make this switch:

The two corners
Two of the three linebackers (don't know who the 3rd one is)
Ware
Lissmore, Crawford and Hatcher are fast enough for the defensive line.

If Spencer stays, he's fast enough. If not, then they need someone.

Safety is a "push". Tampa's defense didn't feature 4.4 safeties.

The defense isn't that far off (speed wise).

[RS12]

This defense needs 3 key pieces to work.

1) Big defensive tackle as of today they dont have.

2) Fast weak side speed LB. Where does Carter play?

3) Safety play. Sensabaugh is rumored out. Church is coming off an achilles. Johnson after being injured as a senior didnt even make it out of the trainers room last year.

For this to work alot of pieces that are at best questionable and at worst non existent have to fall in place.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by RS12

This defense needs 3 key pieces to work.

1) Big defensive tackle as of today they dont have.

2) Fast weak side speed LB. Where does Carter play?

3) Safety play. Sensabaugh is rumored out. Church is coming off an achilles. Johnson after being injured as a senior didnt even make it out of the trainers room last year.

For this to work alot of pieces that are at best questionable and at worst non existent have to fall in place.

A big DT?

Why?

Kiffin didn't have a big DT at Tampa.

And Carter played OLB in college.

Johson didn't have big DT's at Dallas.

[InmanRoshi]

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

A big DT?

Why?

Kiffin didn't have a big DT at Tampa.

And Carter played OLB in college.

Johson didn't have big DT's at Dallas.

And why is a big DT more important in the 4-3 than what we were using in the 3-4?

If we're going by prototypes, both Lee and Carter are WAY more in line with a prototype 4-3 LB than a prototype 3-4 LB. 3-4 LBs ideally weight 250+ because they have unprotected gap control, and are often asked to stack and shed 330 lbs. offensive guards. That's why Wade ran off DeMarco Ryans in Houston to bring in Bradie James.

[Doomsday101]

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

A big DT?

Why?

Kiffin didn't have a big DT at Tampa.

And Carter played OLB in college.

Johson didn't have big DT's at Dallas.

I think both Rat and Spears (who excelled in the 4-3 at LSU) could play the defensive front for Kiffin.

[btcutter]

In either 3/4 or 4/3 we have needs.

Our personnel actually favors a 4-3 as Lee and Carter are ideal 4-3 backers. What is really lacking is S play and depth in DL to rotate in fresh bodies constantly.

Oh, Morris really going to have to step up in his CB spot to play physical. In someways Scandrick may fit better in Cover Two than Morris.

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Doomsday101

I think both Rat and Spears (who excelled in the 4-3 at LSU) could play the defensive front for Kiffin.

I would LOVE to see Spears earn and excel as a starter. The dude deserves it. He gets bagged on so much, but he's never complained about his role and consistently talks about how his life could be worse than being a roleplayer in the NFL.