A Look at how much bigger the defense has grown and how it's getting bigger

[Yakuza Rich]

One of the most aggravating things about our defense in the past is that they were small. Thus, they wore out badly as the game came down to an end. Pro Football Prospectus did a nice write up on the Cowboys this past season and it showed that we were good enough to be a playoff team last season considering how we played in the first three quarters of each game last season. However, Dallas was putrid in the 4th quarter last season. So bad that according to Pro Football Prospectus, if Dallas played every quarter like they played the 4th quarter last season, they would have come close to being the winless Tampa Bay team of 1976.

Anyway, I’m a big fan of the 3-4 scheme and have been for quite some time. There’s plenty of reasons from it confusing QB’s more, a bit easier to find personnel, etc. However, one of the great things is that the players needed to fit the scheme are bigger. That typically means they hit harder, and are more sure tacklers.

So far, the tackling I’ve seen in preseason is far better than I’ve seen in years past. Remember Dallas going to Philly in 2003, tied at halftime 10-10 before they self imploded on offense and missed a gazillion tackles? I sure do. But, I don’t see that now. I see less over committing by the defense and I see guys that really pop and slug opposing ball carriers hard. The 3-4 is the scheme that everybody wants to go to given the success of the Patriots and Steelers over the years. Coincidentally, those are easily the best tackling teams in the league year in and year out.

Everybody likes to look QB’s, WR’s, RB’s, rookies, etc. in preseason, but often overlook the tackling. Good tackling means yardage, fumbles, drops, rattled QB’s, rattled ball carriers, and can often result in some INT’s. Here’s a look at last year’s starting squad versus last year’s starting squad.

Leo Carson (6’2”, 305 lbs)
La’Roi Glover (6’2” 282 lbs)
Greg Ellis (6’6” 271 lbs)
Marcellus Wiley (6’4” 278 lbs)
Dexter Coakley (5’10” 231 lbs)
Dat Nguyen (5’11” 238 lbs)
Al Singleton (6’2” 236 lbs)
Terrence Newman (5’11” 190 lbs)
Lance Frazier (5’10” 190 lbs)
Roy Williams (6’0” 226 lbs)
Lynn Scott (6’0” 211 lbs)

This year

Jason Ferguson (6’3” 315 lbs)
Greg Ellis (6’6” 280 lbs) –it’s obvious to me that Ellis has put on some weight
Kenyon Coleman (6’5” 290 lbs)
DeMarcus Ware (6’5” 255 lbs)
Dat Nguyen (5’11” 238 lbs)
Bradie James (6’2” 245 lbs)
Al Singleton (6’2” 245 lbs) – He’s put on obvious weight, too
Terrence Newman (5’11” 190 lbs)
Anthony Henry (6’1” 205 lbs)
Roy Williams (6’0” 226 lbs)
Keith Davis (5’10” 198 lbs)

The average player in last year’s front seven was approximately 6’1 5/6” and 263 lbs.

This year, the average player in the front seven is approximately 6’3 1/6” and 267 lbs

Doesn’t seem like a lot, but that approximately 2 inches taller and 4 pounds heavier is a big difference.

Plus, looking at the future, it’s like that Canty and Spears will start in place of Ellis and Coleman, Burnett will start in place of Dat, and Fujita will start in place of Singleton.

That would make the new starting front seven approximately 6’4 1/6” and 271 lbs.

For the entire team last year, the average starter was approximately 6’1” and 242 lbs.

This year the average starter is approximately 6’2” and 244 lbs.

If Canty, Spears, Burnett, and Fujita become starters next year or two, the average starter will be approximately 6’3 ½” and 246 lbs.

Not only that, Keith Davis is smaller than Lynn Scott, but it’s obvious that he tackles and hits 10 times harder than Scott does.

Rich………….

 

[jobberone]

interesting read. Thanks for the time and effort. I actually thought we were bigger. I'm too tired to do the front seven but that seems bigger to me; more so than your figures but that's without actually doing them.

 

[lane]

i pity the fool who takes a snap against this defense.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

interesting read. Thanks for the time and effort. I actually thought we were bigger. I'm too tired to do the front seven but that seems bigger to me; more so than your figures but that's without actually doing them.

I got the numbers mostly from NFL.com. I really don't believe that Coakley and Nguyen are as big as they say. I'd estimate that Singleton is 10 pounds heavier than last year, but I think he's more around 240. Ware is 255, but since so many of Parcells' players have bulked up after their first season with the team, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at 270 come 2007. I also think Fujita is much bigger than 250 lbs.

Rich..........

 

[smashmouth]

And Dat had better watch out for Shanle or some other guy Parcells can bring in.

For the most part, Dat has been invisible this pre-season and I can see some change in the ILB part of our defense.

In a 3/4, your Linebackers have got to be big due to the contact they take from the guards and tackles - those guards shoot straight at the LB's on running plays, and that's why we were giving up a few long yardage runs this pre-season.

And I don't mean to "X" AND "O" you all to death, but I watch the recordings of those games like when Parcells said that a couple of those long runs to Ware's side was Ware's work - But he didn't tell you how Dat & James were swallowed up by tackles and guards.

So we are huge on defense, and BP's not finished.

 

[JDSmith]

I think the weight difference is actually smaller. I figure it's about 2 pounds on average, tops. It's could easily be argued that we were bigger last year. I looked at it a little differently though. While some people say that Dat looks bigger this year, so he's part of a bigger scheme, I say he could have weighed the same last year and just didn't bulk up enough. Same goes for anyone else who played in our 4 - 3 and is playing in the 3 - 4. Also, Glover is starting an NT rather than Ferg - at least at this point Ferg is going to be a role player who will spell Glover. He's not in shape and I'd be surprised to see him take 20 snaps a game. If you figure the numbers after taking out guys who played both years, and only look at who's changed the D has actually lost 24 lbs total in the front 7. Really we gained size by getting rid of Coakley and replacing him with James, something we tried to do last year anyway. We lost size by replacing Carson with Coleman. We lost size by getting rid of Wiley and replacing him with Ware. The difference is that Ware can actually play football.

I think that too much is made of this supposed size increase. Our problem last year was not size, it was an inability to rotate out DL and keep our guys fresh. We had small guys when we won Superbowls, we simply had a TON of them and guys got in and out every few plays. As a result our D stayed quick and swarming and overwhelmed our opposition as the game wore on. We tried to keep the philosopy, but our coaches and management wasn't smart enough to keep the depth to run it. As a result guys like Glover and Ellis had to play almost the entire game and wore down terribly at the end.

This year we have much more quality depth, so this year our D won't wear down. But it's not beacuse we're 'bigger' because in reality there is almost no size difference. It's because we're deeper.

 

[JackMagist]

I think the weight difference is actually smaller. I figure it's about 2 pounds on average, tops. It's could easily be argued that we were bigger last year. I looked at it a little differently though. While some people say that Dat looks bigger this year, so he's part of a bigger scheme, I say he could have weighed the same last year and just didn't bulk up enough. Same goes for anyone else who played in our 4 - 3 and is playing in the 3 - 4. Also, Glover is starting an NT rather than Ferg - at least at this point Ferg is going to be a role player who will spell Glover. He's not in shape and I'd be surprised to see him take 20 snaps a game. If you figure the numbers after taking out guys who played both years, and only look at who's changed the D has actually lost 24 lbs total in the front 7. Really we gained size by getting rid of Coakley and replacing him with James, something we tried to do last year anyway. We lost size by replacing Carson with Coleman. We lost size by getting rid of Wiley and replacing him with Ware. The difference is that Ware can actually play football.

I think that too much is made of this supposed size increase. Our problem last year was not size, it was an inability to rotate out DL and keep our guys fresh. We had small guys when we won Superbowls, we simply had a TON of them and guys got in and out every few plays. As a result our D stayed quick and swarming and overwhelmed our opposition as the game wore on. We tried to keep the philosopy, but our coaches and management wasn't smart enough to keep the depth to run it. As a result guys like Glover and Ellis had to play almost the entire game and wore down terribly at the end.

This year we have much more quality depth, so this year our D won't wear down. But it's not beacuse we're 'bigger' because in reality there is almost no size difference. It's because we're deeper.

 

[Nors]

Add Spears at 300
Canty at 295
Fujita a real 250
Ogs at LB at 265
Feri at 315

We are markedly bigger.

Gone is 230 Coakley,and 228-237 Singleton and 4-3 backers, light DT's

 

[JDSmith]

Add Spears at 300
Canty at 295
Fujita a real 250
Ogs at LB at 265
Feri at 315

We are markedly bigger.

Gone is 230 Coakley,and 228-237 Singleton and 4-3 backers, light DT's

Add in the quality depth? We are not bigger because we're running the 3 - 4. We are simply deeper because we have added.... quality depth. If we go out on some plays and run the 4 - 3 we're still going to be using the same players as we do for the 3 - 4. Just in a different mix. So should we argue that our 4 - 3 is bigger this year? Or is it that we have better players not only starting, but as backups.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Gone is [...] 237 Singleton

When did this happen? Oh, that's right...it didn't. Wiffed again, huh Nors?

 

[JackMagist]

When did this happen? Oh, that's right...it didn't. Wiffed again, huh Nors?

Nors is just getting ahead of himself here. Fujita will displace Singleton in the starting lineup (if not the roster) shortly.

 

[Arch Stanton]

When did this happen? Oh, that's right...it didn't. Wiffed again, huh Nors?

I actually thought I'd missed summat! I've been scouring all over the board at articles looking for where Singleton had been cut. Came back and saw your post. I guess you can't always believe whats posted, eh?

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Nors is just getting ahead of himself here. Fujita will displace Singleton in the starting lineup (if not the roster)shortly.

Nors has been predicting Singleton's demise since the start of TC. He's been flat out wrong. If you're throwing your lot in with him, I fully expect that you'll be flat out wrong too. Parcells has repeatedly expressed concerns about experienced depth at OLB. Are you proposing that he's going to follow up a move that addresses that concern by cutting Singleton, effectively negating the benefit of the Fujita signing and causing the concern to arise once again? C'mon. Singleton will eventually be displaced in the starting lineup (Burnett will be the one to displace him). But his spot on the roster is secure. And that's obvious to anyone who is actually listening to BP.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

I guess you can't always believe whats posted, eh?

There's a very real question, where Nors is concerned, regarding whether you can ever believe what's posted.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think the weight difference is actually smaller. I figure it's about 2 pounds on average, tops. It's could easily be argued that we were bigger last year. I looked at it a little differently though. While some people say that Dat looks bigger this year, so he's part of a bigger scheme, I say he could have weighed the same last year and just didn't bulk up enough. Same goes for anyone else who played in our 4 - 3 and is playing in the 3 - 4. Also, Glover is starting an NT rather than Ferg - at least at this point Ferg is going to be a role player who will spell Glover. He's not in shape and I'd be surprised to see him take 20 snaps a game. If you figure the numbers after taking out guys who played both years, and only look at who's changed the D has actually lost 24 lbs total in the front 7. Really we gained size by getting rid of Coakley and replacing him with James, something we tried to do last year anyway. We lost size by replacing Carson with Coleman. We lost size by getting rid of Wiley and replacing him with Ware. The difference is that Ware can actually play football.

I think that too much is made of this supposed size increase. Our problem last year was not size, it was an inability to rotate out DL and keep our guys fresh. We had small guys when we won Superbowls, we simply had a TON of them and guys got in and out every few plays. As a result our D stayed quick and swarming and overwhelmed our opposition as the game wore on. We tried to keep the philosopy, but our coaches and management wasn't smart enough to keep the depth to run it. As a result guys like Glover and Ellis had to play almost the entire game and wore down terribly at the end.

This year we have much more quality depth, so this year our D won't wear down. But it's not beacuse we're 'bigger' because in reality there is almost no size difference. It's because we're deeper.

Bravo!

This weight stuff is so over-done.

Give me a more talented guy everytime no matter what his weight is.

 

[JackMagist]

Bravo!

This weight stuff is so over-done.

Give me a more talented guy everytime no matter what his weight is.

Exactly Mikey. More talent and more depth will win you games that more size won't.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

The fact is our defense sucked last year because we didn't have enough talent rather than because we were small.

Look at the players that were below average when it came to performance compared to others in the league.

Wiley.
Carson.
Dixon/Scott.
RCB.

That's 4 positions out of 11 where we were very lackluster. And that's why we sucked.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Exactly Mikey. More talent and more depth will win you games that more size won't.

You bet Jack. Increase out talent and our defense will be better. And I don't care what kind of defense you play.

 

[WilmingtonHeel]

I agree what's been said mostly. One reason why BP likes size is for late November and December when smaller teams wear down. Playoffs are on the line and the games get tighter the weaker team mentally and physically lose.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Nors has been predicting Singleton's demise since the start of TC. He's been flat out wrong. If you're throwing your lot in with him, I fully expect that you'll be flat out wrong too. Parcells has repeatedly expressed concerns about experienced depth at OLB. Are you proposing that he's going to follow up a move that addresses that concern by cutting Singleton, effectively negating the benefit of the Fujita signing and causing the concern to arise once again? C'mon. Singleton will eventually be displaced in the starting lineup (Burnett will be the one to displace him). But his spot on the roster is secure. And that's obvious to anyone who is actually listening to BP.

That explains a lot. Thanks.

If Singleton was cut we'd lose some experience at OLB. I'm not sure that's what Bill has in mind. BTW does Fajita play ST's? I haven't noticed....