Dallas Badly Needs Kyle Wilber to Emerge

[silver]

Count me in with the sceptics who don’t think this year’s defense will not be good enough. Other than Demarcus Lawrence who appears to be an undersized DE, what have we added to last years all time worse defense? Melton? he simply replaces Hatcher. We haven’t added an impact player to this unit in a decade. How anybody expects above average results is beyond my comprehension.

 

[jday]

I would like to see Carter as the impact player; Durant as a solid, above average player; and, I would be happy with Wilber as the consistent player. If Durant (or whoever plays Mike) and Wilber play above those expectations I will be ecstatic!

At this point, I like to see all of that, but my hope is McClain can be the player he once was coming out of college minus the off-the-field issues. At his age, it really isn't that much a stretch.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

At this point, I like to see all of that, but my hope is McClain can be the player he once was coming out of college minus the off-the-field issues. At his age, it really isn't that much a stretch.

McClain could have a huge impact on this defense but given his past I do not dare to hope.

 

[AbeBeta]

Wilber emerge? He's a two down player -- that's even a bit of a misnomer since we run the nickel at least half the time. I'd argue he play the least important role on the D. If the best thing that happens on D is Wilber emerging, then we are in serious trouble

 

[erod]

Count me in with the sceptics who don’t think this year’s defense will not be good enough. Other than Demarcus Lawrence who appears to be an undersized DE, what have we added to last years all time worse defense? Melton? he simply replaces Hatcher. We haven’t added an impact player to this unit in a decade. How anybody expects above average results is beyond my comprehension.

It's not about above average results. It's about AVERAGE results. That would have equated to at least 10-6 a year ago.

The cast of defensive linemen to choose from now is far better than those vagabonds last year, and Melton is a much better player than Hatcher when healthy.

 

[erod]

Wilber emerge? He's a two down player -- that's even a bit of a misnomer since we run the nickel at least half the time. I'd argue he play the least important role on the D. If the best thing that happens on D is Wilber emerging, then we are in serious trouble

I agree with your last statement, but go back and watch the games once Wilber was moved off the defensive line. Dallas needs him (and Holloman) to step forward as solid players this year on a consistent basis. Injuries will happen here and there, too.

 

[BigStar]

I was the writer, and you're spot on.

Good work bro...don't take my cynicism towards Wilber as taking away from a well written article. Kudos

 

[silver]

It's not about above average results. It's about AVERAGE results. That would have equated to at least 10-6 a year ago.

The cast of defensive linemen to choose from now is far better than those vagabonds last year, and Melton is a much better player than Hatcher when healthy.

Average results might get you in the playoffs or not but they won’t get you the big prize. The way we run things in Dallas with the current set up, we're destined to be mediocre into the oblivion. 8-8 until kingdom come. This is because our GM is mediocre as far as acquiring talent is concerned. He hits on half his drafts. He hits on half his coaches signees. He hits on half his free agent pickups. About the only thing he excels in is at marketing the brand. Selling the product. It is the other little things like evaluating your own talent, evaluating the other teams talent for example where he's only half good.

 

[Bullflop]

Let's face it, folks -- Dallas badly needs its entire defense to emerge. Kyle Wilber is merely one of many lingering in that category.

 

[DC Cowboy]

Wilber emerge? He's a two down player -- that's even a bit of a misnomer since we run the nickel at least half the time. I'd argue he play the least important role on the D. If the best thing that happens on D is Wilber emerging, then we are in serious trouble

I don't know. I think, hope, our D will surprise a lot of folks. Think about it, if our D-line stays healthy through TC and applies mort pressure on the QB, Wilber played "ok" after he was moved to SLB and I think Carter will play better this year as well. Wilcox will 1 yr. under his belt. DC will let our corners play more man coverage. I really think we move up to the middle of the pack defensively.

 

[Zordon]

"Cowboys badly need Kyle Wilber"......talk about depressing.

 

[Risen Star]

Hatcher's 2013 season was better than anything Melton's done in his career.

"A much better player"?

Oh, go Cowboys!

 

[Chuck 54]

I believe LB is the most critical spot on the team.

DL--once healthy, we have at least average NFL players in Melton, Spencer, McClain, Crawford. We have experience in Mincey and Selvie and Bass, Okoye, among others, youth in Lawrence and several DTs.

But LB? Is there a single LB position, Sam, Will, Mike, where we know what we have? Is there even one spot where we can say this guy is the starter and will get the job done if healthy?

Carter, Holoman, Durant, McClain, Higgins, Smith, Wilber---every single spot is a question mark...that's scary. With Lee, we knew the middle was solid, no worries, but the rest was a huge concern. Without Lee, the entire LB group is one huge question. They could all come through and solidify the defense, or they could all play like last year and like rookies, and the defense be doomed.

 

[Future]

I would like to see Carter as the impact player; Durant as a solid, above average player; and, I would be happy with Wilber as the consistent player. If Durant (or whoever plays Mike) and Wilber play above those expectations I will be ecstatic!

agreed. It's far more important for Carter to step up at the Will than Wilber at the Sam.

 

[erod]

Average results might get you in the playoffs or not but they won’t get you the big prize. The way we run things in Dallas with the current set up, we're destined to be mediocre into the oblivion. 8-8 until kingdom come. This is because our GM is mediocre as far as acquiring talent is concerned. He hits on half his drafts. He hits on half his coaches signees. He hits on half his free agent pickups. About the only thing he excels in is at marketing the brand. Selling the product. It is the other little things like evaluating your own talent, evaluating the other teams talent for example where he's only half good.

I agree with everything you said, up until about three years ago. Jerry has turned the personnel reins largely over to Will McClay and Jason Garrett. That's pretty apparent with the moves the past three seasons.

 

[erod]

Hatcher's 2013 season was better than anything Melton's done in his career.

"A much better player"?

Oh, go Cowboys!

Hatcher's had one good season, and even that was questionable. I've heard Broaddus say that Hatcher frustrated coaches as the season wore on because he'd ignore his assignment in the pursuit of stats. He was prepping for free agency.

Melton has had numerous productive years. Hatcher has had one.

 

[Risen Star]

Hatcher's had one good season, and even that was questionable. I've heard Broaddus say that Hatcher frustrated coaches as the season wore on because he'd ignore his assignment in the pursuit of stats. He was prepping for free agency.

Melton has had numerous productive years. Hatcher has had one.

Hatcher had a career year last year but he is far from a one year wonder.

Melton's never done what Hatcher did in 2013. So we should expect to regress at that position this year.

Do you want to have a legitimate discussion about it or continue applying for the team's PR department?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Count me in with the sceptics who don’t think this year’s defense will not be good enough. Other than Demarcus Lawrence who appears to be an undersized DE, what have we added to last years all time worse defense? Melton? he simply replaces Hatcher. We haven’t added an impact player to this unit in a decade. How anybody expects above average results is beyond my comprehension.

I don't expect a dominant nor a good defense. I do expect to have a better defense than last year. yes, we replaced hatcher with Milton, but did you see the list of off the street FAs that played significant snaps for us. plus, this is the second year in the new scheme. I warned everyone last year, that switching from 3-4 to 4-3 is not as easy as everyone thinks. there is always a step backwards. we weren't a good defense to begin with and changing scheme certainly hurt

 

[silver]

I agree with everything you said, up until about three years ago. Jerry has turned the personnel reins largely over to Will McClay and Jason Garrett. That's pretty apparent with the moves the past three seasons.

the results at least on defense are less than mediocre:

2012: Claiborne, Crawford, Wilber, Johnson
2013: Wilcox, Webb, Holloman
2014: Lawrence, Hitchens Gardner, Smith, Dixon, Bishop, Mitchell,

Not one impact player in that bunch. Not one of the LB's runs a sub 4.6, not one of the DL's runs a sub 4.7 and not one of the db's runs a sub 4.5

I don't expect a dominant nor a good defense. I do expect to have a better defense than last year. yes, we replaced hatcher with Milton, but did you see the list of off the street FAs that played significant snaps for us. plus, this is the second year in the new scheme. I warned everyone last year, that switching from 3-4 to 4-3 is not as easy as everyone thinks. there is always a step backwards. we weren't a good defense to begin with and changing scheme certainly hurt

Better than a historic fiasco can still be bad. I agree that those street pickups were terrible, but Selvie and Hayden eventhough they started need to be replaced. Ben Bass is still Ben Bass. Crawford is still a tweener in the 4-3. Lawrence is still and undersised DE with 4.8 speed.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

the results at least on defense are less than mediocre:

2012: Claiborne, Crawford, Wilber, Johnson
2013: Wilcox, Webb, Holloman
2014: Lawrence, Hitchens Gardner, Smith, Dixon, Bishop, Mitchell,

Not one impact player in that bunch. Not one of the LB's runs a sub 4.6, not one of the DL's runs a sub 4.7 and not one of the db's runs a sub 4.5



Better than a historic fiasco can still be bad. I agree that those street pickups were terrible, but Selvie and Hayden eventhough they started need to be replaced. Ben Bass is still Ben Bass. Crawford is still a tweener in the 4-3. Lawrence is still and undersised DE with 4.8 speed.

I agree. we are not going to be that good. yes, selvie (rejected from couple of other rosters) needs to be replaced. hayden is bottom of the DT roster type player and he played or might play major snaps. I think getting some of the injured guys will help. having a second year in the system will help. I don't consider losing Ware as big a deal. mainly because this hasn't been ware of old, given his injuries, so his impact on the defense the past two years had been minimal and towards the end of the year (specially two years ago) he was more of a liability due to his injuries.

also moving away from kiffin tamp 2 to the one marinelli runs is going to help. all in all, we are probably still a mid 20's type defense. with that said, must the ability to make a couple of stops in couple of games (as we had 3 games when defense made zero stops and opposing punter never saw the field), is going to help us out. this turn around is going to take a couple of year.