Breer on the Cowboys Pass Rush Dilemma

[Risen Star]

The fatal playoff flaw was not a lack of a pass rush. That was there but it wasn't fatal. It was our gender fluid head coach coaching scared and giving his team a spa vacation before the postseason. They started slow as a result and couldn't overcome it.

You were warned of this ahead of time.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The fatal playoff flaw was not a lack of a pass rush. That was there but it wasn't fatal. It was our gender fluid head coach coaching scared and giving his team a spa vacation before the postseason. They started slow as a result and couldn't overcome it.

You were warned of this ahead of time.

Bravo, you changed the narrative in your effort to play the heel for once. I guess no one giving a **** for going on a year finally made a difference.

 

[jday]

Can always count on Breer to overdramatize when it comes to the Cowboys.

The truth is our secondary is stronger than it was a year ago. Morris Claiborne and Barry Church were not part of the run last season. If you want to argue the loss of Carr and Wilcox will doom a unit that added Awuzie, Lewis, Carroll, Woods and White be my guest, but don't get offended if most don't agree. Jones and Brown were the bright spots of the secondary last year, one may find it odd that their growth never gets mentioned in these articles...

Randy Gregory has never really been a part of this team. His "loss" is nothing new. We drafted a 1st Round DE, are getting our 4th round DE from a year ago back from IR, have a budding star at 3T in Maliek Collins and are adding a LB that was regarded as the best prospect in the entire draft class a year ago... but instead of talking about what they bring to this front 7 let's instead dwell on a 4 game suspension of a rotational DL and make sure you mention we signed Greg Hardy 2 years ago!

I kind of like it though, fans from other teams that actually buy into this nonsense being reported will be in for another campaign of shock, awe, and saltiness by November when this defense is top 5 again.

Its as if you were transcribing my thought process as I read that.
It's going to make the weekly Blogging the Boys Article where they go behind enemy lines in the blogging world so much fun to read!

 

[jobberone]

Need an edge rusher. Marinelli will have to use the LBs and DBs for the speed edge rushers which is problematic in opening holes in the defense and/or putting more pressure on the other defenders. But I'd rather have the pass rush. He needs to blitz more but it's not in his nature.

 

[cowboyblue22]

article was pretty much right on target its going to take a lot of things going right for the defense to get to where lots of fans thinks its going to be

 

[UDcowboysfan]

Actually, I think it was middle of the pack last year, as they were significantly underrated throughout the year. I'm optimistic that Marinelli might well have a field day gleaning the most out of what we currently have available. There's plenty of talent available now with outstanding upside. I'm looking forward to seeing a defense that is better than average by midseason, at the very latest and quite possibly even sooner.

Ya thats kind of what I meant, I could see it being similar to last year and getting better each week since they are young.

The defense is trending in the right direction though.

 

[bigdnlaca]

Oddly enough, Dallas had more sacks than either the Eagles or Giants last season. Pressure was a problem but they finished ok if they got there. They're relying on Taco, Moore, and Tapper to replace the contributions of Jack Crawford. I think it's safe to assume that should be an improvement. Whether it's enough remains tbd.

But with the Eagles, they had about 80 fewer pass attempts against them compared to Cowboys and only 2 less sacks. So, yes pressure is the problem but it also seem like getting the sacks is an issue too.

However, we can't fully judge that since a lot of Cowboy opponents were pass happy once the Cowboys was stopping the run and had big leads in the 4th qtr. I'm hoping it was more about fatigue and lack of depth that caused the lack of pressure.

 

[kiheikiwi]

Can always count on Breer to overdramatize when it comes to the Cowboys.

The truth is our secondary is stronger than it was a year ago. Morris Claiborne and Barry Church were not part of the run last season. If you want to argue the loss of Carr and Wilcox will doom a unit that added Awuzie, Lewis, Carroll, Woods and White be my guest, but don't get offended if most don't agree. Jones and Brown were the bright spots of the secondary last year, one may find it odd that their growth never gets mentioned in these articles...

Randy Gregory has never really been a part of this team. His "loss" is nothing new. We drafted a 1st Round DE, are getting our 4th round DE from a year ago back from IR, have a budding star at 3T in Maliek Collins and are adding a LB that was regarded as the best prospect in the entire draft class a year ago... but instead of talking about what they bring to this front 7 let's instead dwell on a 4 game suspension of a rotational DL and make sure you mention we signed Greg Hardy 2 years ago!

I kind of like it though, fans from other teams that actually buy into this nonsense being reported will be in for another campaign of shock, awe, and saltiness by November when this defense is top 5 again.

What I took from the article was him saying both Awuzie and Lewis look to be smart enough already to fill the voids on the back end. But that by drafting at the tail end of each draft lately - we haven't been in a position to grab a top-notch DE like we got in Ware, or, trade for an obvious talent like Haley. So they have taken risks in grabbing Lawrence (drug related or not), Gregory, and Irving. Cough, cough - Hardy.
And all 3 risks have had their problems - to put it mildly. That we draft at the end of the rounds does not look like it's going to change anytime soon. So we will not be able to grab a talent like we found in Ware. So the Rush by committee theory, is weakened when the suspect choices live up to their risks. And hurt the "rush by committee" theory.
Right or wrong, I see his premise here .... and don't have a problem with it.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

We have a young group up front. I think what we saw at the end of the season is what we can expect this season. Some of those guys were starting to figure it out. Mayowa, Collins, Irving included. Moore has something to him, too. The front will be better than many think. We don't have that one horse people have to key on, but that's probably all we lack. Maybe Taco can become that, but I wouldn't expect to see it this season. A healthy Lawrence would help, but you can't count on that.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Nothing we don't know already here. Lose Irving for four games, add Taco for sixteen, and it's basically the same problem we had last season beyond that. And, yes, it proved to be a fatal playoff flaw.

I dont think Albert watched our two playoff losses

 

[big dog cowboy]

4. Cowboys pass-rush takes yet another hit. Attrition pounded the Dallas secondary in March, with three of the five guys who started in the defensive backfield in the divisional playoffs now gone.

I pretty much stopped reading right there. That statement simply isn't true. The Cowboys could have kept all 3 but instead (smartly) decided to let each walk. They are in a much better place today because of that decision.

 

[Stash]

Oddly enough, Dallas had more sacks than either the Eagles or Giants last season. Pressure was a problem but they finished ok if they got there. They're relying on Taco, Moore, and Tapper to replace the contributions of Jack Crawford. I think it's safe to assume that should be an improvement. Whether it's enough remains tbd.

You stole my answer.

I believe they finished at a respectable number last year and have several options to contribute to improvement.

In reading Breer's last few reports, I'm beginning to think "somebody got to him" and has influenced his usually high quality writing into this stuff.

Too bad.

 

[ConstantReboot]

I'm going against the grain here and say that its not just our passrush that was problematic. Its our inability to stop the short passing game. With the new pups that we drafted and their ability to stick to their man and cover them like a blanket it might have solved one of the many reasons why we didn't get many sacks and INTs.

This defense will see a major improvements in stopping those quick outs and slants which we gave up so easily with Carr, Claiborne, Church and Wilcox. Our new DBs are an instant upgrade and will buy the Dline more time to get to the QB and possibly more sacks and pressure up front.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

You stole my answer.

I believe they finished at a respectable number last year and have several options to contribute to improvement.

In reading Breer's last few reports, I'm beginning to think "somebody got to him" and has influenced his usually high quality writing into this stuff.

Too bad.

He's always had the national guy needs to be objective to his home team feel to him. Even before he was a national guy. And its hard for me to jab a guy for that attitude because that's the name of the game and he's at least somewhat balanced. He ain't perfect but there's a lot worse out there. I do think he's missed this one a little because to me they:

A: weren't nearly as bad as people thought they'd be even though the narrative still dominates
2: Turned it on at the end a little which could be due to opponent or could be them turning a corner
C: Lost very little in the way of pass rush this offseason
4: Have a few avenues that each could contribute and might be enough to break the dam



Its still a concern. Its still a weakness. But in general I believe that we spend way too much time on what someone can't do at the expense of what they can

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

My guess is the secondary will be more of a problem early than the pass rush. But the secondary will improve as the season progresses

 

[SportsGuru80]

Tapper and a healthy Lawrence should add something to our pass rush not to mention Collins 2nd year progression. It's a shame we don't have that war daddy because he got suspended for a god knows how long...

 

[diefree666]

Young players do not always improve greatly. We are counting on young unproven players to prove themselves. They might and they might not.

 

[MileyDancer]

I'm sorry, but I don't think Charlton will make our pass rush any better. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[BAT]

I hope you are right, but "hope" should not be the FO's philosophy for fixing the pass rush.

Agree, "hope" is never a good business model. Jerry needs to go full Daryl Morey and go and get a catalytic player or two right now. Trade Scandrick, Hitchens, Taco, 2018 1st and 2019 2nd to Cleveland for Myles Garrett, Ty Holmes and Josh Gordon.

Trade Crawford, Morris, 2018 4th for Mo Wilkerson AND sign Daryl Washington. That's THREE legit PROVEN pass rushers, no hope required. Even if Washington has lost a step, he was still one of the fastest LBs in the game with a knack for rushing the passer when he wasn't creating turnovers in coverage.

Cowboys should want to compete THIS season, Jerry is not getting any younger and the crypt keeper wants to go out a winner.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Agree, "hope" is never a good business model. Jerry needs to go full Daryl Morey and go and get a catalytic player or two right now. Trade Scandrick, Hitchens, Taco, 2018 1st and 2019 2nd to Cleveland for Myles Garrett, Ty Holmes and Josh Gordon.

Trade Crawford, Morris, 2018 4th for Mo Wilkerson AND sign Daryl Washington. That's THREE legit PROVEN pass rushers, no hope required. Even if Washington has lost a step, he was still one of the fastest LBs in the game with a knack for rushing the passer when he wasn't creating turnovers in coverage.

Cowboys should want to compete THIS season, Jerry is not getting any younger and the crypt keeper wants to go out a winner.

Unplug the Xbox