Areas for defensive improvement to make a deep playoff run

Cowboyny · Oct 22, 2021

DanA said:
My personal opinion:

Safety and Corner play has been pretty good

Edge players have been really good and will get better with D-law

Interior D-line sucks except for Odigi, Gallimore will help against the pass, we need a run stuffer

Linebackers suck except for Parsons

I'd love for us to trade for Fatukasi (Jets) whose in the final year of his rookie contract and we could use a Linebacker as Neal and LVE haven't been great.

Parsons all most has to stay the mike lb against the run, both Lve/Neal have their struggles getting off of blocks. We still need a true NT for this defense.

Zman5 · Oct 22, 2021

My main concern is stopping the run. Many teams haven't run much against us due to our offense scoring on them early. But you saw what NE did to us.
You know the Rams are going to try to run on us like they did in 2018. Good thing is, we should get Tank and Gallimore back by then.

john van brocklin · Oct 22, 2021

Bobhaze said:
Like most Cowboys fans, I’m excited about our defense’s improvement this year. Their ability to get TOs (they are 2nd in the league with 14!) is a huge reason we are 5-1. It’s a young aggressive defense that is certainly on the upswing.

But if we are being honest without the fan glasses, our defense still has a very long way to go. If we’re going to have a defense that is playoff ready, we must improve defensively in some key areas, because even though our offense is top shelf, there are often playoff games where a great offense runs into a good or great D.

With that in mind, here are some areas we must improve if we’re going to have a serious playoff run:

Points per game, giving up 24.3. The most important defensive stat. Not terrible, but that needs to improve because the better teams we may face in the playoffs tend to be able to make your offense score less. We can’t always depend on the offense alone to win games.

3rd down conversion rate- we have improved to 9th in the league with a 35% rate. But it’s way better at home (31%) than the road (41%). That’s an important stat in the playoffs, especially if playing on the road.

Our 6.3 yards per play is 29th in the NFL. (Without the 14 TOs we’ve had, we would all be talking about how we are still getting gashed for big plays)

We are ranked 28th in yards per passing attempt with 7.4. This represents giving up too many big plays in the passing game. Like the Mac Jones bomb in the last two min vs pats last week.

We have 11 sacks, which is ok, but that ranks us 23rd. We could really use an improvement there.

Our defense is certainly better and still improving. But I want to see us get better in the above areas and I will feel even better about our playoff chances.

We are much better getting TO's but we have to tighten up the yards per play.

75boyz · Oct 22, 2021

fivetwos said:
I'm actually happy with being good enough to win the current game.

Some folks are waiting for a dominant type defense and it's not going to happen, but we don't necessarily need to be that.

IMO today's game is much more about making the most of possessions and having the ball last.

It's true. Catch17 has been saying this for a while now too. "Just good enough" defense with a decent pass rush(sacks)and turnovers(ints).

Sacks and picks have long been missing. Picks are currently not a prob thanks to Diggs lights out play.

Sacks need to increase although some pressure is showing just not consistently enough from game to game.

My biggest thing is still the runs they give up right up the gut and those long third down conversions they are allowing.

Way better than last year but plenty of room for improvement.

jmo

blueblood70 · Oct 22, 2021

big time trade before the deadline either CB/DE/DT

Chocolate Lab · Oct 22, 2021

We knew this defense wouldn't and couldn't be completely fixed in one year. They were starting from too low a point. They've actually done pretty great in hitting on their draft picks and coaching them up to get to where we are.

Really, we're right where most of us realistically hoped we could be -- solid and competent enough for our offense to win the game.

Macnalty · Oct 22, 2021

visionary said:
Been saying it for last few weeks

This defense is below average if not fir the turnovers which are hit or miss

If we want to seriously compete for a SB we need

1. a real impact 1T in the worst way
2. Discipline and better tackling from players
3. Better LB play and better safety play

I think they are better than below the avg, with Parsons' position not clearly defined because of injuries and a released player his abilities are having to slow down to catch up with all the nuances of the new responsibilities he sees most weeks. No continuity for him. The price of being so talented he just gets plugged in anywhere there is a deficit. my two cents Lawrence coming back is going to be a good thing.

fivetwos · Oct 22, 2021

75boyz said:
It's true. Catch17 has been saying this for a while now too. "Just good enough" defense with a decent pass rush(sacks)and turnovers(ints).

Sacks and picks have long been missing. Picks are currently not a prob thanks to Diggs lights out play.

Sacks need to increase although some pressure is showing just not consistently enough from game to game.

My biggest thing is still the runs they give up right up the gut and those long third down conversions they are allowing.

Way better than last year but plenty of room for improvement.

jmo

Yep, we still don't stop the run very well IMO on a particular play far too often (don't know about cumulative stats), but teams still just give up on it.

Everyone is throwing 40 times plus.

We would probably have a difficult time with a team that is willing to stick with it and keep our offense on the sidelines and limiting opportunities to score.

Even a Belichik team with a rookie QB didn't do it, so we may be able to get away with what we are.

Hopefully Gallimore and Hills return...DLaw as well....will help the overall problem.

Creeper · Oct 22, 2021

Bobhaze said:
Like most Cowboys fans, I’m excited about our defense’s improvement this year. Their ability to get TOs (they are 2nd in the league with 14!) is a huge reason we are 5-1. It’s a young aggressive defense that is certainly on the upswing.

But if we are being honest without the fan glasses, our defense still has a very long way to go. If we’re going to have a defense that is playoff ready, we must improve defensively in some key areas, because even though our offense is top shelf, there are often playoff games where a great offense runs into a good or great D.

With that in mind, here are some areas we must improve if we’re going to have a serious playoff run:

Points per game, giving up 24.3. The most important defensive stat. Not terrible, but that needs to improve because the better teams we may face in the playoffs tend to be able to make your offense score less. We can’t always depend on the offense alone to win games.

3rd down conversion rate- we have improved to 9th in the league with a 35% rate. But it’s way better at home (31%) than the road (41%). That’s an important stat in the playoffs, especially if playing on the road.

Our 6.3 yards per play is 29th in the NFL. (Without the 14 TOs we’ve had, we would all be talking about how we are still getting gashed for big plays)

We are ranked 28th in yards per passing attempt with 7.4. This represents giving up too many big plays in the passing game. Like the Mac Jones bomb in the last two min vs pats last week.

We have 11 sacks, which is ok, but that ranks us 23rd. We could really use an improvement there.

Our defense is certainly better and still improving. But I want to see us get better in the above areas and I will feel even better about our playoff chances.

The defense is all about giving up chunk plays. They have got to get that under control. I am sure this is why they are ranked low in yards per play and yards per pass attempt. I think they need to do a better job of tackling runs beyond the LOS. They are awful. That running play in NE where it looked like the RB carried 4 Cowboys for 15 yards was atrocious. t was like 3 guys dancing while 4 other guys stood around and watched. If they were in suits instead of football uniforms would have thought they were at a Jewish wedding!

Blackspider214 · Oct 22, 2021

Doomsday101 said:
I think the biggest thing is decreasing the chunk plays. I know Quinn in his staff during the bye are looking to correct these things. There are portions of the game where this defense plays quality defense only to give up a couple of chunk plays that hurt us. I'm sure you can look at all aspects of the defense and find areas to improve on but right now I think the biggest issue is giving up some big plays in games.

Do you watch the NFL? Chunk plays are more and more common these days. Offenses move up and down the field and can do it quickly. We are not going back to the 90s where giving up 300 plus yards is a lot. Yards are going to be had. You are not going to be forcing an offense to punt often unless they are incompetent and even then, they can move the ball at time.

The difference now is this team can actually make key stops and gets turnovers and helps out. It used to be big chunk plays and they got no turnovers.

My main concern the is the interior of the defense. They seem to be weak and easy to run against. The Pats ran easily.

RS12 · Oct 22, 2021

Bobhaze said:
We’ve had tackling issues for years. Tackling at all levels of football has become a lost art. We don’t teach proper tackling techniques to young players much anymore and even at this level, too many players are just grab tackling instead of true tackling form.

Post of the day. Starts in college where they are truly playing basketball on turf.

Praxit · Oct 22, 2021

...getting Dlaw and Gallimore back will curve running game more. The D is young and is in learning state. But man, they are cramming the exam in. They will get better, sure Quinn will continue to highlight important areas.

Thing is, we finally have TALENT on this team.

tyke1doe · Oct 22, 2021

Yes, our defense can be better. But in fairness, if fans (and I was one) are going to criticize Dak for "junk" yards in games where the Cowboys were playing catch up, then we have to take that into consideration for games the Cowboys have well in hand and are just giving up yards to burn the clock.

It works both ways.

I think the defense has confidence in the offense and slacks up a bit. But ... I think it will get better down the stretch with D.Law, Gallimore and, possibly Joseph coming back. I think we're seeing the confidence of the defense grow. And with another speedster in the secondary and another pass rusher augmenting Gregory, we're about to see better defense when it starts to matter most.

buybuydandavis · Oct 22, 2021

Bobhaze said:
Like most Cowboys fans, I’m excited about our defense’s improvement this year. Their ability to get TOs (they are 2nd in the league with 14!) is a huge reason we are 5-1. It’s a young aggressive defense that is certainly on the upswing.

But if we are being honest without the fan glasses, our defense still has a very long way to go. If we’re going to have a defense that is playoff ready, we must improve defensively in some key areas, because even though our offense is top shelf, there are often playoff games where a great offense runs into a good or great D.

With that in mind, here are some areas we must improve if we’re going to have a serious playoff run:

Points per game, giving up 24.3. The most important defensive stat. Not terrible, but that needs to improve because the better teams we may face in the playoffs tend to be able to make your offense score less. We can’t always depend on the offense alone to win games.

3rd down conversion rate- we have improved to 9th in the league with a 35% rate. But it’s way better at home (31%) than the road (41%). That’s an important stat in the playoffs, especially if playing on the road.

Our 6.3 yards per play is 29th in the NFL. (Without the 14 TOs we’ve had, we would all be talking about how we are still getting gashed for big plays)

We are ranked 28th in yards per passing attempt with 7.4. This represents giving up too many big plays in the passing game. Like the Mac Jones bomb in the last two min vs pats last week.

We have 11 sacks, which is ok, but that ranks us 23rd. We could really use an improvement there.

Our defense is certainly better and still improving. But I want to see us get better in the above areas and I will feel even better about our playoff chances.

Urban and Watkins have PFF scores under 50, Bohanna at 32.

DT is our weakest position group by far. We've got Osa, but he's light in the pants. That's it.

Even if Gallimore and Hill come back, I'd still want a couple more. Urban, Watkins, and Bohanna are all cuttable and shouldn't take much to upgrade.

kevinhickey · Oct 22, 2021

Diehardblues said:
And we still have some key pieces out due to injury like Lawrence and Gallimore on DL and our high second round pick Joseph in the secondary.

I would think getting these guys back would improve our defence numbers. The only person I see on the market right now that could improve this team is Safety Maye. Gallup for Maye would be close in a deal. Love to see a stud DT on the market that could improve the pass rush. Is there a corner out there that we can get that is much better then Brown?

Bobhaze · Oct 22, 2021

Zman5 said:
My main concern is stopping the run. Many teams haven't run much against us due to our offense scoring on them early. But you saw what NE did to us.
You know the Rams are going to try to run on us like they did in 2018. Good thing is, we should get Tank and Gallimore back by then.

Getting DLaw and Gallimore back will be a step forward, especially stopping the run. I want to see this D get better in these two areas hopefully by Thanksgiving in time for the stretch run:

Improve 3rd down stop % on D- especially on the road. Right now, our overall % is 35%, but it’s 31% at home and 41% on the road. Need that to improve.
Stop giving up so many splash plays- plays of 20 yards or more. That’s what’s making our 6.3 yards per play so high.

Doomsday101 · Oct 25, 2021

Blackspider214 said:
Do you watch the NFL? Chunk plays are more and more common these days. Offenses move up and down the field and can do it quickly. We are not going back to the 90s where giving up 300 plus yards is a lot. Yards are going to be had. You are not going to be forcing an offense to punt often unless they are incompetent and even then, they can move the ball at time.

The difference now is this team can actually make key stops and gets turnovers and helps out. It used to be big chunk plays and they got no turnovers.

My main concern the is the interior of the defense. They seem to be weak and easy to run against. The Pats ran easily.

Yes I do watch the NFL, many games each week. Dallas coaches also watch it and understand it and have said we are giving up way too many, more so than almost every team in the NFL. Are these plays going to happen? sure but this team has to do better about not giving up gains of 20 plus. Dallas again is ranked at the bottom of the league and this is something they need to address and according to coaches are addressing. The other solution is do nothing and just accept it. I don't think that is much of a solution. No doubt turnovers are big and 3rd down stops are big and Cowboys have done very good in both but giving up big plays down the field needs to be corrected.

GORICO · Oct 25, 2021

USArmyVet said:
Definite respect for fellow vets my friend.

I guess the worry with returning veteran players is they try and play the vet card and it disrupts the young guys playing together. Time will tell but most can see the changing defensive culture in Dallas which excluded J. Smith, soon LVE, and maybe DLaw.

i guess i meant respect to the vets by the younger players not managment

GORICO · Oct 25, 2021

Bobhaze said:
Getting DLaw and Gallimore back will be a step forward, especially stopping the run. I want to see this D get better in these two areas hopefully by Thanksgiving in time for the stretch run:

Improve 3rd down stop % on D- especially on the road. Right now, our overall % is 35%, but it’s 31% at home and 41% on the road. Need that to improve.

Stop giving up so many splash plays- plays of 20 yards or more. That’s what’s making our 6.3 yards per play so high.

mr Haze---- was thinking exact same thing...around Thanksgiving...the players returning will be coming into form....and we can be at our best for the last 4-5 game stretch before playoffs...if we can stay relatively healthy this season and the confidence growing so much not only from team and coaches but Dak....Dak has the "steely" look now

GORICO · Oct 25, 2021

Risen Star said:
Really the key on defense is just to get Trysten Hill back. Everything else should fall into place.

mr Risen---- .....actually i too like Trysten Hill and hoping and saw improvement....if he is strong enough for 1-tech it could really help team

Areas for defensive improvement to make a deep playoff run

Cowboyny

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Zman5

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john van brocklin

Captain Comeback

75boyz

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blueblood70

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Chocolate Lab

Run-loving Dino

Macnalty

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fivetwos

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Creeper

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Blackspider214

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RS12

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Praxit

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tyke1doe

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buybuydandavis

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kevinhickey

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Bobhaze

Doomsday101

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GORICO

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GORICO

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GORICO

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