Looks Like Hankins Is The Real Mvp On Defense

[lukemartin79]

After watching the first quarter and maybe half of the second quarter before turning the channel in disgust yesterday, it was pretty obvious that the most important player on D is Hankins.
Yes, Parsons is a great athlete and can do many different things but he can't plug up the middle like Hankins does. Everybody has fallen in love with sacks and INTs so all the praise goes to guys who get those while how much Hankins has upgraded this defense gets lost. That was a rather under the radar/ not a major deal trade with the Raiders last year that has turned out to be the biggest difference maker on Defense. Until yesterday the Cowboys had not allowed a back to gain 100 yards on them all season. Hankins first game being out of the lineup and look what happens. Thats all the proof I need. This is going to be ugly without him.

 

[doomsday9084]

This is why Mazi was drafted. People seem to really underestimate the impact the 1T has on the rest of the defense. Its amazing how much better the LB's look when Hankins is playing.

This is also why Mazi not playing well is such a problem.

 

[Coogiguy03]

NO HE'S NOT, he would have been in there and the same thing would have happened

 

[CowboyoWales]

After watching the first quarter and maybe half of the second quarter before turning the channel in disgust yesterday, it was pretty obvious that the most important player on D is Hankins.
Yes, Parsons is a great athlete and can do many different things but he can't plug up the middle like Hankins does. Everybody has fallen in love with sacks and INTs so all the praise goes to guys who get those while how much Hankins has upgraded this defense gets lost. That was a rather under the radar/ not a major deal trade with the Raiders last year that has turned out to be the biggest difference maker on Defense. Until yesterday the Cowboys had not allowed a back to gain 100 yards on them all season. Hankins first game being out of the lineup and look what happens. Thats all the proof I need. This is going to be ugly without him.

Im sure playing Micah as a MLB to defend the run (rather than press the QB) would of at least taken away the easy 7.2 ave yards Cooks was given on 25 carries.

 

[CowboyoWales]

This is why Mazi was drafted. People seem to really underestimate the impact the 1T has on the rest of the defense. Its amazing how much better the LB's look when Hankins is playing.

This is also why Mazi not playing well is such a problem.

I agree, however, using a late 1st Rd 1-Tech as the reason for the our troubles is a false flag, all 1st year IDL are going to struggle, even when expected to go top 10 like Carter. Our Defensive set up should be aware that that's where the Bill's were going to focus. The fact the second level was left to Damone and an undersized Wilson playing up as a LB that doesnt plug the gap. If we'd backed up Mazi with Parsons that may have changed the focus of the running game.

 

[Adiba1977]

You watch game. They attacked edge. Nothing do Hankins. Whole d sucks playing run. Mainly the lb and de play.

 

[Runwildboys]

I didn't know Tarzan was a Cowboys fan!

 

[atlantacowboy]

Hankins is a decent player but common.

 

[JeffInDC]

You watch game. They attacked edge. Nothing do Hankins. Whole d sucks playing run. Mainly the lb and de play.

The Cooks TD run PERFECTLY illustrated why Hankins being in wouldn’t have meant squat - the replay CLEARLY shows Osa getting pushed back while Mazi held his ground - in fact, Mazi had to dive for Cook in the gap that Osa gave up…compounding the issue is that Bell got swallowed up as well, and all Cook had to do was avoid the horrific tackling that was the LB’s and Safeties the entirety of the game. This D is built to be successful ONLY when they force teams to pass. Well, what’s the easiest way to achieve that goal? Be a brick wall against the run…but, NONE of the Edge Rushers or LB’s seemed to play their gaps with any integrity or, maybe more importantly, any INTENSITY yesterday. In fact, the best run stuff I saw from ANY back 6/7 player was the stuff of Murray by Evans right before the Allen TD that put them up 21-3. The need for a LEGIT DAWG at MLB has been glaring for years - LVE was always better in space than being that dude in the middle.

 

[nightrain]

I think the loss of Hooker also played a role in the poor run support. Kearse playing deep was like standing him on the sideline.

Bell, Thomas and Clark were totally exposed yesterday. They are Jags.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

After watching the first quarter and maybe half of the second quarter before turning the channel in disgust yesterday, it was pretty obvious that the most important player on D is Hankins.
Yes, Parsons is a great athlete and can do many different things but he can't plug up the middle like Hankins does. Everybody has fallen in love with sacks and INTs so all the praise goes to guys who get those while how much Hankins has upgraded this defense gets lost. That was a rather under the radar/ not a major deal trade with the Raiders last year that has turned out to be the biggest difference maker on Defense. Until yesterday the Cowboys had not allowed a back to gain 100 yards on them all season. Hankins first game being out of the lineup and look what happens. Thats all the proof I need. This is going to be ugly without him.

one player is not the difference between giving up a 100 yards and 266. this team played very soft. played individual ball. panicked on defense. couldn't tackle. took wrong angles. tried to be intimitating and failed.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Not sure Hankins would've mattered very much yesterday, especially given how much damage the outside runs were inflicting.

We poured gasoline on 3 defensive stops with personal foul penalties, couldn't/wouldn't challenge an obvious turnover that the refs missed, and didn't have the fortitude on offense to fight back into it. That was the story of the game.

Even down 21-3, McCarthy should've kept forcing the run because Pollard was actually having a nice game.