ESPN: What will make a successful camp for Cowboys' defense?

[jobberone]

What will make a successful camp for Cowboys' defense?

OXNARD, Calif. -- A year ago at this time, there were dire predictions about theDallas Cowboys' defense. Some wondered whether it would be among the worst in NFL history last season.

It wasn't. In fact, the Cowboys finished second in the NFL with 31 takeaways, 19th in the league in yards per game and 15th in points per game.

Of course, the offense's style of play surely helped the defense. Because the Cowboys held on to the ball well, the defense simply was not on the field that much.

So the Cowboys knew they needed to improve defensively to be successful in 2015. They added Greg Hardy in free agency. They took Byron Jones and Randy Gregory with their first two draft picks. They welcome back linebacker Sean Lee, who missed all last season with a knee injury.

Training camp starts Thursday. What will make for a successful camp for the Cowboys' defense? Here are three keys:

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas-cowb...ll-make-a-successful-camp-for-cowboys-defense

 

[BourbonBalz]

Staying healthy and improving. This isn't rocket science.

 

[Doomsday101]

One thing about a Marinelli defense they will create turnovers, his guys constantly hustle to the ball and work on forcing turnovers. I think the next big step for this defense is the pass rush, I think if Cowboys can vastly improve in this area it will put this team over the hump.

 

[jobberone]

Pressure and pass defense. I think the first is taken care of. I think the pass defense will improve if only because of the pass rush. However, I think it will improve as well.

Every team has a few guys it needs to stay healthy in order to be in the top tier whether it is offense, defense or STs. I think on defense we need Crawford, OScan, Ro, Hardy, Gregory along with another DB which I expect will be Jones and/or Claiborne. I realize the latter is not popular but I expect he will be at least decent if he can stay healthy.

There are of course plenty of other cogs that need to show up and one or more likely will.

I'll be disappointed and surprised if we are not a top ten defense this year.

It's been awhile since the O and D were at the top of the heap at the same time. This is a good year for it to happen.

 

[dwreck27]

One thing about a Marinelli defense they will create turnovers, his guys constantly hustle to the ball and work on forcing turnovers. I think the next big step for this defense is the pass rush, I think if Cowboys can vastly improve in this area it will put this team over the hump.

Couldnt have said it any better...

Our pass rush was absolutely horrendous and everyone who is in the charge of making this team made sure to add pieces wherever they could get it to fix the issue for this season...

 

[Doomsday101]

Couldnt have said it any better...

Our pass rush was absolutely horrendous and everyone who is in the charge of making this team made sure to add pieces wherever they could get it to fix the issue for this season...

I agree, I think this group will be able to do a better job of getting to the QB, question remains how much better? How the team answers that question will go a long way in being in a position to win a 6th SB

 

[xwalker]

Staying healthy and improving. This isn't rocket science.

This.

We can really only evaluate individual players in the preseason. If multiple individual players perform well and stay healthy, then there is a high probability of the overall defense doing well.

 

[reddyuta]

if the secondary is upgraded as we hope then the pass rush will improve whether if its rushing 4 or more blitzes which we were particularly and laughably bad last season because our secondary would leave guys WIDE open all over the field.