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

[ShiningStar]

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

sigh,



NERD

 

[CATCH17]

So many factors...

Richard not focused
Woods injured
Not strong enough at DT
Cowboys young and inexperienced
Rams at home and rested
Rams are damn good

I know, I know, losing is unacceptable and we have standards, and we were DESTROYED by their run game. But we lost by eight points to a team picked by the majority to win by seven. We’re young and talented and making changes. The future is full of promise. IMHO.

For me the hardest part about just accepting this loss as the Rams being better is we allowed them to run for 280 yards when they were averaging 140 and we were allowing 94.

There is no excuse for that and that should never happen.

 

[Manster_Mash]

They are just not good enough up the middle to match up with the rams oline. (That goes for the backend as well) Very disappointed in the LB play, since that is our strongest position, but with the DTs routinely being driven 3 yards off the LOS, they were in an impossible situation. This team needs a legit DT, not more spare parts.

 

[CATCH17]

They are just not good enough up the middle to match up with the rams oline. (That goes for the backend as well) Very disappointed in the LB play, since that is our strongest position, but with the DTs routinely being driven 3 yards off the LOS, they were in an impossible situation. This team needs a legit DT, not more spare parts.

They are good enough up the middle to now allow them to run on us like they did.

We wouldn’t be a top 5 run defense if our DTs were bad.

The pre-snap stuff along with misdirection threw them for a loop more then anything.

They can say they were prepared for it but the results showed no signs of it.

 

[LatinMind]

They are just not good enough up the middle to match up with the rams oline. (That goes for the backend as well) Very disappointed in the LB play, since that is our strongest position, but with the DTs routinely being driven 3 yards off the LOS, they were in an impossible situation. This team needs a legit DT, not more spare parts.

dl wasnt being driven 3 yards off the ball. they were going to a certain area and the the rams OL pushed them that way with the run going right behind them for long gains. rams took what dal;las was doing and were patient to go where players werent instead of going to where they were. them being on the outside instead of in the middle. plain and simple. all of the sudden the rams ol is good? theyre avg at best. What happened is the coach Kromer destroyed the coaching for the cowboys with his run blocking game plan. Period

 

[buybuydandavis]

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?

A professional organization would have hired extra man power to scout all the NFC playoff teams to prepare for the playoffs. And most importantly, to self scout.

Finding the tells on our dline? The Rams didn't need the HC or coordinators to do that. That's just grinding a lot of tape. Let the hired hands grind and present their findings to the coaching staff for review.

Should have started doing that in December. Should be self scouting all year.

5 billion dollar team. Capped league, but staff are not capped. Spend a little extra on staff to win.

It's just not rocket science.

 

[TwentyOne]

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.

Especially they offensive blocking was destroying our front 4. People were more lying in the grass then up on their feet.

 

[Roadtrip635]

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?

Why wouldn't they have more familiarity with Richards since they faced him twice a year as the Seahawks DC? Wouldn't it have shown up in preparing for the Seahawks, since he would have been preparing for the interviews the day after the game? Just sounds like excuses.

 

[Manster_Mash]

They are just not good enough up the middle to match up with the rams oline. (That goes for the backend as well) Very disappointed in the LB play, since that is our strongest position, but with the DTs routinely being driven 3 yards off the LOS, they were in an impossible situation. This team needs a legit DT, not more spare parts.

They are good enough up the middle to now allow them to run on us like they did.

We wouldn’t be a top 5 run defense if our DTs were bad.

The pre-snap stuff along with misdirection threw them for a loop more then anything.

They can say they were prepared for it but the results showed no signs of it.

I think their ranking against the run was more a product of scheme and hustle than DL talent. That d line got run all over by Seattle and indy in the regular season. Granted, great performances against NO and the playoff game against seattle. But, I think they're DTs got exposed by the top tier olines.

 

[GORICO]

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?

817----- i like and agree with your reasoning....plus we did not make many adjustments on D during game either

 

[GORICO]

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.

as Jerry said...bad day to have a bad day

 

[Manster_Mash]

dl wasnt being driven 3 yards off the ball. they were going to a certain area and the the rams OL pushed them that way with the run going right behind them for long gains. rams took what dal;las was doing and were patient to go where players werent instead of going to where they were. them being on the outside instead of in the middle. plain and simple. all of the sudden the rams ol is good? theyre avg at best. What happened is the coach Kromer destroyed the coaching for the cowboys with his run blocking game plan. Period

I think you'd get plenty of arguments that the rams oline is average at best.

Certainly agree that they were outcoached. But they were also getting whipped at the LOS. Note that they got no sacks and recorded a single pressure on Goff. They got dominated up front.

 

[landryscorner]

#1 answer...uhh their offense is just better than our defense....why is so hard to admit that people.

 

[erod]

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?

All four road teams lost. Heavy legs against superior teams with better quarterbacks got them all.

 

[cguy610]

Coaches learned that the best way to attack the Dallas linebackers is to run straight at them instead of sideline to sideline to neutralize their speed and Dallas defensive coordinator never adjusted.

The defensive coordinator's game planning is the main reason for the last 2 playoff losses. The same will continue as long as the same defensive coordinator is here.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

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

Zeke refused to run to the outside and use his speed.

 

[CB61]

No no no you're all wrong Jerry said it was the footing we were Slip Sliding Away!

 

[lostar2009]

We were tired and on the road. They were rested and at home. This should not be underestimated. It's probably the biggest factor.
As noted, they manhandled us in the trenches. There is no coaching adjustment that compensates for that.
They have one of the best offenses in the league. They were going to get theirs, on the ground or through the air.
Their offense is built on misdirection. Our defense is very young.

But +250 yards on the ground? That's amateur league stuff. I could understand if TG got a clean 150 with 30 touches. That was an embarrassing performance stand.

 

[CouchCoach]

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?

I think you are looking for explanations other than the team was outcoached and outplayed. The Rams faced Richard twice a year while he was at SEA, if they're more likely to know a D's tendencies, it would be that one, not Marinelli's.

HC interviews usually take longer than what he spent with those teams and I do not think he spent an inordinate amount of time prepping for them. I think his D was gassed from the SEA game and did not expect the Rams O to be that sharp from the get go. Not the first time a Cowboys D has done that in a playoff game, did that in 16 as well. And do not underestimate Richard being interviewed to satisfy the Rooney rule and him being aware of that. I would imagine that goes through the mind of all black coaches.

The Cowboys coaching staff underestimated the Rams coaching staff and their ability to get their players ready to play. Wade addressed the lack of respect his D was getting in stopping the run and said they would be ready and they were. The offense started by hitting the Cowboys in the mouth on two drives and established line superiority on both sides and never relinquished that.

Richard was so frustrated he was yelling at two of his best players and all 3 of those teams interviewing him for HC jobs saw that. There was a time yelling at players in front of a TV audience was accepted and even expected but no more. Players have options and are harder to come by and keep than coaches. He was sending the wrong message by yelling at them that it was their fault when it was the entire front 7.

 

[MRV52]

No, didn't you hear? We brought the wrong shoes.

I heard we brought the wrong players.