Cowboys getting some love here

[aikemirv]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...er-rankings-week-4-patriots-reclaim-no-1-spot

I actually would not rank them that high.

Eli getting a bit of criticism for what he has always done. Lucky he did not have 3 picks in that game

 

[Alexander]

Interesting as USA Today has them ranked as the worst 2-1 team in the league. Below the Rams even.

http://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/201...boys-in-playoff-spot-worse-nfl-team-over-500/

 

[Direwolf63]

The Cowboys are ranked too high, but whatever. It's not like these rankings matter.

 

[SDCowboy]

Ranked 9th seems high. Like really high. No way with our defense we are a top 10 team.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Hard to imagine the Cowboys are the 9th best team in the league with that defense.

 

[CATCH17]

Hard to imagine the Cowboys are the 9th best team in the league with that defense.

There is a lot of bad defense being played right now.


What we have that other teams don't have is the ability to hold onto the ball.

We just have to do everything possible to avoid a game winning drive for our opponents with our defense on the field.

 

[Aven8]

Eliot Harrison is a cowboy homer.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

I believe they're sixth or seventh in point differential. WaPo has them 8th. SBN has them 16th. Yahoo 15th. Bleacher Report 7th. CBS 9th. ESPN 11th. And USA Today still trolling at 19th. 538 also has them in 19th but their last 5 games from last season are still a substantial part of their ELO. Lot of variation but I'm not sure why their spot is disconcerting to people here. They're winning games and have more room for improvement than most teams

 

[Sydla]

Yes, there is definitely more room for improvement on the Cowboys.................

If somehow two pro bowl DL and a stud MLB fall out of the sky.

 

[aikemirv]

I believe they're sixth or seventh in point differential. WaPo has them 8th. SBN has them 16th. Yahoo 15th. Bleacher Report 7th. CBS 9th. ESPN 11th. And USA Today still trolling at 19th. 538 also has them in 19th but their last 5 games from last season are still a substantial part of their ELO. Lot of variation but I'm not sure why their spot is disconcerting to people here. They're winning games and have more room for improvement than most teams

I'm not disconcerted, but I am surprised. I think around 12th-15th is about the right area at this point.

 

[ConceptCoop]

I'm not disconcerted, but I am surprised. I think around 12th-15th is about the right area at this point.

I'd agree with this. But will point out that I doubt there is much separation between #9 and, say, #17 right now. I'd place us below the Cards and Panthers at the very least, though. The Panthers have had a really tough schedule and I fully expect the Cardinals to get it together. Their defense is too talented to simply be broken.

 

[weaver21]

Cowboys are playing well. There's plenty of room for improvement, but their definitely playing good football right now. The offense is starting to find it's rhythm with the running game as Zeke gets more comfortable and Dak continues to play out of his mind right now. The defense is a mixed bag as their pass rush is non-existent right now and their run defense has been up and down, but they've come up with key stops through the first three games, the secondary is playing solid and they've got some turnovers as well which is something we didn't do at all last year. The teams with lethal passing attacks are going to dominate this defense (ex. Packers, Steelers) unfortunately and that might be our downfall again. Have to improve that pass rush this offseason, that has to be the no. 1 priority.

 

[Gameover]

I actually like the switches they made on defense. I think Craw will be more effective at DE w/ the return of Lawrence. Rod may have patched together a nice little group.

Power rankings are useless.

 

[Ken]

Hard to imagine the Cowboys are the 9th best team in the league with that defense.

#10 in scoring defense and killer offense.

 

[ConceptCoop]

I actually like the switches they made on defense. I think Craw will be more effective at DE. Rod may have patched together a nice little group.

I need to see more from Crawford at DE to feel good about him there. Massie is absolute garbage at RT and while he got a sack in week 2, he didn't offer any consistent push outside of that.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Yes, there is definitely more room for improvement on the Cowboys.................

If somehow two pro bowl DL and a stud MLB fall out of the sky.

Yeah Romo won't come back and their formula isn't working anyway. Dallas is 10th in points against but people think they have no business in the top 10 because of their defense.

But I'll give you credit. You didn't mention the Eagles in this post.

A weak defense being protected by their offense and causing turnovers, being tough to score on because their offense creates pressure on the other team. We've seen this movie before. The ending was spoiled but that team was the best team in the NFC that year IMO. With worse talent on defense.

 

[Gameover]

I need to see more from Crawford at DE to feel good about him there. Massie is absolute garbage at RT and while he got a sack in week 2, he didn't offer any consistent push outside of that.

we'll see.

 

[Sydla]

I actually like the switches they made on defense. I think Craw will be more effective at DE w/ the return of Lawrence. Rod may have patched together a nice little group.

Power rankings are useless.

Yeah, he might not be a great DE but Crawford seems better out there than at the 3 Tech.

Hopefully Davis can provide some edge rush.

 

[ConceptCoop]

A weak defense being protected by their offense and causing turnovers, being tough to score on because their offense creates pressure on the other team. We've seen this movie before. The ending was spoiled but that team was the best team in the NFC that year IMO. With worse talent on defense.

While I think that's the upside (2014), I think it's highly unlikely. Romo was top 3 in MVP voting that year and I don't think we're likely to see that level of play from the QB spot anytime soon. I think the dropoff from 14' Romo to Dak/16' Romo is likely enough to cost us a few games.

 

[Sydla]

Yeah Romo won't come back and their formula isn't working anyway. Dallas is 10th in points against but people think they have no business in the top 10 because of their defense.

But I'll give you credit. You didn't mention the Eagles in this post.

A weak defense being protected by their offense and causing turnovers, being tough to score on because their offense creates pressure on the other team. We've seen this movie before. The ending was spoiled but that team was the best team in the NFC that year IMO. With worse talent on defense.

In 2014, this defense finished 2nd in the league in turnovers. That was a big reason why the defense wasn't completely exposed against good teams. They just were fortunate to generate a lot of turnovers.

This defense? They are on pace to generate around 20 turnovers which would rank them around 22nd-24th in the league if past year's are any indication.

So no, this defense is not causing turnovers like the 2014 team did. So that's going to have to improve IMO. Hopefully it will if Davis and Lawrence can provide some more pressure resulting in QBs making quicker decisions, etc.