Did we fix the Defense?

[Kaiser]

Pretty sure Lawrence is a RDE

My bad, I reversed LDE and RDE on that list.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

SDE Crawford | Selvie, Gardner
3T Melton | Gardner | Bass
1T McClain | Bishop
WDE Lawrence | Mincey

Passrushing package

SDE Selvie
DT Melton
DT Gardner
WDE Lawrence

Short yardage
SDE Crawford
DT Melton
DT McClain
WDE Gardner

We're keeping 9 DLs then.


9 is a lot of Dlinemen, Jerry said in a local radio interview that there would be 16 DLs sitting down in the Defensive meeting room with Coach Marinelli.

 

[Szczepanik]

Considering we added : Melton ..... Lawrence/Bishop/Gardner

I think we have upgraded this defense quite a bit.

Don't forget that Crawford has potential, Bass will be back as well.

All of these pieces will allow Selvie to perform well enough to get sacks for us Once Ware went down, it was easy to phase Selvie out of the game generally. He isn't a sack leader guy, but a good offseason should due him very well with a good supporting cast.

We fixed the defense? I would not say FIXED. It would take another draft to really fix that defense , but I am not scared out of my diaper here as I was prior to the draft.

 

[CATCH17]

We can't realistically fix this defense in 1 year.

I'm not sure our defensive scheme is good either with all of the spread offenses.

 

[Frosty]

True that. I should have said that we did all we could for the defense within this year's resources.

very true....with the schedule the Cowboys have I would say......patched up is the best way to describe it......no home run hitter or sack specialist but consistent pressure

 

[wileedog]

If we have 48 guys get hurt like we did last year, it'll still be a long year.

I don't think it needs to be 48 injuries to be a long year, just a few. If Melton gets hurt again, Lee does his thing and Spencer can't play, the front 7 is still very, very questionable. and we've seen what a questionable front has done to this secondary.

I understand why we made some of the draft decisions we did, but I don't think adding an undersized Lawrence and complete unknown in Hitchens plus some lower round talent has fixed anything (at least for this coming year). Unless there are some real surprises from guys like Crawford, Bass or Wilcox, we are only a very few bad breaks from watching 2013 Redux on defense.

 

[Plankton]

I think they at this point, with the rookies unproven, are largely treading water compared to a year ago. Melton for Hatcher is at best a wash, with Hatcher's 2013 season far better than anything Melton did in Chicago. Despite Ware being injured and ineffective last year, he was a presence that had to be accounted for. That presence has not been replaced. Demarcus Lawrence has a ton of potential, but will require a year to grow into an NFL DE and to improve his physicality.

A lot of stock is being placed in players coming off of injuries - Melton, Crawford, Lee. Spencer can also fall into that category. A lot has to go right for it to be improved, though it would be very difficult for the defense to be as bad as it was a year ago.

 

[jnday]

Defense will be better if we stay healthy.

Not sure we've moved past the 8-8 barrier.

I think the defense will be improved just by some guys getting healthy. I don't think the draft done that much to improve the defense this year. Even the second round pick has a ways to go before starting. I see a great deal of youth, but I really don't know how much talent is there. The way the draft fell prevented picking a day one starter unless a safety was drafted. This draft also extended the time that it is going to take to fix the defense by a year or two unless some of the late round picks are much better than the position that they were drafted. I don't think this draft provided the help that any if us wanted or expected on the defensive side of the ball which is a disappointment .

 

[StarBoyz83]

We have more questions than last year on d going in. We may have huge holes since we dont even know if spencer and melton will play this year. Our lb core is still really weak. Fs cant be worse than last year though.

 

[TonyRomo17]

I think by the end of the season if Lee and Melton aren't in the top 4 of the defense when it comes to snap count then the Cowboys have had another tough season on defense.

I dont think you want your lineman taking that many snaps

 

[Kaiser]

I think the defense will be improved just by some guys getting healthy. I don't think the draft done that much to improve the defense this year.

Agree on health, but what this draft does is give the team real depth at DL which they didn't have last year.

Right now the backup DL would be something like Spencer-Hayden or Bishop-Bass-Lawrence.

For most of last year the backup DL was Everette Brown-Frank Kearse-Corvey Irvin-Jarius Wynn..... or worse. That is what killed us.

 

[HappyOnions]

Fixed? No...not by drafting a DE, reaching for a LB in the 4th and adding 7th round prospects.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what we added defensively, but to say that it's fixed is beyond premature at this point.

 

[starfrombirth]

I don't think it needs to be 48 injuries to be a long year, just a few. If Melton gets hurt again, Lee does his thing and Spencer can't play, the front 7 is still very, very questionable. and we've seen what a questionable front has done to this secondary.

I understand why we made some of the draft decisions we did, but I don't think adding an undersized Lawrence and complete unknown in Hitchens plus some lower round talent has fixed anything (at least for this coming year). Unless there are some real surprises from guys like Crawford, Bass or Wilcox, we are only a very few bad breaks from watching 2013 Redux on defense.

If this happens then it happens but at least I feel like we are trying to address our issues. I can't explain our 4th round pick but I trust that they know more than me and hope they are seeing more than I do. Outside of that I like every pick we made.. including the 7 rounders. Are we fixed? No but we have definately addressed it.

 

[Falcon554]

Very possible, at worst I think he is multiple probowler

and its possible he can't play, who knows

 

[starfrombirth]

Fixed? No...not by drafting a DE, reaching for a LB in the 4th and adding 7th round prospects.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what we added defensively, but to say that it's fixed is beyond premature at this point.

Ken Bishop and that kid from Stanford are much better than where they were drafted. Wait and see.

 

[DFWJC]

Well, we certainly got much younger.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

LDE – Selvie / Lawrence / Mincey

3 Tech - Melton / Bass

1 Tech - McClain / Hayden / Ken Bishop

RDE - Crawford / Spencer / Ben Gardner

Lawrence RDE. I'm guessing Crawford will move around at DT and LDE.

 

[wileedog]

If this happens then it happens but at least I feel like we are trying to address our issues. I can't explain our 4th round pick but I trust that they know more than me and hope they are seeing more than I do. Outside of that I like every pick we made.. including the 7 rounders. Are we fixed? No but we have definately addressed it.

I think it could have been addressed more. There's no question Martin is going to be a good player, but we had/have an absolutely horrific front 7 the last two years. Martin may make sense down the line, but there is no arguing that (for once) the O-line was in significantly better shape than the DLine going into this draft. A 1st round OG was not ideal in this situation.

Looking at 7th rounders who should have been 5th rounders or whatever is great and all, but that fact is they were not considered to be players that will impact in year 1, and probably not even in year 2. That's why they dropped to day 3.. To say they in any way go to "fixing" the defense for 2014 is a huge stretch, Going by history even Lawrence will probably not be a significant contributor in his rookie year at 21. They all may have a great impact down the road, who knows, but the excitement is too high IMO for RD 7 guys because they happen to be good value there.

I like a lot of the picks, I dislike the trade for Lawrence and vehemently dislike the Hitchenson pick. But the question was "Is the defense fixed". At least for 2014, I could make a solid argument that even with an average amount of normal NFL injuries, it might actually be worse. And unless some people surprise significantly to the upside, it won't be much better.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

and its possible he can't play, who knows

Highly unlikely, is it possible yes anything is. It's possible we have a top 5 defense this season

 

[Redball Express]

Lets wait till the guys take the field

I could tell you if I knew how they are going to eliminate the constant penalties.