Defensive strategy when strong offense but weak defense

JD_KaPow · May 28, 2020

Red Dragon said:
The Cowboys offense will be Top 5 in the league, no doubt of it. But the defense leaves much to be desired.

The maxim is that the best defense is a good offense. Since that is the case, the Dallas defense will be designed to protect a lead, not claw the Boys' offense back from a deficit.

The offense must milk time of possession for as long as possible to keep the defense rested. Even a mediocre defense can (in theory) play well if they only have to be on the field for 20 minutes instead of 35. Zeke must take advantage of how Lamb, Gallup and Cooper opening up run-favorable defenses for him.

Good lord no. It's the exact opposite. If you believe you have the better team, that means you believe you'll score some number of points per possession more than the other team. If that's true, you want to maximize possessions so as to press that advantage. The last thing you want to do is to dial down your offense and slow the game down. You want to score early and score often.

If you slow the game down and reduce possessions, all you do is give the other team the chance to hang around and keep things close. That's how you lose games in the end.

What you really want to do is run your offense in the most efficient/effective way possible, so you maximize the points per drive you get out of it. Running your offense less than all-out is...well, it's what Jason Garrett loved to do.

texbumthelife · May 28, 2020

Future said:
I can't buy a single argument that on paper this defense is better. They lost two of their three best players, and made no upgrades.

Smith and Gregory are wildcards I guess, that could change things, but as of right now there is no way.

McCoy and Poe are considerable upgrades. Swapping a healthy Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith in the middle is a major upgrade. Clinton-Dix is not a world-beater, but he's a significant upgrade. The scheme will be more aggressive and show a lot more looks, another major upgrade. Who even knows what the rookies will do.

I don't think you're wrong to be cautious, but the defense has significantly improved in several ways.

DanA · May 28, 2020

This defense has 8 Pro-bowlers on it and only two players over 30 years old.
1. Lawrence
2. McCoy
3. Poe
4. A.Smith
5. J.Smith
6. Vander Esch
7. Lee
8. Clinton Dix

It's really not that weak a defense.

conner01 · May 28, 2020

On paper we have the potential to be a good defense so we shall see

CowboysFaninHouston · May 28, 2020

Creeper said:
I like the strategy of keeping the pressure on an racking u points. Make the other offense one dimensional. But to do this the defense has to be able to get off the field. Last year, the Cowboys D was unable to do this consistently enough.

I expect the D to be better this year, particularly on 1st and 3rd down. If not then they have no choice but to hold the football, keep the game close and hope they get the ball last.

I agree,the key stat for the defense is getting off the field and often that starts with 3rd down conversion rate....when you don't allow for 3rd down conversion, then you get off the field and chances are you provide good field position for your offense. that's been a big issue with the bend but don't break defense Marinelli ran in dallas over the past few years. we had been one of the worst 3rd down conversion defenses in the league consistently.

perhaps, an attacking style of defense as we expect to see will be better, but there are holes right now and question marks....I love the Riggs pick, but he is a rookie. safety maybe, maybe improved. RDE is a mess. and Nolan's track record is not super great....so we will see

CowboysFaninHouston · May 28, 2020

DanA said:
This defense has 8 Pro-bowlers on it and only two players over 30 years old.
1. Lawrence
2. McCoy
3. Poe
4. A.Smith
5. J.Smith
6. Vander Esch
7. Lee
8. Clinton Dix

It's really not that weak a defense.

first of all who cares about probowl...second, when was the last time Dix, Lee, Poe, McCoy, A. Smith were in the probowl?

Future · May 28, 2020

texbumthelife said:
McCoy and Poe are considerable upgrades. Swapping a healthy Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith in the middle is a major upgrade. Clinton-Dix is not a world-beater, but he's a significant upgrade. The scheme will be more aggressive and show a lot more looks, another major upgrade. Who even knows what the rookies will do.

I don't think you're wrong to be cautious, but the defense has significantly improved in several ways.

None of the guys you are calling significant upgrades are...significant.

Poe is a minor upgrade to Woods, McCoy/Collins and Dix/Heath are basically a wash. Corner and DE are massive downgrades, at this point.

The defense should be better - depending on your definition - based on scheme. But it is not based on talent. Not at all. It is absolutely worse, at this point.

CowboysFaninHouston · May 28, 2020

big dog cowboy said:
You might be selling the defense short for 2 reasons. They have put considerable resources into that side of the ball this year. On paper this is the best defense the Cowboys have had in a while. Getting rid of Marinelli/Richard and their failed defense will help considerably also. Overall if the defense can allow 20 or less points per game, the Cowboys will win often.

I am not so sure if on paper our defense is improved....

CowboysFaninHouston · May 28, 2020

darthseinfeld said:
We have actually ranked 8th, 7th and 9th in total yards the last 3 years. However 2017 and 2019 were evidence that yardage is misleading as those weren't good units. All three of those season they have to do things on that side of the ball that consistently turn games. Mainly creating turnovers.

I wouldn't abandon hope that we cant turn out a quality unit in the next couple years.

Ball control offense has been our philosophy in the past ( and probably a reason why some of those yardage are low). However I think a more potent passing game may be the better tonic. Score points and force teams to be more agressive in order to keep up. If our pass rush performs(which I think it can), early down passing could lead to some 3rd and very longs that are a breeding ground for TO's

I think sacks, turnovers, pressure and 3rd down conversion rate are key indicators...perhaps the the defensive efficiency rating like QBR is a better indicator since it takes into account different stats and situations

IceStar-D7 · May 28, 2020

IMO. This years defense is gonna surprise a lot of people. Can't wait to find out!!!

Future · May 28, 2020

CowboysFaninHouston said:
I agree,the key stat for the defense is getting off the field and often that starts with 3rd down conversion rate....when you don't allow for 3rd down conversion, then you get off the field and chances are you provide good field position for your offense. that's been a big issue with the bend but don't break defense Marinelli ran in dallas over the past few years. we had been one of the worst 3rd down conversion defenses in the league consistently

The Cowboys finished T-2 (NE) in third down conversion % last year and were 11th in yards per drive. So no, that isn't really the problem.

The only problem with the Marinelli defense is that it didn't cause turnovers. But that's because they made concerted effort to not give up big plays, which they have been excellent at the last two years.

Doomsday101 · May 28, 2020

Main thing I want to see from defense is getting turnovers something they have not been doing.

darthseinfeld · May 28, 2020

Future said:
None of the guys you are calling significant upgrades are...significant.

Poe is a minor upgrade to Woods, McCoy/Collins and Dix/Heath are basically a wash. Corner and DE are massive downgrades, at this point.

The defense should be better - depending on your definition - based on scheme. But it is not based on talent. Not at all. It is absolutely worse, at this point.

You hope Poe can have similar pass rush production as he did last year. But in this stage in his career that might be more of an anomaly. They are going to have to add another young DT in the draft soon, and thats assuming Gallimore pans out. Would be great if Hill gets his **** together. But Im not counting on. We are also hoping McCoy doesn't his a steep decline.

Right now we really really need Gregory or Smith to work out

MarcusRock · May 28, 2020

darthseinfeld said:
You hope Poe can have similar pass rush production as he did last year. But in this stage in his career that might be more of an anomaly. They are going to have to add another young DT in the draft soon, and thats assuming Gallimore pans out. Would be great if Hill gets his **** together. But Im not counting on. We are also hoping McCoy doesn't his a steep decline.

Right now we really really need Gregory or Smith to work out

That's a lot of hopin' which is why I think he's right in stating this defense is worse than last year until further notice.

darthseinfeld · May 28, 2020

MarcusRock said:
That's a lot of hopin' which is why I think he's right in stating this defense is worse than last year until further notice.

Could go either way really. I could see it possibly ending up being a bad unit.

texbumthelife · May 28, 2020

Future said:
None of the guys you are calling significant upgrades are...significant.

Poe is a minor upgrade to Woods, McCoy/Collins and Dix/Heath are basically a wash. Corner and DE are massive downgrades, at this point.

The defense should be better - depending on your definition - based on scheme. But it is not based on talent. Not at all. It is absolutely worse, at this point.

I think the talent is awash with last season, but to each there own.

fivetwos · May 28, 2020

The team rode the keep away strategy to a one seed in 2016.

Now that I look back, I think it may have simply been coincidental.

That defense wasnt any good, it just stayed on the sidelines most of the game.

Maybe it was the lack of film on that offense. I don't know.

Its tough to offer the staff credit when it just stopped happening. When teams adjust to what you're doing you should do the same, but I'm not sure that happened, and for the most part since that season, we only beat teams we were clearly better than.

CowboyRoy · May 28, 2020

JoeKing said:
Are you kidding, the offense was already ranked #1 and it has only gotten better. They aren't "top 5" they are the best.

As for the defense, they have much to improve upon but the coaching change and new talent suggest they will be greatly improved. They should be able to stifle any passing or running attack enough to keep the Cowboys in control of any game. They won't be weak this year.

Isnt being #1 being top 5? LOL

And they were only #1 in yards. They definitely were NOT the best offense and you know it. Or at least I hope you know it.

Defense should stifle any passing attack? I will have to see that one first. Stopping the run, I expect them to be one of the best.

Mr_437 · May 28, 2020

DanA said:
This defense has 8 Pro-bowlers on it and only two players over 30 years old.
1. Lawrence
2. McCoy
3. Poe
4. A.Smith
5. J.Smith
6. Vander Esch
7. Lee
8. Clinton Dix

It's really not that weak a defense.

I don't know what this defense can do, but if this front 7 can play some good ball it's on.

Pash rush is what's been missing, primarily up the middle, and if the Carolina Boys can get push to the QB the secondary will just fine.

If Clinton-Dix and Woods are allowed to stay on the hash, and break on passes in front of them turnovers will hopefully go up.

Are they getting pressure is the key...

Offense just score as many points possible.

J-man · May 28, 2020

Since opposing offenses will (in theory) be trailing Dallas most of the time, they will have to throw the ball most of the time. This will let the Dallas defense get away with blitzing more, pinning their ears back and going after the QB and not worrying much about stopping the run.

[/QUOTE]

This is what killed us last season.

Defensive strategy when strong offense but weak defense

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