Is It a better strategy to finish the Offense or build the defense

[LittleBoyBlue]

D.

 

[DandyDon52]

Our defense was ranked higher than Green Bay and Atlanta. But our offense was not. And both of those teams advanced further.

You are what your record says you are. Our offense is very good - much better than our defense. But it's not championship worthy until we win a championship.

The whole reason for my argument wasn't that the defense doesn't need more help than the offense, it does. But you can't act like the offense is just fine and ignore it. It needs help, too. You improve wherever you can possibly improve, that's how you build a team capable of winning a championship. If our offense scores a touchdown on the last possession against Green Bay, they can't kick a field goal to beat us. If our offense doesn't lay an egg in the first half, Green Bay doesn't build a 21-3 lead.

that is true, but people dont see that.
People tend to just remember what happened at the end of a game and blame that.

So like SB Atlanta defense allowed that last drive, so they are taking the blame over offense.

 

[big dog cowboy]

So like SB Atlanta defense allowed that last drive, so they are taking the blame over offense.

ATL defense allowed 31 points on NE's last 5 possessions.

Not exactly a blue print on how to win any game.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

ATL defense allowed 31 points on NE's last 5 possessions.

Not exactly a blue print on how to win any game.

Four times this season Atlanta gave up 32 points and won the game. Two other times they gave up 28 and won. This was the NFC champs. Defense is one way to win, but not the only way. New England gave up 28 points in the Super Bowl and they are world champs.

 

[Animosity]

Kurt Warner says hi.

Brady says hi.

Remember what the Seahawks defense did to the greatest offense of all time in the Super Bowl 3 years ago?

 

[rockj7]

Being that it's hard to do both long term with the salary cap and with few premium draft picks. In my humble opinion we are 3 players away from a Elite offense. 1. Field stretching TE. Witten is the best at what he does but he doesn't stretch the field. 2. #2 receiver with speed to compliment Dez. 3. Solid RT. All I gotta say is Doug Free.

The Defense needs a complete overhaul.We need speed and talent. Lee, Brown and Jones and a bunch of question marks, Drug suspensions, bad backs, nerves not firing and bad luck.

If you were the GM what would you do.

Bro if the Falcons had a defense they would of won the SuperBowl. Plus our offense is built on ball control and time of possession

 

[JoeKing]

You go defense and you get aggressive about it. That means trading up to get what we need if that's what it takes. We have trade bait on this roster that's just wasting away so why not use it to better our drafting position? Damn I wish the draft was next weekend.

 

[Chuck 54]

If you must have an elite defense to win a title, then Dallas can just forget the SB altogether. It's not possible to build an elite defense out of anything we have on that side of the ball. It would take years and money that means you can't pay that OL, QB, or RB, and you need to wait for Dez to finish the hard part of his contract.

However, I don't believe you need an elite defense. You must have an elite something; we have an elite OL. We must build part of an elite defense. An A-B secondary with a decent DL or an A-B DL with a decent secondary would be enough.

We all want an elite DL, but you aren't really going to be elite there without a DE who can win more battles than he loses, making everyone on that line better. If you don't get lucky and find a Charles Haley, LT, DWare, JJWatt, someone who can bring it play after play, then you can improve your DL, but you aren't going to have an elite DL. We can easily improve with better guys in the rotation who can bring the pass rush, especially if they can be relentless with speed and attitude. Yes, we screwed the pooch with Gregory, but I think this defensive line would look entirely different with just one guy like him for 16 games.

I think we're closer in the secondary than on the DL, and it showed early in the year before Mo was injured. We were getting coverage sacks and throw-aways on 3rd down. You can't afford to take a step backwards on offense...that's our identity, and better blocking out of the TE position would be huge for us. But the defense can easily be improved enough with just one more solid CB, another coverage safety, and a speedier DE.

I think the draft is going to be good to us again this year, but we probably need to add something in free agency.

 

[Chuck 54]

You go defense and you get aggressive about it. That means trading up to get what we need if that's what it takes. We have trade bait on this roster that's just wasting away so why not use it to better our drafting position? Damn I wish the draft was next weekend.

We have trade bait on the roster? Who? Teams seldom trade draft picks for players unless it's an all-star player.

 

[JoeKing]

We have trade bait on the roster? Who? Teams seldom trade draft picks for players unless it's an all-star player.

Romo

 

[xwalker]

1. I agree with what a few of you have already said. BPA, BPA, BPA. Add talent where you can add it. Talent wins out. Filling a hole with just a guy means you still have a hole.

2. If I could upgrade Free I would definitely do it. Green may be that upgrade if he stays healthy.

3. Upgrade tight end and/or limit Wittens snaps. If a top flight tight end falls in our laps I have no problem with upgrading. If that doesn't happen, I would force Witten to take a pay cut and play Hanna and Swaim more. If Wiiten would not take a pay cut I would cut Wiiten and play Hanna, Swaim and a draft pick/fa.

4. Upgrade the defense as the opportunity presents its self. We should be able to add a pass rusher and a corner somewhere in this draft that can play. We might get lucky and be able to add two of one or the other out of this draft.

5. I would also "shop" Dez to see what I could get in return for him. If I could get two firsts or a first and a third he would be long gone. I would try to add speed receiver in the draft if possible. None of our guys are outright burners on this entire receiving corps.

Good post on 1 through 4, but...

If they got two firsts for Dez, that trade would replace the Herschel Walker trade as the biggest lopsided trade in the history of sports, especially when the contact is factored into it. I'm not certain any team would take on that contract if the Cowboys gave him away for a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. If a team wanted a knucklehead WR, they can just sign DeSean Jackson and likely for a lot less than 14M per year.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Wait people are still arguing offense under the guise of BPA?

In reality they just mean they want to watch offensive fireworks every Sunday. Oh and they hope to win while at it.

 

[sean10mm]

There is no guarantee that the best (or even close to best) players available to the Cowboys will line up with their needs. So there is a grain of truth to the logic there.

However, the GOAL should be to shore up the defense first, and add to the offense second. If they're reduced to a choice between an offensive stud and a defensive scrub they should take the offensive stud, but that's an extreme choice you only run into occasionally.

 

[Fletch]

Remember what the Seahawks defense did to the greatest offense of all time in the Super Bowl 3 years ago?

The aging Payton Manning offense? Sure do. I remember the first play. A botched snap into the end zone for a safety resulting in the proverbial snowball effect. Bad coaching. Not prepared.

Good defense, but nothing earth-shattering. Were they the 85 Bears or the 2000 Ravens? Nah.

 

[KJJ]

The offense is championship caliber as it is and continuing to add more pieces, isn't going to get us over this 21 year old hump. We just saw the most potent offense in the league in 2016 blow a 25 point lead in the SB because of defensive holes. We went one and done in the playoffs despite scoring 31 points because of our defense. We've got to start building the defense by adding a consistent pass rush and adding at least one playmaker to the secondary or we're going to continue come up short regardless how good our offense is.

 

[DandyDon52]

ATL defense allowed 31 points on NE's last 5 possessions.

Not exactly a blue print on how to win any game.

They got tired out, NE dominated TOP. Atlanta off didnt help their defense whole 2nd half.

 

[DandyDon52]

We just saw the most potent offense in the league in 2016 blow a 25 point lead in the SB because of defensive holes.

Atlanta couldnt score in the 4th, and only 7 in the 3rd , so it wasnt just a defense issue.
NE won the 2nd half 25-7 and then dominated in OT
7 points in 2nd half isnt going to win many games unless you can shut the other team down on off.
NE had almost double Atl in TOP.
That wore down atl defense, and meant the Atl offense wasnt eating much clock when on the field.

Atl was good enough team to win, defense included, it was coaching and OC errors that caused them to lose.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

Wait people are still arguing offense under the guise of BPA?

In reality they just mean they want to watch offensive fireworks every Sunday. Oh and they hope to win while at it.

I'm not trying to troll you, but I want to avoid the Shante Carver, David Lafleur mistakes that are made when you focus too much on one position or aspect of the team when improvements are possible almost anywhere. Really, the only thing that should be off the board with our first pick (or even first two picks) are RB, QB and C.

 

[DandyDon52]

Man there is no telling what cowboys do in the draft.
you cant expect a lot, since they will draft at near bottom of each round
To get a good 1st round player they would have to trade some picks to move up, which means fewer picks overall.
Last year was easy, this year it will be harder to get good players.

They need to find some dak type players, that are stars in waiting for the defense and WR

 

[KJJ]

Atlanta couldnt score in the 4th, and only 7 in the 3rd , so it wasnt just a defense issue.
NE won the 2nd half 25-7 and then dominated in OT
7 points in 2nd half isnt going to win many games unless you can shut the other team down on off.
NE had almost double Atl in TOP.
That wore down atl defense, and meant the Atl offense wasnt eating much clock when on the field.

Atl was good enough team to win, defense included, it was coaching and OC errors that caused them to lose.

Atlanta had a 25 point lead and a 28-9 lead with just under 10 minutes to play so despite their offensive struggles in the second half, they had the game won but their defense couldn't hold. They lost 5 games in 2016, 4 of them in shootouts due to their defense giving up a lot of points. NE's D stepped up making some critical stops and strip sacking Ryan which swung the game in their favor.