Broaddus: Crawford Looking More Physical; Carr Adjusting

[Stash]

I'm not saying that this secondary will succeed like Seattle's. Only that Seattle is the prototype...or the goal.

That's why making the Dallas/Seattle comparison is a valid one.

Fair enough.

I will respectfully disagree.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

I'm not saying that this secondary will succeed like Seattle's. Only that Seattle is the prototype...or the goal.

That's why making the Dallas/Seattle comparison is a valid one.

Biggest problem with the comparison is that they have alot better safeties than we do at the moment......and its not even close.

I do figure the coaches will play to the players strengths though, so I'm not as concerned with any adjustments the CBs might have to make cause they are both good enough to succeed in the new one.

 

[Direwolf63]

Biggest problem with the comparison is that they have alot better safeties than we do at the moment......and its not even close.

I do figure the coaches will play to the players strengths though, so I'm not as concerned with any adjustments the CBs might have to make cause they are both good enough to succeed in the new one.

Agreed.

The Seahawks have outstanding safeties. The Cowboys have nothing but question marks back there.

But Kiffin did tell his players to watch Seattle film. Hence the connection.

 

[CyberB0b]

Crawford seems like the type they can move around a lot like the Giants do with Tuck and JPP.

 

[Idgit]

I'm not saying that this secondary will succeed like Seattle's. Only that Seattle is the prototype...or the goal.

That's why making the Dallas/Seattle comparison is a valid one.

Right. They've got four tremendous players over there, and it's a significant plus for them and wasn't a misuse of resources. That SEA secondary is just a blast to watch play. Especially those dang Safeties they've got.

 

[btcutter]

Bryan Broaddus
Football Analyst/Scout

Some more thoughts from my Scouting Notebook:

• There is truly a physical difference in how Tyrone Crawford has approached this season. He has added solid weight to his frame without losing the quickness that he showed during the 2012 season. I remember in training camp than defensive line coach Brian Baker really grinding on him about developing his technique. Crawford seemed to pick up on things very quickly and was given more and more opportunities to play in special packages for Rob Ryan and he made the best of them. When the scheme changed with the coaching staff, I was trying to figure out where Crawford might be the best fit and strong side defensive end seemed to be a logical spot or maybe even as a one technique. The one thing that I have learned over the years when I was a scout and these coaches were in Tampa that their defensive linemen were always attacking up the field from both the defensive tackle and end spots so Crawford was a natural fit because this was the style of defense that he played at Boise. Where Crawford has made a great deal of progress is in his upper body strength. You can see power when he rushes off the left end and when he extends his arm into the tackle and he is able to control the blocker while he is going up field getting the corner. There were also times where he was used on the twist from the outside, coming inside and he spilt the block of Frederick and Leary. He has done a nice job of when the ball comes to his side against the zone block and held up well at the point. He is a stronger player than Wilber who was playing on the opposite side but those are two nice young backups to Ware and Spencer on the outside.

• Tyron Smith is now working into his second season as the starter at left tackle and as things were not always perfect in his first experience in that role, he managed to be the most consistent linemen they had. There have been a really nice battles these last two camps with Smith and Kyle Wilber. As a scout, I always enjoyed when two young players were battling to get the best of each other. With no Ware in the lineup, Wilber has received plenty of good work and mainly it has come against Smith who might be a quiet personality off the field but there have been sometimes where he has jumped on Wilber so quickly that he spends the whole play trying to fighting off the block as the ball goes past him or Orton completes the pass. You can see Smith playing with more confidence in what he is doing technique wise. Things you see without pads like the depth of his set and the width to the outside make a huge difference. Where Smith was not his best at times last season was when rushers took an inside charge on him, now you see him slam the door with a power step to cut that off. This zone scheme in the running game is perfect for him because when he can get his mass going sideways, then forward, he can really set the edge because once he gets a hold of the defender, he can control and that will be the key.

Read the rest: http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...djusting/e193c60f-15f7-4ec6-a29d-60cdd21c55f0

I'm both worried and excited when I read Smith and Crawford.

I am expecting Smith to make a huge jump from last year to elite level. Yet I am hearing Crawford who didn't do jack last year to be giving Smith a good battle during camp. I guess I HOPE Crawford is REALLY stepping it up and not Smith not making much improvement from last year.

Hope you can see why I am worried a bit.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

Right. They've got four tremendous players over there, and it's a significant plus for them and wasn't a misuse of resources. That SEA secondary is just a blast to watch play. Especially those dang Safeties they've got.

Yeah it was interesting to watch when we played them, when you are trying to throw the ball to come back against them, you can just see them shutting the passing game down.

It's very impressive to watch really, for people who like to watch great back end play and can appreciate it....course around here we just watch the trenches, forget about the ball or anything else going on out there.

 

[jnday]

Great, but that doesn't make it so.

I'm sure he'd say that Chip Kelly won't ring up 60 points on him next time, but that doesn't make it so either.

If saying it made it happen, I'd like to copy what the Ravens did please!

I bet that you think they should have hired the guru of the defense that the Seahawks defense uses instead of the Tampa 2 Guru. I feel the same way.

 

[jnday]

Biggest problem with the comparison is that they have alot better safeties than we do at the moment......and its not even close.

I do figure the coaches will play to the players strengths though, so I'm not as concerned with any adjustments the CBs might have to make cause they are both good enough to succeed in the new one.

I will agree that the safeties on the Cowboys roster can't compare to the Seahawks safeties. Dallas does not have a proven safety on the team. They have hopes and prayers. That's it.

 

[Hardline]

You won't know about any of these guys until the pads come on and are going against other teams . Not their own team mates.

 

[Stash]

I bet that you think they should have hired the guru of the defense that the Seahawks defense uses instead of the Tampa 2 Guru. I feel the same way.

Well it does scare me to read what the division's newest head coach was able to do to his defense, that's for sure.

I worry that we got a coordinator who was once great, but the game has passed by.

I felt much the same late in Parcells' tenure.

 

[BIGDen]

Well it does scare me to read what the division's newest head coach was able to do to his defense, that's for sure.

I worry that we got a coordinator who was once great, but the game has passed by.

I felt much the same late in Parcells' tenure.

I'm not a big Kiffin guy either and also wonder if the game has passed him by a bit. HOWEVER, Marinelli makes me feel a whole lot better about our defense. I view him as Kiffin's right hand man or co-defensive coordinator. Marinelli's defense was a turnover creating machine last year in Chicago. According to Spencer, his players raved about him at last year's Pro Bowl. I think Marinelli was a key hire and should quell most concerns about Monte.

IMO, our inability to create turnovers has been as big a problem as our OL over the past 6 or so years. Unlike Eli and Ben, Tony rarely has a short field to work with after a turnover or simply additional offensive opportunities like those QBs . We frequently lose games by a small margin and an extra stop or an extra offensive possession (or 2) would definitely have turned some of these 8 or 9 win seasons into 10 or 11 win seasons easily. The one postseason game that I can recall multiple turnovers created by our defense was....the win against the Eagles! I'm sure that had nothing to do with it and it was just that Romo decided "not to be a choker" that day .

 

[Stash]

I'm not a big Kiffin guy either and also wonder if the game has passed him by a bit. HOWEVER, Marinelli makes me feel a whole lot better about our defense. I view him as Kiffin's right hand man or co-defensive coordinator. Marinelli's defense was a turnover creating machine last year in Chicago. According to Spencer, his players raved about him at last year's Pro Bowl. I think Marinelli was a key hire and should quell most concerns about Monte.

IMO, our inability to create turnovers has been as big a problem as our OL over the past 6 or so years. Unlike Eli and Ben, Tony rarely has a short field to work with after a turnover or simply additional offensive opportunities like those QBs . We frequently lose games by a small margin and an extra stop or an extra offensive possession (or 2) would definitely have turned some of these 8 or 9 win seasons into 10 or 11 win seasons easily. The one postseason game that I can recall multiple turnovers created by our defense was....the win against the Eagles! I'm sure that had nothing to do with it and it was just that Romo decided "not to be a choker" that day .

I agree.

The Marinelli hire makes me feel a bit better too.

Fingers crossed things work out.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

I will agree that the safeties on the Cowboys roster can't compare to the Seahawks safeties. Dallas does not have a proven safety on the team. They have hopes and prayers. That's it.

Yeah, I harp on this and totally agree of course. To have the last line of your D be so questionable is a bit scary, and will make your heart race when you see a deep ball thrown by the opposition pretty much the whole season. Nightmares of the opposition isolating our safeties last season along with other seasons cause we have sucked back there for sooooo long, have to pop into anyone's head.

'Play the young guys' just gives me the idea of what was said about the OL when we cut all those guys or when we gave Alan Ball a chance.....both with disastrous results. I hope for the best, but we really are out on a limb with this group of safeties, at least at other positions we have guys with experience....at safety we really have no experience at all other than Will 'I haven't had an interception since 2005' Allen.

 

[CyberB0b]

Did you watch that SEA secondary play last season? You're not excited by that prospect?

Richard Sherman 6' 3" 200 lbs
Brandon Browner 6' 4" 221 lbs
Kam Chancellor 6' 3" 232 lbs
Earl Thomas 5' 10" 202 lbs


Mo 6' 185 lbs
Carr 6' 210 lbs
Church 6' 2" 228 lbs
Johnson 6' 211 lbs


There is a big difference between a 6' 4" corner and a guy who is barely 6'. The Seahawks aren't the fastest bunch (besides Earl), but they are way more physical than Carr, and infinitely more physical that Mo. There is no comparison. Really, there isn't much comparison in the NFL. This is a new breed of defense playing in Seattle.

 

[Angus]

Piss poor team planning, it happens. Let's go out and get a coach that runs a defense that does not need expensive press corners considering that a very large amount of team resources is tied up in these corners that they don't need to run the coaches defense. How can anybody defend this totsl lack of planning?

Nobody defends a total lack of planning. At the time of the 2012 free agency and draft the plan was to win the East with Rob Ryan's people. You are tilting at windmills. Nobody at that time could anticipate needing different corners.

 

[Ultimategamer5567]

Crawford gives me hope for the D-line. If he can be solid along with a fully healthy Sean Lissemore we'll have a good DT rotation and a really good defense this year.