News: Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings: Hard-Fought Victories Build Character For Young Cowboys

[CCBoy]

Dallas Cowboys @ Minnesota Vikings: Hard-Fought Victories Build Character For Young Cowboys

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...ought-victories-build-character-young-cowboys


This young team is on an 11-game win streak and as impressive as that might be, the real feat is how they have gotten there. Sure, you can talk about the Lions' finding ways to win in the fourth quarters of games, they've trailed in the fourth quarter in every game this season and just won their seventh game. However, who cares about the Detroit Lions? The Dallas Cowboys have won 11 straight games after losing by one point in week one against their next opponent, the New York Giants.

No win for the Cowboys has been the same, every week there is a new challenge and this team deserves credit for how they have answered the bell. When you are trying to build a championship-caliber team, you have to be able to win some ugly games. The Dallas Cowboys proved that they have "true grit" to fight and claw their way to victory as was on display Thursday night.

The Minnesota Vikings are as tough a defense as the Cowboys are going to have to play and they gave Dallas everything they had. Just about nothing was working offensively for Dallas and when they would find a crease, the Vikings would close it quickly. What makes it challenging to play a defense like the Vikings is their speed. They rarely are out of place and if they are, the defensive backs and linebackers have the speed to cover up their deficiencies. Say what you will about their offensive woes but that defense has the Mike Zimmer touch all over it. It took everything the Cowboys had just to put up 17 points and thankfully that was all it took.

This hard-fought victory might have been a little too close for our cardiovascular health but it was needed. Narrow victories help to breed toughness and a relentless approach. It's those teams that are able to win in a multitude of ways that ultimately become the greatest of success stories. We know that this team is a special one but we have no idea what the future holds, we're just along for the ride. Still, this team is drawing similar comparisons to the1992 Dallas Cowboys team. That team was very young too although they had Troy Aikman (in his fourth year) and Michael Irvin (in his fifth year).

Their youth energized the team that Jimmy Johnson was building and you could see with every week that they just kept checking off boxes. They had some tough low-scoring grinders against the Phoenix Cardinals and some barnburners like the 31-27 win over the Denver Broncos. This 2016 rendition of the Dallas Cowboys is similar in ways to that young team in the 1990's. No matter the task, the Cowboys stick together and take it one step at a time.

One of the veteran leaders on the team, Dez Bryant, was asked by the NFL Network Gameday Crew about his role in the offense and of course all he cares about is winning. On a night where he tied Michael Irvin's franchise touchdown record he only cared about that unity and showed his exemplary leadership:...

 

[CCBoy]

In Defense of the Defense

By FuzzyLogic1 on Dec 1, 2016, 5:48pm CST 23

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016/12/1/13808544/in-defense-of-the-defense

The Dallas Cowboys defense is the worst unit in the history of professional team sports. At least, you might well come away with that impression if you spend any time reading comments here and on other Cowboys-related sites around the web. With no pass rush, no takeaways and no playmakers save the ever-dependable Sean Lee, the story goes, the Cowboys defense is little more than a burdensome anchor, simply waiting for the most inopportune time to drag the S.S. Cowboys Championship down to the crushing black depths of Davy Jones' Roger Goodell's Locker.

Not so fast, I say. While this current squad won't be confused for the Doomsday Defense any time soon, there is no reason to despair. Despite working with an undermanned and overmatched depth chart, Rod Marinelli's charges have pretty consistently done what I believe is expected of them this season. It may be frustrating to watch quarterbacks lounge comfortably in the pocket, filing taxes and checking their social media accounts as they leisurely wait for a receiver to come open. It may be infuriating to watch completion after completion as the opposition marches down the field, one small chunk at a time.

But there is a method to the madness. And that method has contributed to a league-best 10-1 record and a winning streak the likes of which this franchise has never seen. Or, it hasn't gotten in the way, at least. So, with my unnecessarily long-winded opening statement concluded, allow me to present a defense.. of the defense.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

Most folks will already be aware that Defensive Coordinator Rod Marinelli is a United States Marine combat veteran. Those of you with some knowledge of the armed services may also be aware of a favorite mantra of the Marines: Improvise, Adapt and Overcome. While we would all like to live in ideal conditions, or perform every job with all the necessary tools, reality isn't always so kind. The fact is that real life often requires us to make do with less than we need, to overcome obstacles we would rather not face and to do a job that needs doing whether we're properly prepared for it or not. If we hope to get where we want to go in life, we must often improvise, adapt and overcome in order to move forward.

And so it is with football. The Dallas Cowboys are one of the most talented offensive teams in the NFL, with star-level players at virtually every position and talented backups ready and willing to step in at any time. The same cannot be said of the defense, which has lacked talent for years and has lost even more through a combination of injuries, free agent losses and questionable resource management. Though there's certainly talent to be found - Sean Lee, despite durability concerns in years past, is as reliable a defender as you'll find; Byron Jones has adapted quickly to life as a versatile, do-it-all safety; Terrell McClain, in managing to stay healthy, has shown why so many of us were excited about him; Mo Claiborne, before his injury, was surprisingly performing as one of the better corners in the league - the quality and depth across the defensive depth chart is somewhat less than impressive.

This is the situation with which the old leatherneck must contend, and true to form, I believe that he's done his best to improvise, adapt and overcome. With an exceptionally efficient, ball-control offense carrying much of the load for a team whose resource investments are heavily slanted to that side of the ball, the goals of the defense must adapt accordingly. As frustrating as it may be for fans, the goal is not to completely shut down opposing offenses. We simply don't have the talent to do that successfully. Rather, the goal defensively is two-fold: limit explosive plays, and limit the number of points scored by playing good red zone defense. In other words..

Bend, But Don't Break

It's a phrase you probably hate by now, but it's so widely promulgated for a reason: it works. By limiting big plays and forcing opposing offenses to matriculate the ball methodically down the field, you can accomplish a few things. First, you force the opponent to run more plays (T-32nd in plays allowed per drive). This forces the opponent to execute well over and over and over. This opens up more opportunities for bad things to happen, including turnovers and negative plays, and it also puts a great deal of pressure on the opponent to be very precise and efficient. This approach also eats up a lot more clock, which reduces the number of plays that can be run (1st in fewest drives against, 3rd in fewest plays against). This further increases the pressure to execute on every play, especially when we're playing with a lead, which we very often are (~72% of our defensive snaps have come while we had the lead).

Obviously, this approach also goes hand-in-hand with our offensive game plan, which seeks to control the ball and burn a lot of time off the clock. Another key to this approach is the ability to protect the ball, which we've also done exceptionally well (4th-lowest TO rate in the NFL). Finally, we seek to control field position and give our opponent a long field to work with on each drive (7th in average opponent starting position). This isn't entirely dissimilar from the approach that Bill Belichick has used for many years, especially when he didn't have particularly talented defenses. If you're gonna mimic somebody's style, Darth Hoodie ain't the worst guy to pick.

Protecting the Lead

Remember when I said above that we're very often playing with the lead throughout a game? Yeah, turns out that's kind of a big deal. So, here's the thing. If you're trailing in a football game, particularly in the second half, the score isn't your only enemy. Time is also a concern, especially in the 4th quarter and/or when you're trailing by multiple scores. If your opponent is the Dallas Cowboys, this is doubly true. You know each of their drives is likely to drain a bunch of time off the clock, and you know you can't rely on generating a takeaway. Your best bet is to score quickly, try to limit the offense as much as possible and score quickly again the next time you get the ball.

..Except you can't. Because the Cowboys defense seeks to limit big plays and the offense seeks to devour time of possession like Lumpy tearing through a stack of pancakes after a week-long fast, your options for making up a deficit in a timely manner are fairly limited. Adding to the frustration, while the Cowboys D may bring some blitzes and play with some aggression early in the game, they're likely to be playing a modified prevent approach as the game wears on. Your quarterback will have plenty of time to operate against a three-man rush, and he'll complete an extremely high percentage of his passes against a lot of soft zone and off-man looks, but those completions are unlikely to get you down the field in a hurry. The 'Boys are generally a very reliable tackling bunch, and you won't find many coverage breakdowns to exploit deep once they've gone to a prevent shell.

Are you starting to see a problem here? So are opposing head coaches and offensive coordinators. If you want to win against Big D, you'd better keep the game close at all times. Fall behind by more than one score and you may find yourself running out of time in a hurry, even if you're able to move the ball at will.

 

[CCBoy]

Two write-ups that put good perspective into the current team of the Cowboys...and they water a growth direction pushed for since the lock out year.

 

[CCBoy]

I was curious to see how the Dallas Cowboys would rush the passer Thursday night. After struggling to apply pressure all season, the Cowboys have recently opted to only rush three players and dedicate an extra player to the coverage, rather than the pressure. The Vikings have been decimated with injuries on the offensive line this season and the Cowboys responded by switching up the game plan once more. From the first series on, the Cowboys were intent on applying pressure, rushing four, even blitzing.

• It was nice to see the aggressiveness in the defense once again, but the blitzing didn’t consistently work out great for the Cowboys. Dallas, notoriously ineffective in their blitzes, blitzed early and often on Thursday. They didn’t collect the sacks with the blitz but they did “rush” the passer into quick decisions of varying success. Rushing four players using games/stunts/ twists remains the most effective method.

• It was clear both DE DeMarcus Lawrence and DT Maliek Collins played their best games of the season.

• I’ve noted Orlando Scandrick’s epic ineffectiveness blitzing in the past. When called to blitz, Scandy rarely makes an effort to fight through blocks and essentially gives up when met with a blocker. On Thursday, though, he did fight a block trying to get to the Minnesota backfield. Unfortunately he was called for a questionable penalty and negated an Anthony Hitchens interception.

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