America's Cowboy
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Here's a blurb from Football Outsiders:
FWIW, they weren't too big on Awuzie either.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2019/four-downs-nfc-east
Here's a blurb from Football Outsiders:
FWIW, they weren't too big on Awuzie either.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2019/four-downs-nfc-east
Iloka is for sure a better tackler but besides that I dont see much of an upgrade.
Wait till he misses a tackle or someone makes a catch on him. Lol...At this point, I think it's open for debate. There is such a thing as team chemistry, he might improve that, if he makes a few key plays it might "inspire" others to improve their level of play.
But we won't know until the season arrives, it's just funny that some have immediately anointed him as an immediate upgrade without even having a single game with Dallas....
Know who Football Outsiders are? Stats guys, computer nerds basically, who have input from the 4 letter sports networks, etc, who are mostly writers.
Since when did Football Outsiders become the "experts" on who's a good or bad player?
Its perplexing that some of you struggle to admit when one of our players just isn't up to snuff.
I have never said Heath is a good or average safety, I've consistently said he's below average, but why do some insist he's "terrible", "trash" or that the Cowboys MUST get a better safety or the team is sunk? That is a matter of opinion, and NOBODY is the "end all" as to their opinion, if you can't accept MY opinion that Heath isn't "terrible" or "trash", or even maybe, just MAYBE even "good", then I don't have to accept your opinion, or anybody else's as the gospel truth...
Well in fairness, he was fairly bad last year. He was probably the weakest link on this defense (along with Awuzie if you believe the stats on QB ratings facing those guys, etc.) He was not "even good".
He's a backup safety and a good special teams player. That's it. And there is nothing wrong with that. We need guys like that to fill out a roster. I found it weird that you would attack the credibility of a website that frankly, is saying the same thing other analysts are saying.
I think some of you guys tend to get a bit too defensive when people are criticizing one of our players.
We have a good defense that help the saints to 10 but also got destroyed by the rams run game. Not sure if IIoka is much of an upgrade over heath but in those times where we struggle stopping the run he might be a better option.
It's just that an ex-NFL player, coach, etc. who would say (if he would, that's unlikely as ex-NFLers are wroth to criticize a player much of the time) Heaths a poor safety would hold far more weight with me than a bunch of bloggers and stat analysis guys. So what if "others" are saying the same thing, if they agree with the others then that tends to make their opinions less likely to be criticized. It's far less risky to "go along to get along" and avoid the criticism, especially when they don't have the ex-NFL credentials to back up their opinion.
And don't forget, those bloggers and others aren't necessarily objective, there's tons of Cowboys haters out there, as I'm sure as a Cowboys fan (assuming you are) you know...
If you have to depend on your secondary to stop the run after the front 7 let the runner through it ain't gonna matter who the safety is
We had one bad game against the rush last season where it was obvious where our weaknesses were. We sorely missed a safety that could tackle and a DT that could plug the middle. Throughout the entire season, our LB's played extremely well to cover for these holes. But that playoff game showed our weakness in those positions.
IIaka is a big bodied safety that traditionally works well with Richard. His tackling capabilities are better then Heath. With some better coaching this guy can be a huge upgrade over what we ended the season with last. As for the DT position, Woods was a pleasant surprise. If we can somehow get Quinn that would allow us to rotate Crawford throughout the line at this will help the DT position. I am in hopes that both Gregory and Crawford suspensions are minimal as they will go a long way in the defensive line play. The hope is that the draft nets us another Safety and DT to assist in filling our depth and holes.
If you have to depend on your secondary to stop the run after the front 7 let the runner through it ain't gonna matter who the safety is
DT was the priority, imo, before we got Iloka, and to me it still is. If you have to pull your SS down to help on the line, or close to it, play action, etc. can be used to avoid your "great tackling" SS, for example. I"m just not a fan of having to have your front 7 have secondary help to defend the run, there's typically only 5 blockers for 7 defenders, or 6 if they have a fullback or H-back leading the way, and you can't put all 5-6 blockers in one small area, the DEs can loop around and come in from behind to stop the back. We saw that in SB XXX, after one 23 yard run early in the game Emmitt got only 26 the rest of the game, the steelers were coming around the edge and getting to Emmitt before he got going. Thank goodness for O'Donnel's ints....
I'll give you credit. This is the most creative spin job I have ever seen in an attempt to defend Heath.
Yeah, because no teams other than the Cowboys use their SS in run support.
Come on, man.