This is the Dallas Cowboys biggest concern going into 2017

zekecowboy · Aug 27, 2017

Over the course of the offseason Dallas made a conscious effort to remake the entire defensive backfield. Four long time veterans were allowed to move on to other teams. To replace them, the Cowboys drafted three cornerbacks and signed another veteran.

Unfortunately, two of the three draft picks have missed a large portion of camp and the preseason due to injuries. The veteran has been shaky and there are other issues along this unit as well.

Right now, with just 15 days before the season starts, I don’t believe this team has more than two starting caliber defensive backs. Orlando Scandrick and Byron Jones are capable and qualified to play significant snaps on a Super Bowl contender. Everyone else has a lot of catching up to do.

https://thelandryhat.com/2017/08/27/biggest-concern-2017-dallas-cowboys/

CowboyRoy · Aug 27, 2017

zekecowboy said:
Over the course of the offseason Dallas made a conscious effort to remake the entire defensive backfield. Four long time veterans were allowed to move on to other teams. To replace them, the Cowboys drafted three cornerbacks and signed another veteran.

Unfortunately, two of the three draft picks have missed a large portion of camp and the preseason due to injuries. The veteran has been shaky and there are other issues along this unit as well.

Right now, with just 15 days before the season starts, I don’t believe this team has more than two starting caliber defensive backs. Orlando Scandrick and Byron Jones are capable and qualified to play significant snaps on a Super Bowl contender. Everyone else has a lot of catching up to do.

https://thelandryhat.com/2017/08/27/biggest-concern-2017-dallas-cowboys/

Yep you nailed it. The defense is even worse then I thought. The pass rush is terrible and we cant cover either. Bad, bad combination. I know I keep harping on it, but Heath is terrible.

Last year, with Zeke and the offense we were able to get leads and keep drives alive. It allowed us to hide the defense. Not going to happen this year. Unless they get smart and start Morris over McChicken. We are going to give up a lot of big plays this year.

cowboyblue22 · Aug 27, 2017

as it has been for the last several seasons the defense and coaching is what in the end will let this team down again

Eddie · Aug 27, 2017

These things take time. Did we really think the rookies would come in and turn into Everson Walls and Michael Downs???

It takes time. The rooks will come along.

Sydla · Aug 27, 2017

Nolan Carroll is not good enough?

I am stunned. Totally stunned.

Sydla · Aug 27, 2017

With the Eagles adding Darby, we have the worst secondary in the division and it's really not even debatable at this point.

With no pass rush, it makes it even worse.

This defense is going to get lit up at times by competent QBs who have talent at WR.

This is a front office failure plain and simple. They should have spent a little money on help in the secondary and now wasted it on bums like Carroll.

xwalker · Aug 27, 2017

zekecowboy said:
Over the course of the offseason Dallas made a conscious effort to remake the entire defensive backfield. Four long time veterans were allowed to move on to other teams. To replace them, the Cowboys drafted three cornerbacks and signed another veteran.

Unfortunately, two of the three draft picks have missed a large portion of camp and the preseason due to injuries. The veteran has been shaky and there are other issues along this unit as well.

Right now, with just 15 days before the season starts, I don’t believe this team has more than two starting caliber defensive backs. Orlando Scandrick and Byron Jones are capable and qualified to play significant snaps on a Super Bowl contender. Everyone else has a lot of catching up to do.

https://thelandryhat.com/2017/08/27/biggest-concern-2017-dallas-cowboys/

CB Brown was a starter much of last season.

There were snaps last season where Wilcox or Heath replaced Church for better pass coverage.

Scandrick is night and day better physically than last season.

Carroll is on a similar talent level with Carr.

Last season was the 1st for Jones as the starting FS. He played CB as a rookie.

Awuzie was rated by many draft analysts as a first round talent. Some even had Lewis as a borderline 1sr rounder.

Sydla · Aug 27, 2017

People keep saying that Carroll = Carr.

That's far from a certainty.

Phoenix · Aug 27, 2017

Going to be interesting for sure. Offense....gotta OUTPLAY OUTSCORE

Hoping to see something of a pleasant surprise on the D side....

CowboyRoy · Aug 27, 2017

Eddie said:
These things take time. Did we really think the rookies would come in and turn into Everson Walls and Michael Downs???

It takes time. The rooks will come along.

You would be surprised. Many on here predicted a big jump in the defense due to the rookies.

CowboyRoy · Aug 27, 2017

xwalker said:
CB Brown was a starter much of last season.

There were snaps last season where Wilcox or Heath replaced Church for better pass coverage.

Scandrick is night and day better physically than last season.

Carroll is on a similar talent level with Carr.

Last season was the 1st for Jones as the starting FS. He played CB as a rookie.

Awuzie was rated by many draft analysts as a first round talent. Some even had Lewis as a borderline 1sr rounder.

I fear you are in for a big dose of reality with the defense.

CF74 · Aug 27, 2017

Pass rush still bigger concern vs coverage...

CowboyRoy · Aug 27, 2017

Sydla said:
People keep saying that Carroll = Carr.

That's far from a certainty.

Carr is much better than Carroll. Heath is worse than Wilcox.

DFWJC · Aug 27, 2017

Sydla said:
Nolan Carroll is not good enough?

I am stunned. Totally stunned.

big dog cowboy · Aug 27, 2017

This is the Dallas Cowboys biggest concern going into 2017

I'll disagree with that. The biggest concern is the same now as it was when 2016 ended - the pass rush. On paper it appears to be better. Until that translates to the field, everything other concern can be no higher than #2.

Sydla · Aug 27, 2017

big dog cowboy said:
I'll disagree with that. The biggest concern is the same now as it was when 2016 ended - the pass rush. On paper it appears to be better. Until that translates to the field, everything other concern can be no higher than #2.

With the complete uncertainty in the secondary in terms of the rookies that were expected to contribute being injured and the fact their vet addition was a mediocre to poor Nolan Carroll, this secondary rivals pass rush as a problem.

robjay04 · Aug 27, 2017

NYG spent 100 million to improve their defense last season and still got lit up in the playoffs by a red hot Aaron Rodgers.

Scoring points is the name of the game against "good QBs with good WRs". No secondary in the NFL is going to slow down elite quarterbacks with today's rules.

Derinyar · Aug 27, 2017

The secondary is definitely in flux. We really needed those rookies to not miss basically all of camp with soft tissue injuries. The long term hope for the secondary is that Jones/Chido/Woods become good players in the second half of the year after they get more snaps beneath their belts.

I know I'm in the minority but I think we're going to get more pass rush then a lot of people are expecting. I think we're finally rotating a full DE stable of players with NFL talent levels. I don't think we always have been in the recent past. Week 1 Lawrence, Crawford, Mayowa, and Taco is lacking great but has no one who doesn't belong on a NFL football field. Tapper is someone with some legitimate upside also. I think there's a good chance that Collins is going to be the best lineman we have this year and is going to do some good things inside. With Paea, Thornton, and Neal we seem to have a very solid, at worst, DT rotation setup. I don't see greatness there, unless someone takes a step forward, but I do expect a step forward from what we have had in recent years. I think it only gets better when we get Moore and Irving back, and we will likely have to cut two players who are quite likely to get claimed when we do.

Aven8 · Aug 27, 2017

Sydla said:
With the Eagles adding Darby, we have the worst secondary in the division and it's really not even debatable at this point.

With no pass rush, it makes it even worse.

This defense is going to get lit up at times by competent QBs who have talent at WR.

This is a front office failure plain and simple. They should have spent a little money on help in the secondary and now wasted it on bums like Carroll.

You mean Darby that got burned the other night for like two bombs???

And I will actually take Moose Johnstons opinion right now....last year he thought our secondary was going to be pretty good, and said underrated, and it was. This year he said the Dline is that. He's might where bad suits but he actually is a sharp dude.

Jason 82 Witten · Aug 27, 2017

I'm hoping the defense gets better, it gets old hearing constant complaining every single year

This is the Dallas Cowboys biggest concern going into 2017

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