CFZ Defense down the stretch is a concern!

[AsthmaField]

I seen Devin a few times, he is an impact player. Does get over aggressive at times looking for that big hit, though.

Forbes really struggled against A.J. Brown, but that is a tough matchup for any corner.

McDonald barely plays, due to the Jets deep rotation. If he was just going to play limited snaps, why take him? They had bigger needs along the OL. This is what happens when you have a defensive minded HC.

I think the Jets thought they would be playing with a lead a lot this year and could unleash their edge rushers. Four plays into the 2023 season changed all of that. Instead, they’ve been playing from behind a lot, and run stopping isn’t McDonald’s forte.

Of course, McDonald could just be not very good… but I haven’t watched a second of him playing since draft day. I did like him though. Not like Spoon… but as a late first rounder, I thought he would be a good choice.

 

[Cowboyny]

I think the Jets thought they would be playing with a lead a lot this year and could unleash their edge rushers. Four plays into the 2023 season changed all of that. Instead, they’ve been playing from behind a lot, and run stopping isn’t McDonald’s forte.

Of course, McDonald could just be not very good… but I haven’t watched a second of him playing since draft day. I did like him though. Not like Spoon… but as a late first rounder, I thought he would be a good choice.

Their OL is one of the worst units in the entire league, maybe worse then the Giants. Even if Arod didn't get hurt, it was going to be a problem.

 

[dsturgeon]

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...

It is not an excuse, it is what happened. All I said, is that the cowboys lost starters at 2 major positions on defense, and that it would be noticed against some team more than others. You are overthinking it

 

[FVSTONE]

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 defense has gone up against 3 teams with a winning record this year and have looked and played utterly horrible! The defense is getting all this pub as being a great defense in the league while at the same time getting slapped around like some school yard bully is stealing CHUCKS of YARDAGE against them and they just turn the other cheek instead of getting pissed off and fighting back.

 

[AsthmaField]

Their OL is one of the worst units in the entire league, maybe worse then the Giants. Even if Arod didn't get hurt, it was going to be a problem.

Yes, but I’m sure that wasn’t the plan, right?

 

[Blue&Silver]

Do you have inside information? No
Philly may sign him.
Will Jerry pull out a little extra to sign him over Philly? I hope so.

No, I don't have insider information. I was just listening to Baldy, who said friends of the linebacker that he was talking to said he's leaning towards the cowboys. I take what former football players say more seriously than on ESPN link from a talking head.

 

[OGSixshooter]

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.

I'm giving this defense the side-eye...it's our achilles heel for sure. The communication was just off and guys were running free due to blown assignments.

 

[Cowboyny]

I'm giving this defense the side-eye...it's our achilles heel for sure. The communication was just off and guys were running free due to blown assignments.

The lack of communication could be the loss of Lve and why adding Leonard makes a ton of sense

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

They are getting pressure but not getting sacks

pressures are fine. pressures create Turn overs

 

[Cowboyny]

pressures are fine. pressures create Turn overs

They need to finish as drives are extending.

 

[blueblood70]

The defense is fine. Nobody knows Dan Quinn better than Carroll and Washington scored 10 points on our struggling defense. The NFL is an offensive league and all the rules now protect the offensive players. Our defense lives and dies by the pass rush and turnovers. As long as the offense continues to roll we have a chance against any team we play.

IT WAS WASHINGTON and yet they still move the ball a couple times really really well that's my point if you watch the games like Carolina had that like ridiculously long drive if these teams were even slightly better on offense it would more expose our defense but the games I'm talking about are you trying to ignore how the defense right and our three losses they literally were the problem in the three losses they were the biggest reason we lost were they the only reason no but they were the biggest reason you can't give up that kind of point especially to the 49ers or to the Eagles this defense has issues,

big issues..

I find it ironic that somehow Dan Quinn is Teflon right now and this defense, no ones wanting to admit how bad they are to a point where they criticize them like the 65 posts a day we were getting about Prescott when he was throwing interceptions last year all the attention on the offense when like zeke's not running well or whoever else like Michael Gallup right now is like a big target for everyone..

here's a good example go look around on the front page during the game and post game we're talking more about Mike McCarthy's offense and his decision making in the game than we are about the defense that's a problem I can't get over Mike McCarthy is the reason we won that game, his recognizing the defense wasn't gonna be good that day playing super aggressive his play calling his offense the scoring was all him and yet we're criticizing him more than Dan Quinn and the defense in a win that was all offensive...

somehow nobody will admit this defense has big problems not just some problems they are giving up long time of possession eating drives in the better teams with the better quarterbacks and the better talent are exposing our defense it used to just be on the road,...

it used to just be on the Rd. on turf you know like in Arizona but now it's just becoming a problem period when that happens at home I don't want to hear the excuses they need to find better defensive alignments formations game plans whatever they gotta do that doesn't expose our defense.... In my opinion Dan Quinn has seemed to have an ego he wants to have this ridiculous pass rush at all costs and play man on the back end and leave a lot of his players exposed... He's putting his guys on an island and doesn't seem like he's willing to change..

So explain to me how when rod marinelli end no when's defenses play this poorly they never got excuses or a pass and I'm not giving Dan Quinn a pass this is his problem right now and he needs to get it fixed quickly... I'm not saying they suck but this is not the shutdown championship defense that we were told coming into this season was going to come into play...

 

[blueblood70]

The lack of communication could be the loss of Lve and why adding Leonard makes a ton of sense

yeah but Kearse used to be really good at that with the green dot remember?? I mean he had it before L VE I mean LV's been out a lot if it's about communication why is it all of a sudden a problem when Kearse used to do it rather well and I know he's been in and out of the lineup, he's not playing that well...

I think it's not communication, I literally think that they play too much high pressure pass rush and leave men exposed in man and are unwilling to change...

that Dan Quinn doesn't have to fully go away from this but he needs to recognize it is a problem, they need to play more zone or they need to play another type of defense that could stop the bleeding and help out the back end and stop worrying about opportunistic pass rushing sacks interceptions and fumbles because that is seems to be a boom or bust mentality right now..

It literally feels like rod marinelli's defense... The kind of bend don't break thing been going on all year and in the three losses it broke and if it wasn't for aggressive play calling and high scoring from our office and Mike McCarthy who's being criticized for making those decisions even though we won the game because of his offense and his play calling somehow Dan Quinn's getting excuses blaming the players no this is no different than Mike Nolan or rod marinelli when those defenses became a big issue something needed to be changed and I hope he figures it out with these 10 days....

You know it really reminds me of Jason Garrett you know that literally leaned on talent more than scheme and just counted on the talent showing up on a weekly basis or waiting for that big play to happen and whenever it doesn't happen this defense is getting exposed....

 

[baltcowboy]

IT WAS WASHINGTON and yet they still move the ball a couple times really really well that's my point if you watch the games like Carolina had that like ridiculously long drive if these teams were even slightly better on offense it would more expose our defense but the games I'm talking about are you trying to ignore how the defense right and our three losses they literally were the problem in the three losses they were the biggest reason we lost were they the only reason no but they were the biggest reason you can't give up that kind of point especially to the 49ers or to the Eagles this defense has issues,

big issues..

I find it ironic that somehow Dan Quinn is Teflon right now and this defense, no ones wanting to admit how bad they are to a point where they criticize them like the 65 posts a day we were getting about Prescott when he was throwing interceptions last year all the attention on the offense when like zeke's not running well or whoever else like Michael Gallup right now is like a big target for everyone..

here's a good example go look around on the front page during the game and post game we're talking more about Mike McCarthy's offense and his decision making in the game than we are about the defense that's a problem I can't get over Mike McCarthy is the reason we won that game, his recognizing the defense wasn't gonna be good that day playing super aggressive his play calling his offense the scoring was all him and yet we're criticizing him more than Dan Quinn and the defense in a win that was all offensive...

somehow nobody will admit this defense has big problems not just some problems they are giving up long time of possession eating drives in the better teams with the better quarterbacks and the better talent are exposing our defense it used to just be on the road,...

it used to just be on the Rd. on turf you know like in Arizona but now it's just becoming a problem period when that happens at home I don't want to hear the excuses they need to find better defensive alignments formations game plans whatever they gotta do that doesn't expose our defense.... In my opinion Dan Quinn has seemed to have an ego he wants to have this ridiculous pass rush at all costs and play man on the back end and leave a lot of his players exposed... He's putting his guys on an island and doesn't seem like he's willing to change..

So explain to me how when rod marinelli end no when's defenses play this poorly they never got excuses or a pass and I'm not giving Dan Quinn a pass this is his problem right now and he needs to get it fixed quickly... I'm not saying they suck but this is not the shutdown championship defense that we were told coming into this season was going to come into play...

Rod was here when we drafted Taco and that horrible defensive tackle from South Florida. Rod was also on Garrett’s coaching staff and was the defensive coordinator that called the defense that let Rodgers complete a 4th and 20. Since Quinn has been here the Cowboys had had one of the best defenses and football. It helps that he has Parsons who turned our whole defensive philosophy around. The injury to Diggs is the reason we are not elite.

 

[blueblood70]

Cannot expect an offense to score on every possession, Seattle never punted in the entire game.

I find it ironic that Dan Quinn seems to be Teflon right now in the defense gets excuses that rod marinelli Mike Nolan Jason Garrett nobody got those excuses when things were going bad this defense hasn't really played well all year... It's an illusion because they played so many bad offenses it makes them look better than they are I'm not saying they suck but if you look at the losses and you look at that close loss in Seattle this is not the defense we were expecting this year they play far too much pressure far too much man not enough zone whatever they're doing I hope they figure out how to get it fixed but this is the Jason Garrett syndrome Dan Quinn is leaning on his talent instead of his scheme and he is getting disappointed when that talent isn't playing up to part he's not making any changes..

And some of it yeah we lost our L VE we lost Trayvon diggs we've had some injuries so yeah the talent level isn't as as expected but in my opinion somehow this place is giving Dan Quinn a pass because they think he's the next head coach here and this is the same thing he did in Atlanta when he was a head coach it's the same thing that's been going on occasionally like last year the blown leads in Jacksonville and Green Bay this defense can be exposed and it has far too often this year they don't look anything like you would expect a shutdown championship defense to look like those teams gave up under 14 points a game for the entire year they didn't have these big ups and downs all the time...

I hope they can get it fixed but whatever it is I'm putting it squarely on Dan Quinn right now he's the face of this defense... Tell me how people think that Seattle game was like a an anomaly like an outlier did they not see the three losses I mean they are mostly the reason we lost those games...

They no longer can blame the offense for not being able to move the ball punting throwing interceptions or the special teams fumbling or giving bad field position because that was the excuses last year or in some of these games but this year those things are not happening and the defense is still struggling...

 

[blueblood70]

Rod was here when we drafted Taco and that horrible defensive tackle from South Florida. Rod was also on Garrett’s coaching staff and was the defensive coordinator that called the defense that let Rodgers complete a 4th and 20. Since Quinn has been here the Cowboys had had one of the best defenses and football. It helps that he has Parsons who turned our whole defensive philosophy around.

I'm just using that as an example I'm not saying he is right marinelli but I'm gonna promise you this this defense has been mostly average to below average all year and they're absolutely mostly responsible for the three losses and what happened in Seattle is not an outlier it's happened too many times in Dan Quinn's history within the Atlanta Falcons and here and he's not getting a pass from me OK you can make excuses for him all you want.. And at one time rock rod marinelli had some pretty good defenses some of them were called Ben don't break they gave up a lot of yards and long drives but they amounted to either field goals or nothing and somehow this is what's happening today in quinns defense right now, they've been boat raced down the field on 80% of the opening drives this year and most of the first drives right out of the half, this is not new this has been going on quite a bit....

You could be in denial all you want, I can see it it's been a problem if it doesn't get fixed we're going to have some serious issues the rest of this year and if we make the playoffs in the playoffs this isn't going to work...

 

[Cowboyny]

yeah but Kearse used to be really good at that with the green dot remember?? I mean he had it before L VE I mean LV's been out a lot if it's about communication why is it all of a sudden a problem when Kearse used to do it rather well and I know he's been in and out of the lineup, he's not playing that well...

I think it's not communication, I literally think that they play too much high pressure pass rush and leave men exposed in man and are unwilling to change...

that Dan Quinn doesn't have to fully go away from this but he needs to recognize it is a problem, they need to play more zone or they need to play another type of defense that could stop the bleeding and help out the back end and stop worrying about opportunistic pass rushing sacks interceptions and fumbles because that is seems to be a boom or bust mentality right now..

It literally feels like rod marinelli's defense... The kind of bend don't break thing been going on all year and in the three losses it broke and if it wasn't for aggressive play calling and high scoring from our office and Mike McCarthy who's being criticized for making those decisions even though we won the game because of his offense and his play calling somehow Dan Quinn's getting excuses blaming the players no this is no different than Mike Nolan or rod marinelli when those defenses became a big issue something needed to be changed and I hope he figures it out with these 10 days....

You know it really reminds me of Jason Garrett you know that literally leaned on talent more than scheme and just counted on the talent showing up on a weekly basis or waiting for that big play to happen and whenever it doesn't happen this defense is getting exposed....

Agree, Quinn has to mix it up more. Speaking of Kearse, he has had a terrible season and won't be returning next year. I do believe the loss of Lve is far bigger then many realize, especially with the communication.

 

[baltcowboy]

I'm just using that as an example I'm not saying he is right marinelli but I'm gonna promise you this this defense has been mostly average to below average all year and they're absolutely mostly responsible for the three losses and what happened in Seattle is not an outlier it's happened too many times in Dan Quinn's history within the Atlanta Falcons and here and he's not getting a pass from me OK you can make excuses for him all you want.. And at one time rock rod marinelli had some pretty good defenses some of them were called Ben don't break they gave up a lot of yards and long drives but they amounted to either field goals or nothing and somehow this is what's happening today in quinns defense right now, they've been boat raced down the field on 80% of the opening drives this year and most of the first drives right out of the half, this is not new this has been going on quite a bit....

You could be in denial all you want, I can see it it's been a problem if it doesn't get fixed we're going to have some serious issues the rest of this year and if we make the playoffs in the playoffs this isn't going to work...

We have one of the top 5 teams in the NFL relax. We get Philadelphia at home next Sunday. The defense will be ready.

 

[CCBoy]

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.

Good focus. Sometimes a team just needs to identify opponent changes and present focus upon identifying that in communication. It can somewhat self adjust to tendency then. That takes rehearsal during momentums.

 

[blueblood70]

Agree, Quinn has to mix it up more. Speaking of Kearse, he has had a terrible season and won't be returning next year. I do believe the loss of Lve is far bigger then many realize, especially with the communication.

Well it may be the loss of LVE but you're saying the communication what I'm saying is it's not Kearses first time communicating, hes done really well with it in the past. At least they have the 10 days to really look over what happened in the last eagle game and in this Seattle game and maybe take a hard look at making some changes and not counting on the talent to keep getting all these turnovers and sacks they need to create a defense that now helps the offense it's completely opposite of what we are going into this year thinking we need to play conservative offense because all we had to do was score what 17 points and we should be in every game??

That did not happen that is why people who were all over Mike McCarthy for coming out with that philosophy trying to run a conservative offense to help our defense because our defense was supposed to be this next coming of doomsday had to reinvent the offense and go wide open and be very aggressive in this play calling because this defense he has no faith in it at all right now... He's probably having nightmares from 2020 when Mike Nolan did this the first five games of the year when his offense was on fire, we do we not remember Prescott was playing like this before he broke his ankle but the defense couldn't stop anyone?? I remember and this is a problem because Mike McCarthy is getting drilled for the way he's calling plays he's calling plays because he thinks he needs to score on every single drive... at home? That just should never have happened so let's hope they find a way to fix this let's hope that the defense itself and the coaches getting all the blowback and the negative talk motivates them to play better...

 

[blueblood70]

We have one of the top 5 teams in the NFL relax. We get Philadelphia at home next Sunday. The defense will be ready.

I don't care what it looks like on paper, rankings and all that...


I see this being a problem in the 3 losses directly can lead back to the same issues on defense and I'm not needing to calm down, we're having a friendly debate here..

I believe the defense against these better teams if they don't get it fixed if they solely relying on the talent getting sacks and timely turnovers that is a big problem because when it doesn't happen, they're giving up way too much yards and points...