CFZ Defense down the stretch is a concern!

[Cowboyny]

Last two weeks, the defense has really struggled, but they played well when the game was on the line stopping both teams multiple times on 4th down. Both Washington/Seattle have one thing in common, excellent receiving groups. Next 5 games, we are going to see Washington again and 4 elite offenses.

Really believe signing Shaq Leonard is more of a necessity then anything else. They need a veteran to help with the communication to make sure everyone knows their assignment pre-snap, this was something Lve excelled at. Leonard also gives the team more size to better handle stopping the run

Dan Quinn has to stop playing so much man coverage, especially with these mobile QB's in the coming weeks. Teams will continue to attack Bland on the island, until an adjustment has been made. Last two weeks, he has been consistently beaten early and often. He isn't alone, the linebackers/safeties have really struggled in coverage.

Pass rush continues to get pressures, but they have to get more sacks. They are getting there, just need to do a better job in finishing.

Finally, might be the most important thing is all these damn penalties. They have no chance for success if this continues to occur. Pre-snaps, personal fouls are killing this defense.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Last two weeks, the defense has really struggled, but they played well when the game was on the line stopping both teams multiple times on 4th down. Both Washington/Seattle have one thing in common, excellent receiving groups. Next 5 games, we are going to see Washington again and 4 elite offenses.

Really believe signing Shaq Leonard is more of a necessity then anything else. They need a veteran to help with the communication to make sure everyone knows their assignment pre-snap, this was something Lve excelled at. Leonard also gives the team more size to better handle stopping the run

Dan Quinn has to stop playing so much man coverage, especially with these mobile QB's in the coming weeks. Teams will continue to attack Bland on the island, until an adjustment has been made. Last two weeks, he has been consistently beaten early and often. He isn't alone, the linebackers/safeties have really struggled in coverage.

Pass rush continues to get pressures, but they have to get more sacks. They are getting there, just need to do a better job in finishing.

Finally, might be the most important thing is all these damn penalties. They have no chance for success if this continues to occur. Pre-snaps, personal fouls are killing this defense.

well, keeping in mind on thursday they had a 3 day turn around, then a week later (although sounds normal), they played again. 3 games in 12 days.

this defense is predicated on generating pressure up front. when they don't they get burned.

 

[jazzcat22]

They struggled last year later in the season as well.

Not sure if should be a concern or not. Could be Seattle just had a great game plan, and Dallas was not as prepared.
3 games in 12 days, takes a toll on the coaches as well as the players.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Why is it we can never get both offense AND defense clicking together? Earlier in the season, the defense was balling and the offense had its issues, especially red zone. But now........guess what (lol).

I honestly think cleaning up the penalties will resolve a lot of our issues.

 

[big dog cowboy]

well, keeping in mind on thursday they had a 3 day turn around, then a week later (although sounds normal), they played again. 3 games in 12 days.

this defense is predicated on generating pressure up front. when they don't they get burned.

This defense was built to play with a lead. When they don't have one, they struggle.

 

[Blue&Silver]

Well, that linebacker we had in from Indianapolis this week should agree to sign this weekend with us, and be ready for next week's game. That should help.

 

[Blue&Silver]

This defense was built to play with a lead. When they don't have one, they struggle.

We have a fast undersized defense that relies on speed. If for some reason it gets nullified it's a problem. There's a reason we are better on turf than grass.

 

[dsturgeon]

The cowboys lost their top corner and mlb'er. Those are major positions. There are teams where we will notice the loss more than others

 

[Creeper]

The defense is a concern after the Seattle game but I will wait another game before deciding how big that concern is. It is true we did not sack Geno Smith but he threw 4 or 5 passes into the dirt to avoid sacks. A couple he was in the grasp. Regardless, the plays failed because of pressure. Teams are getting rid of the ball more quickly when they face Dallas and this should give Dallas an advantage in coverage. If they would just stop playing off 5-10 yards they might take away those quick passes and then the sacks will come.

I have two worries going forward. 1 is pass coverage. Bland had an awful game and I am not going to allow that 1 INT to change my opinion about it. Later in the Game Geno threw a pass to Locket deep down the middle and Locket dropped it. Lockett was wide open and if he caught that pass in stride it would have been another long TD. Bland was in coverage. If not for the pass rush that hurried Geno Smith's throw Seattle might have put the game on ice with that play. When we play the Eagles I expect they will try to get one of their faster receivers on Bland and run those same routes for big plays.

My other concern is the OL. They did a great job pass protecting for Dak Thursday night, but Steele still struggles with quick pass rushers. As well as Dak is playing teams are getting sacks on Dallas. Seattle had 4. That has to get tightened up too if they are going to make a run in the playoffs.

 

[conner01]

They struggled last year later in the season as well.

Not sure if should be a concern or not. Could be Seattle just had a great game plan, and Dallas was not as prepared.
3 games in 12 days, takes a toll on the coaches as well as the players.

They are a team that can run the ball and stick with it. But they also have 3 solid recievers who are really tough in man coverage. I think the short turn around is a big part of it but we will see

 

[visionary]

We need Smith to come on here
We also need to sign Leonard asap. This is why many of us wanted Wagner instead of signing LVE

 

[Majic]

We have a fast undersized defense that relies on speed. If for some reason it gets nullified it's a problem. There's a reason we are better on turf than grass.

Exactly what Bill Parcells said in 2002. That's why he re built with a base 3-4 into one of our best DEFS in decades. Same needs to be done here.

 

[blueblood70]

Last two weeks, the defense has really struggled, but they played well when the game was on the line stopping both teams multiple times on 4th down. Both Washington/Seattle have one thing in common, excellent receiving groups. Next 5 games, we are going to see Washington again and 4 elite offenses.

Really believe signing Shaq Leonard is more of a necessity then anything else. They need a veteran to help with the communication to make sure everyone knows their assignment pre-snap, this was something Lve excelled at. Leonard also gives the team more size to better handle stopping the run

Dan Quinn has to stop playing so much man coverage, especially with these mobile QB's in the coming weeks. Teams will continue to attack Bland on the island, until an adjustment has been made. Last two weeks, he has been consistently beaten early and often. He isn't alone, the linebackers/safeties have really struggled in coverage.

Pass rush continues to get pressures, but they have to get more sacks. They are getting there, just need to do a better job in finishing.

Finally, might be the most important thing is all these damn penalties. They have no chance for success if this continues to occur. Pre-snaps, personal fouls are killing this defense.

agree 100%

it's odd there isn't as much attention being drawn to how Dan Quinn's unit has been underachieving,

they literally have lost us these three games,

I don't care how much you go back and try to nitpick other parts of the game which yeah it's not the only reason we lost but if you're looking for the main reason we lost to get to the 49ers to Arizona and to Philly it was the defense , not just the points, given up these long drives and these giving up these long time consuming drives and chunk plays to teams like Washington and New York amongst others they made Seattle look like the greatest show on turf...

Dan Quinn is getting too much of A pass around here he is not my head coach choice of the future we already saw that story over in Atlanta and it's looking a whole lot like now he is a very good defensive coach but him and his ego are wanting to stick to man coverage so much is ridiculous when other teams I showed you how to slow our offense down playing a lot of zone a lot of two deep safeties and a lot of other things and Dan Quinn right now is the biggest problem with his defensive calls and his game plans even in the games we were in blowouts you could see this against lesser competitions how easy it is for the some of them to just drive down the field on 10 play you know 70 yard drives without much resistance...

Imagine when we get in these games with Buffalo Miami Philly 2, and Detroit or worse in the playoffs he needs to re evaluate his talent cause right now he's doing exactly what rod marinelli and Mike Nolan do where everyone also blamed Jason Garrett for utilizing his talent to win games instead of schemes he seems unwilling to change his schemes and game plans because he feels like his talent can win him games and that is a big mistake...

rant over LOL

 

[blueblood70]

The cowboys lost their top corner and mlb'er. Those are major positions. There are teams where we will notice the loss more than others

that's just an excuse to me I mean why didn't Prescott Mike McCarthy get that excuse missing 3 Pro Bowl offensive lineman in the Arizona game or having guys come back off injury like Terrence Steele and Michael Gallup not being quite the same or even Tony Pollard for that matter??

So right now you're making excuses he should change his defense if that's the case more zone mix it up stop playing so much man he left those guys out on an island and made Seattle look like the greatest show on turf because he was unwilling to adjust his defense he's trying to win on talent alone this is what I call a boom or bust opportunistic defense this isn't much better than rod marinelli seriously that's what it looks like...

So yeah they lost some players but that's not an excuse if you need to cover up deficiencies you need to do it with schemes stop being so aggressive up front sending so many dudes for the pass rush and leaving guys out on an island in the back end man to man in most cases... So Dan Quinn wants to stop getting questioned and you don't wanna hear it maybe he needs to make adjustments to his defense before it's too late...

 

[HowardC]

This defense was built to play with a lead. When they don't have one, they struggle.

They had the lead and Metcalf decided to go off. If they called the blatant holding sometimes that would have helped.

 

[SDCowboy]

Need to see a couple more games. If the Defense continues to look like they did on thursday, we're going to get destroyed by top teams.

 

[Jarntt]

Last two weeks, the defense has really struggled, but they played well when the game was on the line stopping both teams multiple times on 4th down. Both Washington/Seattle have one thing in common, excellent receiving groups. Next 5 games, we are going to see Washington again and 4 elite offenses.

Really believe signing Shaq Leonard is more of a necessity then anything else. They need a veteran to help with the communication to make sure everyone knows their assignment pre-snap, this was something Lve excelled at. Leonard also gives the team more size to better handle stopping the run

Dan Quinn has to stop playing so much man coverage, especially with these mobile QB's in the coming weeks. Teams will continue to attack Bland on the island, until an adjustment has been made. Last two weeks, he has been consistently beaten early and often. He isn't alone, the linebackers/safeties have really struggled in coverage.

Pass rush continues to get pressures, but they have to get more sacks. They are getting there, just need to do a better job in finishing.

Finally, might be the most important thing is all these damn penalties. They have no chance for success if this continues to occur. Pre-snaps, personal fouls are killing this defense.

The last two weeks? Two weeks ago the Dallas defense scored as many TDs as they gave up to the opposing offense

 

[blueblood70]

They struggled last year later in the season as well.

Not sure if should be a concern or not. Could be Seattle just had a great game plan, and Dallas was not as prepared.
3 games in 12 days, takes a toll on the coaches as well as the players.

That might be a reason for the Seattle lack of production that doesn't change the fact that this defense got boat race down the field against Arizona against the 49ers and they gave up 28 points to the Philadelphia Eagles they literally are not the defense we thought they were gonna be you're making excuses for them where everyone be piling on Mike McCarthy for his situation of football and time clock management stuff which is nonsense because Dan Quinn's unit is the one that's underachieving they literally are the ones that have cost Mike McCarthy his plan coming into the season to be more conservative to keep the score down to help the defense stay off the field the defense is flat out plate like garbage most of the year I don't care about all the blowouts I watched even those games and those blowouts this defense being walked down the field way too easily...

It's a huge problem I mean there was some reasons last year against Green Bay and Jacksonville that they end up losing big leads and and losing in overtime and it wasn't all the defense but great defenses given these leads that we keep giving them it's still them giving up yards and points

they're responsible for the three losses is the defense there are other problems in those games but the biggest issues were on defense... We can't cover it up it's much Flack as Mike McCarthy and Jason Garrett and Kelly Moore got even riding marinelli and Mike Nolan to stay on defense somehow Dan Quinn's getting a pass..

He's relying too much oh his press your defense playing man on the back end and he seems unwilling to change and he needs to change I don't know how much or what he needs to do because I'm not a defensive coordinator but I believe he needs to play more zone he needs to mix it up more he needs to stop counting on boom or bust opportunistic defense.... They need to figure out how to play conservative defense shouldn't be just keep the score down it should be find ways to stop people on 3rd and 4th down or don't be getting in a lot of these like second and two type situation this defense is just not playing well..

 

[Ranching]

Last two weeks, the defense has really struggled, but they played well when the game was on the line stopping both teams multiple times on 4th down. Both Washington/Seattle have one thing in common, excellent receiving groups. Next 5 games, we are going to see Washington again and 4 elite offenses.

Really believe signing Shaq Leonard is more of a necessity then anything else. They need a veteran to help with the communication to make sure everyone knows their assignment pre-snap, this was something Lve excelled at. Leonard also gives the team more size to better handle stopping the run

Dan Quinn has to stop playing so much man coverage, especially with these mobile QB's in the coming weeks. Teams will continue to attack Bland on the island, until an adjustment has been made. Last two weeks, he has been consistently beaten early and often. He isn't alone, the linebackers/safeties have really struggled in coverage.

Pass rush continues to get pressures, but they have to get more sacks. They are getting there, just need to do a better job in finishing.

Finally, might be the most important thing is all these damn penalties. They have no chance for success if this continues to occur. Pre-snaps, personal fouls are killing this defense.

Concern? Don't worry about things that you can't control. Hook 'em!

 

[AsthmaField]

I think it was more of a case where Seattle changed up what they had been doing on offense completely, making the game plan that Quinn had come up with pretty much useless.

The Seahawks had been doing terrible on offense and they went in and changed a ton of things they had been doing. This was essentially a playoff game for them and they pulled out all the stops to try to win.

Sometimes when a coach makes a game plan, watching the film of what the opponent had been doing all season long, and the team unexpectedly changes up how they’re doing things… it can really screw up a game. That happened in this game.

At least partially, I think that was the case for Quinn on Thursday night. Quinn and the defense had to figure out how Seattle was playing and then diagnose and adjust on the fly. It is never pretty when that happens to a defense.

We will see soon enough if that was a big part of the problem or if it is just the defense starting to degrade.