Cowboys secondary #1 in NFL per PFF

[Phoenix]

Wowsers. Never expected this.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-secondaries-this-season



1. Dallas Cowboys (Rank entering Week 7: 4)
Top overall grade: S Barry Church, 86.2 (No. 9 among safeties)

Top coverage grade: CB Morris Claiborne, 85.1 (No. 12 among CBs)

Top run-defense grade: S Barry Church, 86.0 (No. 11)

Most snaps: CB Brandon Carr, 1,013

One of the biggest reasons for the Cowboys’ success this season has been the turnaround of the secondary. After having just one defensive back with an above-average coverage grade last season, all eight players with at least 100 snaps in 2016 earned average or above-average overall and coverage grades. Although they lack an elite-caliber player, this group has played consistently well as a unit. Byron Jones, Barry Church, Morris Claiborne, and J.J. Wilcox have all earned career-high overall and coverage grades this season, while rookie Anthony Brown has played well down the stretch in Claiborne’s absence.

 

[DoctorChicken]

Hate pff but I'll take it.

 

[Direwolf63]

Yeah.

The back end has been a lot better, but even I have trouble believeing that.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Coaching. Unit is more more assignment sound then they have been in a very long time. You dont see alot of blown cover. In 2017 when the Cowboys give up a play its someone who made the play as opposed to blowing assignments

 

[BoysfanfromCanada]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

Bend don't break will allow yards all day. Teams were just settling for 3 instead of 7 most of the time in the red zone, and then turnovers and sacks came in bunches late

 

[Sydla]

They are not that good, no offense to PFF.

Football Outsiders has them as a middle of the pack pass defense.

Whatever you think of them, they are about to get an enormous test this weekend.

 

[LandryFan]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

Me thinks PFF is pff-ing something...

 

[Blackspider214]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

How many of those yards meant anything? We had leads and were content in giving up yards inside the 20. Yards inside the 20s are easy to come by.

 

[perrykemp]

4167 yards allowed isn't all that great considering how little time the defense is on the field relative to other defense.

Ultimately the sum is better than parts and I've been utterly and pleasantly surprised at the Cowboys pass defense performance this season -- stats be damned.

 

[Nova]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

They aren't the number one pass defense, but that number is as highly inflated as our number 1 run defense.

Dallas was 12th in YPA against this year.

 

[T-RO]

Wowsers. Never expected this.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-secondaries-this-season



1. Dallas Cowboys (Rank entering Week 7: 4)

Something seems amiss. The ranking is based a lot on Claiborne, who has played only 1/3 of the season and they have the phrase, "rank entering week 7".

I do think our secondary has been good this year...and even better since we started getting a push up front.

 

[superonyx]

And yet we finished 26th in the league in yards given up via the pass with 4167 yards.

Hmmm...me thinks PFF is full of something.

When you are ahead in most games teams will throw on you more than against a team who is trailing in most games. I believe the truth lies in between. Is out run defense so great? Is our pass defense so bad? Nah. Stats only tell a piece of the story for both run and pass defense.

 

[speedkilz88]

Something seems amiss. The ranking is based a lot on Claiborne, who has played only 1/3 of the season and they have the phrase, "rank entering week 7".

I do think our secondary has been good this year...and even better since we started getting a push up front.

Next to each team name, we’ve noted the unit’s ranking entering Week 7 in parenthesis.

 

[speedkilz88]

19. Green Bay Packers (28)
Top overall grade: S Morgan Burnett, 85.3 (No. 12)

Top coverage grade: S Morgan Burnett, 80.0 (No. 25)

Top run-defense grade: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, 88.9 (No. 8)

Most snaps: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, 1,092

The Packers may have been hampered by injuries more than any other secondary this season. No. 1 cornerback Sam Shields missed basically the entire season, and No. 2 and No. 3 corners Quinten Rollins and Damarious Randall have been banged up for most of the year and struggled because of it. Ladarius Gunter has had struggles with certain receivers, but he’s preformed pretty well for a No. 4 cornerback that has been thrust into the starting lineup. The Packers’ safety pairing has performed very well, with both players finishing among the top-20 graded safeties for a second-straight year. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is one of only two defenders at any position in the entire league to play every defensive snap this year.

 

[Direwolf63]

19. Green Bay Packers (28)
Top overall grade: S Morgan Burnett, 85.3 (No. 12)

Top coverage grade: S Morgan Burnett, 80.0 (No. 25)

Top run-defense grade: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, 88.9 (No. 8)

Most snaps: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, 1,092

The Packers may have been hampered by injuries more than any other secondary this season. No. 1 cornerback Sam Shields missed basically the entire season, and No. 2 and No. 3 corners Quinten Rollins and Damarious Randall have been banged up for most of the year and struggled because of it. Ladarius Gunter has had struggles with certain receivers, but he’s preformed pretty well for a No. 4 cornerback that has been thrust into the starting lineup. The Packers’ safety pairing has performed very well, with both players finishing among the top-20 graded safeties for a second-straight year. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is one of only two defenders at any position in the entire league to play every defensive snap this year.

Interesting comment about the safeties because the Packers are quite vulnerable in the deep middle part of the secondary. At least according to some charts posted by Percy.

 

[guag]

So let me get this straight.

We finished the season ranked #1 against the run at 83.5 yards/game (#2 is 88.3 yards/game), and we also have the #1 rated secondary according to PFF?

Oh yeah, and I just read that we've had more sacks the last 6 games than anyone else?

Is this real life?

But no, we're not improved at all since our last game against Green Bay. Only they are improved.

 

[Bullflop]

As much as I'd like nothing better than to swallow that PFF rating, I'll take it with a grain of salt. I think they're rating Mo on what he did previous to his groin injury and Carr's rating seems overstated, based upon it being for his number of starts. They may be OK but #1? That's pushing it, folks.

 

[MileyDancer]

So let me get this straight.

We finished the season ranked #1 against the run at 83.5 yards/game (#2 is 88.3 yards/game), and we also have the #1 rated secondary according to PFF?

Oh yeah, and I just read that we've had more sacks the last 6 games than anyone else?

Is this real life?

But no, we're not improved at all since our last game against Green Bay. Only they are improved.

This isn't the same Rodgers we faced earlier this season.

(don't worry, I'll slap mySELF)

 

[guag]

This isn't the same Rodgers we faced earlier this season.

(don't worry, I'll slap mySELF)