Comparing 2016 Defense to 2014

[Toruk_Makto]

Dallas' offense ranked 2nd in TOP in 2014, and 3rd in 2015, which means the offense gave the defense just as much rest both seasons. The difference in 2015 wasn't offensive TOP, it was the much harder schedule of offenses, and the fact that opponents were seldom playing from behind.

The Cowboys won the TOP battle in Green Bay, so the strategy of controlling the clock was successful. The problem wasn't that the defense was tired, it was that the defense allowed Rodgers a 124.5 passer rating.

After reading this.... We definitely needed to go out and draft Zeke...

 

[Jstopper]

He claims the running game was better in 2015 than it was in 2014 and you're calling me ignorant? You're just one of Percy's lapdogs. You'll jump as high as he tells you to. lol He and Adam have some of you under their spell.

Right. Maybe I'm the type of person who likes facts to backup opinions. Meanwhile you're too busy telling your millions of followers What to think about what ESPN says lol

 

[KJJ]

Right. Maybe I'm the type of person who likes facts to backup opinions. Meanwhile you're too busy telling your millions of followers What to think about what ESPN says lol

You just exposed yourself as one of his lapdogs now run along and go play fetch with him.

 

[KJJ]

Meanwhile you're too busy telling your millions of followers What to think about what ESPN says lol

That's all you are is a "follower" you listen to what's posted here by those who don't have a clue. All you do is repeat what you hear from others they all have control of you. lol This is the guy who has you under his spell.

The 2014 offense was better than 2015 at just about everything except controlling the clock.

He makes that comment but this is what he was spinning last Nov. You wanted to stick your nose in now have fun defending that. lol


http://cowboyszone.com/threads/this-years-running-game-is-better.337436/

 

[percyhoward]

"The 2014 offense was better than 2015 at just about everything except controlling the clock." He makes that comment but this is what he was spinning last Nov

You're acting like there's a contradiction there, but having an effective running game and controlling the clock don't mean much if you can't pass.

 

[Sydla]

The 12 fewer plays the defense spent off the field was a comparison between the 2013 defense and the 2014 defense.

There was a typo in my post. The article was from October of 2014. As I said, by the end of the season the stat had leveled out and the average was only 7 more plays a game.

 

[jazzcat22]

And has been shown to you, the stats tend to show there really isn't a big difference there either.

People have long overestimated the effect Elliott and the run game will have on this defense. The single biggest non-defensive player that can affect the defense is Romo, not Elliott.

As Rogerthat said, the difference between 2014 and 2015 was we were scoring in 2014 because we had Romo. And that's the point most of us have been making. People are putting too much emphasis on Elliott when in fact it's really Romo and the passing game that determines the fate of the 2016 season.

Look at the difference from 2013 to 2014, when we committed to the running game. The defense from 2014 to 2015 stayed about the same. It was the offense that failed from scoring. Therefore putting the defense in bad situations. So with better players on BOTH sides of the ball, and a full healthy offense again. This team will be better. Those are facts, for any team as I don't need some fancy stats to tell me that. I would bet you that even NE think they are a better team going into this year as opposed to last year. All teams do.

However I posted in another thread, but can't recall which one right now. Showing some stats from the 2013, 2014, 2015 stats on the defense.
You just don't like Elliott, and you just don't like the team, have you ever had a post of anything remotely positive?

 

[jazzcat22]

Show me the "reports". Because I have doubts that noteworthy media outlets would make such a big mistake as that. It took me about 10 seconds to look up the number of plays the opponents ran against us for 2013, 2014 and 2015 with google and I was able to confirm them. If I recall, you were one of the ones saying that there was a 10+ play difference between the 2014 and 2015 teams as well which got refuted quickly.

And the second part of your post is accurate. But again, that has more to do with Romo and the passing game being here to generate points than the running game keeping the defense "fresh".

That was me that made that comment. As I also said that was what was reported on ESPN or NFLN. I also replied saying they should have said from 2103 to 2014, not 2014 to 2105. For which I went to pro football reference site to look it all up. And then posted it.

IRRC there was a 7.5 plays less per game from 2013 to 2014, and 1 difference from 2014 to 2105...which other stats showed that even with a bad offense in 2015, the D stat wise was about the same from 2104 to 2105. Therefore with a better offense and running game. The d should improve again by going back to the running game. Therefore the pick of Elliot helps more than a DB not getting interceptions as in Ramsey.

 

[Sydla]

Look at the difference from 2013 to 2014, when we committed to the running game. The defense from 2014 to 2015 stayed about the same. It was the offense that failed from scoring. Therefore putting the defense in bad situations. So with better players on BOTH sides of the ball, and a full healthy offense again. This team will be better. Those are facts, for any team as I don't need some fancy stats to tell me that. I would bet you that even NE think they are a better team going into this year as opposed to last year. All teams do.

However I posted in another thread, but can't recall which one right now. Showing some stats from the 2013, 2014, 2015 stats on the defense.
You just don't like Elliott, and you just don't like the team, have you ever had a post of anything remotely positive?

LOL. If you are going to make such a interesting comment, at least be accurate. I actually like Elliott. I think he was the best back in this draft. I just don't think the Cowboys needed to use the 4th pick on a TB to get a strong running game with this OL. I've said about a billion times if the Cowboys could have worked a trade to slide a few spots and still get Elliott, that would have been fine by me. I was a big fan of Collins in the 3rd and Tapper was a pet cat of mine.

I also think the Cowboys are the best team in the NFC E and should win it but I think people are underselling the Skins a bit as competition.

I think the Cowboys can contend in the NFC if..................... they can somehow find a way to get to the QB far more often than they did in 2014 or 2015.

But other than that, keep rambling inane thoughts about how I hate everything about the Cowboys.

 

[Sydla]

That was me that made that comment. As I also said that was what was reported on ESPN or NFLN. I also replied saying they should have said from 2103 to 2014, not 2014 to 2105. For which I went to pro football reference site to look it all up. And then posted it.

IRRC there was a 7.5 plays less per game from 2013 to 2014, and 1 difference from 2014 to 2105...which other stats showed that even with a bad offense in 2015, the D stat wise was about the same from 2104 to 2105. Therefore with a better offense and running game. The d should improve again by going back to the running game. Therefore the pick of Elliot helps more than a DB not getting interceptions as in Ramsey.

The D gets helped if the offense scores. I don't think anyone has denied that.

But scoring with this team is largely tied to Romo, not who is playing TB.

In other words, I would bet a heavy sum of money that the defense would be no better or possibly worse in 2016 if Romo breaks his collarbone in week 2 again and the team will likely be picking the Top 10 again.

 

[jazzcat22]

The D gets helped if the offense scores. And scoring with this team is largely tied to Romo, not who is playing TB.

But yet it is the TB job to help keep Romo upright on those passing plays.

 

[percyhoward]

By the end of the season the stat had leveled out and the average was only 7 more plays a game.

And half of that improvement was because of the defense itself.

Plays per Possession
2013
offense 5.5 (18th)
defense 6.1 (29th)

2014
offense 6.0 (10th)
defense 5.7 (12th)

 

[gmoney112]

The defense will be significantly better just because of Lee, Thornton, a real safety in Jones, and the development of Crawford.

The talent on that 2014 team was terrible when you actually see it listed like that. I mean, they might have had the worst talent in the league that season.

They did force turnovers though, mainly because of Romo and the offense, but also because of the Cover 3 base we ran that year.

I'm interested to see if Eberflus and Rod go back to that Cover 3 that we got away from last year. Very interested actually.

 

[Brooksey]

If there's ever been a more ignored, more misunderstood concept than 2014 TOP vs. 2015 TOP, I haven't seen it.

TOP without yardage and points does very little except keep you from getting blown out. We controlled the clock in 2014 to control the pace of the game and keep the opposing offense off the field. In 2015 we ran down the clock so we didn't get blown out. We clearly missed Romo and Murray. Although we maintained our time of possession in 2015 we fell off dramatically in yards and points per drive.

 

[percyhoward]

We controlled the clock in 2014 to control the pace of the game and keep the opposing offense off the field. In 2015 we ran down the clock so we didn't get blown out.

The confusion is that many aren't aware that the offensive TOP was basically the same both years.

 

[KJJ]

There was a typo in my post. The article was from October of 2014. As I said, by the end of the season the stat had leveled out and the average was only 7 more plays a game.

There was no typo you recounted wrong. You claimed I was amongst a group who said there was a 10+ play difference between the 2014 team and the 2015 team and that it was quickly refuted. You were wrong! What I've been posting has been "reported" by NFL Network for 2 years that the Cowboys defense in 2014 spent 12 fewer plays on the field than the 2013 defense. The ESPN article I posted yesterday confirmed what NFL Network has been reporting and you have yet to provide anything that disproves the findings of both Networks.

 

[KJJ]

You're acting like there's a contradiction there, but having an effective running game and controlling the clock don't mean much if you can't pass.

Not having an effective running game especially in short yardage or having a real threat in the backfield didn't help our passing game. There's a lot of examples I can point to last season where the running game hampered our passing. In the Tampa game with less than 6 minutes to play and the Cowboys leading McFadden took a 7 yard loss on a first down play with the Cowboys hoping to milk the clock and it put them in a passing situation the next 2 downs.

Harder to pass effectively when you're put behind the chains like that. We saw how bad Romo's passing efficiency was vs Carolina with McFadden having 3 negative carries on his first 7 attempts. In 3 of the 4 games Romo started our RBs averaged under 4.0 a carry. When you examine the running game last season especially in short yardage and critical situations it's pretty easy to see why we went RB with our first pick.

 

[Kaiser]

The confusion is that many aren't aware that the offensive TOP was basically the same both years.

If that is the point, it would reach more people if you started your own thread on it instead of highjacking this one.

 

[percyhoward]

Not having an effective running game especially in short yardage didn't help the passing game. There's a lot of examples I can point to last season where the running game hampered our passing.

I'm sure we could talk about individual plays forever, but when you look at every play of every game, Dallas was much, much better running than passing in 2015.

 

[percyhoward]

If that is the point, it would reach more people if you started your own thread on it instead of highjacking this one.

These are the first two sentences of the OP:

"The strategy for 2016 will be identical to 2014 when the team went 12-4. Dallas will try to win with offense and have a “good enough” defense that stays fresh because the offense controls time of possession."