Are we overrating Richard?

[Hawkeye0202]

Hard to say........this is still Martnelli's D. Stats certainly don't tell the whole picture.

 

[Ranching]

***2017 PPG: 20.35
2018 PPG: 21.4

2017 Interceptions: 10
2018 Interceptions: 9

2017 sacks: 38
2019 sacks: 39

****In the 2017 number I subtracted 28 points that were the result of a pick 6.

Something to discuss...are we letting a young, firey coach blind us to the fact that this defense statistically isn’t much different? That playoff performance was as bad as I have seen in the Marinelli era...maybe the worse. Richard calls the plays.

Remember...he was fired from a staff that many of us envy and the Seahawks defense is no worse for it.

Most coaches look great next to Garrett.

 

[OmerV]

It's an interesting discussion, because even though the defense wasn't statistically better, it sure "seemed" better. There were some pretty dominant defensive performances mixed in this season, with the performance against the Saints being the prime example. But apparently there were enough lesser performances to keep the averages from being better than 2017. It just felt like the Cowboys defense was on the verge of being special - not quite there, and certainly with some lapses along the way - but close. I don't remember ever feeling that in 2017.

 

[gmoney112]

Blind comparisons are useless without context.

 

[TheCoolFan]

He's alright but this defense needs better talent over anything else. Outside of the LB group, I don't see anything resembling the Legion of Boom defenses that people want Richard to copy here.

The Seahawks had an elite ballhawking safety and SS who can provide great run support, a great ballhawing CB, multiple athletic/instinctive LBs, and at least 3 good pass rushers on the DL.

 

[cowboyec]

I don't want to throw away what this defense did over the season...but getting gutted on the ground like that....and not being able to generate some turn-overs thru out the year is concerning.
Maybe he is...we'll see...but Im gonna give him a chance.
very disappointing tho...we stopped the run most of the year...heck we just did a few weeks ago v seattle.....what the heck!!!!

 

[CouchCoach]

***2017 PPG: 20.35
2018 PPG: 21.4

2017 Interceptions: 10
2018 Interceptions: 9

2017 sacks: 38
2019 sacks: 39

****In the 2017 number I subtracted 28 points that were the result of a pick 6.

Something to discuss...are we letting a young, firey coach blind us to the fact that this defense statistically isn’t much different? That playoff performance was as bad as I have seen in the Marinelli era...maybe the worse. Richard calls the plays.

Remember...he was fired from a staff that many of us envy and the Seahawks defense is no worse for it.

I have been asking that question since he arrived and so many fell in love with him. Why? Because he yells? Carroll is a D guy and decided not to keep him when rebuilding his D, especially his secondary. Some give Richard credit for the Legion of Boom and that was all Carroll, he hand picked that secondary because he likes big CB's.

Richard's only answer to that pathetic D display was to yell at his LB's. He might be a good DC but he sure as hell isn't guaranteed.

 

[CouchCoach]

I don't want to throw away what this defense did over the season...but getting gutted on the ground like that....and not being able to generate some turn-overs thru out the year is concerning.
Maybe he is...we'll see...but Im gonna give him a chance.
very disappointing tho...we stopped the run most of the year...heck we just did a few weeks ago v seattle.....what the heck!!!!

SEA played into our hands a little on that. He should have turned that game over to Wilson much sooner but he was stubbornly going to try and establish the run.

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

Richard came, and a season later we are ranked the 3rd best defense in the league .

okay, his crap?.

 

[DuncanIso]

No. He's one of the best D coaches we have.

He needs to be the DC.

 

[Rockport]

***2017 PPG: 20.35
2018 PPG: 21.4

2017 Interceptions: 10
2018 Interceptions: 9

2017 sacks: 38
2019 sacks: 39

****In the 2017 number I subtracted 28 points that were the result of a pick 6.

Something to discuss...are we letting a young, firey coach blind us to the fact that this defense statistically isn’t much different? That playoff performance was as bad as I have seen in the Marinelli era...maybe the worse. Richard calls the plays.

Remember...he was fired from a staff that many of us envy and the Seahawks defense is no worse for it.

It’s going to be a long off season ruled by the glass half empty negative Nancys.

 

[robjay04]

Blind comparisons are useless without context.

I think if anything, statistically speaking, the defense was even more impressive last season.

Last season we put up similar stats with a distracted Zeke playing only 12 games, Jaylon Smith a shell of himself, a hobbled Anthony Hitchens, Sean Lee in and out of the lineup. We had no Randy Gregory, no LVE and Jones was out of position all season. Not to even mention Dak turned the ball over a lot more frequently last season which caused stress on our defense.

At the end of the day, we won one extra game and won the division partially because nobody ran away with it like they did the last couple seasons. Judging by the eye test, maybe the defense was better or maybe it’s just because this season is more fresh in my brain.

I also bought into the fact that Richard was “special” because of his attitude and apparent pedigree. Looking back, now that the season is over, maybe I overrated him as well.

 

[robjay04]

It’s going to be a long off season ruled by the glass half empty negative Nancys.

I am probably one of the more optimistic posters on this board. I was cursed out after the game for it.

But it’s only fair to question him after that horrid performance. If our defense shut out the Rams, he would’ve got all of the credit.

Then you take a step back and look at the numbers and realize that maybe this is the same old defense that doesn’t get turnovers or consistent pressure.

It’s worth discussing.

 

[bark]

I think if anything, statistically speaking, the defense was even more impressive last season.

Last season we put up similar stats with a distracted Zeke playing only 12 games, Jaylon Smith a shell of himself, a hobbled Anthony Hitchens, Sean Lee in and out of the lineup. We had no Randy Gregory, no LVE and Jones was out of position all season. Not to even mention Dak turned the ball over a lot more frequently last season which caused stress on our defense.

At the end of the day, we won one extra game and won the division partially because nobody ran away with it like they did the last couple seasons. Judging by the eye test, maybe the defense was better or maybe it’s just because this season is more fresh in my brain.

I also bought into the fact that Richard was “special” because of his attitude and apparent pedigree. Looking back, now that the season is over, maybe I overrated him as well.

Great points

 

[CouchCoach]

It’s going to be a long off season ruled by the glass half empty negative Nancys.

And what about the stats he posted, is that negative or is that simple asking a question with some evidence?

Richard could be good as the DC but we've got some that wanted him promoted to HC and he interviewed for 3 teams with no offers. Don't you think some are getting carried away with this guy when he's not proven anything yet?

Someone needs to step up and answer questions about that disastrous run D in LA because that was one of the worst D performances I have ever seen and I've been watching this team for many years. It started off bad and never got better. No one on the Cowboys staff had an answer to that run game. The Cowboys D got punched all night and his best answer was to yell at the LB's? Hell, I think they were aware they were getting gutted.

The off season won't be ruled by negative Nancy's as long as there are positive Pollyanna's to fight the good fight but after a horrible defensive display like that, how would you expect most posters to react?

 

[PelvusBrestley]

Did the majority of the post I saw on my Facebook feed have fire Linehan and Garrett followed by Richards should be the HC? Yes........ Based on that I'd say yes, over-rated by the typical rah rah Cowboys fan that fuels this garbage. I mean to sit there and openly champion the guy for HC after his defense got thrashed? What are some of ya'll smokin?

 

[gmoney112]

I think if anything, statistically speaking, the defense was even more impressive last season.

Last season we put up similar stats with a distracted Zeke playing only 12 games, Jaylon Smith a shell of himself, a hobbled Anthony Hitchens, Sean Lee in and out of the lineup. We had no Randy Gregory, no LVE and Jones was out of position all season. Not to even mention Dak turned the ball over a lot more frequently last season which caused stress on our defense.

At the end of the day, we won one extra game and won the division partially because nobody ran away with it like they did the last couple seasons. Judging by the eye test, maybe the defense was better or maybe it’s just because this season is more fresh in my brain.

I also bought into the fact that Richard was “special” because of his attitude and apparent pedigree. Looking back, now that the season is over, maybe I overrated him as well.

Yeah, talent helps.

If you just look at totals though, it doesn't take into account a lot of things. You have to dive a little deeper, which is why "per drive" comparisons are used more often, it's just a better metric. It lets you measure against every team without numbers getting flubbed by something that can differ as easily as total drives. FootballOutsiders has this kind of info btw, it's great.

In 2018 we moved up 10 spots in yards per drive, 4 spots better in points, we were bad at forcing INTs so we moved down there, but this year we were top 5 in fumbles forced per drive which is like 12-13 spots better. 10 spots better in impact plays (down series that result in first down or touchdown). We were actually slightly better at taking the ball away this year, taking it away .122 times per drive vs .104 in 2017.

Also, Dak only had 1 more turnover last year, due to fumbles this year. He was also sacked 24 more times, which is crazy. As a team, we lost twice as many fumbles than last year. Offensive turnovers was actually pretty negligible, less picks but more fumbles, and we took a lot more sacks. Offense was also worse in yards and points per drive than last year, which might be surprising. I wonder how much the late Eagles/Giants game messed with those numbers too.

The defense did an admirable job in the redzone last year which basically saved the PPG average, because they were pretty terrible across the board in just about everything. They were better in those this year, even significantly better in some things, while the offense was worse and pass protection as a whole a lot worse, even with the games Tyron missed and we got killed last year.

How much of the defense can be attributed to talent, who knows. Some/most of it maybe. That's where it gets fuzzy. Byron kinda fell off later in the year but most of the year our coverage was pretty good and we ran a lot of man, cover-1, and cover-3 which Richards did have some success in coaching. Outside of that, I don't know, too many moving parts.

 

[Corso]

You need to ask?

Yes! This is not a new problem!
These CB's haven't been able to turn their heads and collect INT's since before that top 10 pick and Carr and whatnot.

This has gone on through several coaches.

Now, who is to blame?
Seriously!

 

[uvaballa]

When compared to JG, Linehan, and Marinelli I don't think so.

 

[JW82]

The defense clearly improved this year and turning Jones into a corner was huge. But in general we,just like Jerry, tend to overrate our players and coaches.