Cowlishaw: Pressure on Cowboys' No. 10 defense; rise up next two games or it's doomsday

waving monkey

waving monkey

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,540
Reaction score
14,930
Home > Sports > Columnists > Tim Cowlishaw

Cowlishaw: Pressure on Cowboys' No. 10 defense; rise up next two games or it's doomsday

share3.png


1

2

0

5AAhttp://www.***BANNED-URL***/skins/dmn/gfx/size-up.pnghttp://www.***BANNED-URL***/skins/dmn/gfx/size-down.png
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/incoming/20140908-20140907_jla_sm8_121_39649209.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/20140907_JLA_SM8_121_39649209.JPG
Denny Medley/Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
After an opening week loss, the Cowboys turn their attention to the 1-0 Tennessee Titans. Here are 10 things you need to know about the Titans.
1 of 11 http://www.***BANNED-URL***/resources/images/slideshow/ss-right.png
Equipped with No. 10 ranking, next two games give defense chance to establish itself
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/incoming/20130309-ns_timcowlishaw3_29837932.jpg.ece/ALTERNATES/h75/NS_TIMCOWLISHAW3_29837932.JPG
Tim Cowlishaw



wtcowlishaw@***BANNED-URL***

Published: 13 September 2014 08:44 PM

Updated: 13 September 2014 11:23 PM

Related
Predict the Cowboys game and win tickets or a $50 gift card.

It's free and easy. Click here to play.
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/incoming/20140904-ax077_13b3_9.jpg.ece/ALTERNATES/w130h200/AX077_13B3_9.JPG
  • Cowboys CB Scandrick won't play Sunday at Tennessee Titans

  • Cowboys Gameday: Matchups with Titans, keys to game, more

  • Week 2 NFL picks: Who's got the Cowboys? Who's on the Titans?

  • Gosselin: Tony Romo needs to play perfect football for Cowboys to win
In one of the great turnarounds in Cowboys history, the defense went from No. 32 in 2013 to No. 10. Let’s stand in celebration and put aside the fact that we are all of 60 minutes into the 2014 season.

These next two weeks — Sunday at Tennessee, next Sunday in St. Louis — mark the time to shine for the Dallas defense. And I’m not being facetious.

There is not another set of back-to-back games on the schedule where the team will face quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends with a combined zero Pro Bowl trips between them.

If the 0-1 Cowboys are to get on their feet in any way before Drew Brees and New Orleans bring about 30,000 Saints fans to Arlington for the next home game, the defense has to carry its weight in these two games.

That doesn’t mean none of these opposing backs and receivers can play at all. Tennessee quarterback Jake Locker has his moments and was solid in a win over Kansas City last week while Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright (of Baylor) is coming off of his first 1,000-yard season. Next week, the Cowboys will see Zac Stacy, who was one of the league’s top backs in the last half of 2013.

But if there’s a time for this defense to feel good about itself, to feel as though it has a chance to contribute, it’s got to be in these first two road games against offenses trying to find their way. In Tennessee’s case, the Titans have gone to a committee of Shonn Greene, Dexter McCluster, Leon Washington and promising rookie Bishop Sankey to replace former 2,000-yard rusher Chris Johnson, now a Jet.

link/http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...e-rise-up-next-two-games-or-it-s-doomsday.ece
 
waving monkey

waving monkey

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,540
Reaction score
14,930
  • The Dallas offense isnt [not]going to turnover three balls in the first quarter this game.
  • The defense made that kinda ranking [10th] is better then the 16th ranking I was hoping for
  • I do not believe that Romo will be that jittery with slow recognition this game.
  • As young as this team is they'll be getting better each game. It' might be ugly
  • I like dots
 
CCBoy

CCBoy

Well-Known Member
Messages
47,011
Reaction score
22,604
This game, I'm expecting 1/3 of the Titan drives halted.

The Red Zone defense being very tough today.

Dallas has a +2 turn-over advantage as well.
 
Fredd

Fredd

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,995
Reaction score
2,238
#10 defense, but #1 in our hearts!!!

I'll settle for more points by the cowboys than the opponent...rankings after week 1 are meaingless
 
TwoDeep3

TwoDeep3

Well-Known Member
Messages
14,506
Reaction score
17,339
CowboysZone LOYAL Fan
A top ten defense is why stats are meaningless to me.

Relish this, it will fade like a heatless sun.
 
xwalker

xwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
57,193
Reaction score
64,699
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
morasp said:
It's just one week but it's pretty funny being a top ten defense. There probably weren't too many people predicting that. The Saints are rated 32 that's funny.
Click to expand...

When people were saying in the off-season that trading for DLine help would solve the problems (i.e. trade for Suh, etc..), I said we don't really know where the biggest problems will be with this team. There were just too many question marks. The DLine might end up OK and the problem might be the secondary or Romo's back or any number of things.

Coming into 2013 most of us thought that the OLine was going to be the #1 problem, but it turned out to be a strength of the team while the DLine and defense was the problem.

I guess I'm thinking all the way back to pre-draft discussions about taking all DLine vs Best Player Available.

Now the DL might come out and stink this week, but they definitely were not the reason for the loss last week.

The other thing that is interesting is that there has been much bashing of Claiborne this week, but I don't remember him giving up big yardage or TDs in game 1. Maybe he did, but I don't remember it. It seems that Claiborne and the rest of the defense must have done something right to get a top 10 defensive ranking.
 
AsthmaField

AsthmaField

Outta bounds
Messages
26,489
Reaction score
44,544
xwalker said:
The other thing that is interesting is that there has been much bashing of Claiborne this week, but I don't remember him giving up big yardage or TDs in game 1. Maybe he did, but I don't remember it. It seems that Claiborne and the rest of the defense must have done something right to get a top 10 defensive ranking.
Click to expand...

IMO, people were upset at how Claiborne was playing... as in what coverage he was running and how far off the ball he was playing. Of course that is the coaches doing, not his.

A couple-three more games will tell us where Morris is at this point, I think.

As for the top 10 rating... I just can't put much stock into that until there are a few more games to average in there. At this point, any team could have skewed stats.
 
CCBoy

CCBoy

Well-Known Member
Messages
47,011
Reaction score
22,604
It's still a crawl, walk, run situation in a person's career...as well as for the start of each season.
 
morasp

morasp

Well-Known Member
Messages
8,439
Reaction score
6,850
xwalker said:
When people were saying in the off-season that trading for DLine help would solve the problems (i.e. trade for Suh, etc..), I said we don't really know where the biggest problems will be with this team. There were just too many question marks. The DLine might end up OK and the problem might be the secondary or Romo's back or any number of things.

Coming into 2013 most of us thought that the OLine was going to be the #1 problem, but it turned out to be a strength of the team while the DLine and defense was the problem.

I guess I'm thinking all the way back to pre-draft discussions about taking all DLine vs Best Player Available.

Now the DL might come out and stink this week, but they definitely were not the reason for the loss last week.

The other thing that is interesting is that there has been much bashing of Claiborne this week, but I don't remember him giving up big yardage or TDs in game 1. Maybe he did, but I don't remember it. It seems that Claiborne and the rest of the defense must have done something right to get a top 10 defensive ranking.
Click to expand...

Good point. The Rams probably have one of the better D-Lines in the league but they still got beat last week. I don't hate Claiborne either but it did seem like the secondary could use a veteran presence back there. I was hoping Scandrick would get back.
 
AsthmaField

AsthmaField

Outta bounds
Messages
26,489
Reaction score
44,544
morasp said:
Good point. The Rams probably have one of the better D-Lines in the league but they still got beat last week. I don't hate Claiborne either but it did seem like the secondary could use a veteran presence back there. I was hoping Scandrick would get back.
Click to expand...

Man, I really hope Scandrick can play by next week. We could really use him.
 
morasp

morasp

Well-Known Member
Messages
8,439
Reaction score
6,850
AsthmaField said:
Man, I really hope Scandrick can play by next week. We could really use him.
Click to expand...

I looked it up and Wes Welker isn't playing either so at least there wasn't any bias. But if he's not back next week I'll be disappointed too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top