Report Card Grades for the 2019 Defense

Bobhaze

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Good job on both these posts! Quality work and I know a lot appreciate the effort. A LOT!!!

The only thing you didn't mention was coaching staff. Since a very large majority of them don't work for the Cowboys any more that should explain everything. There is no question the defense and especially the special teams were big contributors to the 8-8 season. But a large amount of blame is on the coaching staff and Jason Garrett in particular. His decisions cost this team W's. At least 2-3. That's the main reason I'm very excited McCarthy is the new HC. He won't make the mistakes the former HC in training did.

Thanks again for all your time and effort.
I should have included grades on the coaching. Here’s my shortened grades on the coaching last year:
  • Head Coach grade: D-. As usual for JG, no creativity or or adjustments made in game/in season to respond to what opponents were doing to us. Hung on to K Brett Maher so long it cost us a game or two. Lost the team by November.
  • Offensive Coordinator Grade: B-. For his first year, Kellen Moore did better than I expected. He was certainly better than Linehan or Garrett. The offense was clearly the best part of the 2019 team. I felt KM got too conservative as the season wore on.
  • Defensive Coordinators Grades: D. Our defense had a major drop off in performance from 2018. Both Rod Marinelli and Kris Richard were never able to get this defense to have any consistency. Once again, had extremely low turnover numbers.
  • Special Teams Coach Grade: F-. Worst ST performance in team history. Absolutely pathetic. Keith O’Quinn should be sent to some kind of coaching school this offseason. Just glad he won’t be in Dallas.
Overall Coaching Staff Grade for 2019: D.
Biggest indictment of last year’s coaching staff- this team had more talent than an 8-8 performance.

One other grade: GM: D-.
Jerry’s love for Jason Garrett prevented him from firing him sooner. Perhaps a mid-season firing would have helped this team but they weren’t going anywhere in the playoffs anyway. I would have given JJ an F for his 24 years and counting playoff drought but he gets a little credit for the Mike McCarthy hire.
 

Diehardblues

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Our defense was serviceable this year ending up as 9th ranked. Kept us in most games.

Our #1 offense was extremely over rated. So many yards came in trash time attempting to come back.

Biggest stat to me. No 2nd half comebacks after being 7 or more down. None!!

And I believe this is a stat that goes back for several years with about 15 or more ( I don’t recall exactly) games straight now when we fall behind by 7 or more.

This team consistently gets off to slow starts which it can’t overcome.
 

Cowboysheelsreds053

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Our defense was serviceable this year ending up as 9th ranked. Kept us in most games.

Our #1 offense was extremely over rated. So many yards came in trash time attempting to come back.

Biggest stat to me. No 2nd half comebacks after being 7 or more down. None!!

And I believe this is a stat that goes back for several years with about 15 or more ( I don’t recall exactly) games straight now when we fall behind by 7 or more.

This team consistently gets off to slow starts which it can’t overcome.

Die you killed it. Sure you are not Shannon Sharpe posing on here. Everything you said he said to Skip "that is my QB" Bayless.
 

xwalker

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Earlier, I posted grades on the 2019 offense and STs. I gave the offense a B+ overall, with varying grades for individual players. STs got a D. Would have been an F if not for Kai Forbath hitting all 10 of his FGs and XP’s the last 3 games...but I digress. This is about the Defense.

Defense Overall Grade: C-
  • DL
    • DeMarcus Lawrence. Grade: C-. Coming off his Off season shoulder surgery, we knew DLaw would start slow, but for the millions he’s getting paid, he was still a disappointment despite occasional flashes.
    • Robert Quinn. Grade: B+. Quinn was the best pass rusher we had and the most consistent with 11.5 sacks. Not great against the run but his pass rush made up for it.
    • Maliek Collins. Grade: C. Started all 16 games and had 4 sacks. He’s ok but nothing that would justify the FA cash he will garner to keep him.
    • Michael Bennett- Grade: C-. Mid-season trade was a good idea but is a shadow of what he once was. Made a few plays but omg the offsides penalties.
    • AnTuan Woods- Grade: C-. Missed 6 games to injury and was very inconsistent.
    • Kerry Hyder- Grade: B-. Hyder was a solid contributor, if not spectacular. Played multiple positions and played hard every down. Solid guy in the rotation.
    • Dorrance Armstrong- Grade: C. Still has lots of upside and can grow into his talent. Played in 15 games.
    • Trysten Hill- Grade: F. Lazy and was a healthy scratch a whopping nine games. In the 7 games he did play, he only occasionally looked like an NFL player. Bust label is lurking if he doesn’t get serious and work hard.
  • LBs
    • Jaylon Smith- Grade: C-. After signing the big contract it was as if he lost his drive. A big disappointment although he flashed some good plays at times, very inconsistent.
    • LVE- Grade: C-. Hurt most of the year. When he played he looked out of position a lot. Still a great talent so hoping this was just a fluke season.
    • Sean Lee- Grade: B. Sean Lee is always the most prepared player on defense. He seems to have lost a step but was our best LB this past season.
    • Backups- Grade: C. Joe Thomas is good- the rest are just jerseys.
  • DBs
    • Byron Jones- Grade: C+. Still a good cover man but couldn’t catch a cold. Never, ever, never has an INT. Great talent but I think we should let him walk.
    • Chidobe Awuzie- Grade: D. Very inconsistent. Even got benched a series in Philly. Has talent but seemingly takes plays off.
    • Jourdan Lewis- Grade: B-. Good in coverage. Showed flashes after Anthony Brown was hurt. He will probably be a full time starter next year.
    • Anthony Brown- Grade C. Pretty decent in coverage before season ending injury. If the price is right, may be worth keeping.
    • Xavier Woods- Grade: C. Had 2 picks which for this D is a lot. Has good coverage skills but not a great tackler. IMO he’s not a long term answer at S.
    • Jeff Heath- Grade: C-. I’ve usually felt Heath was better than many fans thought but in 2019 he was average at best. Hits like a freight train but that alone doesn’t make you an NFL S.
    • Backups- Grade: C-. Nothing special about any of them.
So looking at final grades for all team areas:
  • Defense: C-
  • Offense: B+
  • STs: D
Pretty much explains 8-8.
Thoughts?

Completely random and uninformed nonsense.
 

willia451

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I was waiting to see what you would do with the defense. And it was about as expected. I think maybe with one addition the DL and DBs will be fine with better coaching and with that coaching geared towards accountability. We brought in an all-star coaching staff so let's see what they can do with it.

Where we are really hurting is LB. I watched that group all year and they suck ***. Safe to say they are among the worst in the NFL. You know. And a lot of it really isn't their fault. Lee is old and injury prone. LVE has a neck condition that wound up being more serious than anyone really expected. And Smith hops around out there at times like a deranged rabbit because of his bum foot.

And those are our starters.

We aren't going anywhere until we fix the LB situation. And that's a fact. Right now? D-. And the only reason it's not an F is because they ARE alive and breathing and taking up some amount of space on the field of play.
 

glimmerman

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Offense - C... While we statistically had the #1 Offense they couldn’t put up points consistently when it counted. Some garbage yards. But they moved the ball pretty well.

Defense - D or D+... They couldn’t get consistent pressure and was getting gashed in the run game, our LB didn’t look as sharp as last year. And couldn’t get off the field when needed. Giving up big 3rd down plays.

ST - F... Was the worst I have seen. Missed FG and the staff didn’t make a change soon enough. The only help they gave us was helping the Offense being #1 because we always started way back in our own territory. Gave up field position. Was just ugly.

Staff - F..
 

thunderpimp91

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Most grades you have i would pretty much agree with, but as with most people in this world i will agree with 90% of what you say, but ill still bash you for the 10% we differ. :)

I dont understand the logic of some of the ratings, and how you came to that determination. It seems a ton of this is subjective and based on personal feelings more than anything else. Just looking at the grades it would look like you would prefer to start Hyder over Dlaw? Lewis over B Jones? Just seems like you are factoring things like cap numbers a lot more than actual performance for some.
 

BotchedLobotomy

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Earlier, I posted grades on the 2019 offense and STs. I gave the offense a B+ overall, with varying grades for individual players. STs got a D. Would have been an F if not for Kai Forbath hitting all 10 of his FGs and XP’s the last 3 games...but I digress. This is about the Defense.

Defense Overall Grade: C-
  • DL
    • DeMarcus Lawrence. Grade: C-. Coming off his Off season shoulder surgery, we knew DLaw would start slow, but for the millions he’s getting paid, he was still a disappointment despite occasional flashes.
    • Robert Quinn. Grade: B+. Quinn was the best pass rusher we had and the most consistent with 11.5 sacks. Not great against the run but his pass rush made up for it.
    • Maliek Collins. Grade: C. Started all 16 games and had 4 sacks. He’s ok but nothing that would justify the FA cash he will garner to keep him.
    • Michael Bennett- Grade: C-. Mid-season trade was a good idea but is a shadow of what he once was. Made a few plays but omg the offsides penalties.
    • AnTuan Woods- Grade: C-. Missed 6 games to injury and was very inconsistent.
    • Kerry Hyder- Grade: B-. Hyder was a solid contributor, if not spectacular. Played multiple positions and played hard every down. Solid guy in the rotation.
    • Dorrance Armstrong- Grade: C. Still has lots of upside and can grow into his talent. Played in 15 games.
    • Trysten Hill- Grade: F. Lazy and was a healthy scratch a whopping nine games. In the 7 games he did play, he only occasionally looked like an NFL player. Bust label is lurking if he doesn’t get serious and work hard.
  • LBs
    • Jaylon Smith- Grade: C-. After signing the big contract it was as if he lost his drive. A big disappointment although he flashed some good plays at times, very inconsistent.
    • LVE- Grade: C-. Hurt most of the year. When he played he looked out of position a lot. Still a great talent so hoping this was just a fluke season.
    • Sean Lee- Grade: B. Sean Lee is always the most prepared player on defense. He seems to have lost a step but was our best LB this past season.
    • Backups- Grade: C. Joe Thomas is good- the rest are just jerseys.
  • DBs
    • Byron Jones- Grade: C+. Still a good cover man but couldn’t catch a cold. Never, ever, never has an INT. Great talent but I think we should let him walk.
    • Chidobe Awuzie- Grade: D. Very inconsistent. Even got benched a series in Philly. Has talent but seemingly takes plays off.
    • Jourdan Lewis- Grade: B-. Good in coverage. Showed flashes after Anthony Brown was hurt. He will probably be a full time starter next year.
    • Anthony Brown- Grade C. Pretty decent in coverage before season ending injury. If the price is right, may be worth keeping.
    • Xavier Woods- Grade: C. Had 2 picks which for this D is a lot. Has good coverage skills but not a great tackler. IMO he’s not a long term answer at S.
    • Jeff Heath- Grade: C-. I’ve usually felt Heath was better than many fans thought but in 2019 he was average at best. Hits like a freight train but that alone doesn’t make you an NFL S.
    • Backups- Grade: C-. Nothing special about any of them.
So looking at final grades for all team areas:
  • Defense: C-
  • Offense: B+
  • STs: D
Pretty much explains 8-8.
Thoughts?
Agree for the most part on Def but anything other than a failing grade on ST is being too kind.
 

xwalker

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Thanks X. Please expound.

Closer to reality grades:

Byron Jones A-

Anthony Brown B+

Awuzie (coaches used him as if he was Deion and Jones was Larry Brown). No way to really grade him. No help deep...no help underneath...no help inside...no help against the run to his side.

Jourdan Lewis FF- - He was horrible but his gambles pay off once for every 500 terrible plays and dumb-arse fans think he is great.

Also Antwaun Woods was good when he played. It would be asinine to grade players on injuries.
 

Bobhaze

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Closer to reality grades:

Byron Jones A-

Anthony Brown B+

Awuzie (coaches used him as if he was Deion and Jones was Larry Brown). No way to really grade him. No help deep...no help underneath...no help inside...no help against the run to his side.

Jourdan Lewis FF- - He was horrible but his gambles pay off once for every 500 terrible plays and dumb-arse fans think he is great.

Also Antwaun Woods was good when he played. It would be asinine to grade players on injuries.
These grades all seems a little emotional to me X...lol.
 
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Iago33

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Just off of watching the games live I thought Byron was better than a C, I also felt losing Brown hurt us a bit, so maybe he deserves a higher grade.

Heath seemed like he was better than expected this season and stretch to give him a B-.

The coaches deserve a lot of the blame for us not getting ints. I dont go back and watch film though so have at it.
Those are the two I would bump up just a bit. I think Quinn’s grade is a bit high. He was bad against the run.
 
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Scotman

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I agree. overall, with your rankings of the players. I'd grade each of them one full grade lower than you, however. Including Hill.
 

xwalker

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These grades all seems a little emotional to me X...lol. Just kidding.
Also, no coach ever said Hill was lazy.

Marinelli and coaches from both coaching staffs from his college years said he had a "high motor".

He is a slow learner. End of story.
 
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