Better defense. Current vs mid 90s Cowboys?

[tyke1doe]

This is like comparing an accomplished All Pro player to a great high school player with a bright future. Let’s give the high school kid some time to prove himself before we start comparing him to greatness.

This is getting ridiculous now. We're barely pass a quarter of the season, and fans are trying to compare this defense with one that won three Super Bowls.

We haven't even played any team comparable to the Packers with Favre, the 49ers with Young and Rice, the Bills with Kelly, Thomas and Reed, the Broncos with Elway and Davis, the Skins with the Hogs, Clark, Monk and Rypien or the Giants with Elliott, Oats, etc., and we're trying to compare this team with the 90s teams that played offensive giants?

 

[quickccc]

This current defense is not facing HOF'ers like Jerry Rice, Steve Young, and John Taylor and Ricky Watters.. and we're going up against mediocre- sorry OL.

- Plus i still have my questions about it's run defense. Rams were never a great test of time to measure by. .

- Frankly we may not really know .. until playoff time, when we again face a Niners and Shanahan/ Deebo run game.

 

[mrmojo]

Way too early but one potential similarity..........Parsons appears to have brought something to this D we haven't seen since Haley was added to the 90s D.

BTW.....couldn't remember the front four from Super Bowl team(s)

Haley, Maryland, Lett, Tolbert

They rotated so often, Casillas, Jones, Jeffcoat.....Chad Henning played a lot later under Switzer

 

[quickccc]

Its not even close right now and it is also unfair to compare. Those guys in the 90's won 3 super bowls.

- Yes, that's prime 90's defense got after QBs vs Pass with Haley, Lett, Tolbert and even rotation guys Jeffcoat, Jimmie Jones
- it had ball hawks like James Washington, Thomas Everett that could match up with WRs, slot guys and TEs in Woodson,
- and speedy LBs like Norton Jr. Darrin Smith, R. Jones and Dixon Edwards.
- it gave headaches to QBs such as Brett Favre, Steve Young, and Randall Cunningham.
- and to finish it off with a cherry on top, here comes the best, most prolific CB in NFL History in Deion 'Primetime' Sanders.

But i don't quite put it with known dominant Bears 85', ,, Ravens 2000,..... 2002 Bucs or the Legion of Boom.
-because our defense was also so much helped out by Emmitt, Irvin and Aikman
and that awesome run game would keep defense off the field, while wearing down defenses and putting opponents in a catch up mode.

 

[bigE79]

Ok guys. Which defense is better.?The current boys or the defense from 92-95?

Right now,mid 90s...all time,imo the 1977 Doomsday defense.

 

[dckid]

I think that 90s defense benifited a lot by the Cowboys offense. It kept them off the field, allowing less plays to defense. I don't recall that D having this good of a pass rush. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct. I mean that Defense was great, they didnt have a Micha they had Haley but their biggest strength was speed, and depth. The would come at you in waves.
Remember 1992, number 1 ranked, but no pro bowlers

 

[Big_D]

That D was beastly when it counted the most. Once this D stops striking out in the bottom of the 9th maybe they will compare. But as of right now they don’t.

 

[kskboys]

Not close yet.

What's up w/ the silly early anointing threads?

 

[G2]

Not close yet.

What's up w/ the silly early anointing threads?

I think some of the statistics this season have been passed on to support the idea it compares. I have a hard time with different eras, but also the entire team in the 90's was stacked.
Plus it's just a few games so far.

 

[john van brocklin]

Ok guys. Which defense is better.?The current boys or the defense from 92-95?

I think this year's defense needs more time.
The sample size is just too small.

 

[RomoIsGod]

My goodness. This is just conversation guys.

 

[gimmesix]

That 90s defense won a ton of playoff games. I’m all for letting this one make the playoffs and win some playoff games before comparing them to the great defenses of the past.

Right. We've played some offensive lines in disarray so far, and offense overall seems to be down some, so we need to wait and see. This week might tell us a little bit.

 

[Bobhaze]

Right. We've played some offensive lines in disarray so far, and offense overall seems to be down some, so we need to wait and see. This week might tell us a little bit.

It’s why we play 17 games before we know who’s in the playoffs and how they are seeded. We’ve played 5 games. We still have a lot to learn about this defense. And the whole team for that matter. And I’m expecting a dogfight Sunday night.

 

[unionjack8]

I think that 90s defense benifited a lot by the Cowboys offense. It kept them off the field, allowing less plays to defense. I don't recall that D having this good of a pass rush. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You are wrong

 

[Sarek]

The 92 defense was deep, and they played big in big games. I will say in terms of ability this kid Micah could be the best defensive player the Cowboys ever had if he can play like this for a decade plus.

 

[gimmesix]

The 92 defense was deep, and they played big in big games. I will say in terms of ability this kid Micah could be the best defensive player the Cowboys ever had if he can play like this for a decade plus.

I really thought we'd never have anything close to that kind of depth again. I'm not sure that we do, but it's better than anything I ever expected. I mean, Kearse goes out and Wilson steps into his role flawlessly with Bell and Mukuamu adequately fill his spot. Lewis goes down and Bland has an interception as his replacement.

We'd be in trouble if we lost Parsons and Lawrence, but I feel like most other spots we could get by at least. Maybe not Diggs. Joseph stepped in for him for a few plays and wasn't bad, though, although he did commit a face-mask penalty. The DTs might be a case of none of them being great, so the step down isn't as steep. Maybe Odig can build on what he did against the Rams and become that indispensable player on the inside.

 

[cowboys1981]

In the 6th game of the 1992 season, Dallas played the Seattle Seahawks and that defense was incredible.

The defense allowed Seattle 38 yards rushing and 24 yards passing for the whole game. Sixty-two total yards.

They intercepted Seattle once and forced 3 fumbles, which they recovered two of them. They also sacked the Seattle QB 7 times.

The team speed of that defense was just incredible, although they probably weren’t any faster than today’s defense… but as a whole, the opposing offensive players just weren’t as fast as today’s offenses. The fast defense was just so difficult to overcome for those offenses.

The only fearsome pass rusher that ‘92 team had was, of course, Charles Haley and he was a beast. Other than him, they had guys that could get to the QB but they weren’t much without Haley wreaking havoc.

The DL (pass rushers) and the secondary guys were pretty similar IMO to this years defense, but the biggest difference between that team and this one is the LB’s. Those guys could fly to the ball. You just couldn’t really run outside on the group of Dixon Edwards, Darren Smith, Vinson Smith and Godfrey Myles. They were faster and quicker than LVE and Barr.

Obviously, I’m counting Parsons as a DL here. If he’s playing off-ball LB, he’s faster than any of them.

That’s why I’m wanting Damone Clark/Devin Harper/Jabril Cox to get good enough to play at LB. They all have the foot speed and change of direction to improve over LVE/Barr. IMO, of course.

Both Harper and Clarke are bigger than those 1992 ‘backers but they are at least as fast as them. Their lateral movements are very good, and they can get to the sideline faster than our current starters can, they’ll need to play mistake free and show in practice and I hope by the end of the season, Quinn might be getting them some snaps.

Add LB’s like that to this defense and I think it might be at least as good as the 1992 one. This DL and secondary are both talented and deep.

Have to disagree on the lonesome fearsome pass rusher. Jeffcoat had 10.5 sacks and Tolbert had 8 in 92. Those guys definitely brought the heat.

 

[Shane612]

Lets see the current group stay top 5 three years in a roll.

 

[AsthmaField]

Have to disagree on the lonesome fearsome pass rusher. Jeffcoat had 10.5 sacks and Tolbert had 8 in 92. Those guys definitely brought the heat.

Yeah, but that was playing with Haley. The year before Haley arrived via trade, no pass rush is why Dallas lost the Detroit playoff game. Jeffcoat and Tolbert just couldn’t get to the QB in time. That’s why Jimmy knew they had to get a stud pass rusher like Haley.

Jeffcoat and Tolbert weren’t bad or anything… but they were a ton better playing opposite Charles.

JMO

 

[AsthmaField]

I really thought we'd never have anything close to that kind of depth again. I'm not sure that we do, but it's better than anything I ever expected. I mean, Kearse goes out and Wilson steps into his role flawlessly with Bell and Mukuamu adequately fill his spot. Lewis goes down and Bland has an interception as his replacement.

We'd be in trouble if we lost Parsons and Lawrence, but I feel like most other spots we could get by at least. Maybe not Diggs. Joseph stepped in for him for a few plays and wasn't bad, though, although he did commit a face-mask penalty. The DTs might be a case of none of them being great, so the step down isn't as steep. Maybe Odig can build on what he did against the Rams and become that indispensable player on the inside.

I do think the depth this year is comparable to the 92 team. Fowler being your 4th EDGE rusher is pretty crazy. Armstrong has come into his own and Sam Williams is getting better by the game. He’s going to be a good one very soon. That is very deep at DE/OLB.

The DT’s have greatly improved as well. I was watching a video on the pass rush against the Rams and he talked about how good Odighizuwa played, and has been playing. Gallimore, Bohanna, and Hill round out a group of DT’s that is getting the job done and getting an interior push to help that crazy group of ends.

Hell, they’re bringing Watkins in off of the practice squad, lol. That shows the kind of depth they have there.

Here is the Voch Lombardi video on the pass rush in our last game. It is a pretty good take on it. Somewhere in there he talks about the second DL that was brought in and they were killing the rams.