I think the defense will be better than expected

[tm1119]

Glad you ask!

• Mincey - I expect him to be a first and second down player who stops the run. I also expect him to generate a pass rush as a DT on passing downs.
• McClain - I expect him to draw double teams so he can free up Melton and Carter to flow to the ball.
• Melton - Get up field, disrupt the offense and sack the QB. That is all.
• Selvie - Same as last year.
• Crawford - I would like to see him improve to the point where he replaces Selvie or McClain as a starter.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not expect anything from Lawrence or Spencer so anything they contribute will be a bonus.

Expecting Mincey to play well against the run is reasonable....expecting him to generate a pass rush, at any position, probably isn't. I'm thinking he gets 3 or 4 sacks.

I'm chuckling at the idea of any team even entertaining the idea of double teaming a 3rd round pick who is on his 4th team in 5 years. No one is double teaming McClain

Fair enough on Melton, if he's healthy I believe he will do that. But is he going to be any better than Hatch was for us last year? That's debatable.

Also agree on Selvie

I think its a real possibility that Crawford is in between those 2 things. Is he big and strong enough to be an effective 1 tech? Is he athletic and "quick twitch" enough to beat NFL OT's on a consistent basis? I'd say replacing Mincey as a run stopping SDE who can occasionally kick inside is a lot more realistic.

So yeah....we have questions both inside stopping the run and with George Selvie being by far the best edge rusher on the team for at least 6 weeks , possibly the entire season. Not at all good.

 

[Nirvana]

I appreciate the optimism but I just don't have the same take right now. I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but my expectations are currently low.

There is no play maker at WDE and I think this defense needs one to succeed. The 3 Tech lost a good one in Hatcher, and as of right now Melton has not jumped off the tape in my eyes. In other words, losing Ware and Hatcher was a blow to this defense, a defense that was already dead last in the league.

And then losing Sean Lee. I don't see anyone filling those shoes. McClain is a question mark, and how will he handle pass coverage? That's going to hurt bad as shown in previous games where LBers get their butt kicked in the passing game. Hitchens is not ready, and he is no Sean Lee in the future either.

The loss of Scandrick for the first four games is huge and is going to be exposed. Can Sterling Moore and B.W. Webb pick up the slack? No.

What this season can do is develop the young guys and make it more clear what we have to build with. Guys like Dixon and Lawrence, maybe Hitchens, these guys could give me some hope that next year will be different. Right now, I don't expect things to be different.

But there are factors that can hit a team which maybe makes things get magical, and that unknown will keep things always interesting. Who knows what this team can do with a fully inspired and motivated bunch of guys. Hoping for the best.

 

[waving monkey]

Lost my interest right about here.

Not a graceful way to start a thread, IMO.

who would deny the honesty and graceful ?

 

[waving monkey]

NO!!!! This defense has gotten way worse... we have lost 4-5 of the best players from last yr! And have replaced them with unproven vets, injured vets, and rookies. The 2ndary is iffy at BEST! (I do have hopes the will suprise) The front 7 is a compilation of other teams rejects!

I'm offended ppl would even argue this defense will be able to improve much. Lol

the defense has not gotten worse it might not even be average but its not worse

 

[Arkyvarminter]

Selvie wouldn't start for anyone else..BULL

 

[waving monkey]

For this defense to be adequate, I believe Rod Marinelli must sacrifice pressuring the quarterback consistently for shoring up run defense. This will lead to more offensive shootouts with other teams, but I think he should strongly consider beefing up the run defensive scheme as much as possible. If the other teams' pass and run games are clicking, the defense will be less than adequate in keeping scoring down enough for the offense to offset.

However, I do think health will play an important factor in offsetting the other teams' passing attack. If Melton and Lawrence are healthy enough to pressure the quarterback (not necessarily accumulating sacks, but generating hurries), the defense should be adequate in that aspect too. Right now, season-long health is a major issue at a number of positions.

in other words, completely through out the tampa2 system

 

[30yrheel]

So they'll be 31 instead of 32?

 

[waving monkey]

Exactly right.

snark patrol/trolls = people who disagree with me

hilarious

 

[Risen Star]

Honest question- is there a team out there which has less proven talent on defense than ours?.

I don't know of any.

You can basically flush any evaluation that says things are looking up.

We had the worst defense in team history and then lost all the best players from it. The people spinning it positive now will be here one year from now talking about how much better that defense is than this year's garbage. They'll be able to admit it then, but not now.

 

[Risen Star]

With all the changes and turnover, how does anyone konw we are less talented now? It can be looked at that way also.

Right. It can be looked at two ways. Your way and the right way.

Any rational fair evaluator knows this defense is less talented. That's what happens when you lose Ware, Hatcher and Lee.

 

[waving monkey]

What, then, was the point of leading your post with a reference to those that are snarks/trolls? Is that the preferred way to become the likes leader?

As for the rest of your post, there are two big keys to this defense being better than expected:

• The offense performing at a top 5 level, controlling the ball, and scoring points.
• Special teams coverage units winning the field position battle.

This defense will be challenged in generating a pass rush without blitzing, and stopping the run. The secondary should be improved over the long haul of the season (I expect both Claiborne and Wilcox to take big steps forward this year), with the first four games being a bit rough without Scandrick, especially in the New Orleans game. There isn't anyone in the front four that an offense has to game plan to stop. Melton had one good season and one pretty good season in Chicago, playing next to a Pro Bowl DE in Julius Peppers. He is coming off of a knee injury, and is not surrounded with any players on the DL that have demonstrated, consistent pressure ability. George Selvie benefited from playing with Hatcher and Ware (even if in a diminished state, he was a threat), and now will face more chip blocks and attention than before. Terrell McClain has washed out with three other teams, and, for a point of reference, Nick Hayden, who everyone wants to ride out of Dallas on a rail, had more tackles last year than Terrell McClain has had in his career. I believe that DeMarcus Lawrence will be a good player and contributor in Dallas, but he will likely not begin to emerge until late in the season. Jeremy Mincey is roughly the equivalent of what Marcellus Wiley was in Dallas in 2004 - someone that you want to replace.

The LB corps has potential, but if the front is getting blown off the ball, it won't matter. Carter is in a make or break year for his career. Durant is a solid, yet unspectacular player. Holloman still has a lot to learn and needs to become more physical. Kyle Wilber is an Al Singleton type who is also solid, unspectacular, yet willing to play different roles. Rolando McClain is a huge wild card - he has the potential to be the most talented player on the defense, but his commitment is a huge question mark. Counting on him is a mistake, IMO.

Will the defense be worse than last year? It very well could. It's not more talented than last year's team, and is already demonstrating issues with injury. That being said, last year's team was so bad defensively, it would be hard to imagine a unit being worse. I think it ends up being a bottom five unit.

So it's now politically incorrect to mention trolls and snarks. Our brothers of the negative clan are offended

 

[CT Dal Fan]

I don't know of any.

You can basically flush any evaluation that says things are looking up.

We had the worst defense in team history and then lost all the best players from it. The people spinning it positive now will be here one year from now talking about how much better that defense is than this year's garbage. They'll be able to admit it then, but not now.

I'm having a hard time thinking of much blue-chip talent on the Jaguars and Titans defense right now, but the Cowboys are probably still the most unproven.

 

[daschoo]

The defence doesn't need to be good, if it can manage to get itself to the dizzy heights of middle of the road we should have a good season.

 

[Vintage]

To have an average defense, I think Melton has to return to pre injury for. Ditto on Spencer. Carter needs to not suck. Claiborne needs to show why we drafted him so high. Wilcox needs to actually look like a competent safety. Then, Lee needs to channel Jesus and rise from the dead and play again.

Then, we have a shot at being average.

 

[Risen Star]

How was Seatlles defense in 2012? Then they went out and added Cliff Avril and Michael Bennet. They dont have super stars on the DL, but they have proven, young, productive players and FA. There wasn't much nail biting going into 2013 that the Seattle defense may have unproven and a horrid defense - the 2012 beatdown of Dallas should prove that around here.

ANything is possible, but thinking this defense is about to become the 2012 or 2013 Seahawks is doubling down on boxcars at the craps table

All you need for a quality defense is players better than Nick Hayden and Jeff Heath.

 

[Risen Star]

They'll stink.

Go Cowboys.

 

[CyberB0b]

Expecting Mincey to play well against the run is reasonable....expecting him to generate a pass rush, at any position, probably isn't. I'm thinking he gets 3 or 4 sacks.

I'm chuckling at the idea of any team even entertaining the idea of double teaming a 3rd round pick who is on his 4th team in 5 years. No one is double teaming McClain

Fair enough on Melton, if he's healthy I believe he will do that. But is he going to be any better than Hatch was for us last year? That's debatable.

Also agree on Selvie

I think its a real possibility that Crawford is in between those 2 things. Is he big and strong enough to be an effective 1 tech? Is he athletic and "quick twitch" enough to beat NFL OT's on a consistent basis? I'd say replacing Mincey as a run stopping SDE who can occasionally kick inside is a lot more realistic.

So yeah....we have questions both inside stopping the run and with George Selvie being by far the best edge rusher on the team for at least 6 weeks , possibly the entire season. Not at all good.

I agree with all of this. The people we need the most production from are coming off major injuries (Crawford and Melton). McClain may or may not be better than Hayden. He has been hurt for most of training camp and the guy hasn't started a game since 2011 for a reason. I think Mincey is LE, and won't be effective as a RE in this league. Maybe he can produce from the DT spot, but that's debatable, again. He hasn't started a game in a while, either. I think a one-armed Ware will likely be as effective as Mincey at RE or DT. Selvie's best year as a pro was an average year by any metric. I don't see him exceeding his production from last year.

Just too many question marks for me to think they will be anything but a bottom 5 defense this year, based on what we saw the previous year. I can't look at any position on the field and say that we have gotten better.

 

[Bluestang]

I'm still failing to see how Terrell McClain is some sort of secret superstar in the making.

In college he had 7.5 sacks and 17 TFL in a 4 year span. There are players with much better talent coming out of the draft that have his career totals in one year.

In the NFL he didn't do anything at all, 1 sack and 21 tackles in 3 years.

That's a total of 7 years with nothing to hang your hat on. That's not NFL quality talent. That's worse than a JAG. That's garbage bin shopping for players because you have no cap space.

I know he got some good reviews in OTAs, but the DL and OL are not even in pads, so OTAs isn't really something to get excited about since there is no contact.

And then his training camp has been non existent because he had a high ankle sprain.

McClain can be head and shoulders better than Hayden, but anyone could look at Hayden during the SD game and tell that he was completely overmatched. And the sad part is that he only played one series. Topping it all off, the team is willing to bring in Brent, who hasn't played a year of football because we all know why, to take Hayden's job.

Melton and Crawford are your two guys that have legit starting talent on a DL, and that's even going out on a limb on Crawford because he lacks NFL experience.

Did I mention they are both coming of a significant injury that still causes some lingering issues even after that first year back?

I'm trying to be positive here but there really isn't a guy that you can really rely on in this DL group.

Dallas doesn't really have a track record under JG that shows us castoffs will turn into gold here. The Marinelli claims are borderline crazy with what was being touted in the offseason.

The defense has been a disaster in training camp, and although they can better than last years group, the camp reports don't really suggest that do they?

 

[Alexander]

I'm still failing to see how Terrell McClain is some sort of secret superstar in the making.

It is not you, it is them.

Dues are up at the end of the month.

Sincerely,

The Snark Patrol

 

[DallasEast]

in other words, completely through out the tampa2 system

No. Of course not.