My take so far

[MagicMan]

I would love to see us draft Mixon or Perine from OU late in the draft.

Mixon is going to be a steal for someone in this draft. The guy is a playmaker from the backfield. Kind of what we were hoping Dunbar was, but is already better.

 

[rambo2]

26th against the pass!!

Yep, that is the definition of championship defense

Well, you should be glad that they will have a better secondary.

 

[darthseinfeld]

this offseason reminds me of 2014 in its tenor.

At least then we were coming off the worst defensive season in cowboys history. We signed Mincey, McClain, and Melton to Steve-o specials and everyone and their mother predicted failure.

We bounced back anyway despite DLaw getting hurt by Tryon the first week of camp and Risen telling us that Hitchens should have been an UDFA for 4 years running now.

The only player we lost who was worth a flip was McClain. Church couldn't run for ****. Wilcox struggled with the speed of the game and took bad angle after bad angle. Carr could not both protect against the deep ball and challenge underneath routes. Claiborne couldn't stay healthy for even half a season. Jack Crawford was stubby and could not beat anyone but inferior OL.

And lets not kid ourselves about McClain he was good for one season, his contract year which he still faded in, and could not stay healthy either. He was perpetually pulling his groin, getting a high ankle sprain, or jacking up his toe.

Yet people think we are going to take a step back. For all the whinging, Brown, Jones, and yes Jeff "turnover" Heath were our best DBs. They are all still here. We still have Crawford, Irving, Collins, DLaw, Mayowa, Thornton, Tapper, and added Paea on the line. Lee and the up and coming Wilson are still here and Jaylon is going to play as well. If he is recovered he was a top 5 player in last years draft.

Yet here we are and people still don't learn from history.

We didnt lose a single player 95% of our fanbase didnt want to get rid of at one time or another. Most were hoping Claiborne would sign somewhere else last year And hoping Carr would get cut in the offseason. And hoping Wilcox would get cut in camp. And hoping we would draft or sign Church's replacement. And completely forgetting Terrell McClain is even on the team. I think its hand wringing just for the sake of hand wringing. I guarantee you not a single one of those players we could have traded for the comp pick we will get for them

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

We didnt lose a single player 95% of our fanbase didnt want to get rid of at one time or another. Most were hoping Claiborne would sign somewhere else last year And hoping Carr would get cut in the offseason. And hoping Wilcox would get cut in camp. And hoping we would draft or sign Church's replacement. And completely forgetting Terrell McClain is even on the team. I think its hand wringing just for the sake of hand wringing. I guarantee you not a single one of those players we could have traded for the comp pick we will get for them

Agreed. it's one thing to plan for the worst. It's another to see it in everything.

 

[robjay04]

I sorry but this happy juice does not work

The same people lauding this will tell us how the only reason the defense is bad is because we have several new starters on defense "so what do you expect"

Then next off season a few more will be allowed to leave

Rinse and repeat

Our defense won't be completely "bad" as long as we limit big plays and continue playing ball control.

Chances are we we will be in a few shootouts against elite offenses. Judging by our schedule next season...I suspect a shootout against Green Bay, Atlanta and Oakland. We won a few shootouts this past season against elite offenses so I suspect we will have a shot.

Arizona and San Diego may be decent offenses but I don't suspect either to be great. Divisional games will always be tough, regardless of the circumstances, but besides the teams I mentioned, we will play some of the more lackluster offenses in the NFL.

Rams, Seahawks, Kansas City, Denver and San Fransisco will likely not have the offensive firepower to blow us of the water. I believe free agency decisions should be closely focused on the schedule for the next season since teams change so much year to year, it's hard to think past that.

So not including predictably close divisional games, I see 3 teams on our upcoming schedule with the offensive firepower to blow us away if our offense doesn't do their part.

 

[visionary]

Our defense won't be completely "bad" as long as we limit big plays and continue playing ball control.

Chances are we we will be in a few shootouts against elite offenses. Judging by our schedule next season...I suspect a shootout against Green Bay, Atlanta and Oakland. We won a few shootouts this past season against elite offenses so I suspect we will have a shot.

Arizona and San Diego may be decent offenses but I don't suspect either to be great. Divisional games will always be tough, regardless of the circumstances, but besides the teams I mentioned, we will play some of the more lackluster offenses in the NFL.

Rams, Seahawks, Kansas City, Denver and San Fransisco will likely not have the offensive firepower to blow us of the water. I believe free agency decisions should be closely focused on the schedule for the next season since teams change so much year to year, it's hard to think past that.

So not including predictably close divisional games, I see 3 teams on our upcoming schedule with the offensive firepower to blow us away if our offense doesn't do their part.

I guess I can only shake my head in amazement at fans of a team defending the FO that takes something that was average at best and makes it worse and the defense is that "it won't be bad"

Whatever happened to the idea of getting better and making moves to be a top defense not one that might not be really really bad?

I think you are way underselling the offenses of SD, Seattle and KC and Arizona can be explosive if their QB is healthy

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Statistically speaking, as far as points per game which I believe is the best way to judge a defense, we were 7th in the league.

Now I believe that has more to do with the scheme not allowing big plays and opposing offenses pressing to score points instead of sticking with their game plan. Regardless, our defense was effective overall at keeping opponents off the score board.

The team obviously believes they can get a similar job done with cheaper players. I do think the system overall is friendly to secondary players so it's possible. We just got to hope our offense doesn't miss a beat this season if we want to maintain our success.

How can ppg be the proper measure of a defense when it's so largely dependent on the offenses production? Shouldn't we be looking at points per possession?

Bc you can think the defense is fine but let's say losing two OL from last year could dramatically change our time of possession and thus expose more of the flaws in the defense.

 

[robjay04]

I guess I can only shake my head in amazement at fans of a team defending the FO that takes something that was average at best and makes it worse and the defense is that "it won't be bad"

Whatever happened to the idea of getting better and making moves to be a top defense not one that might not be really really bad?

I think you are way underselling the offenses of SD, Seattle and KC and Arizona can be explosive if their QB is healthy

I am not defending the front office.

I am praising them for not overpaying to retain a first round bust and a few other players that are past their prime just to keep together the 26th ranked passing defense that as a collective unit averages an entire two interception per year as a unit.

We took the weakness of our team, let them go and we are going to try to replace them with better players. In 2008, we overpaid to keep aging players or one year wonders such as Ken Hamlin and an aging offensive line and doing that cost Romo valuable years. I'm glad we learned from our mistakes and didn't let one positive year distract us from the end goal.

 

[visionary]

I am not defending the front office.

I am praising them for not overpaying to retain a first round bust and a few other players that are past their prime just to keep together the 26th ranked passing defense that as a collective unit averages an entire two interception per year as a unit.

We took the weakness of our team, let them go and we are going to try to replace them with better players. In 2008, we overpaid to keep aging players or one year wonders such as Ken Hamlin and an aging offensive line and doing that cost Romo valuable years. I'm glad we learned from our mistakes and didn't let one positive year distract us from the end goal.

Ok let's see how it works out
I have no confidence that this FO had the vision or plan to get this done in the near future

 

[Arkyvarminter]

Someone in a different thread said Stephen is worried more about making money than winning championships...God I hope not.

 

[robjay04]

Someone in a different thread said Stephen is worried more about making money than winning championships...God I hope not.

How does it make anyone money?

We have pretty much exhausted our cap room once we will the roster so it's not like we are being cheap. Even so..it's not like the Jones family pockets the leftover cap room. Stephen is going to make money regardless, winning football and home playoff games will make him more money than saving money on free agents.

 

[Arkyvarminter]

How does it make anyone money?

We have pretty much exhausted our cap room once we will the roster so it's not like we are being cheap. Even so..it's not like the Jones family pockets the leftover cap room. Stephen is going to make money regardless, winning football and home playoff games will make him more money than saving money on free agents.

They made more money than any other team at 8-8....

 

[robjay04]

They made more money than any other team at 8-8....

They would make even more at 13-3 with a home playoff game or two.

 

[cowboyblue22]

a lot of the teams on this schedule don't have really explosive offenses but they have defenses that are very capable of stopping our offense and out defense cant stop any one pretty much

 

[robjay04]

a lot of the teams on this schedule don't have really explosive offenses but they have defenses that are very capable of stopping our offense and out defense cant stop any one pretty much

I don't think any defenses in the league can stop our offense. Our strength is more dominant then any other teams strength in the league.

If Dak progresses, which he will...our offense will run through anyone. Yes that includes the Giants, which will likely take a hit when Hankins signs somewhere else though we ran pretty well game 2. Teams focused all their attention on Zeke last season and he still got 1600....as Dak progresses and Dez has his first healthy offseason in two years, teams can't do that anymore.

Maybe I'm being arrogant but no defense in the league scares me against our offense...