Exotic defense (good read on a perspective)

[jblaze2004]

Our defense looks alittle more exotic...more than anything we did under wade. Could this be a new light because we are going to have to be exotic and play sound football to beat the Saints on thursday.

From dallas cowboys times
■I loved the Cowboys’ defensive looks in the first half. They gave the Lions a lot of exotic looks, including a bunch of fake blitzes, which never happened under Wade Phillips. They also blitzed the “unexpected” guys like Scandrick. When they do that, good things tends to happen. Blitzing a nickel cornerback isn’t inherently optimum, of course, but it works because offenses really don’t prepare their protections for it.
■Jason Hatcher had perhaps his best game as a Cowboy. He recorded a sack, but more than that his energy and disruption allowed some other guys to make plays. This was what I was expecting when I made a prognosis about Hatcher in my 2010 Dallas Cowboys bold predictions.
■You probably noticed that the Cowboys used Anthony Spencer much more often in a traditional 4-3 linebacker spot (as opposed to the usual 3-4 edge position for an outside linebacker). Spencer (and even Ware a couple times) lined up over the center quite a bit. You can bet the offense notices this and likely doesn’t prepare much for it during the week. How would you like to be a center and look up to see Jay Ratliff and Spencer lined up over you? This unique defensive alignment is something we didn’t see much under Phillips.

http://dallascowboystimes.com/2010/11/cowboys-vs-detroit-lions-week-11-initial-post-game-notes-observations/

 

[Picksix]

I've been very critical of Hatcher, but he did have a very good game yesterday. Seemed more active and disruptive than in the past. I still don't like him for anything more than a situtional pass rusher, though, because I still haven't seen him stop the run. Maybe some changes in the scheme will do him good.

 

[UnoDallas]

from the article

Keith Brooking really isn’t a starting-quality linebacker anymore. He’s been awful all season in coverage. It’s Sean Lee time, in my opinion

totally agree

At this point, Marc Colombo is a huge detriment to the Cowboys. He must be one of the league’s worst starting offensive tackles. He’s slow-footed, horrible in pass protection, and not particularly devastating in the run game. Dallas will need to move on from him in 2011.

I think we draft a RT

I love Bryant’s effort after making catches, but there are times when he simply needs to go down. The upside of his run-after-catch ability is limited when there are three guys surrounding him. Once he’s wrapped up and there are other defenders around, he should end the play. It isn’t giving up–it is playing intelligently. He could risk injury, a fumble, or lose forward progress (which has already happened a handful of times). Again, love the effort and attitude, as long as it is implemented in an intelligent manner.

 

[baj1dallas]

I think we draft a RT

Columbo imo is struggling worse than Davis, Davis is up and down, Columbo is mostly down it seems like, maybe he never really recovered from his injury last season. They definitely need to have a plan in place whether it's somebody already on the squad or a draft pick or whatever, but Columbo is looking pretty shaky these days.

 

[kmp77]

He’s slow-footed, horrible in pass protection, and not particularly devastating in the run game. Dallas will need to move on from him in 2011

Columbo being slow footed would be an upgrade. I remember seeing him get beat and he didn't even move his feet at all! He just turned his body and stuck his hands out...feet NEVER moved. It probably takes a normal person MORE effort to not move their feet as someone is trying to bang by you. He's more "no footed" than "slow footed".

Next offseason our OL should spend half their time doing agility drills and foot movement exercises. I bet Wade never even had them work on their footwork.

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

It's kind of funny there are some other threads about how vanilla Pasqualoni has been on defense, but that's not what I've been seeing. Seeing some corner and safety blitzes, along with whatever they were doing with Spencer where he was lined up over the center and dropping back in coverage/blitzing was definitely a wrinkle I don't remember seeing before.

 

[khiladi]

The only difference is they are playin zone more and that too, is what Wade normally does. Even the defensive players have admitted it.

The movement of Spencer from the middle, blitzes from the corner was typical Wade. He employed James in 4-6 one year and led Bradie to garnering 8 sacks in the last seven games 3 years ago. He use to overload the side of Spencer, with Ware and Ratliff...

The reality is, the defense under Wade gave up and the only thin Wade had left was blitzing his LBs up the middle. Wade normally never blitzes on 3rd and long and goes zone, especially in the red-zone. It looks like he gave up as well.

 

[Fletch]

I can't wait for Thursday. I missed the Lions game because of where I reside. I'm thinking our last 6 games will all get televised up here and I'll get to see for sure if Pasqualoni is dialing up Exotica 2010!