deadly, venomous, lethal, swarming...Dallas Defense

[theogt]

But isn't that what you did? You picked the 'boys worst games and compared them to San Diego's. What did you expect?

The initial numbers I presented were teh WHOLE season. You just think that the last 1/4 represent what the D on the whole is all about. And that's just as inaccurate as me pulling out games from the middle of the season and saying see "These guys suck too!"

Your missing the point. My argument regarding the stats was that you can't look at the whole season, because we weren't the same team. I don't think either part of the season is more accurately representative of our season. But I do think that the 1st 3/4 of the season is more accurately representative of what this team will do in 2007. My only point is that you can't compare our 2006 total to San Diego's 2006 total because we weren't the same team. It wasn't a slump, it was something else.

San Diego's slump during the absence of one of the best defensive players in the league wasn't anything near what we experienced.

I've said over and over, that the 'boys were BETTER than San Diego for much of the season. Perception says SD is better cuz they produce alot of sexy stats. Reality says the 'boys were right with them as far as skill level.

I agree with that. I've been saying the same thing. I'm just saying you can't compare the total season stats, because were weren't the same team in those last 5 games.

And the fact that we can possibly revert back to that previous team and possibly add some better players is very much something to get excited about.

As for the games, Merriman was out, I believe the 2nd set of numbers I provided cover that.

The numbers I provided don't prove anything other than the 'boys didn't have a bad defense overall. The collapsed at the wrong time, but they were not bad. The problem is that all people remember is the collapse and none of the good things they were able to do last year prior to the collapse.

The problem is that they showed no signs of improving and I think that was in large part because (but not solely because) Bill wasn't making any attempts to change.

When, on a 2nd down, did you see us change personnel package when a team ran 3 or 4 WR sets? It just didn't happen. We went out with the same basic package, and apparently the same coverage schemes week in and week out. We got beat like a drum and that should be changing. Again, that's something to get excited about.