Is This Team Much Different Than Last Year?

[Idgit]

Is this a trick question? Because it feels like a trick question.

 

[Corso]

Is this a trick question? Because it feels like a trick question.

I'm too busy watching Kill and Kill Again to be interested. Don't you just love South African Kung ** ripoffs?
Riff'd, of course.

LOL, Kung F uhh... u, put together is a supposed bad word around these parts. Good to know.

 

[Joe Realist]

yes - you can look at the Eagles too. Last year - Eagles lost alot of close games, Cowboys won those games. This year, it is opposite.

 

[jwitten82]

Yes, and theyre a little more uglier too

 

[Zekeats]

It's easy to look at the standings and conclude that the 2017 (2-3) Cowboys edition isn't nearly as good as the 2016 edition (13-3).

Is that true? I will argue here that there has a small decline, but not a great difference. LG, RT and MLB are the only spots where I really see decline.

Consider some of our wins last year:
-A last second miracle against Pittsburgh despite the fact we couldn't stop their offense.

-A win over the Vikings where they were missing about a third of their starters and where we were outgained. Dak had a QB rating of 51.

-A win against the Eagles where we'd been down 20-10 before punter Chris Jones sprinted for 30 on 4th down. We were on our own 27 yard line facing 4th and 8!

-A win against a Bears team that was decimated w/injury and relying on backup QB

-Win over hapless Cleveland

-Two nail-biter wins against Skins

-We were down 14 in SF

The margin separating success and failure in the NFL is often razor thin. I'm not as discouraged as some fans. We have a few poignant holes and we'll get them addressed...either during this season...or in the offseason.

I think the longterm outlook for the team is positive.

The only difference is they aren't committing to the run like they did last year and they are playing way more off zone on defense. Fix those two things and we will be the same team as last year.

 

[Alexander]

Last years team wins the last two games

Last year's team was different. They did not know what they were doing and were not dealing with the expectations that come from being Dallas Cowboys.

This team is expected to be the flagship. We came off a 13-3 year.

It has not worked out so far.

You even have some angst that with the Rodgers injury and the downturn with Dallas that the ratings cash cow would go away.

These players know it and see it.

Garrett is not good enough to manage that cultural issue. Not many coaches can honestly.

But that is what we get with a rock star owner/GM.

This is a team that will only fly under the radar when they have a bad year.

 

[Gameover]

Defense has been the obvious difference from 2016.

Offense - Points/Game
2016 26.5
2017 25.2

Defense - Points Allowed/Game
2016 19.6
2017 24.2

And the points allowed have nothing to do with the defense facing more possessions.

Opponent drives per game
2016 10.4
2017 10.0

People think TOP solves everything

You still have to get stops

People seem to not get that the defense also factors in a teams TOP

 

[Section446]

Yes, Dak was playing better, we had a better OL, and Zeke wasn't fat.

 

[xwalker]

Xavier is the backup FS to Jones. Its Heath that needs to be replaced, Kavon Frazier is the SS backup. Good size, but not sure he has the talent to be a starter in his second year.
Taco, I'm not sure what we do there ...

Not really true. It seems like it would be like that, but in practice it hasn't happened that way.

Both Frazier's and Wood's snaps at Safety have primarily been at a deep Safety alignment.

When they play it is generally 2-deep with Heath as the other deep Safety and Jones down at the line covering TEs.

Woods has also played slot CB.

When 1 of Woods or Frazier has played down low, it appears that Woods has done it more than Frazier but generally if one of them is playing Safety and it's not 2-deep, then it's Heath down low, not Frazier or Woods.

I thought due to his size that Frazier would get some of the responsibilities that Church had but so far that's not the case and he was inactive for this past game.

I would take Frazier at LB over Jaylon, but then again I would take myself or Cole Beasley over Jaylon at this point.

 

[T-RO]

Last years team wins the last two games

So many times in the NFL it just comes down to who is lucky enough to have the ball last. Some of those you win...some lose.

 

[T-RO]

https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/jonathan-cooper/7788
https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/lael-collins/9719

Cooper has a 39.7 grade
Collins has a 43.6 grade

Travis Frederick and Zack Martin seem to be playing at their usually high level, while PFF has Smith as average

https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/travis-frederick/7812
https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/zack-martin/8651

Cooper/Green and Collins are simply killing the cohesion on this line. Nothing is improving here, Collins is out of position and needs to be back at G and we need to start looking for a RT.

Smiths' back is very, very worrisome...now and moving forward.

 

[percyhoward]

Bingo. The problem is not on offense. The offense is in place. The defense is atrocious. 14 out 18 drives resulted in a score??? Heads should roll.

We know how this movie ends. This is points per drive...

2013
offense 4th
defense 30th

2017
offense 4th
defense 32nd

 

[haleyrules]

In the offseason, everyone and our granny were predicting there'd be tough times with the inexperience in the secondary. Add to that the number of crucial injuries to our rookies like Awuzie, Lewis and Switzer, along with that of Lee, the suspensions of Damontre Moore and Irving, not to mention the loss of Church. All of this going against us and now we're shocked and dismayed at our extremely poor defensive play?

Let's take a deep breath and see we're simply getting what we knew would be a problem early-on this season. It's nothing new or unexpected. The defense will get better soon with returns of our missing defenders and better production from the rookies who are due to develop in a more timely fashion. The fat lady may be clearing her throat backstage but she's got a long way to go before she'll be singing at this opera's end.

Yep. This club is much better than they have played. The future is bright.

 

[Risen Star]

People keep puffing up the Eagles. I get they have won the close games and that's all that matters but they have issues. They beat the giants and cardinals..... we did too. They beat 2 teams that were 0-4 until they played each other. They beat a Panthers team that turned the ball over twice allowing the Eagles to start in their redzone then Cam threw a pick right to a defender with no receiver 10 yards away on the last drive.

They aren't a dominate team and still have a QB with questionable decision making and bad accuracy. We take care of our games and we win the division. We don't need help, we control our destiny

 

[T-RO]

We know how this movie ends. This is points per drive...

2013
offense 4th
defense 30th

2017
offense 4th
defense 32nd

- Was the 2013 defense measured after 5 games--or after 16?
- Did that defense have several key players missing because of suspension
- Was that defense anchored by a experiment-gone-awry at MLB?

We have ample reason to believe this defense will be better as the season progresses. It sure won't be great...perhaps not even good...but I argue it will be close to an average defense over the remaining 11 games.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Some data to ponder

 

[Irvin88_4life]

You're losing your ability to scout

 

[LocimusPrime]

You put some effort into that one. I like it

 

[goshan]

Have you watched the games?

The team is 10-15% worse on offense and 50-60% worse on defense. Offense is good enough, defense is really bad.

In todays NFL, 10% worse on offense and 50% worse on defense is the difference between 11-13 wins versus 5-8 wins.

 

[Verdict]

I think the biggest difference in last year's team and this year's team is run defense. We were strong against the run last year. This year we have struggled so far against the run.

If we get better MLB play and Lee gets healthy I would expect that to improve significantly. We need to get Price on the field during running downs to clog up the middle.