Defense wins in the playoffs

[NorthwestDallas40]

Which is why I think there is a good chance we lose this game. Missing Hitchens is a bigger blow than people on this board think. He has been our best defender, other than Crawford and O Scan. And our DBs simply do not match up well against Calvin and Tate (and an emerging Ebron). And Stafford always seems to play well in his home town and against us. On the other side, playing a top 5-7 defense. Our O line simply has not seen a D line like DET's since maybe ARZ. This neutralizes our biggest strength (unless we get a big break and Suh is suspended). Their LBs are fast to the ball. DBs are nothing special, but the DL makes them better. Not trolling here, just speaking honestly. I think: DET 27 DAL 20. Would appreciate good analysis in response, not just blind homerism...

 

[LandryFan]

Which is why I think there is a good chance we lose this game. Missing Hitchens is a bigger blow than people on this board think. He has been our best defender, other than Crawford and O Scan. And our DBs simply do not match up well against Calvin and Tate (and an emerging Ebron). And Stafford always seems to play well in his home town and against us. On the other side, playing a top 5-7 defense. Our O line simply has not seen a D line like DET's since maybe ARZ. This neutralizes our biggest strength (unless we get a big break and Suh is suspended). Their LBs are fast to the ball. DBs are nothing special, but the DL makes them better. Not trolling here, just speaking honestly. I think: DET 27 DAL 20. Would appreciate good analysis in response, not just blind homerism...

I think you'll find very few who want to start playoff week with a "we're going to lose" thread. Not being a "blind homer", just being a realist here.

 

[cowboys1981]

A formula that led us to 12-4 can lead us to playoff wins.

No one matches up well vs Megatron. I would have Moore on him and Scandrick on Tate. I'm sure Megatron won't have his 300 yrd day, mind you that it still took a miracle for those guys to come back and beat us.

NO and GB are perfect examples of not needing a good defense; just an opportunistic one in which we have.

 

[Doomsday101]

Which is why I think there is a good chance we lose this game. Missing Hitchens is a bigger blow than people on this board think. He has been our best defender, other than Crawford and O Scan. And our DBs simply do not match up well against Calvin and Tate (and an emerging Ebron). And Stafford always seems to play well in his home town and against us. On the other side, playing a top 5-7 defense. Our O line simply has not seen a D line like DET's since maybe ARZ. This neutralizes our biggest strength (unless we get a big break and Suh is suspended). Their LBs are fast to the ball. DBs are nothing special, but the DL makes them better. Not trolling here, just speaking honestly. I think: DET 27 DAL 20. Would appreciate good analysis in response, not just blind homerism...

yeah we have no chance at all why bother playing the game. You must be a blast to have at a party.

 

[xwalker]

Which is why I think there is a good chance we lose this game. Missing Hitchens is a bigger blow than people on this board think. He has been our best defender, other than Crawford and O Scan. And our DBs simply do not match up well against Calvin and Tate (and an emerging Ebron). And Stafford always seems to play well in his home town and against us. On the other side, playing a top 5-7 defense. Our O line simply has not seen a D line like DET's since maybe ARZ. This neutralizes our biggest strength (unless we get a big break and Suh is suspended). Their LBs are fast to the ball. DBs are nothing special, but the DL makes them better. Not trolling here, just speaking honestly. I think: DET 27 DAL 20. Would appreciate good analysis in response, not just blind homerism...

Green Bay has a middle of the pack defense (pardon the pun) and they held Detroit to 20 points total.

 

[TrailBlazer]

Detroit hasn't been playing that well lately. Regardless of all the talent they have. I think our oline will be fine against their front 7. We did a good job against philly s front seven which is just as good as detroits. I don't believe their secondary, or any secondary can hold dez Witten Beasley for very long. As long as the oline does their job, Detroit will have to respect our run game. Which will leave Witten and Beasley open. We can outscore them.

 

[egn22]

We beat Seattle on the road.
We have a record setting wR
We have a record setting RB
MVP caliber QB
Best oline in the game
8-0 on the road

Their def hasn't seen anything like this yet. OP pull down your skirt and go post this trash on the Lions board

 

[tyke1doe]

I have faith in our offensive line. And I remember the great offensive lines of the Giants and the Hogs (Commanders) and how they dominated defensive lines.

I see a determined Romo playing within himself.

I see an improving, opportunitistic defense.

I see a team that feels disrespected and has something to prove.

I see a Matthew Stafford who is 0-16 on the road against teams with winning records.

And I see a Lions team that has a tendency to make mistakes and penalties in one aspect of the game (offense, defense or special teams) at the most inopportune time.

I see the Cowboys winning. 45 - 24.

 

[DandyDon1722]

Matt Stafford is 0-16 in road games against teams with winning records.

Once is a mistake
Twice is a trend
Three times is a problem
Sixteen is who you are

 

[MRV52]

Which is why I think there is a good chance we lose this game. Missing Hitchens is a bigger blow than people on this board think. He has been our best defender, other than Crawford and O Scan. And our DBs simply do not match up well against Calvin and Tate (and an emerging Ebron). And Stafford always seems to play well in his home town and against us. On the other side, playing a top 5-7 defense. Our O line simply has not seen a D line like DET's since maybe ARZ. This neutralizes our biggest strength (unless we get a big break and Suh is suspended). Their LBs are fast to the ball. DBs are nothing special, but the DL makes them better. Not trolling here, just speaking honestly. I think: DET 27 DAL 20. Would appreciate good analysis in response, not just blind homerism...

Maybe you haven't noticed but this defense is coming on and playing damn good ball of late. Throw those stats in the garbage as a lot of teams have accumulated a lot of those yards and points in garbage time. We will be fine as this is a bend but don't break type of defense that creates a lot of turnovers.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

The defense doesn't need to be great. They just need to keep causing other teams to turn the ball over. That's the formula they need to stick with.

 

[HoustonSucks]

Detroit has barely won many of their games. The nod goes to their coaching staff for pulling them through imo. To me it will come down to coaching staff vs. Coaching staff. I have seen enough from ours this year to think this very well could be a fun little revenge game for us....

 

[spook930]

We beat Seattle on the road.
We have a record setting wR
We have a record setting RB
MVP caliber QB
Best oline in the game
8-0 on the road

Their def hasn't seen anything like this yet. OP pull down your skirt and go post this trash on the Lions board

Couldn't have said it better lol... My GOD! We have a lot of tools to pick apart their defense one being their old coach. Never mind us being better football team and playing better than they are right now.

 

[Dale]

Sure, defense is critical in the postseason, and Detroit is good defensively. I don't anticipate a 30-point offensive showing against them.

You cited Megatron, and hes certainly a matchup nightmare. But for as good as their receiving corps is, there's just something disjointed about their offense. They don't really put together drives, instead relying on big plays, oftentimes on broken plays. I don't know his sustainable that is on their end.

Also, they have just been playing some bad football entering the playoffs. I think they're something like 4-3 over their last seven games, with several of those wins being nail-biters against bad teams.

They also have a history of losing to good teams, both this season and in the past. 1-4 against playoff teams this year, and Stafford is something like 3-29 against teams that finish better than .500.

 

[DFWJC]

Matt Stafford is 0-16 in road games against teams with winning records.

Once is a mistake
Twice is a trend
Three times is a problem
Sixteen is who you are

Not predicting a Detroit win at all, but to Stafford's defense, this is the best team he's ever played on.
As any Cowboy fan knows, QBs do not (and should not) have won-loss records.

I do like Dallas to pull this out though....and we do have the advantage at QB

 

[Dave_in-NC]

We shouldn't be 12-4 either. But here we are.

 

[Boyz981]

Everyone is always looking for a new angle!

 

[Hoov]

As far as the thread Tiltle "Defense wins in the playoffs"

If you look at statistics for most sports they show that Defense matters in the playoffs up to a point - basically the early rounds. But usually the team that has the best offensive output wins the championship.


So, the general consensus is that a good defense can make up for a certain amount of offensive inadequacy until the better or best teams match up and at that point the offensive juggernaut wins out most of the time.

Last year seattles offense was playing pretty good. Their defense was awesome but the offense was really grinding out the rushing yards and wilson was very good on 3rd downs and in the clutch - so their defense didnt have to carry a woeful offense - it accompanied a good offense that was playing well down the stretch.

The prior year Baltimore had a good defense but there were several teams with better ones including the 49ers. But Flacco was Money on 3rd down conversions all through the playoffs and in the first half of the superbowl as well. The Baltimore offense got out to a lead and then put a lot of pressure on the 49ers.

So as far as wining it all - the cowboys have a lot of things going for them that correlate highly with superbowl winners - one of which is 3rd down conversion rate - i think they are number 1 at that.


As far as the game against Detroit

I think this O-Line can hold down the trenches against their D line.

If that is a wash..... then As good as Romo is passing I'll take Romo and these receivers against the Lions secondary and LB in coverage all day long. I think the pass gets them off balance to set up the run and predict something like last week 40-17

 

[jobberone]

Stafford is 0-16 on the road against teams with winning records.

 

[Doomsday101]

Defense will give up yards they have also forced 12 turnovers in the last 4 games with 7 ints and 5 fumbles.