Defense after 4 Games

jazzcat22 said:
Each game it seemed they improved a little bit in different areas.

Yesterday, in the 2nd half was much better. Run defense seems it improved overall this year. With the exception of the QB's running all over us. But they did kept Stroud in check a little better.

Pass defense still an issue. Still too many wide open receivers. Too many long plays downfield. And yesterday, there was too many near misses as well. Even though a few may have been caused by some finally much needed pressure. But I can't say that for sure.
Maybe someone with All 22 Access can take a look.

Still giving up too many points though.
TB & GB could help in not giving up that many points as both teams have not looked all that great. But you never know. And I still do not trust this defense yet.

But I feel some very slight encouragement. As I said, each week something has improved a little. And getting JPJ and getting some injured players back will only help.
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Still not good enough that's the shortest answer I can give you and people who know me here say that's pretty short...

They have a long way to go to even get to average.. 
 
jazzcat22 said:
Each game it seemed they improved a little bit in different areas.

Yesterday, in the 2nd half was much better. Run defense seems it improved overall this year. With the exception of the QB's running all over us. But they did kept Stroud in check a little better.

Pass defense still an issue. Still too many wide open receivers. Too many long plays downfield. And yesterday, there was too many near misses as well. Even though a few may have been caused by some finally much needed pressure. But I can't say that for sure.
Maybe someone with All 22 Access can take a look.

Still giving up too many points though.
TB & GB could help in not giving up that many points as both teams have not looked all that great. But you never know. And I still do not trust this defense yet.

But I feel some very slight encouragement. As I said, each week something has improved a little. And getting JPJ and getting some injured players back will only help.
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Did Revel play yesterday I didn't see him out there 28 it's hard to see with all the numbers looking very similar from the outfit way they run and the angles we see but we need help that they just not activate him or not use him because of his injury.

Maybe they need to bring up some of those corners they just brought in that they put on the practice squad or whatnot and maybe 28 needs more I don't know if he's better than Bland but Bland was horrible that's what JPJ did yesterday They looked over and said Nah we're gonna go after 26 all day and then every once in awhile 27 got beat and I believe that the Stewart I like the way Stewart plays I think his name is ready Stewart whatever his name is he's plays physical he's got a lot of energy but he's also getting beat He's plays physical he's got a lot of, but he's also getting beat and people


And by the way and embrace all of this history I just want to add in I like Downs at number 13 but he's still making rookie mistakes out there he's picking the wrong help read. CP needs to help 13, What I mean is he's making the wrong read if he's supposed to go and cover someone in the flat in case the quarterback takes off versus is he supposed to fade and he's supposed to double down They were talking about that on the broadcast and nobody knows what was his actual responsibility did he make the wrong choice on that read by looking it looked like CJ broke containment so he took a couple steps that way and then that was an easy touchdown they blamed on the corner...

It's a work in progress and really they're bipolar they get better in one area the next week than they were the week before but then they have a new problem pop up and they have to get this fixed..

They can use some fresh legs so whoever they're bringing back that have been out the last couple of weeks or the people they brought in the last couple of weeks Somebody's gotta play better right now they picked on Bland almost all day and it was just hard to watch..
 
jazzcat22 said:
Each game it seemed they improved a little bit in different areas.

Yesterday, in the 2nd half was much better. Run defense seems it improved overall this year. With the exception of the QB's running all over us. But they did kept Stroud in check a little better.

Pass defense still an issue. Still too many wide open receivers. Too many long plays downfield. And yesterday, there was too many near misses as well. Even though a few may have been caused by some finally much needed pressure. But I can't say that for sure.
Maybe someone with All 22 Access can take a look.

Still giving up too many points though.
TB & GB could help in not giving up that many points as both teams have not looked all that great. But you never know. And I still do not trust this defense yet.

But I feel some very slight encouragement. As I said, each week something has improved a little. And getting JPJ and getting some injured players back will only help.
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bottom line is 30 points to an offense that is not all that
tiny steps that would take us years to be a championship defense at this rate
 
They need to do a lot better still. There's no reason for why they nearly should have allowed the Texans to get a game winning TD on a hail mary pass. After they allowed the Ravens to complete a huge pass in 7 seconds to set up their game winning field goal last week. Cowboys fans shouldn't have to be nervous in wondering whether or not this defense can hold up in the last seconds of close games when the opposing offense's only chance to win the game is to make one big pass play.

 
Hawkeye0202 said:
I have said a 1000 times Bland has no business playing outside. Speed guys eat him alive.....
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Per PFF after 4 games

Devon Whitherspoon
Passer rating allowed (85.7, 41st)
Receptions allowed (21, 99th)

DaRon Bland after 4 games
Passer rating allowed (133.8, 90th)
Receptions allowed (13, 77th)

Outside of the 1 big gain Bland gave up yesterday where he bit inside and let Noel? get downfield, he contested every catch. Within inches of being there. And the TD he gave up was more on Downs than him.

The secondary is in shambles right now. Downs spent all of preseason being a nickel back and is now back to playing a true safety. Thompson and Locke are out.

Durrant is out and that could be a blessing. Probably what facilitated the Porter signing.

Reval is still dinged up and I think was forced into playing due to the complete ineptness of Reddy Steward.

Hooker is no great shakes. Bell, Speed and Clark still getting snaps.

Its a mess. But if you want to blame Bland, go for it.

It'll be interesting to see whos out there and where they line up over the next couple weeks.

If Reval gets healthy and Porter up to speed. I can see them moving Bland to the slot and Reval coming in for nickel and dime.

Hopefully Thomas takes snaps away from Bell.
 
No INTs after 4 games (and not even close to getting any) and only a few forced fumbles...not good
 
jazzcat22 said:
Each game it seemed they improved a little bit in different areas.

Yesterday, in the 2nd half was much better. Run defense seems it improved overall this year. With the exception of the QB's running all over us. But they did kept Stroud in check a little better.

Pass defense still an issue. Still too many wide open receivers. Too many long plays downfield. And yesterday, there was too many near misses as well. Even though a few may have been caused by some finally much needed pressure. But I can't say that for sure.
Maybe someone with All 22 Access can take a look.

Still giving up too many points though.
TB & GB could help in not giving up that many points as both teams have not looked all that great. But you never know. And I still do not trust this defense yet.

But I feel some very slight encouragement. As I said, each week something has improved a little. And getting JPJ and getting some injured players back will only help.
Click to expand...
Pretty good description that I agree with. While I still think there is a collective mindset here of very low expectations caused by last year's defense I think you are right in this post describing incremental baby step progress in run defense.

I am not so sure on pass defense improvement and will leave that as a TBD for now.

Bland looked absolutely terrible in coverage. As I told ksk, he's like the Steele of the secondary.

Extreme baby steps.
But they are baby steps.
Fingers crossed for continued improvement.
 
morasp said:
I haven't broken down the game yet. How many snaps did Porter play? When he was in there how did Bland do? The thing about Collins is he's their Lamb, a 1000 yard receiver, and he's been out since the first game against the Bills.
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I have not read through all the posts yet.
I seen that Porter played 24 of 52 snaps. Gave up 0 catches. Striped rarely looks d or did not look his way when he was in. Which is why Bland was burned so much.
 
DallasInDC said:
This!! Getting a couple of key stops that prevent the scoring on every drive and that the offense keeps pace with the other team prevents what looks it should be a blowout gives the illusion of improvement.

The defense ranks 29th in pts, 30th yds allowed, 31st, in rushing yds allowed, and tied for last in takeaways and 3rd from last in sacks. The offense on the other hand is tied for 2nd in points (2 missed FGs or 1 TD away from being 1st).

On offense, there are maybe 4-5 really bad plays over 4 games, whereas, the defense gives up that many in every 1-2 possessions.
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It takes a long time to get those average to go down. They key is they look and play better.
They may only finish 25th but if they are playing like they are 15th is huge. That will take some time. We will see,
 
jazzcat22 said:
I have not read through all the posts yet.
I seen that Porter played 24 of 52 snaps. Gave up 0 catches. Striped rarely looks d or did not look his way when he was in. Which is why Bland was burned so much.
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Where was Bland burned so much? Please, name the plays.

The only 1 I recall was the 2nd and short play where he bit and they guy got him deep.

The TD was on Downs as Bland was expecting inside help. And even then, Bland was there.

There was the diving catch on the sidelines that probably should have ruled incomplete.

Which ones am I missing?

I saw RS getting beat like a drum. TEs hurt us yet again. Thats on the scheme. 4 weeks in a row we cant figure out how to cover a TE.
 
Here’s the stat I’m interested in.
Dallas is giving up 5 fewer points per game early in 2026 compared to last year's opening month. They are improving. Fix the pass rush and they can be decent
 
LouBrown said:
Stroud had 11.2 (!!!) yards per attempt. The Rams were best in the league last year at 7.9 lol

Run defense does not matter when that happens.
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Houston ranked 11th on passing yards this week. Cowboys were 10th.
Rushing they were 27th.
Without their Rush Defense, Cowboys would not have won.
 
NDGAEDE said:
I want to be optimistic. But we all sat through that game, and Stroud of all ppl was tearing this D up. Texans have a bad OL and give up sacks and can't run the ball. Some of our 'improvement' could be attributed to a poor opponent. A good QB and OC will destroy us.

We will see the same thing every week (easy completions, long drives, 30 pts) until we get a pass rush.
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I agree. Without a pass rush, opposing QBs have all day back there.

Not sure the answer is currently on the team.
 
The defense is not forcing turnovers. That is a problem. No sacks, no turnovers = 30 points given up.

As for teh pass rush, It is not easy finding players to create pressures and sack from the outside. That's why trading Parsons was dumb. Now the Cowboys are starving for outside pressure and finding out how hard it is to get a players to do that for them.

If you thought the CBs were going to be any good this year, you ate the cheese again. Secondary was a weakness and the Cowboys knew it, which is why they kept 6 safeties and why they have downs playing in the slot. Getting Porter was a great move - if they can sign him long term.
 
BlindFaith said:
Where was Bland burned so much? Please, name the plays.

The only 1 I recall was the 2nd and short play where he bit and they guy got him deep.

The TD was on Downs as Bland was expecting inside help. And even then, Bland was there.

There was the diving catch on the sidelines that probably should have ruled incomplete.

Which ones am I missing?

I saw RS getting beat like a drum. TEs hurt us yet again. Thats on the scheme. 4 weeks in a row we cant figure out how to cover a TE.
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4 for 83 yards.

That one play was around 50 yards. So 3 for 33 on the rest.

Yeah, we want him to give up nothing. But outside of that 1 play, he had very good coverage on the other three.

As I said before, this secondary is a mess right now. Not even close to what we projected at the start of the year.

When, Reddy Stewart, Bell, Speed, Clark are getting any snaps let alone significant snaps, this will be a poor secondary.

Hopefully we get Thompson back in 3 weeks. Revel gets back to 100%. Maybe Thomas shows out at least better than Bell. Maybe Durrant later.

Getting Porter will be huge. But we need to get healthy in the secondary. Hooker isnt even starting caliber.
 
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