Defense wins in the playoffs

[sportsman]

Not to fast forward the season. Unless the Cowboys defense become more of a force for this team. This team will not win in the playoffs. The defense has to start winning the turnover battles. I know this is not news..but I am becoming a bit concerned...we are.. what we are.

 

[Eskimo]

Tell that to the 92, 93, and 95 Cowboys - great offenses, good defenses. The best overall team wins most of the playoff matchups.

 

[Boysboy]

Not to fast forward the season. Unless the Cowboys defense become more of a force for this team. This team will not win in the playoffs. The defense has to start winning the turnover battles. I know this is not news..but I am becoming a bit concerned...we are.. what we are.

Tell that to the '06 Colts, who's run D was very shoddy. Tell that to the '04 Pats, who were playing with TWO rookie corners. Tell that to the '01 Pats, who's D was average and their NT was a guy by the name of Steve Martin(No, NOT THAT comedian). Tell that to the '99 Rams, who ranked in the late teens in pass defense. Tell that to the '98 Broncos, who ranked in the late 20's in pass defense. Tell that to Walsh's Niners, who's defense was just MERELY good(at best).

Want more?

 

[Brandon]

We don't have a "good defense" we have the defense of a 5 win team but the offensive of a 13 win team. Add that together you win about 10-11 games. Then, you get into the playoffs, and someone eventually stops that offense but you can't stop theirs.

I have a feeling we will be leaving Texas Stadium early in January AGAIN this year.

 

[sportsman]

I hope you guys are right and we will be able to add the Cowboys to that list.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Tell that to the 92, 93, and 95 Cowboys - great offenses, good defenses. The best overall team wins most of the playoff matchups.

The 1992 team had the #1 defense and the 1993 team had the #4 defense

 

[CowboyMark]

Tell that to the '06 Colts, who's run D was very shoddy. Tell that to the '04 Pats, who were playing with TWO rookie corners. Tell that to the '01 Pats, who's D was average and their NT was a guy by the name of Steve Martin(No, NOT THAT comedian). Tell that to the '99 Rams, who ranked in the late teens in pass defense. Tell that to the '98 Broncos, who ranked in the late 20's in pass defense. Tell that to Walsh's Niners, who's defense was just MERELY good(at best).

Want more?

Didn't those teams defenses played extremely well in the playoffs where it counted the most.

 

[Eskimo]

The 1992 team had the #1 defense and the 1993 team had the #4 defense

Those are paper numbers. Anyone who saw those teams play knew the defense was not great, but just good. This is much like the 2003 Cowboys under Parcells - a #1 defense, but not really that good.

On the other hand, the offenses on those teams were great - points on the board, win the TOP, few turnovers.

Looked at another way, how many players on those D's are going to end up in HOF? Why were those teams always identified by the triplets?

Those teams didn't have bad defenses, but the defense wasn't the main reason those teams won the championship.

 

[Eskimo]

Didn't those teams defenses played extremely well in the playoffs where it counted the most.

Again, the key is team - team's win championships.

How many teams with bad offenses actually won the superbowl - I can only think of the Ravens. So you can easily flip around this argument.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Those are paper numbers. Anyone who saw those teams play knew the defense was not great, but just good. This is much like the 2003 Cowboys under Parcells - a #1 defense, but not really that good.

On the other hand, the offenses on those teams were great - points on the board, win the TOP, few turnovers.

Looked at another way, how many players on those D's are going to end up in HOF? Why were those teams always identified by the triplets?

Those teams didn't have bad defenses, but the defense wasn't the main reason those teams won the championship.

I saw both defenses

The 1992 defense was GREAT. Their performance in the divisional game against Philly was one of the best in team history. Then of course the Superbowl speaks for itself, they made a great Buffalo offense all but irrelavent.

The 1993 defense wasnt as good but they did lead the league in takeaways if I remember correctly. They also dominated Steve Young in the NFC title game.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Again, the key is team - team's win championships.

How many teams with bad offenses actually won the superbowl - I can only think of the Ravens. So you can easily flip around this argument.

Tampa Bay

 

[Boysboy]

Didn't those teams defenses played extremely well in the playoffs where it counted the most.

Not the '99 Rams-the only decent D game they had was against the Bucs in the NFCCG...but that was b/c they were playing a rookie QB(Shaun King). In the Super Bowl, they got smacked around a good one against an above-average Titans O that was missing a couple of key starters, who happened to be ONE yard away from winning it instead.

As for the others-sure, the Broncs forced alot of TOs in their '98 playoff/SB run, but they WERE #27 against the pass that year. Don't ask me the details, but apparently, they were bad in the reg season, only to step it up in the playoffs.

Again-only 1/4 of the season has passed thus far, the playoffs are a LONG way off. Be patient.

 

[Boysboy]

Tampa Bay

The Commanders in '87-they had QB problems throughout that year, and Gibbs benched Schroeder out of desperation at the end for old-man Doug Williams. It paid off, but nonetheless they didn't have an identity at QB that year.

The Giants in '90-their receivers were only average(at best). Running game just wore down opponents, but they weren't exactly an offensive jugurnaut.

Or if you want to count Tennessee in '99-they were ONE yard away from winning it all, but their O was average(at best).

 

[khiladi]

Those are paper numbers. Anyone who saw those teams play knew the defense was not great, but just good. This is much like the 2003 Cowboys under Parcells - a #1 defense, but not really that good.

On the other hand, the offenses on those teams were great - points on the board, win the TOP, few turnovers.

Looked at another way, how many players on those D's are going to end up in HOF? Why were those teams always identified by the triplets?

Those teams didn't have bad defenses, but the defense wasn't the main reason those teams won the championship.

Uh, I watched those defenses and they were great. Kevin SMith was the only CB to shut-down Jerry Smith, when he was nutting on the whole league. We consistently forced turnovers and were incredibly quick in shutting down any outside runs. We pretty much whalloped the 49ers everytime we played them.

 

[CATCH17]

Well we have the players to do it on that side of the ball.

Now we just need them to start executing.

 

[MCowboys]

Those are paper numbers. Anyone who saw those teams play knew the defense was not great, but just good. This is much like the 2003 Cowboys under Parcells - a #1 defense, but not really that good.

Your right. Anyone who watched the 2003 Cowboys knows that it was the greatness of Quincy Carter and Troy Hambrick that led us to the playoffs. Not our overrated defense.

 

[Eskimo]

Your right. Anyone who watched the 2003 Cowboys knows that it was the greatness of Quincy Carter and Troy Hambrick that led us to the playoffs. Not our overrated defense.

A weak schedule is what got us into the playoffs.

 

[Boysboy]

Uh, I watched those defenses and they were great. Kevin SMith was the only CB to shut-down Jerry Smith, when he was nutting on the whole league. We consistently forced turnovers and were incredibly quick in shutting down any outside runs. We pretty much whalloped the 49ers everytime we played them.

FWIW-we were #15 ranked overall in '93(it was the '94 team that fell short which was #1 overall).

 

[Eskimo]

I saw both defenses

The 1992 defense was GREAT. Their performance in the divisional game against Philly was one of the best in team history. Then of course the Superbowl speaks for itself, they made a great Buffalo offense all but irrelavent.

The 1993 defense wasnt as good but they did lead the league in takeaways if I remember correctly. They also dominated Steve Young in the NFC title game.

The defense fed off of the offense. When the offense didn't play well, the defense got worn out and floundered. They were a good group but were far from great and are not regarded as one of the better defensive units of all-time - a contrast to the offense which will eventually have at least 4 HOFers.

No amount of romanticism will convince me that those were "great defenses".

 

[Boysboy]

A weak schedule is what got us into the playoffs.

We also didn't play all that great down the stretch. Miami schooled us on T-Giving, Philly torched us in the first wk of Dec(they had 2 guys rushing over 100 yards that game), and, of course, Carolina took us to the woodshed in the playoffs.