Cowboys defensive rankings during Super Bowl years

[plymkr]

I thought so too. Maybe they was ranked #1 in points allowed but 5th overall. Remember their defensive slogan? DWA "Defense with Attitude!" I think Kenny "The Shark" made that up.

I loved the swagger of that defense. The early 90's defenses had a swagger and intimidation that this franchise desperately needs.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

There’s just a lot of haters here who dominate anything positive trying to disprove it.

What was the point of this post?

"Hey guys! Here's the defensive rankings from before Dak was even born! SEE IT'S NOT DAKS FAULT HE NEEDS A TEAM!!"

That's literally what you did with this post lol

 

[Diehardblues]

There’s just a lot of haters here who dominate anything positive trying to disprove it.

That’s fine if you want to start a positive thread about Dak. But you don’t have to specifically call out a group as you did. Extremes on both sides are a problem.

My wife always says” you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem “.

 

[USArmyVet]

There’s just a lot of haters here who dominate anything positive trying to disprove it.

LOL....positive???!!!???? You post statistics only to follow that up with the bashing of "haters". If that is your idea of being positive then I have a bridge to sell you.

PS

As for the defense wins championships theory:

"Of the last 30 Super Bowls, 22 (73%) had a dominant offense. Of course, a dominant offense AND defense is expected to win Super Bowls, but surprisingly a dominant offense without a dominant defense (13 Super Bowls including last year’s) is also a more delicious recipe for success. On the other hand, there are only 5 games where a dominant defense without a dominant offense wins the Super Bowl (including the aforementioned 2015 Denver Broncos).

 

[coult44]

1971 they were 7th
1977 they were 8th
1992 they were 5th
1993 they were 2nd
1995 they were 3rd

Hopefully this will shut the Dak haters up but it won't. Can't wait to see the excuses coming.

Im gonna post this every time I see someone throw out the term “Dak Hater” . There are about 5 people in this entire community who flat out hate Dak. All these fake news posts are people arguing with supposed people who really don't exist. It’s crazy how many of you eristic folks have completely made up this fake argument.

 

[Sydla]

Dallas defensive rankings by year:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

2016 - #5
2017 - #13
2018 - #6
2019 - #11
2020 - #28

So Dak had a top 5 and a top 10 defense in two seasons, and a top 15 defense twice. The only year he had a god-awful defense was in 2020.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY DAK KEEPS GETTING THE POOR DEFENSE EXCUSE WHEN HIS DEFENSE WAS BAD ONLY 1 SEASON..........

If you think this defense was really all that good in any of these years, I have some swamp land to sell you.

2016 was an aberration. They were 5th in points per game but that was largely a by product of the fact they controlled the clock and kept offenses off the field. For example, in that year, their points allowed per drive was actually much lower around the mid teens, I believe. That's because they weren't a very good defense at stopping people from scoring. They were mediocre. They just didn't face the number of drives many other defenses faced.

Go further. The Top 5 points allowed per game defenses were: Patriots, Giants, Seahawks, Broncos, Cowboys. Now look at their points allowed per drive.

NE was #1 in points allowed per drive
NYG were #2 in points allowed per drive
Seahawks were #4 in points allowed per drive
Denver was #3 in points allowed per drive
Cowboys were #14 in points allowed per drive

Who is the outlier there? Cowboys were #1 in time of possession that year, I believe. So in reality they protected what was a really mediocre defense. Same thing in 2018. They were 6th in points allowed per game but 13th in points per drive. Again, they just churned up clock and kept the other team's offense off the field.

This is not a defense of Dak mind you. But it's to point out this myth that the Cowboys had really good defenses a few times in the last few years is not really an accurate statement.

 

[Sydla]

I found it. Here’s 2016

https://www.footballdb.com/stats/teamstat.html?lg=NFL&yr=2016&type=reg&cat=T&group=D&conf=
Cowboys 14th ranked defense

And I’ve looked at site before. I think they break it down to passing, rushing, etc.

Unfortunately that’s how the NFL.com does it now too instead of total defense.

This highlights the silliness of ranking a defense. Yours is based on yards per game, the other posts were looking at points per game. Frankly, points per game makes more sense than yards per game to rank a defense because it isn't yards allowed that wins or loses a game, it's points. But even points per game is flawed because it's not a true indicator of defensive strength.

Case in point our 2016 defense was 5th in points allowed per game. But that's a misnomer because their points allowed was largely affected by the fact the defense faced less drives on average than other top defenses because our offense was #1 in TOP and kept opposing offenses off the field.

This is why I am intrigued by advanced stats like DVOA that takes in account many factors, tries to adjust for SOS, etc.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Yet what is it the Dak homers try to stuff down everyone's throats every day? Stats?

A group of stats used together can tell you the big picture. One stat alone can be manipulated.

Often times, people use stats incorrectly or for the wrong situation. Like when trolls like you use a team stat like W/L record to analyze a single players abilities or lack thereof.

 

[Diehardblues]

This highlights the silliness of ranking a defense. Yours is based on yards per game, the other posts were looking at points per game. Frankly, points per game makes more sense than yards per game to rank a defense because it isn't yards allowed that wins or loses a game, it's points. But even points per game is flawed because it's not a true indicator of defensive strength.

Case in point our 2016 defense was 5th in points allowed per game. But that's a misnomer because their points allowed was largely affected by the fact the defense faced less drives on average than other top defenses because our offense was #1 in TOP and kept opposing offenses off the field.

This is why I am intrigued by advanced stats like DVOA that takes in account many factors, tries to adjust for SOS, etc.

I hear ya..But there’s a logical and strategic reason the NFL has always used total yard as the official measurement.

It’s how we’ve ranked every great defense in NFL history.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Its the official measurement for the NFL. Always has been including all of the great defenses in Cowboys and NFL history.

I know what it is and who uses it. I dont agree that it accurately ranks defense abilities overall.

 

[CowboyRoy]

What do they actually use in the NFL to rank defenses? They should probably use a combo between points allowed and yards allowed. Even then it's not an exact science. Teams slip through the cracks and either look better or worse than they actually are.

The 2014 team reminded me a lot of the 2016 team with ball control. Same defense only they were ranked worse. More realistically.

To me the #1 is points allowed, #2 is run defense, #3 is turnovers #4 is sacks, #5 would be yards allowed.

 

[Sydla]

There’s a logical and strategic reason the NFL has always used total yard as the official measurement.

No there isn't. It originated way back when they only tracked basic stats like yards per game and points allowed per season.

Defensive rankings are largely unimportant to the NFL so they have no incentive to change something they've done for years. But anyone who is sane and logical can see that yards per game really isn't a very good way to rank a defense.

 

[CowboyRoy]

What do they actually use in the NFL to rank defenses? They should probably use a combo between points allowed and yards allowed. Even then it's not an exact science. Teams slip through the cracks and either look better or worse than they actually are.

The 2014 team reminded me a lot of the 2016 team with ball control. Same defense only they were ranked worse. More realistically.

What was good about the defenses of the Cowboys typically in the early Dak years is they were good at stopping the run. But when you needed that important stop or turnover or sack late in games they could rarely get it.

 

[Diehardblues]

If you think this defense was really all that good in any of these years, I have some swamp land to sell you.

2016 was an aberration. They were 5th in points per game but that was largely a by product of the fact they controlled the clock and kept offenses off the field. For example, in that year, their points allowed per drive was actually much lower around the mid teens, I believe. That's because they weren't a very good defense at stopping people from scoring. They were mediocre. They just didn't face the number of drives many other defenses faced.

Go further. The Top 5 points allowed per game defenses were: Patriots, Giants, Seahawks, Broncos, Cowboys. Now look at their points allowed per drive.

NE was #1 in points allowed per drive
NYG were #2 in points allowed per drive
Seahawks were #4 in points allowed per drive
Denver was #3 in points allowed per drive
Cowboys were #14 in points allowed per drive

Who is the outlier there? Cowboys were #1 in time of possession that year, I believe. So in reality they protected what was a really mediocre defense. Same thing in 2018. They were 6th in points allowed per game but 13th in points per drive. Again, they just churned up clock and kept the other team's offense off the field.

This is not a defense of Dak mind you. But it's to point out this myth that the Cowboys had really good defenses a few times in the last few years is not really an accurate statement.

Yep

I can only imagine fans didn’t watch all of these games or they’d recall knowing those weren’t great defenses.

 

[Cowpolk]

Ok I'm calling animal control right now

 

[Diehardblues]

No there isn't. It originated way back when they only tracked basic stats like yards per game and points allowed per season.

Defensive rankings are largely unimportant to the NFL so they have no incentive to change something they've done for years. But anyone who is sane and logical can see that yards per game really isn't a very good way to rank a defense.

It’s how we have ranked all of the great defenses to date.

Total yards translates to more opportunities to score.

Scoring is skewed by offensive turnovers for points and special teams points.

Again, all of these great defenses even this era have been ranked by total yards.

 

[Legend]

No there isn't. It originated way back when they only tracked basic stats like yards per game and points allowed per season.

Defensive rankings are largely unimportant to the NFL so they have no incentive to change something they've done for years. But anyone who is sane and logical can see that yards per game really isn't a very good way to rank a defense.

I prefer yards allowed a game because the Cowboys defenses of recent times have been playing bend but do not break.

How about playing to stop the opposing offenses completely?

However, the Cowboys defenses of recent times have not been that dominant.

 

[Diehardblues]

What was good about the defenses of the Cowboys typically in the early Dak years is they were good at stopping the run. But when you needed that important stop or turnover or sack late in games they could rarely get it.

Rushing stats can be skewed as well. For instance if we were controlling time of possession and getting off to early leads often our opponent would abort the running game needing to pass to catch up. Similar to what we had to do last year when falling behind early in games.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

2018 was ranked 6th in scoring and 7th in yards
2017 was 7th in yards but 13th in scoring
2016 was 5th best in scoring but only 14th in yards

And the offenses have been loaded if you're including the line

LOL.....who was the head coach????? Just asking.......

 

[Diehardblues]

I know what it is and who uses it. I dont agree that it accurately ranks defense abilities overall.

Believe what you will but it’s how we have ranked defenses . Including this era with Seattle, Denver, Baltimore and all of the great defenses.

It doesn’t mean it’s perfect but if we believe those were great defenses then it is what it is.

In most cases if they weren’t giving up much in yards they probably weren’t in points either since the basis of the yards measurement is it translates to more or less opportunities to score.

Scoring can be skewed with points off of turnovers and special teams scoring.