An Elite defense with Dak could be enough

[RonnieT24]

If we are going by numbers, Cowboys had an elite defense in 2016 where they were top 5 in points allowed and 2018 where I believe they were top 10 in points and yards.

So, what is the definition of elite defense because Dak had his chance on both years. It may not look elite to you but stats say otherwise.

My own personal definition of elite is top 90th percentile at what you do. That means you are top 3 of the 32 team defense/offense. Players are different because there are three or four players at any given position on each team. So say on average there are 3 QBs on every team.. we know with practice squad and IR there are more but realistically there are about 96 QBs on active rosters in the NFL. That means the top 10 guys could be considered elite. At least by my definition. There are roughly 192 receivers (6*32) .. so 19 of them are elite.. .. 96 running backs (3 * 32) so the top 10 are elite and so on by every position.

For the record I would not have called either the 2016 or 2018 defenses elite. They were 5th and 6th in points allowed respectively. So on the outside looking in as far as the top 3 .. They were also aided mightily by the offense hogging the ball and allowing them to only have to play about 25 minutes a game.

 

[Flamma]

Wait, so the East is better than the North? Too funny. That would mean the Cowboys are better than the Pack and the Eagles are better than the Vikings. Try again.

I'll also take the Bears over Washington. Probably would take the Lions over the Giants as well.

I'm glad you have a high opinion of your Cowboys. But could you name those 11 games you will be winning? The Cowboys do have a fairly easy schedule, but even if they sweep their division games, I still only see 9 wins at the most.

Packers, Rams, Cincy, Tampa, Colts, Titans, Vikings...No better than 2-5 there, sorry for the honesty.

I certainly don't think the Cowboys are better than the Packers. Not while Rodgers is still there. But to be honest, as much as I think the NFC East isn't very good, I think the Vikings, Lions and Bears are absolute trash. Bottom of the barrel fecal matter. I think every one of those teams besides the Packers are worse than the Eagles and Washington. Even with garbage Hurts at QB. The only team that might be as bad as the trash NFC North are the Giants. Not counting the Packers of course. Doesn't matter. Both our teams will be watching the SB from home.

 

[G2]

I wasn't "boasting" about the North. Someone said it's a "easier" division to play in than the East. That just isn't factual. The Vikings are pretty clearly a stronger team than the Eagles. And I think the Bears are a notch above Washington. The Lions seem to be heading in the right direction under Dan Campbell. Division games in the North are far from easy.

Division games are wars no matter what division you are in. Just not sure how a Cowboys fan can say the NFC North is so easy to win. That is how this whole lame debate got started.

The Vikings didn't make the playoffs, the eagles did.

 

[PackerNation]

I certainly don't think the Cowboys are better than the Packers. Not while Rodgers is still there. But to be honest, as much as I think the NFC East isn't very good, I think the Vikings, Lions and Bears are absolute trash. Bottom of the barrel fecal matter. I think every one of those teams besides the Packers are worse than the Eagles and Washington. Even with garbage Hurts at QB. The only team that might be as bad as the trash NFC North are the Giants. Not counting the Packers of course. Doesn't matter. Both our teams will be watching the SB from home.

I'll be interested to see the "bottom of the barrel fecal matter" Vikings play the Cowboys this season. I like their chances. Kirk Cousins is decent, Dalvin Cook is one of the best, and Justin Jefferson may be the best WR currently in the NFC. Nothing bottom of the barrel about them. If the Vikings D steps up that team can compete with anyone in the league.

Good luck against them. Sounds like it will be a blowout in favor of the Cowboys. The "garbage" Vikings have no chance according to you.

I'll be very interested in returning to this thread after that game.

 

[Doomsday101]

I'll be interested to see the "bottom of the barrel fecal matter" Vikings play the Cowboys this season. I like their chances. Kirk Cousins is decent, Dalvin Cook is one of the best, and Justin Jefferson may be the best WR currently in the NFC. Nothing bottom of the barrel about them. If the Vikings D steps up that team can compete with anyone in the league.

Good luck against them. Sounds like it will be a blowout in favor of the Cowboys. The "garbage" Vikings have no chance according to you.

I'll be very interested in returning to this thread after that game.

Played Vikes last season and beat them in Minn with a backup starting his 1st game. I don't expect a blowout I do expect a win.

 

[RonnieT24]

I wasn't "boasting" about the North. Someone said it's a "easier" division to play in than the East. That just isn't factual. The Vikings are pretty clearly a stronger team than the Eagles. And I think the Bears are a notch above Washington. The Lions seem to be heading in the right direction under Dan Campbell. Division games in the North are far from easy.

Division games are wars no matter what division you are in. Just not sure how a Cowboys fan can say the NFC North is so easy to win. That is how this whole lame debate got started.

I agree most division games are wars in pretty much all divisions. With the possible exception of the AFC East during the Patriots run.. All of those teams were terrible for most of that run and didn't put up much of a fight most years.. There would be an occasionally upstart Miami or the Jets rearing their heads but overall New England started every season 6-0. Still in the last 20 years both divisions have won exactly one championship but the NFC East has had one team get to the Big Dance 4 times while the North has only sent the Packers once and the Bears once. So if the metric is which division spends more time watching the other play on Super Bowl Sunday the NFC East wins 4 -2. But neither division has much to brag about of late. Currently I'd put them about on par with one another. Near the bottom of the league in terms of strength.

 

[PackerNation]

Double post for some odd reason. Couldn't locate the remove feature.

 

[PackerNation]

Played Vikes last season and beat them in Minn with a backup starting his 1st game. I don't expect a blowout I do expect a win.

We are talking currently. Mike the game has past me by Zimmer is gone.

All I am saying is that the Vikings are not "bottom of the barrel fecal matter." They are a formidable opponent.

Can't believe Cowboys fans are so delusional about their division that they have me defending the Vikings who I hate, but can admit are a good team.

 

[DFWJC]

I would put oline above everything. You might have assumed oline but after last year I cant

Not a fan of PFF, I assume?

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-final-2021-offensive-line-rankings
They had Dallas as the very best O-line last year in the final grades.
In other words, hard to put together a perfect oline in the cap era.

Don't worry you're not alone! PFF can be bizarre at times.

But I do think our fan base is incredibly spoiled when it comes to oline play. We've had at the very least good up to even great oline play from 2014-2021
A little dip and we are crying like newborns. You would think we don't watch other teams that much.
Not saying you're doing that, btw.

 

[Doomsday101]

We are talking currently. Mike the game has past me by Zimmer is gone.

All I am saying is that the Vikings are not "bottom of the barrel fecal matter." They are a formidable opponent.

Can't believe Cowboys fans are so delusional about their division that they have me defending the Vikings who I hate, but can admit are a good team.

and I could say the same about Philly. I'm not delusional at all, your division is not good and has not been good for a while outside of GB. If that hurts your feelings so be it. Not claiming East is any better they are both poor division.

 

[glimmerman]

While I mostly agree with your synopsis of how we should have handled Garapolo the fact of the matter is as long as they were averaging 7 ypc on the ground we were never going to be able to put him in "obvious passing situations." I mean they attempted 25 passes and ran it 38. And again for like a 5 ypc clip. Several times even when the Cowboys stopped them on first down and brought 2nd and long the 49ers ran it on 2nd down anyway. Shanahan knew what he needed to do to win the game.. more importantly he knew what he COULD NOT do which was get caught leaving it up to Garapolo. So he didn't. Our OC could learn a lot from that... Figure out what you need to do to win the damn game during the week.. and quit wasting entire halves feeling out the defense. I have long been critical of how he starts games.. SO friggin passive and so obviously "feeling things out" rather than attacking what film study should have shown to be favorable matchups.

I agree. I think he stopped game planning after the streak. The streak seemed like he was picking on weakness. Later he just seemed to throw stuff at them. Running the same up the gut plays with 0 toss or sweeps. Nothing off tackle which tells me he did not trust his TE to seal a block. Run twice so he could hurry and get to his pass plays. No blocking up front because they were zone blocking. Which didn’t matter because they were driving Williams right back in Daks lap. If i see another WR screen this year i will scream. He would have done better off just slipping Elliot or Pollard over the line and dumping it over there heads.

 

[PackerNation]

I agree most division games are wars in pretty much all divisions. With the possible exception of the AFC East during the Patriots run.. All of those teams were terrible for most of that run and didn't put up much of a fight most years.. There would be an occasionally upstart Miami or the Jets rearing their heads but overall New England started every season 6-0. Still in the last 20 years both divisions have won exactly one championship but the NFC East has had one team get to the Big Dance 4 times while the North has only sent the Packers once and the Bears once. So if the metric is which division spends more time watching the other play on Super Bowl Sunday the NFC East wins 4 -2. But neither division has much to brag about of late. Currently I'd put them about on par with one another. Near the bottom of the league in terms of strength.

Currently yes, I am not talking about the past or future. That is irrelevant.

Yes, both divisions are not currently one of the best in the league. The fact that the Packers and Vikings are CURRENTLY more formidable opponents to play than the Cowboys and Eagles seems to have hit a nerve with some of you.

I am not going to go back and forth on this any longer. Think what you want. Every credible source I just contacted came back with: "The NFC North is the stronger division right now."

The end.

 

[CowboyFrog]

We are talking currently. Mike the game has past me by Zimmer is gone.

All I am saying is that the Vikings are not "bottom of the barrel fecal matter." They are a formidable opponent.

Can't believe Cowboys fans are so delusional about their division that they have me defending the Vikings who I hate, but can admit are a good team.

I mean glass house and stones....There is no clear cut diference between the lions and bears and the Deadskins and gnits...so what your really saying is the Vikes are better than the eagles in which your going to find most "Experts" like the eagles roster better....I cant believe GB fans are so delusional they have me defneding the Eagles team I hate. Hmmm seems to fit both ways.

 

[Diehardblues]

I wasn't "boasting" about the North. Someone said it's a "easier" division to play in than the East. That just isn't factual. The Vikings are pretty clearly a stronger team than the Eagles. And I think the Bears are a notch above Washington. The Lions seem to be heading in the right direction under Dan Campbell. Division games in the North are far from easy.

Division games are wars no matter what division you are in. Just not sure how a Cowboys fan can say the NFC North is so easy to win. That is how this whole lame debate got started.

I think we could argue the North is perhaps as easy for the Pack to win as the East was for Dallas. It’s all subjective gesture.

The fact the Egirls made the playoffs with a better record than the Vikes would not support your argument.

We’ll see how the divisions fare this year but remember the reason the Cowboys schedule this year is considered easy by some is we are not only playing our own division but the North and AFC South. Arguably based on at least last years records the 3 worst divisions.

 

[CowboyFrog]

I think we could argue the North is perhaps as easy for the Pack to win as the East was for Dallas. It’s all subjective gesture.

The fact the Egirls made the playoffs with a better record than the Vikes would not support your argument.

We’ll see how the divisions fare this year but remember the reason the Cowboys schedule this year is considered easy by some is we are not only playing our own division but the North and AFC South. Arguably based on at least last years records the 3 worst divisions.

Its good to see other teams fans come in but the hill this Packer fan wants to go to war over seems odd at best.

 

[Diehardblues]

Currently yes, I am not talking about the past or future. That is irrelevant.

Yes, both divisions are not currently one of the best in the league. The fact that the Packers and Vikings are CURRENTLY more formidable opponents to play than the Cowboys and Eagles seems to have hit a nerve with some of you.

I am not going to go back and forth on this any longer. Think what you want. Every credible source I just contacted came back with: "The NFC North is the stronger division right now."

The end.

Based on winning percentage it’s not. But I’d argue the fact they have Green Bay it is.

It’s very close . You could swap the Pack in the East with Dallas and the East prob stronger.

I’m not sure it’s a marginal difference between Phi, Wash and NY compared to Minn, Chi and Det. Not on last years results anyway .

I’m not sure how you’re providing Minn edge over Phil. It’s not based on last years record .

 

[Diehardblues]

Its good to see other teams fans come in but the hill this Packer fan wants to go to war over seems odd at best.

Yea I like opponents fans . Much better than rival fans posing as Cowboy fans . Lol

I’m not sure what he basing the Vikings ahead of Egirls on? Certainly not last years record ??

 

[G2]

We are talking currently. Mike the game has past me by Zimmer is gone.

All I am saying is that the Vikings are not "bottom of the barrel fecal matter." They are a formidable opponent.

Can't believe Cowboys fans are so delusional about their division that they have me defending the Vikings who I hate, but can admit are a good team.

You are what your record says you are.

 

[G2]

Yea I like opponents fans . Much better than rival fans posing as Cowboy fans . Lol

I’m not sure what he basing the Vikings ahead of Egirls on? Certainly not last years record ??

So true, less combative and ugly.

 

[Acceptablename]

Not a fan of PFF, I assume?

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-final-2021-offensive-line-rankings
They had Dallas as the very best O-line last year in the final grades.
In other words, hard to put together a perfect oline in the cap era.

Don't worry you're not alone! PFF can be bizarre at times.

But I do think our fan base is incredibly spoiled when it comes to oline play. We've had at the very least good up to even great oline play from 2014-2021
A little dip and we are crying like newborns. You would think we don't watch other teams that much.
Not saying you're doing that, btw.

My OCD kicks in when I think about the early exit in the playoffs last year. We got rid of two problems and I think fixed one for sure. The staff thinks they solved both. But Tyron looms large