Jimmy Johnson built his defense on being physical

[Sully]

If anyone listening to Mike Fisher, he often states that the Cowboys loses to Kyle Shanahan type coaches. Coaches that line up and punch you in the mouth by run the ball down your throat and will stop you from running, making you one dimensional.

If you go back to the Jimmy Johnson halftime speech where he gets pissed off, if you were a Cowboy fan during this time frame, Jimmy built his defense on being physical..... on both sides of the ball. And to this day, I do not understand why Jerry Jones hasn't learned from this template ESPECIALLY since he has not won squat for 28 years. Only think that explains this is PRIDE.

Jerry wants war daddies to excite the crowd with sacks and turnovers. Both are necessary but more importantly, be physical which Dallas is built on finesse. On both sides of the ball. Until this franchise changes the culture, the drought will continue and season after season, Cowboys fans will be left scratching their heads in frustration while Jerry keeps selling FOOLS GOLD of hope each season.

 

[tunahelper]

If anyone listening to Mike Fisher, he often states that the Cowboys loses to Kyle Shanahan type coaches. Coaches that line up and punch you in the mouth by run the ball down your throat and will stop you from running, making you one dimensional.

If you go back to the Jimmy Johnson halftime speech where he gets pissed off, if you were a Cowboy fan during this time frame, Jimmy built his defense on being physical..... on both sides of the ball. And to this day, I do not understand why Jerry Jones hasn't learned from this template ESPECIALLY since he has not won squat for 28 years. Only think that explains this is PRIDE.

Jerry wants war daddies to excite the crowd with sacks and turnovers. Both are necessary but more importantly, be physical which Dallas is built on finesse. On both sides of the ball. Until this franchise changes the culture, the drought will continue and season after season, Cowboys fans will be left scratching their heads in frustration while Jerry keeps selling FOOLS GOLD of hope each season.

One of the most underrated trades made by Jimmy was Tony Casillas. Casillas was a 3-4 NT for the Falcons and made the pro bowl. Then Jimmy still drafted Russell Maryland who also played 1T. So Jimmy combined to very good run defenders with Maryland-1st round, Casillas- 2nd round, 8th round picks.

Jimmy knew physical playmaker helps you get into 3rd and long more often. It's about controlling the LOS and tempo of the game. Dallas has the tempo and momentum seized from them by physical teams. Then they cannot use their team speed.

 

[Nav22]

So we didn't draft a DT with our 1st round pick last year?

Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean it didn't happen.

We tried to fix the middle of the defense. Mazi was just (so far) a colossal bust.

 

[CCBoy]

So we didn't draft a DT with our 1st round pick last year?

Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean it didn't happen.

We tried to fix the middle of the defense. Mazi was just (so far) a colossal bust.

The team had it's sites set on a smaller sized speedster instead of a trash can full of dirt. Bring him back to larger size and watch his improvements in years 2 and 3.

Myself, I would target an offensive tackle and a center 1&2.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Jimmy built his defense on being physical.

Jimmy built his defense on speed also. He has the fastest defense in the league.

 

[JeffInDC]

Jimmy built his defense on speed also. He has the fastest defense in the league.

Those defenses were STRONG up the middle and blazing fast on the edges - still a great combo to have even in today’s NFL.

 

[Cmac]

......and ball hawks. Even role players performed like Bill Bates, Kenneth Gant and Scott Galbraith, to name a few. If you hit the field, you weren't a liability.

 

[mrmojo]

Jimmy had small LBs too but his DLs were physical and deep....best 3rd down defense in the league.

 

[mrmojo]

......and ball hawks. Even role players performed like Bill Bates, Kenneth Gant and Scott Galbraith, to name a few. If you hit the field, you weren't a liability.

Galbraith was a TE. Acquisition of Thomas Everett and Cassilas were great moves.

 

[Big_D]

Jimmy had a great rotation on the D line. It was as deep as you’ll ever see it.

 

[Cmac]

Galbraith was a TE. Acquisition of Thomas Everett and Cassilas were great moves.

Thanks, I'm aware of Galbraith's role. Yes, he was a TE, but performed on special teams and saw the field in certain packages.....he wasn't Novacek, but he wasn't a liability on Jimmy's teams.

 

[Swanny]

The defense wasn't championship caliber until War daddy Haley was signed.

But comparing today's defense to defenses back then is not possible. Nfl is now designed for stats and points making defense near impossible to play. The Cowboys defenses from the 90's would struggle because they would not be allowed to be as physical in today's game.

 

[Creeper]

In simple terms the Cowboys teams under Jimmy controlled the LOS on both sides of the ball. If you cannot control the LOS, you cannot play offense or defense. The Cowboys lack of run defense demonstrates this concept.

 

[jterrell]

If anyone listening to Mike Fisher, he often states that the Cowboys loses to Kyle Shanahan type coaches. Coaches that line up and punch you in the mouth by run the ball down your throat and will stop you from running, making you one dimensional.

If you go back to the Jimmy Johnson halftime speech where he gets pissed off, if you were a Cowboy fan during this time frame, Jimmy built his defense on being physical..... on both sides of the ball. And to this day, I do not understand why Jerry Jones hasn't learned from this template ESPECIALLY since he has not won squat for 28 years. Only think that explains this is PRIDE.

Jerry wants war daddies to excite the crowd with sacks and turnovers. Both are necessary but more importantly, be physical which Dallas is built on finesse. On both sides of the ball. Until this franchise changes the culture, the drought will continue and season after season, Cowboys fans will be left scratching their heads in frustration while Jerry keeps selling FOOLS GOLD of hope each season.

That is actually untrue.
Jimmy built the Miami 4-3 on speed and depth.

The DL rotation you see everywhere started with him.
He largely played a 2-deep coverage with the fastest LB in the country.

I played for one of his coaching tree in DC in Carlos Mainord.
They would hit you for sure but were never built on being big like today's SEC.

Raw speed with Florida had in spades.

 

[RS12]

Jimmy built his defense on speed, particularly the back seven. In the front four he hit home runs with Tony Tolbert late in the draft, acquiring Casillas and Haley in trades. Finding guys like Everett and Washington to play key roles. Common denominator: superior talent evaluation.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Jimmy liked speed.

 

[doomsday9084]

Jimmy built his defense on speed, particularly the back seven. In the front four he hit home runs with Tony Tolbert late in the draft, acquiring Casillas and Haley in trades. Finding guys like Everett and Washington to play key roles. Common denominator: superior talent evaluation.

I was entering the thread to say this. Dallas was unique in the early 90's in that it built its defense on speed and not size. The end result was that the team ran to the ball faster than any other team in the league and offenses couldn't deal with it.

Back then, teams actually used to run sweep plays as an example. Dallas would just gobble them up by putting more tacklers in the area than there were blockers. I can't think of the last time I saw a sweep play in the NFL because lots of teams copied Dallas. Everyone wants super fast linebackers. That wasn't the case in the 90's.

Wannstedt also was one of the first guys running zone blitzes. Yet another thing that teams simply were not prepared for as almost no one else did it. The first time a QB sees a D lineman drop into zone coverage as a weakside linebacker blitzes really is confusing.

 

[CWR]

If anyone listening to Mike Fisher, he often states that the Cowboys loses to Kyle Shanahan type coaches. Coaches that line up and punch you in the mouth by run the ball down your throat and will stop you from running, making you one dimensional.

If you go back to the Jimmy Johnson halftime speech where he gets pissed off, if you were a Cowboy fan during this time frame, Jimmy built his defense on being physical..... on both sides of the ball. And to this day, I do not understand why Jerry Jones hasn't learned from this template ESPECIALLY since he has not won squat for 28 years. Only think that explains this is PRIDE.

Jerry wants war daddies to excite the crowd with sacks and turnovers. Both are necessary but more importantly, be physical which Dallas is built on finesse. On both sides of the ball. Until this franchise changes the culture, the drought will continue and season after season, Cowboys fans will be left scratching their heads in frustration while Jerry keeps selling FOOLS GOLD of hope each season.

I dont know how much of that is Jerry and how much is him yielding to his DCs. Marinelli was a great example. Hopefully our next coordinator can see what had held us back and build a tougher D.

 

[jterrell]

I dont know how much of that is Jerry and how much is him yielding to his DCs. Marinelli was a great example. Hopefully our next coordinator can see what had held us back and build a tougher D.

Irony here is Dallas hasn't wanted to spend a first on Mazi Smith to end up spending a 1st on Mazi Smith and fans are going nuts about that lack of value/return.

 

[CWR]

Irony here is Dallas hasn't wanted to spend a first on Mazi Smith to end up spending a 1st on Mazi Smith and fans are going nuts about that lack of value/return.

True but they then doubled back and trimmed him down 30lbs. Of course he was being crapped on well before.