Great defense. Can they sustain?

[shabazz]

Maintain and sustain……they did that last year against the Niners too holding them to 19 points and 310 total yards.

 

[sbark]

Teams will start to study our tendencies, personnel packages soon, if not already on a small basis.
Looking for areas to exploit, or create matchups for them.
It’s the way the NFL works

 

[Cowboyny]

exactly. We did what good teams need to do so far, beat the teams on the schedule that we should beat. We were very business-like. I wanna see how we respond when in a dog fight. I'm sure we will have a few. We aint winning 17 games. I think losing a couple games is a good thing to keep us in check. ..focused. The 90's teams we had lost 4-5 games at times and we still won rings. Just being real here. 1 week at a time is key.

We have a difficult schedule, there are going to be better teams we face. Just keep on playing good football!

 

[Cowboyny]

I created a thread about this, but did not get much attention. I should have waited a few days, instead of right after the game.
Defense looks great, but what teams have a strong OL to test the defense even more.

They will face better offenses and better OL's. I am not on the defense hype train just yet as they did the same thing the start of last season.

 

[Coogiguy03]

They can't and they won't. There's going to come a game where the defense gives up 26-30 points.

Or 200+ to a WR OR RB

 

[JayFord]

No team is going to play like that every game

even the 85 bears defense got their butt handed to them by the dolphins

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I was thinking not necessarily. For reference I decided to check out a legendary defense, the 2000 Ravens.

Wow...

They shut out four of their opponents. Another five opponents had single digit scores. Three out of four playoff opponents had single digit scores, including their Super bowl opponent Giants, although it was a kickoff return.

However,

One game sticks out like a sore thumb and it was their 2nd game of that season. The Jaguars, of all teams, scored 36 points as WR Jimmy Smith caught three passes of 40 or more yards for TD's.

The Ravens still won. Shannon Sharpe with a 29 yard catch with 41 seconds left in the game.

So, I guess you guys are right. Even if the Cowboys defense could match the ferocity of the 2000 Ravens, somebody is still going to score around 30 points on them.

And that probably was the game that they took the Jags for granted. Now I think the 49ers are going to put some points up but realistically it might be a team we don’t expect.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Maintain and sustain……they did that last year against the Niners too holding them to 19 points and 310 total yards.

They get credit for that game but Cowboys and the offense sucked so bad I don’t even think the 49ers were that aggresssive in their approach. If the Cowboys had put up 21 points the 49ers would’ve scored more than 19.

 

[NotForLong]

Even just last year during Cooper Rush's first 5 games as starting QB, the points against, pass rush and turnovers were outstanding.

But then the defensive performance went thru a lull period towards through the middle of the season and beyond.

But then they picked it back up to an outstanding level again when the playoffs began and for both of those games.

So yeah, to maintain its current level throughout the entire regular season would be hard to do.
But I sure hope they can.

They had a lull because of all of the offensive turnovers had them on the field too long

 

[aikemirv]

Here's to playing at this level for 17 games and beyond....? Gonna be tough, IMO.

One thing I like so far for Micah is that he does not seem to be taking on LT's straight up where he gets bent backward so much and hooked like a true DE. He did that a lot last year and it seemed to wear him down. He seems to be trying other avenues to get to the Qb. That is probably Quinns doing, but as long as you can keep Micah out of those situation so much I think he will be ok.

 

[phildadon86]

I created a thread about this, but did not get much attention. I should have waited a few days, instead of right after the game.
Defense looks great, but what teams have a strong OL to test the defense even more.

Honestly. I dont think the OL matters for this particular defense. This defense has so many different ways to attack you and we have barely probably scratched the surface on the playbook. Moving Micah around is the key.

 

[Mr_437]

Sustain what exactly? This is a Top 3 Defense that's all they need to sustain. The major factor for this group is they have depth. Honestly, the LBs are looking vulnerable, but the DL n Secondary are making so many plays around them. Overall, this is the best Defense we've seen for the Cowboys in a long time so enjoy and know they can be depended on.

Last thing, this Defense led the league in turnovers 2 years in a row, and are on track to do it again...I would say they've been sustaining for multiple years.

 

[The Natural]

I don’t see why not. Obviously they’ll stand to surrender more than 5 points against competent passing quarterbacks, but its evident we’re watching an elite unit.

 

[CCBoy]

The Cowboys have few holes defensively, but if you are going to nitpick, they could stand an upgrade at linebacker. Leighton Vander Esch is fine, but the depth behind him is questionable.

The jury is still out on Damone Clark, and the Cowboys have resorted to moonlighting safety Markquese Bell as a linebacker. That's not necessarily new for a Dan Quinn-coached defense, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for injury at the position.

Making a move to trade for Patrick Queen would reinforce an already-strong defense. The 6'0", 232-pounder would give them another prototypical linebacker body, and he's off to a strong start with the Ravens that includes 19 total tackles, a TFL, a sack and two quarterback hits.

However, the Ravens have not really committed to Queen. They declined his fifth-year option and drafted Trenton Simpson in this year's draft. He makes sense as the natural successor to the 24-year-old.

The Ravens are likely to get a nice compensatory pick if they wait and just let Queen walk in free agency. However, the Cowboys might want to investigate getting proactive and seeing if a pick a year earlier is of interest to Baltimore.

He could be the final piece to an excellent defense.

ps://bleacherreport.com/articles/10089885-3-cowboys-trade-targets-after-week-2