I was told by MountaineerCowboy that the defense was bad because the offense scored too quickly. He actually said it was the offenses fault that the defense was as bad as it was. True story!
He is partly right.
Scoring too quickly with some long pass plays, takes little time off the clock and puts a tired defense back on the field.
The other teams offense is still in a groove , so they are more likely to do well against the tired defense.
Going on a long drive is the opposite, your defense has plenty of time to rest up, and talk about adjustments etc.
Also the other teams offense gets cold sitting on the sideline.
Long drives also chew up more clock thus shortening the game ,and giving both teams fewer possessions.
The 2014 and 16 dallas teams had more long drives than in recent years, as they had a good run attack and fewer
quick scores. They usually dominated TOP.
The long drives do need to end with a score, preferably TD's.
It can help your defense if the other team has a potent offense, by giving them less possessions, and making them
sit on sidelines for long periods of time.
Also 3 and outs really hurt your defense, even if you dont score it is better to move the ball for 2-3 first downs
so the defense can rest, and for the field position advantage.
I have seen dallas go 3 and out and only take like 45 seconds off the clock lol, that is really bad, and hard on a defense.
That being said, our defense last year had other issues too, and some of it was just bad coaching on off and def.
I just watched the cleveland game again, and the defense was doing ok , dallas led 14 to 7, then the offense screwed
up on 3 possessions in a row.
first dak got strip sacked gave cleve a short field and they scored 14-14 then 2nd on elliot fumbles , and another short field, clev scores again 21-14 then 3rd dallas goes 3 and out lol cleve gets good field positon and drives for another score
against a defense that only had a short time to rest, and then clev scores again.
So the offense was to blame there, but if you just look at stats you think it was all the defense's fault.