Before going off on the Defense watch the Garrett presser

[links18]

I'm sure Garrett would never admit his defense is a liability lol. We all know this team needs to stay perfect on offense come playoff time. And yes our defense will need to tighten up come playoffs. But overall the defense is just trying to limit big plays. Teams are going to score on us but overall we will score more and try to ride the clock.

Right, offense will have little room for error down the stretch and into the playoffs.

 

[DallasDomination]

No the defense wasn't pretty.

The defense simply needs more talent.

You can cus & swear & shake your fist at the defense but it's not going to change a whole lot this season. What can be done though is get the two starters back into the secondary. That would help.

I know I've said just about as much as anyone here or at my house can tolerate regarding the defense. It's amazing that Claiborne and Church make that much of a difference. Hope they get well soon. Although it's not looking good for Mo.

 

[Jake]

I'll be honest, at 10-1 I have little patience for belly-aching about the defense. Before today, the Cowboys were 5th in points allowed while the Commanders were 5th in points scored. They were going to score some points. Every time Washington got the ball in the second half they were down by two scores, which dictates how you play defense (especially as time runs down).

I really don't think some fans understand the game as well as they think they understand it. If the Cowboys prevent that last TD, only yield 19 points, are your feelings different? They shouldn't be, if you understand late-game strategy.

 

[TheDude]

I actually drive commercial truck......again nice try

http://i859.***BLOCKED***/albums/ab154/qweeve/rightoveryourhead.gif

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I just watched the postgame presser with Gruden and then Garrett on the television and cannot find a link yet to provide. Jason Garrett states that the defense played like he wanted other than the long ball to Desean Jackson in the 4th quarter and that this was not about the yards or sacks but winning the game. The boys had to shut down the run game and keep the passing game underneath was his point. This was a great win.

Lipstick on a pig.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Yep, the Cowboy offense was off a bit. The defense was off more than that.

But they still won by 5.

Shows you how good of a team it is.

Definition of a good team is finding ways to win.

We have done nothing but that for over two months.

 

[Proof]

Were the first team since the 1938 Packers to win 4 games without a turnover.

Yeesh. Crazy stat. Also do TOs on 2pt tries not count as TOs officially?

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Not really. They were giving up big plays all game, not just the one.

Guessed I missed that. Did they give up enough to make us lose? Look, no one thought this was a Super Bowl team to start the year. At 10-1 they are OVERACHIEVING as a group. Claiborne and Church are out, Scandrick is beat up, Jones is limping around, Ro McClain ain't coming back and neither is Gregory. Enjoy the run. It might just end up in the Super Bowl. No one has figured out how to stop our offense consistently despite the fact that we have two rookies in our biggest positions.

Whatever happens to this team the rest of the way, we are getting more than we counted on.

 

[Nightman]

Guessed I missed that. Did they give up enough to make us lose? Look, no one thought this was a Super Bowl team to start the year. At 10-1 they are OVERACHIEVING as a group. Claiborne and Church are out, Scandrick is beat up, Jones is limping around, Ro McClain ain't coming back and neither is Gregory. Enjoy the run. It might just end up in the Super Bowl. No one has figured out how to stop our offense consistently despite the fact that we have two rookies in our biggest positions.

Whatever happens to this team the rest of the way, we are getting more than we counted on.

Without the bomb to DJax and the last 'prevent' drive......the D was OK without it secondary

The Skins can put a lot of pressure on a secondary when Reed is active

 

[Chuck 54]

Look at the other NFC playoff offenses...none, not even Atlanta can do what the Skins do. They have 4-5 WRs who are matchup problems either due to size, speed, or quickness, and two TEs that are both better than what many teams have in a starter. When they run stacks with Vernon Davis, Jordan Reid, Garçon, and Jackson, with that speedy 3rd down back, and run those big ones across the field, that's almost impossible to stop running a two deep zone. Who's going to cover them? They played flawless and lost. All other offenses match up better with us.

 

[Wolfpack]

This is crap. There isn't some internal plan to get no sacks and little pressure.

 

[Kevinicus]

Guessed I missed that. Did they give up enough to make us lose? Look, no one thought this was a Super Bowl team to start the year. At 10-1 they are OVERACHIEVING as a group. Claiborne and Church are out, Scandrick is beat up, Jones is limping around, Ro McClain ain't coming back and neither is Gregory. Enjoy the run. It might just end up in the Super Bowl. No one has figured out how to stop our offense consistently despite the fact that we have two rookies in our biggest positions.

Whatever happens to this team the rest of the way, we are getting more than we counted on.

Who is this no one? Maybe you didn't expect it, but some of us did.

The defense played poorly. If you missed all the big chunk plays, I would suggest paying clcoser attention. The fact that the team won does not dismiss the fact that they played bad and that it could cause problems.

 

[windjc]

Hmmm, I posted this exact same thing in the game thread. Our defense doesn't have to be a shutdown defense. We have to be a defense that makes you work for everything you get. We did that for all but one play in the game.

THIS.

 

[windjc]

LOL you go Garrett. Shush all these haters about our defense. They were destroying the Skins run game and screen game.

THIS.

 

[gimmesix]

I just watched the postgame presser with Gruden and then Garrett on the television and cannot find a link yet to provide. Jason Garrett states that the defense played like he wanted other than the long ball to Desean Jackson in the 4th quarter and that this was not about the yards or sacks but winning the game. The boys had to shut down the run game and keep the passing game underneath was his point. This was a great win.

So essentially he's acknowledging that we would have to outgun the Commanders because we weren't going to stop them. I guess it's good for a head coach to realize what his defense can't do.

 

[windjc]

Only Garrett would walk away from this game after giving up 500 yards with NO sacks and NO turovers (for 4 straight weeks) and say "Just what I was hoping for..."

He should be challenging these guys because that unit just got embarrassed IMO

No. Go home.

 

[windjc]

I am happy we got the WIN. It was a big deal. I knew Washington would be tough.

Quite honestly, we got outplayed today. If Washington hit the two missed field goals we would have likely lost.

Again, I am glad we won this game, but we will most likely not win the super bowl if we play the way we did today in the playoffs. We need to be at least +1 in turnover ratio, or be very effective on third down.

Having said all of the foregoing you could also say that if we had one more stop on third down (the one I am thinking of we had the guy stopped short and poor tackling gave him a gift first down) the game could have started rolling out way more than it did.

A couple of plays are usually the difference between winning and losing. I am glad this year we are making them instead of the other team.

NO. We dominated this game. What is wrong with you people? We were up 17-3 and the Skins never had the ball with a chance to take the lead for the last 75% of the game. Seriously, what is wrong with you people?

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

This is crap. There isn't some internal plan to get no sacks and little pressure.

No one is saying we are playing to get no sacks.

The fact is we don't have much of a pass rush. Trying to manufacture one with blitzing would make a questionable secondary even more susceptible. So we are doing what gives us the best chance to win as structured. And it's working.

Think about it. We don't get pressure with four linemen. What do we do? We go to three linemen. Building the defense to keep everyone in front of them and tackle immediately. It works. Trying anything different with our personnel would be insane. Claiborne and Church are out, putting two lesser secondary players in larger roles. Scandrick is hurting but trying to tough it out. Jones was limping all over the place. Do you really want to put them into more man coverage situations?

 

[Verdict]

NO. We dominated this game. What is wrong with you people? We were up 17-3 and the Skins never had the ball with a chance to take the lead for the last 75% of the game. Seriously, what is wrong with you people?

Just because someone sees the game slightly differently than you does not mean that there is something wrong with them.

The defense can reasonably be viewed from different angles after this win. Both angles (or more) have points of validity.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Who is this no one? Maybe you didn't expect it, but some of us did.

The defense played poorly. If you missed all the big chunk plays, I would suggest paying clcoser attention. The fact that the team won does not dismiss the fact that they played bad and that it could cause problems.

Show me your posts that had us at 10-1. When Romo went down half the board was ready to give up the season. Everyone hated our defensive line and LB's outside of Lee. But go ahead, say that you expected Dallas to be where they are.