Dallas D Going Forward

[Chuck 54]

Marinelli has obviously forgotten more about football in 20 seconds than I will ever dream of knowing. But man...can we at least TRY to create pressure? The 3-4 man rush ain't cuttin' it. At all. I get the bend but don't break strategy has helped us to 10-1, but I'm looking towards a 1-and-done playoff scenario. If we allow Wilson, Ryan or even Cousins to play with a clean pocket the ENTIRE game in the playoffs, its night-night Cowboys.

He blitzed more on Thanksgiving than I've seen in a while, but mostly LBs....when you are so thin in the secondary and have only two LBs on the field, it's hard to blitz without sacrificing on the backend

 

[the_h0wey]

The two biggest problems on the defense is a lack of talent at DE, which isn't going to be fixed this season and the injuries in the secondary, which may.

Can't remember if it was Troy or Joe, but they hit the nail on the head Sunday when they said the Cowboys lacked a pass rushing stud like Ryan Kerrigan. A good pass rush helps fix a bad secondary, but you are right injuries back there have hurt us in recent weeks.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Wash never even had possession within 10 points of the lead. The game felt incredibly tense but wasn't as close as we all think, or the talking heads are trying to make it.

I get it... Fans want a team that scores 30 ppg and gives up 5 ppg.

I get that.

But it's not reality.

Not in the salary cap era.

Some may ignore it, but this is one hellofa offense. This offense gives this team a great chance in any game vs. any opponent.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

He blitzed more on Thanksgiving than I've seen in a while, but mostly LBs....when you are so thin in the secondary and have only two LBs on the field, it's hard to blitz without sacrificing on the backend

That's exactly right.

Once Wilcox left... It was thin.

And then you Jones limping around, knowing he probably couldn't come out.

Put the normal starters out there in the secondary and they aren't giving up 500 yards.

 

[gmoney112]

Not much you can do about it right now. It's all about the talent. Missing your best corner and your starting SS doesn't help either.

When you aren't getting pressure and aren't forcing turnovers, it hurts. That puts a lot of pressure, no pun intended, on the offense.

But, it is what it is. It'd be nice if the offense wasn't asked to have a near perfect game, but it looks like they're up to the task. The roads never easy, but we're firmly in the driver's seat thus far.

Think of it this way. How excited would you be if this team, with this defense, made it to the NFC Champ game or Super Bowl and lost a close game? With our rookie QB and and RB (and young OL) leading the way?

The disappointment would suck at first, but imagine your thoughts that week after Tony got injured. Did anyone see this? Did you imagine, ever, that we could actually be the NFC favorites, with this terrible defense?

Perspective is a necessity. We have a real "team". The defense sucks, get used to yards and high QB ratings. But that's not stopping us. The road is never easy, and we have a bunch of 20 year olds barely old enough to drink beer leading this offense.

And they're just young and stubborn enough to pull off the whole damn thing.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Can't remember if it was Troy or Joe, but they hit the nail on the head Sunday when they said the Cowboys lacked a pass rushing stud like Ryan Kerrigan. A good pass rush helps fix a bad secondary, but you are right injuries back there have hurt us in recent weeks.

Stevie Wonder could see the Cowboys lack talent at defensive end.

I'm sure it will be addressed in the offseason.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Not much you can do about it right now. It's all about the talent. Missing your best corner and your starting SS doesn't help either.

When you aren't getting pressure and aren't forcing turnovers, it hurts. That puts a lot of pressure, no pun intended, on the offense.

But, it is what it is. It'd be nice if the offense wasn't asked to have a near perfect game, but it looks like they're up to the task. The roads never easy, but we're firmly in the driver's seat thus far.

Think of it this way. How excited would you be if this team, with this defense, made it to the NFC Champ game or Super Bowl and lost a close game? With our rookie QB and and RB (and young OL) leading the way?

The disappointment would suck at first, but imagine your thoughts that week after Tony got injured. Did anyone see this? Did you imagine, ever, that we could actually be the NFC favorites, with this terrible defense?

Perspective is a necessity. We have a real "team". The defense sucks, get used to yards and high QB ratings. But that's not stopping us. The road is never easy, and we have a bunch of 20 year olds barely old enough to drink beer leading this offense.

And they're just young and stubborn enough to pull off the whole damn thing.

Plus you had a FS who was clearly hurt... in addition he's a first year starter.

Agreed.

Some need a different perspective.

 

[reddyuta]

Imo Mo is not playing again this season, we need another CB on the roster just for depth.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Put the normal starters out there in the secondary and they aren't giving up 500 yards.

 

[the_h0wey]

That's exactly right.

Once Wilcox left... It was thin.

And then you Jones limping around, knowing he probably couldn't come out.

Put the normal starters out there in the secondary and they aren't giving up 500 yards.

Thin is a understatement. Heath and Frazier saw way too many snaps

 

[plasticman]

Dallas defense holds opponents to an average of 19.4 points a game. The only game they lost was when the Cowboy offense couldn't produce a score higher than this. They scored 19.

The Cowboy defense is ranked 10th in least opponent scoring. Even if the Cowboy offense could only score 21 points game the Cowboys would still be 7-4.

Yeah, I want a better defense but how is the Cowboys going to get an elite young DE in the draft when they will have the last pick each round?

 

[TheHerd]

We were up 11 at the half. They scored a late FG after we had a 14 pt lead.

We were up by 5 after their TD in the 4th. Pass failed.

We scored to go up by 12.

They scored on Jackson's 67 yd TD to get within 5 again. Both teams scored TDs again for the final 31-26 score.

You're still missing the point. They never had possession of the ball and were within 10 pts. When they scored to get within 5 pts, they kick to us so they don't have possession of the ball.

By the time they got the ball back in their possession, they were down 12. There was never a snap made by Washington for which they trailed by less than 10. So they never had a real chance to get anywhere near the lead.

 

[Kolemmitt]

Dallas defense holds opponents to an average of 19.4 points a game. The only game they lost was when the Cowboy offense couldn't produce a score higher than this. They scored 19.

The Cowboy defense is ranked 10th in least opponent scoring. Even if the Cowboy offense could only score 21 points game the Cowboys would still be 7-4.

Yeah, I want a better defense but how is the Cowboys going to get an elite young DE in the draft when they will have the last pick each round?

Very good point. I think McClay will probably find us a decent one, but where we are drafting expecting a rookie to come in and make a big impact is expecting too much. Those guys will be gone in the top 15.

I also think that we will not have enough FA money to get a top flight pass rusher.

One thing to keep in mind is that our starting SDE was expecting to play the 3 -tech and is probably close to 3 bills and our RDE was expecting to be the SDE and looks like he might be somewhere between 280 and 300. Having those two lose 20 to 30 might be our best bet. If you think about Crawford being one of the league leaders in hurries and DLaw getting very close a number of times in the last few weeks, that might be the difference. I also wonder about Collins and Irving starting together inside next year. That would be a very athletic tandem of DT's.

 

[jobberone]

You're still missing the point. They never had possession of the ball and were within 10 pts. When they scored to get within 5 pts, they kick to us so they don't have possession of the ball.

By the time they got the ball back in their possession, they were down 12. There was never a snap made by Washington for which they trailed by less than 10. So they never had a real chance to get anywhere near the lead.

Ok I got ya now.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I want a better defense but how is the Cowboys going to get an elite young DE in the draft when they will have the last pick each round?

Same way they got an elite franchise QB using a comp draft pick at 135.

 

[ufcrules1]

After going 4-12 just getting into the playoffs looks good to me.

But really I don't see any team out there that the Cowboys would be an "automatic" loss to in the playoffs.

This is exactly how I feel. I'm just happy we will make the playoffs and have a legit shot at a first round bye. We will be just one playoff win away from the NFC Championship game and it might be in our own back yard as well. Also, there isn't one team out there right now that we don't have legit shot at beating. This is all with a rookie Qb and jag defense. So bring it on.

 

[GIFTS86]

I know our defense is giving up tons of yardage but we are only giving up 19.4 ppg and only 2.1 more then the seahawks D. Correct me if I'm wrong but that is really good news to my ears

 

[drawandstrike]

Very good point. I think McClay will probably find us a decent one, but where we are drafting expecting a rookie to come in and make a big impact is expecting too much. Those guys will be gone in the top 15.

I also think that we will not have enough FA money to get a top flight pass rusher.

One thing to keep in mind is that our starting SDE was expecting to play the 3 -tech and is probably close to 3 bills and our RDE was expecting to be the SDE and looks like he might be somewhere between 280 and 300. Having those two lose 20 to 30 might be our best bet. If you think about Crawford being one of the league leaders in hurries and DLaw getting very close a number of times in the last few weeks, that might be the difference. I also wonder about Collins and Irving starting together inside next year. That would be a very athletic tandem of DT's.

This is where trading Tony Romo could help us if we can swing the right deal. There are several teams out there in win now mode who think they are just 1 good vet QB away from a big playoff run. If Philadelphia can wrangle a 1st for Bradford, it's doable.

 

[ufcrules1]

Same way they got an elite franchise QB using a comp draft pick at 135.

I was told I would be sorry when Romo was gone and it would take forever to find a good QB. Ah, those were the days.

 

[GIFTS86]

And the defense currently ranks 20th, allowing touchdowns on 56% of possessions inside the 20 yard line. We obviously are Playing With A defense that Could maintain us in the playoffs