percyhoward
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I know it's obvious, but here are some specifics.
These are the rankings in the three stats with the highest win correlations, for both offense and defense. Only Seattle ranked as high as 10th in all six categories in the regular season. New England ranked in the top 10 in five of the six categories.
offense
points per drive
Dal 2nd
NE 3rd
Sea 9th
drive success rate
Dal 4th
NE 5th
Sea 10th
passer rating
Dal 1st
NE 5th
Sea 7th
Here's where we need to catch up...
defense
points per drive
Sea 2nd
NE 8th
Dal 16th
drive success rate
Sea 3rd
NE 16th
Dal 24th
passer rating
Sea 5th
NE 10th
Dal 13th
because of this...
Net Yards/Pass Attempt Allowed
3rd Seahawks 5.5
13th Patriots 6.2
27th Cowboys 6.9
and this...
TD per Drive Allowed
2nd Seahawks .152
5th Patriots .170
23rd Cowboys .230
Rushing TD Allowed
2nd Patriots 6
5th Seahawks 8
31st Cowboys 18
Even though Dallas allowed opposing QB only a 71.6 rating in the red zone (compared to 94.0 against the Pats, and 115.2 vs. Seattle), the Cowboys could not stop the run inside their 20. In fact, the ease with which opposing offenses ran on us in the red zone helped keep their passing TD totals down, and helped that defensive passer rating.
Dallas' run defense ranked 28th in average gain allowed in the red zone, and 30th in first down percentage allowed in the red zone.
Net yards per pass attempt is simply yards per pass attempt factoring in sacks and sack yardage. Offensively, Dallas led the NFL in this category. Defensively we ranked 27th. Although our NY/A allowed improved slightly over the last four games of the regular season from 6.9 to 6.6, it went up to 7.6 in the playoffs. That was 3rd-worst among playoff teams (NE 5.2, Sea 5.9). You can't get away with that number without forcing multiple turnovers.
Despite all of this, Dallas had only a slightly below average defense in 2014. Part of that was the fact that we led the league in takeaways per drive. Most of it was that, when teams weren't scoring on us, we were very good at keeping them out of field goal range, even without forcing turnovers. Looking only at the opponents' drives that did not end in turnovers, 61% were scoreless. That ranked 12th in the league.
In the next couple of years that are this team's window, we need to at the very least maintain this level of defense, and preferably improve on it significantly. To paraphrase an old coach, we got to the doorstep this year. We even knocked on the door. Improvement on defense can help us kick that sucker in.
These are the rankings in the three stats with the highest win correlations, for both offense and defense. Only Seattle ranked as high as 10th in all six categories in the regular season. New England ranked in the top 10 in five of the six categories.
offense
points per drive
Dal 2nd
NE 3rd
Sea 9th
drive success rate
Dal 4th
NE 5th
Sea 10th
passer rating
Dal 1st
NE 5th
Sea 7th
Here's where we need to catch up...
defense
points per drive
Sea 2nd
NE 8th
Dal 16th
drive success rate
Sea 3rd
NE 16th
Dal 24th
passer rating
Sea 5th
NE 10th
Dal 13th
because of this...
Net Yards/Pass Attempt Allowed
3rd Seahawks 5.5
13th Patriots 6.2
27th Cowboys 6.9
and this...
TD per Drive Allowed
2nd Seahawks .152
5th Patriots .170
23rd Cowboys .230
Rushing TD Allowed
2nd Patriots 6
5th Seahawks 8
31st Cowboys 18
Even though Dallas allowed opposing QB only a 71.6 rating in the red zone (compared to 94.0 against the Pats, and 115.2 vs. Seattle), the Cowboys could not stop the run inside their 20. In fact, the ease with which opposing offenses ran on us in the red zone helped keep their passing TD totals down, and helped that defensive passer rating.
Dallas' run defense ranked 28th in average gain allowed in the red zone, and 30th in first down percentage allowed in the red zone.
Net yards per pass attempt is simply yards per pass attempt factoring in sacks and sack yardage. Offensively, Dallas led the NFL in this category. Defensively we ranked 27th. Although our NY/A allowed improved slightly over the last four games of the regular season from 6.9 to 6.6, it went up to 7.6 in the playoffs. That was 3rd-worst among playoff teams (NE 5.2, Sea 5.9). You can't get away with that number without forcing multiple turnovers.
Despite all of this, Dallas had only a slightly below average defense in 2014. Part of that was the fact that we led the league in takeaways per drive. Most of it was that, when teams weren't scoring on us, we were very good at keeping them out of field goal range, even without forcing turnovers. Looking only at the opponents' drives that did not end in turnovers, 61% were scoreless. That ranked 12th in the league.
In the next couple of years that are this team's window, we need to at the very least maintain this level of defense, and preferably improve on it significantly. To paraphrase an old coach, we got to the doorstep this year. We even knocked on the door. Improvement on defense can help us kick that sucker in.
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