Is defense going to gain ground this year?

[dragub]

For last several years, offense has been the dominant force. It started mostly after that 5 yards rule enforcement. I believe that all going to change this year. Things that will contribute to that -
1. Defensive communication - As much as we love to blame NE for signal stealing, I cannot believe they are the only team doing it.
2. Push out rule change - once secondary players get accustomed to this, playing field will get narrower.
3. To a lesser extent, marion barber rule. RB production is going to suffer if they enforce that rule strictly.

What do you think?

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Defense needs to get better at home. In the past two years, Dallas has a 71 QB rating allowed on the road, but an 86 QB rating allowed at Texas Stadium. One would think they will get better with having a year of Phillips' system under their belt and with Tank being on the team for a full year and Zach Thomas, Pacman and Mike Jenkins being improvements over the players they replaced. But there are no guarantees in the NFL and usually it comes down to injuries and how the team handles replacing those injured players.




YAKUZA

 

[SkinsandTerps]

Dominant ? That is a bit of an overstatement.

They have been good, certainly had a few good games, but dominant ? Nah.

I do think they will improve this year and be pretty solid. I still would second guess a few things, but overall...again, pretty solid.

 

[BlueBlazer]

If Adam Jones gets reinstated, he is a huge upgrade over Reeves. Jenkins looks to be a big upgrade over Nate Jones. That alone with allow Stewart to be much more creative with defensive packages. A healthy Zach Thomas not only is an upgrade over Akin Ayodele, but brings a wealth of experience, a great work ethic, and outstanding play recognition.

With the personnel upgrades and the fact that this is the second year of Stewart's scheme, it would be very disappointing if the defense isn't much better this season.

Injuries are always the wild card. But with the improved personnel on defense, Dallas is in a much better position to deal with defensive injuries.

 

[Disturbed]

And hopefully Zach can bring more than just experience and good play, he can bring true leadership from a veteran. Leadership and mentoring younger players may be one of the biggest things he can give to the team.

Carpenter and Burnett should learn a lot from Zach. And he should have a positive influence on the other LB's as well.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Dominant ? That is a bit of an overstatement.

They have been good, certainly had a few good games, but dominant ? Nah.

The offense was dominating for most of 2007. They finished 2nd in points scored, only behind a historic offense in the Patriots. In other words, if it weren't for the Patriots being such an abberation, the Cowboys offense was one of the best offenses the league has had in past 10 years. That being said, the dominating offense has only been contained to one year as I don't see them as being dominating in 2006.




YAKUZA

 

[Velvet Jones]

I took his original question to be about NFL defenses, not the Cowboy's defense... so maybe not the right zone for it. But in general, I think Defense's got a much needed spark from the new rules.

 

[dueyhemlock]

I took his original question to be about NFL defenses, not the Cowboy's defense... so maybe not the right zone for it. But in general, I think Defense's got a much needed spark from the new rules.

The push out rule is bogus. I guess no more leaping catches on the sidelines with defenders close by.

Barber rule I hope won't be for only running backs. WR, TE and anybody else (offense or defense) thats running with the ball has a tendency to deflect oncoming tacklers with a stiff arm.

I thought the league wanted higher scoring games because these rules will only slow down the game.

 

[Velvet Jones]

I LOVE the push out rule. I was getting so sick of ticky tack catches simply because the defender was playing the ball so they bumped possibly out of bounds. It was getting rediculous. And the Barber Rule is a must. If I am correct, WR and TE already are unable to stiff arm a face mask so why are RB's allowed to do it?? I am glad that changed.

Thee is only so much you can give the Offense. Defenses' had it tough and I am glad to see some rules apply that will make them more aggresive.

 

[dragub]

Biggest of them would be defensive communication. Element of surprise would be back for defense.

I am so glad cowboys have been focusing on defense. This might be the year where it all pays off.

 

[Hostile]

I'll go out on a limb. The Cowboys will be a top 3 Defense this year. They will not allow many points, will sack the QB a lot, and have more takeaways than last year.

Brian Stewart will get some Head Coaching looks.

 

[dueyhemlock]

I LOVE the push out rule. I was getting so sick of ticky tack catches simply because the defender was playing the ball so they bumped possibly out of bounds. It was getting rediculous. And the Barber Rule is a must. If I am correct, WR and TE already are unable to stiff arm a face mask so why are RB's allowed to do it?? I am glad that changed.

Thee is only so much you can give the Offense. Defenses' had it tough and I am glad to see some rules apply that will make them more aggresive.

No, there is plenty of stiff arming outside of running backs taken place that is usually not called.

Look at Plax WR of the G-men for example. He is a stiff arming machine.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I took his original question to be about NFL defenses, not the Cowboy's defense... so maybe not the right zone for it. But in general, I think Defense's got a much needed spark from the new rules.

Agree. I'm glad they got rid of that stupid force-out rule, which is just too much of a judgement call.

But really, that's just a drop in the bucket compared to recent developments of not touching WRs, legalized holding, and ridiculous levels of QB protection from almost any kind of hit.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Man, great question....the D has to improve this year for the simple fact those CBs will hold the WR's down 1 sec longer and that is all D-Ware and crew need.

 

[khiladi]

I'll go out on a limb. The Cowboys will be a top 3 Defense this year. They will not allow many points, will sack the QB a lot, and have more takeaways than last year.

Brian Stewart will get some Head Coaching looks.

We also have a whole new coaching staff that is suited for Wade's style of play, so I think we will see a defense that will generate plenty of turnovers. Hopefully, the defensive line will get a lot more penetration with the new DL coach, who seems to coach penetration. Aggression normally spells a couple of big plays for the opposing defense, but our CB situation seems to be so good now, it should be fun to watch.

 

[Doomsday101]

For last several years, offense has been the dominant force. It started mostly after that 5 yards rule enforcement. I believe that all going to change this year. Things that will contribute to that -
1. Defensive communication - As much as we love to blame NE for signal stealing, I cannot believe they are the only team doing it.
2. Push out rule change - once secondary players get accustomed to this, playing field will get narrower.
3. To a lesser extent, marion barber rule. RB production is going to suffer if they enforce that rule strictly.

What do you think?

I think this defense has a lot of talented players on it and should do better in their 2nd year under Wade Phillips system. This defense did show some improvements last year over the previous and with the addition in the secondary I think this group will take the next step of being a dominate defense.

 

[Clove]

Every year I predict the defense will dominate, and this COULD happen IF, we get consistant push towards the QB, and we stop allowing all that short stuff in the middle of the field, and stop giving up big plays in crunch time.

If we can just cut back on some of those big plays, cut back on all of the short intermediate middle routes, we COULD dominate.