Are we overrating Richard?

[percyhoward]

A single game...c'mon.

It's a six-game stretch.

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

 

[CCBoy]

It's a six-game stretch.

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

A follow up observation well could be, if one is going to stop the run and run the ball, one should also dominate in the Red Zone as well.

Bend but don't break comes at a cost.

 

[bigdnlaca]

I think Richard is good but I truly believe that Marinelli did most of the playcalling on running plays and Richard handled the pass. IIRC, Richard blitzed a lot more when it was told that he is calling the plays but when I see the game against the Rams, that had Marinelli name all over that.

 

[robjay04]

How is the defense immensely more talented? You add LVE but you lost a healthy Sean Lee for most of the year.

You added a full year of Gregory. That's it.

You're literally making things up.

And core stats are immaterial. Stopping people from scoring is most important. And when you consider a different slate of opponents looking at counting stats is silly.

The fact of the matter is that this defense went from 25th to 9th. Claiming Richards is overrated with that backdrop is a freaking joke and fan malpractice.

Nobody looks at the stat you’re pulling up. People care about turnovers and points. Acting like points given up and turnovers is no a fair comparasion is irrational.

Buffalo has the second ranked DVOA...they were 18th in scoring defense, 16th in rush defense and 30th in 3rd down defense. Denver has the fifth ranked DVOA..they’re 13th ranked scoring defense, 20th ranked passing defense and 19th ranked rushing defense. Sorry that stat is flawed. Give me the team that limits points and yards over the duration of a season.

I am not saying to fire the guy, I’m not even saying our defense has improved. I am saying that maybe fans that claimed him to be some kind of defensive guru are overrating him. The defense was solid this season but maybe overrated.

6 out of our 9 total away games, we gave up over 100 yards rushing. Personally, I believe the Colts exposed something which led to the worst defensive performance in recent history against the Rams.

It seems that when teams wanted to run the ball against, they had success. In 7 games this year, opposing teams stuck to the run, they had success. Many teams, such as the Falcons got away from it.

In 8 out of 18 games this season, teams ran the ball for more than 25 times against us. In the 8 games where opposing teams stuck to the run, we gave up 1,197 yards and 11 touchdowns on a 4.2 average. We were also 1-7 in those games. Solid? Yes...but the Colts exposed a weakness and we didn’t adjust.

Let’s see about the talent.

Jaylon Smith In 2018 versus Jaylon in 2017. Which player is better?

Last season we had that Jaylon, a banged up Hitchens for 12 games and Sean Lee for 11 games but I think it was really 9 or 10 because I can think of at least 1 game he was active but left after a couple games.

Personally I believe our group this year is more talented and available but who am I?

Last season 2 of our top 3 corners were rookies. Typically a sophomore player will be better. We had a rookie safety. Byron was also playing out of position.

Gregory is worlds better than Benson Mayowa or rookie Taco. For some reason, you left out Antwaun Woods despite the fact that he was a starter and a huge upgrade.

Next—don’t accuse me of “making things up” when you literally cannot find a single false statement I have made. I made a logical post stating that the numbers people care about are nearly identical between this season and last season. I also made the statement that our defense is more talented this season.

None of those statements are false. Instead of accusing me of making fabrications, you could’ve made a valid counter arguement that Richard can be credited for the improvement of players like Brown or Jones.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Nobody looks at the stat you’re pulling up. People care about turnovers and points. Acting like points given up and turnovers is no a fair comparasion is irrational.

Buffalo has the second ranked DVOA...they were 18th in scoring defense, 16th in rush defense and 30th in 3rd down defense. Denver has the fifth ranked DVOA..they’re 13th ranked scoring defense, 20th ranked passing defense and 19th ranked rushing defense. Sorry that stat is flawed. Give me the team that limits points and yards over the duration of a season.

This is simply an elementary way to look at a unit. Who did Buffalo play? How many top offenses? Did they play the same teams we did? Or Denver did?

We are smart enough to look beyond counting stats. DVOA takes into account the opposing teams that were played.

 

[robjay04]

This is simply an elementary way to look at a unit. Who did Buffalo play? How many top offenses? Did they play the same teams we did? Or Denver did?

We are smart enough to look beyond counting stats. DVOA takes into account the opposing teams that were played.

Okay you can look at that stat if you would like. I think a culmative analysis is more accurate with the parity in the NFL. I do believe the majority of fans care about turnovers, sacks and points the most. Those are the stats I used. They aren’t obsolete and nor did I make up anything.

I also don’t think it is unfair to say fans overrate Richard either. I’m not bashing the guy, he shouldn’t be fired. Heck he should be promoted if anything but he also has a lot of growing to do and is far from the messiah many feel he is on the board.

 

[KJJ]

Fans overreact to everything. The first half of the season when we were 3-5 many wanted the team blown up. Some of those same fans then began comparing the team to some of our great 90s teams after we turned things around the second half of the season. Richard was the greatest thing since sliced bread when the defense was playing great with many giving him all the credit. The love affair for Richard was so strong some wanted him as the next Cowboys head coach. After the miserable performance by our defense on Saturday that cost us a playoff game, some fans were pinning all the blame on Richard and at least a couple of fans were calling for his head.

One fan was so disgruntled with the loss they started a thread wanting to move on from Zeke after his contract is up. Naturally the usual Dak hate threads were flooding the board even though he played well enough for us to win. I'm amazed we were able to put up 22 points having only 8 possessions. The only thing that makes coming to this board tolerable after losses especially playoff losses is the humor provided by all the overreacting and knee jerking by those who live in the moment.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Okay you can look at that stat if you would like. I think a culmative analysis is more accurate with the parity in the NFL. I do believe the majority of fans care about turnovers, sacks and points the most. Those are the stats I used. They aren’t obsolete and nor did I make up anything.

Looking simply at turnovers, sacks and points allowed is really a rudimentary way to evaluate a defense.

We should and more importantly CAN do better.

 

[robjay04]

Looking simply at turnovers, sacks and points allowed is really a rudimentary way to evaluate a defense.

We should and more importantly CAN do better.

Agree.

I want to point out another flaw I perceive in DVOA.

Do you think that certain wins should count more than others?

For example, the Steelers had one of the toughest schedules in the league, they even beat the Patriots down the stretch. They missed the playoffs by a half a game as I’m sure you know.

On the other hand, then Colts had the second easiest schedule in the NFL. They finished 10-6 securing the last wildcard spot. Should their wins have less weight since they were generally against bad teams?

Seems like the exact same premise of DVOA. You judge more on a per game basis based on competition and not the culmative total.

 

[glimmerman]

Let’s do it.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Agree.

I want to point out another flaw I perceive in DVOA.

Do you think that certain wins should count more than others?

For example, the Steelers had one of the toughest schedules in the league, they even beat the Patriots down the stretch. They missed the playoffs by a half a game as I’m sure you know.

On the other hand, then Colts had the second easiest schedule in the NFL. They finished 10-6 securing the last wildcard spot. Should their wins have less weight since they were generally against bad teams?

Seems like the exact same premise of DVOA. You judge more on a per game basis based on competition and not the culmative total.

I don't think these are the same thing at all.

You play who is on your schedule. Playoffs births are determined by your won loss record.

Our analysis of your team is based on how you did against weak and strong opponents. When analyzing a team you don't care if they won or not or if they got into the playoffs or not.

 

[CCBoy]

It's a six-game stretch.

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

Add this to that look:

For one, in two of the last three regular season games, Dallas gave up 178 yards to the Colts and 143 to the Giants. Only the Carolina Panthers in week one had more than than either of those two teams prior to that.

Something was starting to leak. That something was apparently on tape for anyone with two week’s time to prepare to see.

According to Danny Heifetz with TheRinger.com, offensive linemen Austin Blythe and John Sullivan noticed that the Cowboys defensive line put tells on tape that made them quite easy to block.

https://thelandryhat.com/2019/01/15/two-reasons-dallas-cowboys-season-died/3/

 

[cern]

After free agency and the draft, we'll know more. Let's see if he can influence the fo to solidify the tackle position.

 

[xwalker]

***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.

Marinelli loves DLine stunts more than any coach I've even seen.

The Rams said they knew when the DLine was going to stunt and exploited it.

A DB coach that morphed into the pseudo D-Coordinator can't work magic in 1 season. He was NOT the actual D-Coordinator.

 

[robjay04]

Marinelli loves DLine stunts more than any coach I've even seen.

The Rams said they knew when the DLine was going to stunt and exploited it.

A DB coach that morphed into the pseudo D-Coordinator can't work magic in 1 season. He was NOT the actual D-Coordinator.

He does call the plays.

Can’t give the guy all the credit when we are doing well and no blame when things go south.

 

[cristglo]

Add this to that look:

For one, in two of the last three regular season games, Dallas gave up 178 yards to the Colts and 143 to the Giants. Only the Carolina Panthers in week one had more than than either of those two teams prior to that.

Something was starting to leak. That something was apparently on tape for anyone with two week’s time to prepare to see.

According to Danny Heifetz with TheRinger.com, offensive linemen Austin Blythe and John Sullivan noticed that the Cowboys defensive line put tells on tape that made them quite easy to block.

https://thelandryhat.com/2019/01/15/two-reasons-dallas-cowboys-season-died/3/

Thats the clicker there sometimes older coaches get caught up with
tendencies. Rod is the DL coach and well we got caught with our pants down. Sometimes adding young new blood help because no one has it down on film. Seattle game knowing our hand signals we should have know better. Our defense was up and down all year We have to have an upgrade at Safety and DT position plain and simple. Would love to finally see a True DT1t run stuffer. Is Richard overrated to early to tell but IMO just to make it to the next round of the playoffs was a success. Many hear including myself didnt even think we would make the play offs. We have work to do Off season has just begun. Hang on and lets see what happens in the next month before we all fall apart.

 

[CCBoy]

Agree.

I want to point out another flaw I perceive in DVOA.

Do you think that certain wins should count more than others?

For example, the Steelers had one of the toughest schedules in the league, they even beat the Patriots down the stretch. They missed the playoffs by a half a game as I’m sure you know.

On the other hand, then Colts had the second easiest schedule in the NFL. They finished 10-6 securing the last wildcard spot. Should their wins have less weight since they were generally against bad teams?

Seems like the exact same premise of DVOA. You judge more on a per game basis based on competition and not the culmative total.

Lol, the game is played heads up with the man directly over you...

 

[Cowboys22]

***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.

Maybe a little but compared to the coaching Dallas had, no. I don’t care what the stats you posted point to, I know what I saw watching the games. For a stretch in the 2nd half of the season, the defense was better than it had been since the 90s. By better, I mean very effective in holding opponents to less points than the offense could muster and making stops at key moments late in games. This coincided with the announcement that Richard had pretty much taken over playcalling for the defense. I don’t really know what happened against the Rams but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out Garrett and Marinelli overruled Richard in the defensive gameplan for that game. That defense looked like the unaggressive, no blitzing, zone coverage scheme Marinelli has been giving us for years. It was the exact opposite of how they played the Saints and it makes no sense to me. That scheme invites and allows the other team chances to beat you. Playing press man coverage and bringing pressure on 3rd downs forces the other team to physically beat you on a regular basis to win. If I’m a coach, that’s the only way I’m going down. I’m not giving the other team time to sit back and find the open spaces in my zone defense. I’m making them beat my players all day long as I send heat on their QB every chance I get. If they get it done against that, then they are the better team and deserve to win.

 

[SportsGuru80]

Some of you people are hilarious.... This guy is one of the youngest and brightest defensive minds in the NFL. Please believe the defense will be improved after making some changes at key positions this offseason.

 

[TexasHillbilly]

I think it's safe to say there are many things overrated when
it concerns the current state of affairs that is today's Dallas Cowboys.

Become a Tampa fan. Maybe some of the so called "fans" will change their tune.