Areas for defensive improvement to make a deep playoff run

[GORICO]

Getting DLaw and Gallimore back will be a step forward, especially stopping the run. I want to see this D get better in these two areas hopefully by Thanksgiving in time for the stretch run:

• Improve 3rd down stop % on D- especially on the road. Right now, our overall % is 35%, but it’s 31% at home and 41% on the road. Need that to improve.
• Stop giving up so many splash plays- plays of 20 yards or more. That’s what’s making our 6.3 yards per play so high.

Haze---- the bend but dont break defense good at minimizing splash plays...i am excited our defense takes the ball away but not sure that is a statistic we can keep up every game?....if we can shore up D-middle

and splash plays our Defense can be top 10 for sure

 

[GORICO]

He is very good
He’s also a FA next year so even if you could trade for him you then have to sign him and he’s 31 and making 10 mil a year right now
I don’t know if bears want to trade him or what they would want but he’s certainly not worth a high pick at his age, cost and contract situation

conner---if you were interested how high of draft pick would you give for Hicks?

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Like most Cowboys fans, I’m excited about our defense’s improvement this year. Their ability to get TOs (they are 2nd in the league with 14!) is a huge reason we are 5-1. It’s a young aggressive defense that is certainly on the upswing.

But if we are being honest without the fan glasses, our defense still has a very long way to go. If we’re going to have a defense that is playoff ready, we must improve defensively in some key areas, because even though our offense is top shelf, there are often playoff games where a great offense runs into a good or great D.

With that in mind, here are some areas we must improve if we’re going to have a serious playoff run:

• Points per game, giving up 24.3. The most important defensive stat. Not terrible, but that needs to improve because the better teams we may face in the playoffs tend to be able to make your offense score less. We can’t always depend on the offense alone to win games.
• 3rd down conversion rate- we have improved to 9th in the league with a 35% rate. But it’s way better at home (31%) than the road (41%). That’s an important stat in the playoffs, especially if playing on the road.
• Our 6.3 yards per play is 29th in the NFL. (Without the 14 TOs we’ve had, we would all be talking about how we are still getting gashed for big plays)
• We are ranked 28th in yards per passing attempt with 7.4. This represents giving up too many big plays in the passing game. Like the Mac Jones bomb in the last two min vs pats last week.
• We have 11 sacks, which is ok, but that ranks us 23rd. We could really use an improvement there.

Our defense is certainly better and still improving. But I want to see us get better in the above areas and I will feel even better about our playoff chances.

Nice thread. I was gonna post the same thing yesterday but yours is more thorough than I had in mind.

I was looking at team stats. Offensively, we’re easily the most balanced and you could argue we’re the best overall. We’re #2 in rushing yards (before TEN played yesterday) and #5 in passing yards. And we’re tied for #1 with TB for most TDs. You could argue some teams have better passing games, but if there’s anything I want from an offensive in the playoffs, it’sa team that can throw but can fall back to the running game if they need to. There’s not a more balanced team in the NFL.

That being said, I also saw that we had the number #3 run defense but #28 pass defense. The plus side is that our pass defense is the best in the league at causing turnovers. That tells me that we’re gambling on D but winning a lot. That makes the pass yards not as bad as they seem. However, how long can you rely on gambling? Let’s say we have a dry spell for INTs. Are teams gonna continue to rack up yards despite the lack of turnovers? If so, that can be bad news come playoff time. And regarding lack of sacks, do we at least generate a lot of pressure? Maybe sacks don’t tell the whole story. People were saying Parsons was amazing at DE, but he didn’t get many sacks. Our pass rush seems improved, but we don’t have the sacks to show for it. We’ll see if things improve when DLaw comes back.

 

[Mr_437]

Areas to fix are stopping the run in the middle, and coverage from CB2 n Slot. If the trade market had a legit NT at a fair price, Stephen should pounce on that deal... it'll make the LBs better. Speaking of LBs, I wouldn't be upset if a thumper was brought in. No team is giving up a decent CB right now.

#1 is stop the run.

 

[conner01]

conner---if you were interested how high of draft pick would you give for Hicks?

4 at the most if he’d sign for much less
A 5th without an extension

 

[Zordon]

He is very good
He’s also a FA next year so even if you could trade for him you then have to sign him and he’s 31 and making 10 mil a year right now
I don’t know if bears want to trade him or what they would want but he’s certainly not worth a high pick at his age, cost and contract situation

A late round pick to shore up a weak spot for a Super Bowl is well worth it even if we don’t sign him. That was a good suggestion by @DRella. We need another linebacker.

 

[luckyman76]

We’ve had tackling issues for years. Tackling at all levels of football has become a lost art. We don’t teach proper tackling techniques to young players much anymore and even at this level, too many players are just grab tackling instead of true tackling form.

That big run that setup the TD last week was a perfect example. Diggs and others kept going for the strip without slowing down the runner at all. No one from the beginning went after his hips with any conviction to stop him. They have done this for years and I think the habit comes from college and the need to make highlight reels. You strip a runner when they first get the ball or in a transition point before immediate defender contact. After that the runner is protecting the ball. The only hope for a strip is holding the guy up with a gang of defenders before the whistle for forward progress. ie Its never going to happen. Punching/stripping the ball in early traffic is good but first priority should always be the tackle. Players just don't understand that all the short passes and runs would never beat you if you simply wrapped up. You cannot prevent the offense from moving the ball forever but you can make them take 20 plays to do it. They are not going to win that way. Most of the big plays are given up in junk time in almost a prevent D. I am so sick of seeing a 3rd and long and we give up a big play.

 

[Verdict]

Like most Cowboys fans, I’m excited about our defense’s improvement this year. Their ability to get TOs (they are 2nd in the league with 14!) is a huge reason we are 5-1. It’s a young aggressive defense that is certainly on the upswing.

But if we are being honest without the fan glasses, our defense still has a very long way to go. If we’re going to have a defense that is playoff ready, we must improve defensively in some key areas, because even though our offense is top shelf, there are often playoff games where a great offense runs into a good or great D.

With that in mind, here are some areas we must improve if we’re going to have a serious playoff run:

• Points per game, giving up 24.3. The most important defensive stat. Not terrible, but that needs to improve because the better teams we may face in the playoffs tend to be able to make your offense score less. We can’t always depend on the offense alone to win games.
• 3rd down conversion rate- we have improved to 9th in the league with a 35% rate. But it’s way better at home (31%) than the road (41%). That’s an important stat in the playoffs, especially if playing on the road.
• Our 6.3 yards per play is 29th in the NFL. (Without the 14 TOs we’ve had, we would all be talking about how we are still getting gashed for big plays)
• We are ranked 28th in yards per passing attempt with 7.4. This represents giving up too many big plays in the passing game. Like the Mac Jones bomb in the last two min vs pats last week.
• We have 11 sacks, which is ok, but that ranks us 23rd. We could really use an improvement there.

Our defense is certainly better and still improving. But I want to see us get better in the above areas and I will feel even better about our playoff chances.

I have a hard time deciding what this defense “IS”. I believe it is a LOT better than the dumpster fire we put on the field last year, so that’s good. I tend to believe we can get a stop if we really need one on third down with the game on the line.

On the other hand at times this defense looks pretty porous. I think the run defense will improve if the DL remains relatively healthy and we get Gallimore and Tank back. It’s not so much their superior play as much as it is depth at the position. A player can sell out a bit more if they are playing slightly fewer downs.

I still think our linebacker play is a little bit suspect. I don’t think it’s “ability” that is the issue so much as it is being in the right place at the right time. LVE is an absolute enigma as far as I am concerned. I think the ability is there, but he doesn’t have the nose for the football he had as a rookie.

 

[Bobhaze]

I have a hard time deciding what this defense “IS”. I believe it is a LOT better than the dumpster fire we put on the field last year, so that’s good. I tend to believe we can get a stop if we really need one on third down with the game on the line.

On the other hand at times this defense looks pretty porous. I think the run defense will improve if the DL remains relatively healthy and we get Gallimore and Tank back. It’s not so much their superior play as much as it is depth at the position. A player can sell out a bit more if they are playing slightly fewer downs.

I still think our linebacker play is a little bit suspect. I don’t think it’s “ability” that is the issue so much as it is being in the right place at the right time. LVE is an absolute enigma as far as I am concerned. I think the ability is there, but he doesn’t have the nose for the football he had as a rookie.

Good assessment and I agree. We are still giving up waaaaay too many splash plays and our LB play has been very inconsistent. What I still feel good about is this defense’s developmental upside. So many young players who have shown they can make plays and are working hard to get better.

We’re going to find out a lot more about this defense sometime soon, starting with the first game they don’t get a TO. Turnovers can mask deficiencies. As you said, this D.has shown the ability to get a stop when they have to, but we need to see a little more consistency before this team hits the playoffs.

Nice thread. I was gonna post the same thing yesterday but yours is more thorough than I had in mind.

I was looking at team stats. Offensively, we’re easily the most balanced and you could argue we’re the best overall. We’re #2 in rushing yards (before TEN played yesterday) and #5 in passing yards. And we’re tied for #1 with TB for most TDs. You could argue some teams have better passing games, but if there’s anything I want from an offensive in the playoffs, it’sa team that can throw but can fall back to the running game if they need to. There’s not a more balanced team in the NFL.

That being said, I also saw that we had the number #3 run defense but #28 pass defense. The plus side is that our pass defense is the best in the league at causing turnovers. That tells me that we’re gambling on D but winning a lot. That makes the pass yards not as bad as they seem. However, how long can you rely on gambling? Let’s say we have a dry spell for INTs. Are teams gonna continue to rack up yards despite the lack of turnovers? If so, that can be bad news come playoff time. And regarding lack of sacks, do we at least generate a lot of pressure? Maybe sacks don’t tell the whole story. People were saying Parsons was amazing at DE, but he didn’t get many sacks. Our pass rush seems improved, but we don’t have the sacks to show for it. We’ll see if things improve when DLaw comes back.

Well said. Regarding the huge chunks of passing yards we’ve been giving up: I would be curious to see how much of those yards have come with opponent down two plus scores. It’s still a major area for improvement. As is the tackling. We’re still very poor at tackling overall.

I’ve said this many times, but today’s football players just aren’t very good tacklers. I think a lot of this is due to the changes in practice time at the pro level. And it’s just not being taught as much at the lower levels. Tackling is a fundamental that I’m amazed is being so poorly done by most NFL defenders.

 

[GORICO]

4 at the most if he’d sign for much less
A 5th without an extension

was thinking similar

 

[HappyOnions]

We really don't have a position of weakness on the D. Every player is average or above average.

Parsons has kind of been MIA after a great start to the year... he needs to stay in that hybrid rusher/LB position going forward.

 

[Whyjerry]

And we still have some key pieces out due to injury like Lawrence and Gallimore on DL and our high second round pick Joseph in the secondary.

I was going to write nearly the same thing. It will be interesting to see what happens when these players are added. I know trades don’t happen often but I would welcome a Gallup trade for a starting quality DT.

Btw where is Hill???

 

[Crown Royal]

Ready to see Malik Hooker stepup in the FS role.

 

[Ranched]

MEANWHILE....