Better suited for 4-3?

[CowboyJeff]

switching to the 4-3 now would waste a lot of talent at LB IMO.

not to mention wasting a couple years of draft picks.

 

[JohnsKey19]

We're an OLB and creative defensive coordinator away from being a true and consistently effective 3-4 defense.

The really effective 3-4 defenses run a lot of games, stunts, zone blitzes to generate pass rush. They also usually have at least 2-3 guys who are really good pass rushers. We only have 1 good pass rusher in Ware and we have to be the least creative defense in the NFL today.

 

[Big Country]

If the DL starts making big plays a-la Richard Seymour in NE or Luis Castillo in SD then this topic would not even be necessary... Remember this is only the second year of Dallas ever running it...

 

[Yeagermeister]

We're an OLB and creative defensive coordinator away from being a true and consistently effective 3-4 defense.

The really effective 3-4 defenses run a lot of games, stunts, zone blitzes to generate pass rush. They also usually have at least 2-3 guys who are really good pass rushers. We only have 1 good pass rusher in Ware and we have to be the least creative defense in the NFL today.

Dick LeBeau would cure that

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Sorry, but I've never really been sold on this 3-4 we've been running. I don't see how we're a better defense running the 34 over the 43.

Our main problem, IMO, with our 43 defenses in the past was our lack of good DL. We had Ellis and Glover....good players, but both need complimentary players to make them better. Unfortunately, we never did get them help.

Now, I feel we have excellent pieces to run a very good 43.

DE: Hatcher\Spears
DT: Spears/Canty/Ratliffe
DT: Ferguson/Ratliff
DE: Ware

LB: Carpenter/Burnett
LB: James
LB: Ayodele

I think we have pieces to run both defenses. But I think making Zimmer, a 43 guy, a coach in the 34, we're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Parcells will not be our coach much longer....and the list of coaches that know the 34 is small. I would hate to see us bypass good coaching prospects because they aren't 34 guys.

Fortunately, our personnel is suited for either. I especially think a guy like Burnett would be a force in a 43.

I don't know....maybe part of me thinks it's blasphemous to see a Cowboy team running a 34. I mean, it was Landry that invented the 43 to begin with.

I don't understand why we can't be like the Pats and switch at random but yeah, I think this scheme doesn't exploit the full potential of some of these linemen Bill drafted. Or I guess I could just be overrating them.

All that depth on the defensive line (or players who should be dlinemen) and we can't use it the way god meant it to be done. What a shame. Let Ware do what he does best, just send him after the freaking QB 24/7. Don't mess around with poor Ellis, he's a lineman first. Hatcher and Burnett have a lot of untapped talent and deserve more looks than the nickel. Spears and Canty have yet to figure out how to play in a 3-4, just put 'em back to their college defense. Carpenter plays better on the outside. IMO, Burnett is our most underrated linebacker, James our most overrated, a 4-3 would force the right hand.

This creative 3-4 defensive coordinator stuff is never going to happen. Bill Parcells was not the guy who brought that into the league. Everyone knew what the Giants were going to do, just like the Cowboys, only they had maybe the greatest defensive player in NFL history in LT, Harry Carson, Pepper Johnson and a big list of heavy hitters.

 

[JohnsKey19]

This creative 3-4 defensive coordinator stuff is never going to happen. Bill Parcells was not the guy who brought that into the league. Everyone knew what the Giants were going to do, just like the Cowboys, only they had maybe the greatest defensive player in NFL history in LT, Harry Carson, Pepper Johnson and a big list of heavy hitters.

Thats the problem. We dont have the personnel to simply line up and be a great defense, or even a consistently very good one. So IMO it's gotta be one or the other - either acquire more dynamic personnel, particularly in the front 7 or we MUST get more creative with the schemes.

 

[Rack]

Ware might be able to play OLB in the 4-3, but he also wouldn't be as much of a force as he is as a 3-4 OLB.

I agree with that.

 

[kramskoi]

interesting observation...the interior pass rush has been m.i.a. to a larger degree this year...that said, i do think that the defense has the capability to be more creative, but this is on Parcells and Zimmer...

 

[InmanRoshi]

We go to a 4 man line in the nickel, and it's even worse than our 3 man line at getting to the QB.

Last year's draft was loaded with good outside pass rushers. Manyl of them I liked a lot. Guys who have made impacts as rookies. Anderson, Kiwanuka, Hali, Dumervil. Unfortunately, we didn't seem that interested in adding any of them. Its a shame. People said we had to go with the "more all around" linebacker opposite Ware ... I've come to conclude that "more all around" is code word for "doesn't make any plays".

 

[superpunk]

We go to a 4 man line in the nickel, and it's even worse than our 3 man line at getting to the QB.

Last year's draft was loaded with good outside pass rushers. Manyl of them I liked a lot. Guys who have made impacts as rookies. Anderson, Kiwanuka, Hali, Dumervil. Unfortunately, we didn't seem that interested in adding any of them. Its a shame. People said we had to go with the "more all around" linebacker opposite Ware ... I've come to conclude that "more all around" is code word for "doesn't make any plays".

How are you going to make that judgement after he's had a large role in 1-2 games? That's ridiculous.

 

[InmanRoshi]

How are you going to make that judgement after he's had a large role in 1-2 games? That's ridiculous.

Aren't we overstating Carpenter's contributions lately just because we're happy he's done SOMETHING? He had no where to go but up. He was the last guy on the bench, on the few games he was even activated. He didn't force his way onto the field like the names I mentioned, he was the guy we were forced to play when we had no other choice due to injuries or lack of skills. So far he's beat out Junior Glymph for playing time.

 

[superpunk]

Aren't we overstating Carpenter's contributions lately just because we're happy he's done SOMETHING? He had no where to go but up. He was the last guy on the bench, on the few games he was even activated. He didn't force his way onto the field like the names I mentioned, he was the guy we were forced to play when we had no other choice. So far he's beat out Junior Glymph for playing time.

I didn't say he had accomplished anything. But you're saying he doesn't make plays as if he's had abundant opportunities. He's only just seeing his first real action.

 

[jobberone]

Put Ellis back onto the field and the defense will get much better. You can't defend well without a pass rush.

Having said that it still wasn't a good as I'd love to see.

 

[Clove]

For a fair evaluation of the 3-4, I think we need two things:
1) another effective passrushing LB so we can disguise which LBs will blitz, hence the entire 3-4 advantage
2) and most importantly, a DC that knows how to run the 3-4 and design an effective blitz package

I honestly feel that there are several DCs in the league that would have the talent on our defense looking like the Bears or Ravens defense as far as stopping power and intimidation factor. Zimmer's bend but don't break keeps every game at least close enough for our offense to win, but it keeps game close enough for us to lose also. His blitz packages are embarrassing and so ineffective, its probably why we don't run more of them.
I do feel like we have the talent to be as good and intimidating as the Bears or Ravens on D and I don't think I'm overestimating our talent by saying that. I think its coaching.
Another thing that kills me about Zimmer is that we haven't ever developed an effective passrusher until D Ware, despite using a slew of draft picks to find one. The last one we had, Haley, was a great passrusher when he came here....and he largely ignored what the DC was telling him to do anyway.