A Theory On Why Our Defense Was So Poor Vs. The Rams

[Whyjerry]

No theories. McVey and Company spent 2 weeks plotting and scheming for the Divisional Round. Dallas did what they do every single week. Quite simple to pick apart if you have the talent.

 

[Crown Royal]

It wasn't one thing that caused the defensive fall off...

It was a combination of the several points that have been brought forward over the past week.

At this point I'm just leaving it as a bad week for the defense and going from there.

I like what Strum had to say. You hate to say “just throw the tape away” on a playoff game, but more often than not you don’t lay a clunker like that. Sucks to hear but probably the reality. They just got caught completely off guard and had no answer. Unfortunately, football is not a best-of sport so you can’t afford that.

Call it coaching, but it’s a reality.

 

[ESisback]

No theories. McVey and Company spent 2 weeks plotting and scheming for the Divisional Round. Dallas did what they do every single week. Quite simple to pick apart if you have the talent.

Is that your theory?

 

[ESisback]

Let's stop making excuses for Richard. He was out coached. Hopefully he will learn from it.

Not excuses, but reasons. His prep probably wasn’t what it should have been. His fault. Team also.

 

[Whyjerry]

Is that your theory?

Not at all. It is exactly what happened.

 

[ItzKelz]

Not excuses, but reasons. His prep probably wasn’t what it should have been. His fault. Team also.

Richards fault. They were not prepared and the defense is his responsibility.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Defensive tackle talent or more specifically the lack thereof was the issue. Woods got hurt, Collins hasn't gotten better since his rookie season and guys like Reid were getting destroyed.

Run fills are hard enough as it is but when your DL is coming back at you as it is washed makes it nigh impossible. McVay did a masterful job of running off tackle and on sweeps when we loaded up inside.

Every football fan should intuitively understand how that predicament makes the QBs job easy. Pass rushers cannot tee off and instead go read and react and the LB have to overplay possible runs which opens up the middle of the field.

Defensive tackle is far and away our biggest need.

 

[Hook'em#11]

We needed to feed Zeke as much as someone fed C.J. Anderson.

Hard to do that when the Defense couldn't stop a Pee Wee league team , let alone the Rams. Then, Dallas had no answer in regards to scoring after the Rams would. After that first TD to Cooper, there wasn't much. And, if the offense did answer. The Defense soiled the bed again.

 

[JohnsKey19]

No theory needed. Their OL folded our feont 7 like a lawn chair.

 

[ESisback]

Not at all. It is exactly what happened.

Agreed, although there are additional reasons that contributed.

 

[ESisback]

Richards fault. They were not prepared and the defense is his responsibility.

I include the OC and OL in the blame game as well. Team game.

 

[LucaBrasi]

It wasn't just that last game.

Dallas Defense NFL rank, per drive
Games 13-18
yards 30th
scores 30th
(most) punts 31st
TD 24th
opp passer rating 22nd

The defense was sneaky bad late in the year. Not sure who to blame: Dak or Linehan?

 

[CapnCook]

Hard to do that when the Defense couldn't stop a Pee Wee league team , let alone the Rams. Then, Dallas had no answer in regards to scoring after the Rams would. After that first TD to Cooper, there wasn't much. And, if the offense did answer. The Defense soiled the bed again.

Maybe we should get one of those nose tackley thingys.

 

[lukin2006]

Sadly, this is a very young team that was reading the headlines about how good they were. Games like this can and will happen with young teams, now all we can hope is they learned from. They also spent a lot of emotional energy on the Seattle game, that they could not recapture for the Rams game. But this also highlights the problems with JG, good coaches know how to get their team focused for the next game.

 

[aria]

When googling news on the team this morning I came across a few articles where Rams players claimed to know ‘90%’ of our plays because of familiarity with Marinelli’s scheme, not Richards.

That confused me as Richard became the de facto DC early in the season and had been calling the defense and creating the gameplan for the week. So why did Marinelli have such an input vs. the Rams?

Richard was interviewing for multiple jobs as soon as the Seahawks game ended, his focus was nowhere near 100% on the game. How many hours do you think he spent preparing for interviews for his dream job?

I feel as though it’s impossible to prepare for 3 job interviews and a gameplan for one of the best offenses in the game. That’s why Marinelli took control and our defense looked like it always used to.

Hopefully this same scenario doesn’t pop up next season, what do y’all think?

Sounds like a convenient excuse, he choked when it mattered most, I don’t care what excuse he has. Plenty of other OC’s and DC’s are interviewed every year and they seem to get the job done if they’re worth their salt.

 

[Captain43Crash]

No theories needed, but, great for killing time in the off season. The Game was lost in the trenches. Rams O-line dominant and Dallas' O-line nowhere near that. Defensive line by Rams ate up Cowboys' weak line play. And, vise versa with the Rams O-line.

You don't need to know what the other teams are doing when you're stopping em dead in their tracks, man to man. and blowing them off the line as the Rams did. Felt like I was watching the Mid 90s O-line for Dallas.

Both lines on Dallas need help.

You are way underestimating the power of coaching. The week before our D line was stout vs the run against the best running team in football. Then we play the Rams, a good running team, but not as good at running the ball as Seattle, AND they run all over us. How do you explain that. I think this was more about coaching than getting physically dominated.

 

[Them]

..I know it's a dead horse now...if wishes were horses we could all ride...To bad the team had to play so bad that week...just one win from the NFC Championship game. Alas!

 

[LatinMind]

When googling news on the team this morning I came across a few articles where Rams players claimed to know ‘90%’ of our plays because of familiarity with Marinelli’s scheme, not Richards.

That confused me as Richard became the de facto DC early in the season and had been calling the defense and creating the gameplan for the week. So why did Marinelli have such an input vs. the Rams?

Richard was interviewing for multiple jobs as soon as the Seahawks game ended, his focus was nowhere near 100% on the game. How many hours do you think he spent preparing for interviews for his dream job?

I feel as though it’s impossible to prepare for 3 job interviews and a gameplan for one of the best offenses in the game. That’s why Marinelli took control and our defense looked like it always used to.

Hopefully this same scenario doesn’t pop up next season, what do y’all think?

No no articles werent saying Rams players knew the plays. what those articles said was the cowboys dl were tipping where they were going.

 

[Dalmations202]

My theory is that someone should have learned a lesson on size and strength.........but we wait to see.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

I’m just curious, Marinelli is the Defensive Coordinator. That’s his title and this defense it’s players are entirely based on his choices and preferences.