How does the defense fix their lack of creating turnovers?

Cowboyny

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Outside of maybe a year or two, the Cowboy Defense has ranked near the bottom of creating turnovers. This has been a huge problem for many years, especially when Marinelli left a defense in Chicago that was one of the league best in creating defensive turnovers.

I do believe a defensive scheme plays a role, as well as a consistent pass rush, but most importantly you need instinctive, defensive playmakers. Outside of perhaps a young Sean Lee, D Lawrence and one year of Lve, this defense just doesn't have any playmakers to speak of. This is the underlying issue, lack of defensive talent across the board.

The offense has shiny, expensive players throughout the unit, but the defense is put together off the scrap heap. It is a product of poor drafting and not using free agency/trade market correctly to fix their mistakes form the draft room.

Until they start drafting, using fa and trade market better, this is going to be an ongoing problem for year's to come.
 

Cowboyny

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Better safeties.

Safeties who can cover more ground and have better instincts.

I'm not joking.

Fix that and watch the TO's increase.
I agree, it's inexcusable having an undrafted fa and a 6th rd pick as your starters at the safety position the last couple of years. They have to make an investment at the position. I believe if LVE returns to form, he will also show some playmaking abilities.
 

charron

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CB's who get INT's have to also take chances. The previous coaches preached against taking those chances. Now they also said take advantage of opportunities but the mindset was ingrained to make the safe play not the highlight. There has to be a balance. Nolans teams seem to go after the ball more but he's also had some really bad defenses. Upgrading safety should help but we still have the same CB's so i wouldn't expect a big difference this year.
 

ksg811

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Mostly with coaching, specifically playing the ball instead of the receiver's hands.
 

Mr_437

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Better safeties.

Safeties who can cover more ground and have better instincts.

I'm not joking.

Fix that and watch the TO's increase.
Agreed. DAL has been weak up the middle for years and they've been sorry at turnovers at that time. They got some DTs, now get some good Safeties and things will get better.
 

quickccc

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Better ball hawks among back seven, needed for more INTs, and turnovers

We used to hear create rush and pressure up front and the turnovers will follow ...that's bull if we flat don't have the hawks
that have a knack and skills to take the ball awayin the back seven.
DBs are likely gonna get the major bulk of your INT turnovers, and to go further, its' the CBs that are gonna likely collect the bulk of those INTs.

LINEBACKERS
- Lee has INT, fumble strip/recovery turnover sklls, he's adept at playing the passing lanes in space and zones for INT
- LVE also has such INT ability in lanes, not as frequent or as adept as Lee, but he has a feel for zone lanes and his great length and hands
- Jaylon lacks ball skills, wont make plays with ball in air, but as a rush blitzer or a physical tackle his big collisions causes fumbles; that's his limited
turnover ability.

CORNERBACKs
- Jordan Lewis " easily' has such INT skills as he knows how to hawk a feel for QB and WR in one play, anticipates, jump routes
and he has the hand pluck to knack that ball in air but unfortunately he has just average pure man coverage skills to solidify a starting role, imo
- whether Awuzie or Brown; we simply do not have the starting CBs to collect such INTs. still have issues turning their head to even locate the ball to make a play on it in air, especially if its a press and run up field - they are not gonna make that play on the ball unless the play is solely in front of them.
i still think Lewis and Awuzie may play best in a zone scheme where they can cushion off line, keep plays in front, and push forward,.. vs press, reverse and run up field in man, imo.
We wont get INTs, turnovers from Awuzie or Brown and they need to be replaced in due time.
i hope we are not drafting CBs with just 2 career INTs in a 3-4 year college career.

SAFETIES:
Xavier has some INT skills, but the big plays are too scarce and too many games far apart...and he seems to have developed some bad habits and bad positioning flaws. he's not in position enough to jump passes. And he's not one to be playing strong safety and close to line with his questionable tackling if
Ha Ha Clinton Dix is gonna be center fielder FS,

- Dix has an INT background, where he has 16 INTs in 6 years; a lot is gonna be how this Deep Patrol unit is gonna be schemed and placed in position to defend.
And that will be about Mike Nolan, and the secondary coaches - have to implement best scheme and position to defend/jump passes, not caught in a trail position, chasing plays from behind.
- Donovan Wilson is still a green project in the making: He's battled injuries in college and now NFL, he needs to prove more durable so he can be on the field more.
but in limited preseason time he seems to show ability to track the ball in air and knack to be around the action.
Time will tell if he is a better FS center fielder than in- box safety. He's a back burner special teamer until he proves himself as a front runner otherwise.
 

Cowboyny

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Better ball hawks among back seven, needed for more INTs, and turnovers

We used to hear create rush and pressure up front and the turnovers will follow ...that's bull if we flat don't have the hawks
that have a knack and skills to take the ball awayin the back seven.
DBs are likely gonna get the major bulk of your INT turnovers, and to go further, its' the CBs that are gonna likely collect the bulk of those INTs.

LINEBACKERS
- Lee has INT, fumble strip/recovery turnover sklls, he's adept at playing the passing lanes in space and zones for INT
- LVE also has such INT ability in lanes, not as frequent or as adept as Lee, but he has a feel for zone lanes and his great length and hands
- Jaylon lacks ball skills, wont make plays with ball in air, but as a rush blitzer or a physical tackle his big collisions causes fumbles; that's his limited
turnover ability.

CORNERBACKs
- Jordan Lewis " easily' has such INT skills as he knows how to hawk a feel for QB and WR in one play, anticipates, jump routes
and he has the hand pluck to knack that ball in air but unfortunately he has just average pure man coverage skills to solidify a starting role, imo
- whether Awuzie or Brown; we simply do not have the starting CBs to collect such INTs. still have issues turning their head to even locate the ball to make a play on it in air, especially if its a press and run up field - they are not gonna make that play on the ball unless the play is solely in front of them.
i still think Lewis and Awuzie may play best in a zone scheme where they can cushion off line, keep plays in front, and push forward,.. vs press, reverse and run up field in man, imo.
We wont get INTs, turnovers from Awuzie or Brown and they need to be replaced in due time.
i hope we are not drafting CBs with just 2 career INTs in a 3-4 year college career.

SAFETIES:
Xavier has some INT skills, but the big plays are too scarce and too many games far apart...and he seems to have developed some bad habits and bad positioning flaws. he's not in position enough to jump passes. And he's not one to be playing strong safety and close to line with his questionable tackling if
Ha Ha Clinton Dix is gonna be center fielder FS,

- Dix has an INT background, where he has 16 INTs in 6 years; a lot is gonna be how this Deep Patrol unit is gonna be schemed and placed in position to defend.
And that will be about Mike Nolan, and the secondary coaches - have to implement best scheme and position to defend/jump passes, not caught in a trail position, chasing plays from behind.
- Donovan Wilson is still a green project in the making: He's battled injuries in college and now NFL, he needs to prove more durable so he can be on the field more.
but in limited preseason time he seems to show ability to track the ball in air and knack to be around the action.
Time will tell if he is a better FS center fielder than in- box safety. He's a back burner special teamer until he proves himself as a front runner otherwise.

Quick, we have discussed this subject manner in the past. We need more instinctive, ball hawks. If the team is going to truly re-make the defense, they have to address this area along with addressing the defensive line.

-HaHa is a good start, he has legitimate ball skills for the position, I believe this the show me year for Xavier Woods, if he breaks out, he will get an extension, if not, he will be replaced.
-Jaylon to me looks like he will be used more as a rusher then in coverage. I wonder if the team targets a big safety, one who can play some in the sub-packages as a linebacker.
-Our corner position might need to be totally rebuilt. They are going to draft a starting caliber corner to go with the young prospects already on the roster. Awuzie/Lewis will be given one more opportunity to see if they can become long-term fits.
 

reddyuta

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Its mostly on Marinelli,we played passive defense.opposing teams knew what we were doing.being unpredictable and blitzing more can automatically increases TOs.
 

CowboyRoy

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Outside of maybe a year or two, the Cowboy Defense has ranked near the bottom of creating turnovers. This has been a huge problem for many years, especially when Marinelli left a defense in Chicago that was one of the league best in creating defensive turnovers.

I do believe a defensive scheme plays a role, as well as a consistent pass rush, but most importantly you need instinctive, defensive playmakers. Outside of perhaps a young Sean Lee, D Lawrence and one year of Lve, this defense just doesn't have any playmakers to speak of. This is the underlying issue, lack of defensive talent across the board.

The offense has shiny, expensive players throughout the unit, but the defense is put together off the scrap heap. It is a product of poor drafting and not using free agency/trade market correctly to fix their mistakes form the draft room.

Until they start drafting, using fa and trade market better, this is going to be an ongoing problem for year's to come.

Getting rid of all the no talent, no play making scrubs that we got rid of. And by getting rid of Garrett and Merrineli.
 

Proof

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Better ball hawks among back seven, needed for more INTs, and turnovers

We used to hear create rush and pressure up front and the turnovers will follow ...that's bull if we flat don't have the hawks
that have a knack and skills to take the ball awayin the back seven.
DBs are likely gonna get the major bulk of your INT turnovers, and to go further, its' the CBs that are gonna likely collect the bulk of those INTs.

LINEBACKERS
- Lee has INT, fumble strip/recovery turnover sklls, he's adept at playing the passing lanes in space and zones for INT
- LVE also has such INT ability in lanes, not as frequent or as adept as Lee, but he has a feel for zone lanes and his great length and hands
- Jaylon lacks ball skills, wont make plays with ball in air, but as a rush blitzer or a physical tackle his big collisions causes fumbles; that's his limited
turnover ability.

CORNERBACKs
- Jordan Lewis " easily' has such INT skills as he knows how to hawk a feel for QB and WR in one play, anticipates, jump routes
and he has the hand pluck to knack that ball in air but unfortunately he has just average pure man coverage skills to solidify a starting role, imo
- whether Awuzie or Brown; we simply do not have the starting CBs to collect such INTs. still have issues turning their head to even locate the ball to make a play on it in air, especially if its a press and run up field - they are not gonna make that play on the ball unless the play is solely in front of them.
i still think Lewis and Awuzie may play best in a zone scheme where they can cushion off line, keep plays in front, and push forward,.. vs press, reverse and run up field in man, imo.
We wont get INTs, turnovers from Awuzie or Brown and they need to be replaced in due time.
i hope we are not drafting CBs with just 2 career INTs in a 3-4 year college career.

SAFETIES:
Xavier has some INT skills, but the big plays are too scarce and too many games far apart...and he seems to have developed some bad habits and bad positioning flaws. he's not in position enough to jump passes. And he's not one to be playing strong safety and close to line with his questionable tackling if
Ha Ha Clinton Dix is gonna be center fielder FS,

- Dix has an INT background, where he has 16 INTs in 6 years; a lot is gonna be how this Deep Patrol unit is gonna be schemed and placed in position to defend.
And that will be about Mike Nolan, and the secondary coaches - have to implement best scheme and position to defend/jump passes, not caught in a trail position, chasing plays from behind.
- Donovan Wilson is still a green project in the making: He's battled injuries in college and now NFL, he needs to prove more durable so he can be on the field more.
but in limited preseason time he seems to show ability to track the ball in air and knack to be around the action.
Time will tell if he is a better FS center fielder than in- box safety. He's a back burner special teamer until he proves himself as a front runner otherwise.


This is a really insightful post ... except for saying Jordan Lewis has average man cover skills.
 

Doomsday

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Need to be more aggressive at times instead of sitting back waiting for mistakes to happen.
 

TwoCentPlain

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Start games strong instead of waiting until the 3rd quarter to show up. Score more points on offense which will make opposing offenses one dimensional and cause them to gamble more.

Blitz closer to the league average instead of the bottom.

Bench players who are out there freelancing and out of position.

Have CBS actually look for ball.
 

quickccc

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Quick, we have discussed this subject manner in the past. We need more instinctive, ball hawks. If the team is going to truly re-make the defense, they have to address this area along with addressing the defensive line.

-HaHa is a good start, he has legitimate ball skills for the position, I believe this the show me year for Xavier Woods, if he breaks out, he will get an extension, if not, he will be replaced.
-Jaylon to me looks like he will be used more as a rusher then in coverage. I wonder if the team targets a big safety, one who can play some in the sub-packages as a linebacker.
-Our corner position might need to be totally rebuilt. They are going to draft a starting caliber corner to go with the young prospects already on the roster. Awuzie/Lewis will be given one more opportunity to see if they can become long-term fits.

Not only just for better production overall,..but i believe Awuzie and Jordan contracts are up after this season, ..and we need to have one or two top CBs already on board and ready to go before those departures set in.

i'd like a safety that can match up in coverage, has a knack for jumping passes in middle zones and make the key tackles; one problem that we are gonna have with both Ha ha and Xavier, both are average, so-so tacklers it's too many TE's ,backs and even QBs like Saints Taysom Hill that are able to bounce around and roll over these safeties
 
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