Defensive Stats pretty horrific

[Idgit]

There's reason for hope. Here are the points per drive of our 5 opponents, comparing what they did against the Cowboys with what they've done against the rest of their schedule:

Giants vs. Dallas: 2.21
Giants vs. NFL: 0.94

Chiefs vs. Dallas: 1.55
Chiefs vs. NFL: 1.51

Rams vs. Dallas: 0.58
Rams vs. NFL: 1.75

Chargers vs. Dallas: 2.73
Chargers vs. NFL: 2.91

Broncos vs. Dallas: 4.64
Broncos vs. NFL: 5.00

AVG vs. Dallas: 2.34
AVG vs. NFL: 2.42

Dallas' Remaining Schedule
AVG vs. NFL: 1.92

Interesting that we actually held Rivers' production down relative to his other competition. I would have guessed that we hadn't. That Broncos offense we managed to take the ball away from a couple times and stop them a few times. That scoring bonanza was a function of the pace of that game, so that's not as surprising to me. I can't imagine many teams slowing them down the way they were playing.

 

[Venger]

We've traded one liability for another, and we may trade again mid year. Last year, this OL was getting Romo killed and keeping us from being more than mediocre. This season, the OL has stepped up into solid, not spectacular, but definitely solid performance, and it's the defense, specifically in coverage but carrying over a pass rush that underwhelms, that is killing this team.

Who knows, the Commanders may be the cure for what ails us. A solid win will go a long way toward stopping the reeling...

 

[Idgit]

We've traded one liability for another, and we may trade again mid year. Last year, this OL was getting Romo killed and keeping us from being more than mediocre. This season, the OL has stepped up into solid, not spectacular, but definitely solid performance, and it's the defense, specifically in coverage but carrying over a pass rush that underwhelms, that is killing this team.

Who knows, the Redsk*ns may be the cure for what ails us. A solid win will go a long way toward stopping the reeling...

The pass defense has been the much bigger problem, all along. The passing offense has been effective, despite the interior protection problems.

 

[djmajestik]

Why run on us when you can pass at will?

Will is now with the steelers.

 

[Beast_from_East]

The pass defense has been the much bigger problem, all along. The passing offense has been effective, despite the interior protection problems.

Agreed........................the main problem with this team after looking at the stats is the pass defense.


Either we dont have enough talent or its a coaching/scheme issue. I am worried it might be the scheme, Kiffen was getting owned at USC on a weekly basis also.


Whatever the problem is, they better find a way to fix it because if we keep losing, none of the coaches are going to be around next year if you know what I mean.

 

[Idgit]

Agreed........................the main problem with this team after looking at the stats is the pass defense.
Either we dont have enough talent or its a coaching/scheme issue. I am worried it might be the scheme, Kiffen was getting owned at USC on a weekly basis also.
Whatever the problem is, they better find a way to fix it because if we keep losing, none of the coaches are going to be around next year if you know what I mean.

It's been a problem for the last three years. We've changed scheme, coaches, and all the starters during that time. More pass rush always helps, but in this case, it's the Ss and the LBs in coverage. I *do* think part of that is adapting to the new scheme, and expect some of it to get better over the next few weeks. I didn't expect us to get pressure on Peyton, but Rivers' clean pocket in the second half--even with Ware's back and Selvie's concussion--surprised me.

At least we're doing a much better job managing our own turnovers. The TO differential was half the problem last year. Our coverage liabilities were the other half. Garrett's done a good job of flipping all the resources, trying to fix things. So far, at least, it's been a failure. It's driving me crazy.

 

[Beast_from_East]

It's been a problem for the last three years. We've changed scheme, coaches, and all the starters during that time. More pass rush always helps, but in this case, it's the Ss and the LBs in coverage. I *do* think part of that is adapting to the new scheme, and expect some of it to get better over the next few weeks. I didn't expect us to get pressure on Peyton, but Rivers' clean pocket in the second half--even with Ware's back and Selvie's concussion--surprised me.

At least we're doing a much better job managing our own turnovers. The TO differential was half the problem last year. Our coverage liabilities were the other half. Garrett's done a good job of flipping all the resources, trying to fix things. So far, at least, it's been a failure. It's driving me crazy.

I really thought the defense would be alot better than this. The Tampa 2 is not supposed to get torched like this through the air on a weekly basis. I mean, 4 of the 5 QBs we have played have passed for over 400 yards against us. That is crazy!!!

I am starting to think we should have kept Rob Ryan, the defense looked alot better last year even with half of the starters out with injuries and New Orleans is not too shaby on D this year either. I dont know, its just puzzling why we suck this bad on defense.

 

[CaptainCreed]

I really thought the defense would be alot better than this. The Tampa 2 is not supposed to get torched like this through the air on a weekly basis. I mean, 4 of the 5 QBs we have played have passed for over 400 yards against us. That is crazy!!!

I am starting to think we should have kept Rob Ryan, the defense looked alot better last year even with half of the starters out with injuries and New Orleans is not too shaby on D this year either. I dont know, its just puzzling why we suck this bad on defense.

3 of 5 qbs, but yes that is not desirable. Let's see if we improve.

 

[Idgit]

3 of 5 qbs, but yes that is not desirable. Let's see if we improve.

It's important to keep in mind that, apart from the blown S coverages v. Eli, the other two QBs were (are?) the two highest-rated passers in the league right now. That SD game was a head-scracther for me. But KC is the league's best scoring defense and DEN the league's best scoring offense. Both those games were very close. At the end of the day, close doesn't cut it. What close does do, though, is give you a sense of how your team might stack up to the rest of the league. I'm looking forward to this week because, well, it's the Redsk**ns, but also because it's another top-10 passing offense, and this time it also happens to be a team that we really should be able to beat at home right now. It'll be a good measure of how good the team really is.

All that said, I still expected better coverage here early. Especially from our LBs. It's really disappointing to have made such significant changes and to appear to have gotten worse, rather than better.

 

[CaptainCreed]

It's important to keep in mind that, apart from the blown S coverages v. Eli, the other two QBs were (are?) the two highest-rated passers in the league right now. That SD game was a head-scracther for me. But KC is the league's best scoring defense and DEN the league's best scoring offense. Both those games were very close. At the end of the day, close doesn't cut it. What close does do, though, is give you a sense of how your team might stack up to the rest of the league. I'm looking forward to this week because, well, it's the Redsk**ns, but also because it's another top-10 passing offense, and this time it also happens to be a team that we really should be able to beat at home right now. It'll be a good measure of how good the team really is.

All that said, I still expected better coverage here early. Especially from our LBs. It's really disappointing to have made such significant changes and to appear to have gotten worse, rather than better.

Yeah, I am not too worried, but definitely hoping and expecting improvement. You have to consider Eli also padded his stats with roughly 80 yds and a TD to finish that game as we made them drive and use up clock with prevent. Is 370 acceptable either? Probably not, but as the season progresses, expect better passing d numbers and likely a poorer run defense. Commanders are a good test as well as NO, CHI, and GB down the road in assessing our chances in the playoffs. I would actually be okay with a middle of the pack defense if our offense becomes more efficient. It is easy to love the Denver game offensive output but just a week earlier we only put up a goose egg in the second half against SD, that is not going to win games regardless if D is playing poorly. But it was a road AFC game, lets see if we can pick up some road wins against conference opponents in the coming weeks. End of season, 5 or 6 home wins and 3 or 4 road wins are realistic expectations assuming we are a playoff quality team and do not fall apart. Leaguewide injuries and hot teams will come into play but I like our chances, no overreaction here. I think we put a good stretch together over the next few weeks starting with Sunday night.

 

[CaptainCreed]

It's important to keep in mind that, apart from the blown S coverages v. Eli, the other two QBs were (are?) the two highest-rated passers in the league right now. That SD game was a head-scracther for me. But KC is the league's best scoring defense and DEN the league's best scoring offense. Both those games were very close. At the end of the day, close doesn't cut it. What close does do, though, is give you a sense of how your team might stack up to the rest of the league. I'm looking forward to this week because, well, it's the Redsk**ns, but also because it's another top-10 passing offense, and this time it also happens to be a team that we really should be able to beat at home right now. It'll be a good measure of how good the team really is.

All that said, I still expected better coverage here early. Especially from our LBs. It's really disappointing to have made such significant changes and to appear to have gotten worse, rather than better.

Also imagine this place and our games if we were still not forcing any turnovers like last year. The change in turnover differential has been a positive.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

In Mickey's article he points out that the Cowboys 4-2-5 defense is the one that's taking most of the lumps vs 3-wide offenses. The suggestion was that another linebacker needs to get off the field for a safety... someone who can better stay with tight-ends and running backs.

 

[Muhast]

Apparently leaving the entire middle of the field wide open doesn't work..

 

[CaptainCreed]

In Mickey's article he points out that the Cowboys 4-2-5 defense is the one that's taking most of the lumps vs 3-wide offenses. The suggestion was that another linebacker needs to get off the field for a safety... someone who can better stay with tight-ends and running backs.

Interesting, our ole buddy rob Ryan has been running a lot of 3 safety sets in NO, though drafting Vaccaro did give them 3 quality S with Jenkins and Harper. I am not sure we have the talent behind Church and Wilcox. I believe in Carter and feel he will play better and prove he is worth keeping on the field. He has the talent and physical attributes to do it. The play last year of him running down Julio Jones keeps sticking in my mind, LBs should not be able to do that. He is going to turn it around.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

The pass defense has been the much bigger problem, all along. The passing offense has been effective, despite the interior protection problems.

The biggest problem on this board all offseason was the pushing of an incorrect agenda. Our pass defense has totally sucked for a while now, and yet day after day there was whining about the OL when really it wasn't the biggest problem keeping the team from winning more games.

Our pass defense has to improve massively for us to have a chance to succeed this season, and guess what, it wasn't Rob's fault we sucked last year......it was cause of injuries. I didn't like the switch to the 4-3, and still don't like it. Rob should still be in Dallas, but since thats not going to happen, we really have to get some players in here that are better in this scheme.

 

[dallasdave]

Total defensive rank..............28th...........allowing 409.2 ypg

Passing defense....................31st...........allowing 326.4 ypg

Rushing defense...................4th..............allowing 82.8 ypg

Total points allowed............22nd..............allowing 27.2 ppg


Basically our pass defense is non existent and teams just pass up and down the field at will against us. The rushing defense is pretty good, but why should teams even bother running when they passing lanes are wide open every freaking play? And to top it off, we have to score 4 TDs to have any chance of winning.

And there are still folks on this board that blame Romo for our 2-3 record.......................amazing.

Well that just gives the Cowboys lots of room to improve.

 

[big dog cowboy]

In Mickey's article he points out that the Cowboys 4-2-5 defense is the one that's taking most of the lumps vs 3-wide offenses. The suggestion was that another linebacker needs to get off the field for a safety... someone who can better stay with tight-ends and running backs.

Ya think?

 

[CaptainCreed]

Well that just gives the Cowboys lots of room to improve.

Guess you missed/ignored these numbers:

"There's reason for hope. Here are the points per drive of our 5 opponents, comparing what they did against the Cowboys with what they've done against the rest of their schedule:

Giants vs. Dallas: 2.21
Giants vs. NFL: 0.94

Chiefs vs. Dallas: 1.55
Chiefs vs. NFL: 1.51

Rams vs. Dallas: 0.58
Rams vs. NFL: 1.75

Chargers vs. Dallas: 2.73
Chargers vs. NFL: 2.91

Broncos vs. Dallas: 4.64
Broncos vs. NFL: 5.00

AVG vs. Dallas: 2.34
AVG vs. NFL: 2.42

Dallas' Remaining Schedule
AVG vs. NFL: 1.92"

The D has actually performed better on avg against opponents than other teams their opponents have faced. Those numbers are inflated by Denver. Patience.

 

[cowboys1981]

For the most part our passing defense has struggled due to a lack of a pass rushing presence on the back field and a combination of playing soft coverage. Jam those d@mn receivers and give our line a chance to get some pressure. We can reap the benefits of some bad passes.

 

[dallasdave]

Guess you missed/ignored these numbers:

"There's reason for hope. Here are the points per drive of our 5 opponents, comparing what they did against the Cowboys with what they've done against the rest of their schedule:

Giants vs. Dallas: 2.21
Giants vs. NFL: 0.94

Chiefs vs. Dallas: 1.55
Chiefs vs. NFL: 1.51

Rams vs. Dallas: 0.58
Rams vs. NFL: 1.75

Chargers vs. Dallas: 2.73
Chargers vs. NFL: 2.91

Broncos vs. Dallas: 4.64
Broncos vs. NFL: 5.00

AVG vs. Dallas: 2.34
AVG vs. NFL: 2.42

Dallas' Remaining Schedule
AVG vs. NFL: 1.92"

The D has actually performed better on avg against opponents than other teams their opponents have faced. Those numbers are inflated by Denver. Patience.

Guess you missed/ignored these numbers:

"There's reason for hope. Here are the points per drive of our 5 opponents, comparing what they did against the Cowboys with what they've done against the rest of their schedule:

Giants vs. Dallas: 2.21
Giants vs. NFL: 0.94

Chiefs vs. Dallas: 1.55
Chiefs vs. NFL: 1.51

Rams vs. Dallas: 0.58
Rams vs. NFL: 1.75

Chargers vs. Dallas: 2.73
Chargers vs. NFL: 2.91

Broncos vs. Dallas: 4.64
Broncos vs. NFL: 5.00

AVG vs. Dallas: 2.34
AVG vs. NFL: 2.42

Dallas' Remaining Schedule
AVG vs. NFL: 1.92"

The D has actually performed better on avg against opponents than other teams their opponents have faced. Those numbers are inflated by Denver. Patience.

Are you saying the defense doesn't have a lot of room to improve?