News: DMN: Former DB Charles Tillman: Dak Prescott has to hit the reset button, Cowboys 'blessed'

[LittleD]

Please don't conflate what the patriots do with what the Cowboys do

The patriots gave the best HC in the league, an owner who does not meddle and the best QB in the league. They have accountability and discipline and don't accept divas on the team

Meanwhile we have none of that

I can't argue with your comments except to say that Jerry, Stephen and it appears McClay are not leaving anytime soon. The way
they are building and drafting a Cowboys team has shown itself pretty clearly over the last few years. It may take a couple of years to
reach the yellow brick road but, at least it seems we have pulled ourselves out of the 5x11 ditch.

 

[haleyrules]

Absolutely agree.
It's a miracle they were half as good as they were last year.

Sometimes l look back on last year and cannot believe how well the Defense performed with the talent available! It was shocking!

 

[WoodysGirl]

I can't argue with your comments except to say that Jerry, Stephen and it appears McClay are not leaving anytime soon. The way
they are building and drafting a Cowboys team has shown itself pretty clearly over the last few years. It may take a couple of years to
reach the yellow brick road but, at least it seems we have pulled ourselves out of the 5x11 ditch.

The team has been out of the 5-11 ditch since 2006. They fell into the 8-8 ditch for a few seasons, but now it seems they're trying to actually sustain good seasons..

 

[visionary]

I can't argue with your comments except to say that Jerry, Stephen and it appears McClay are not leaving anytime soon. The way
they are building and drafting a Cowboys team has shown itself pretty clearly over the last few years. It may take a couple of years to
reach the yellow brick road but, at least it seems we have pulled ourselves out of the 5x11 ditch.

I agree
Give me a couple of SBs and I might not even complain about the joneses lol

 

[jnday]

A lot of players really love Rod Marinelli.

I would love to see a good young DC that runs variations of the 4-3 and 3-4 come in and take over. Rod's defense is outdated and he has not pushed to increase the talent level.

 

[xwalker]

I would love to see a good young DC that runs variations of the 4-3 and 3-4 come in and take over. Rod's defense is outdated and he has not pushed to increase the talent level.

The defense was good enough to win 13 games. Considering that the talent level on the 2016 defense was not considered to be very good, that must indicate that the scheme is at least decent. Fans never love this bend-but-don't-break style.

It does seem that Marinelli does not push the front office for more talent with the obvious example of when he told Jerry that Floyd was not really worth a 1st round pick.

The opposite example is when Rob Ryan pushed hard for CBs and the Cowboys traded up for Claiborne and way overpaid Carr. RR obviously promised Jerry a great defense if they would just get better CBs. When that failed, he was immediately fired.

If I had the choice, I'll take the guy that just coaches up the players that he's given and does not complain. It's the responsibility of the front office and Head Coach to get the talent.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I like the simplicity of his scheme to a degree. Get 4 pass rushers and go upfield as hard as you can. Sure, they have to maintain the integrity of their gap, but it's not overly complex, it gets players doing what they can do well and like to do. Versus a 3-4 where you have 1 rushman going into coverage and using a lot of deception.

What's strange is that he relies a lot on man coverage. Whereas Kiffin would go back to the Cover 2 when he needed it, Marinelli goes to man when he needs it. I just hope that he starts to see that this defense plays better when we mix up man and zone.

The big question we have now is can we get more talent on defense and can Marinelli improve the defense with that influx of new talent. It's one thing to get a low talent defense to overachieve, but it's another to take a talented defense and get them to reach their potential.





YR

 

[erod]

Marinelli has that unique ability to dog cuss everybody on the roster, and his players still name their first-born child after him.

 

[haleyrules]

I agree
Give me a couple of SBs and I might not even complain about the joneses lol

That would be hard to give up!!

 

[jnday]

The defense was good enough to win 13 games. Considering that the talent level on the 2016 defense was not considered to be very good, that must indicate that the scheme is at least decent. Fans never love this bend-but-don't-break style.

It does seem that Marinelli does not push the front office for more talent with the obvious example of when he told Jerry that Floyd was not really worth a 1st round pick.

The opposite example is when Rob Ryan pushed hard for CBs and the Cowboys traded up for Claiborne and way overpaid Carr. RR obviously promised Jerry a great defense if they would just get better CBs. When that failed, he was immediately fired.

If I had the choice, I'll take the guy that just coaches up the players that he's given and does not complain. It's the responsibility of the front office and Head Coach to get the talent.

Most of the fans knew that the defense would lose a playoff game. If the fans knew it, the coaches should have known it.

 

[xwalker]

Most of the fans knew that the defense would lose a playoff game. If the fans knew it, the coaches should have known it.

The Cowboys formula was to win with offense and be just good enough on defense.

The Cowboys offense didn't achieve that plan in the 1st half. They were playing a limited Packers defense but struggled in the 1st half. Penalties were a big part of the reason the offense struggled, but since they didn't score points, they had to get away from the running game which had been a big part of limiting the exposure of the Cowboys defense during the season.

I'm not saying the defense was good by any means, but the Cowboys had a formula during the season that worked and the offense was a big part of the reason that formula didn't work in the playoff game.

On defense, bend-but-don't-break was a big part of the overall formula that resulted in 13 regular season wins. They couldn't just abruptly change the formula for the playoffs.

When the Cowboys beat Green Bay during the season, the media gave much of the credit to containing Rodgers to Marinelli's decision to play extra players in coverage with less pass rushers on many snaps. During the week 16 blowout win over the Lions, Jon Gruden went on and on about how Marinelli's 3-2-6 defense was they key to that game and had been a big part of previous games. That defensive formation is about putting more players in coverage with (in theory) a weaker pass rush.

It would be exciting to have a more aggressive defensive approach, but we saw with Rob Ryan that being aggressive and having a "modern" approach to defense could backfire in big way.

What the Cowboys defense really needs is more talent. They need an elite pass rusher. If they can't get that, then upgrading the coverage players would allow the defense to take more chances to generate a pass rush.

 

[gmoney112]

I would love to see a good young DC that runs variations of the 4-3 and 3-4 come in and take over. Rod's defense is outdated and he has not pushed to increase the talent level.

It's the coordinator's job to coach and the FO to get talent.

Rod was a tunnel rat in 'nam as a Marine. By definition, those guys don't need anything but their service rifle, and that's just a formality.

He had a dominating defense just a few years ago in Chicago. The FO needs to stop screwing around and get some players that can play.