It *is* the reason we're not a much better team. To be clear, though, I'm not just talking about the secondary when I say 'pass defense.' It obviously includes pressure players. The reason why we've not been better varies from season to season. The constant has been the safety play, but there was a point at which we needed to address the CBs with Newman's age and contract status and Jenkins' injury. We switched schemes to address the turnover limitations, but then the pressure fell off a cliff when we sustained multiple injuries to the DL group. That said, even with better pressure we would not have been more than a mediocre pass D this season. But mediocre would have got us several more wins and a shot in the post season.
I've always been a fan of addressing the DL. Teams have done that and been very successful. The Giants are a good example of this. I wanted DL in the first this year, and I want it again in the first and thereafter in the coming draft. I wish we'd spent the recent TE and RB picks on DL, honestly, too. It's not like the OG position everybody was going off on the last two years where it'd be dumb to spend a top pick on a position you can readily fill from the middle rounds.
I agree with you Idgit, I think drafting DL should be the number one priority for this team. If you have a great DL, it really doesnt matter who is in your secondary. When the Giants won the SB, nobody really knew who the secondary players were, but everybody knew Michael Strahan, Osi Uminuera, Justin Tuck, ect.....(sorry if I spelled their names wrong, too late at night and too lazy to look it up...LOL)
However, and I know you disagree with this, but I totally believe that we win at least 2 more games this year if our head coach was not "in training". If we had hired a head coach that was already trained (I know, shocking concept), then we would have won at least 1 division title over the last 3 years. I think that is what more people are upset about, that the Dallas Cowboys are not a team that "trains" head coaches. We should be going out and hiring the best coaches in the game, coaches that got that training at college programs or from being assistants to other good coaches or from learning the ropes at smaller market low profile teams.
So yes, the defense does need improving and especially the defensive line, but a poor defense does not excuse the fact that several games have been lost due to errors by the head coach. That is what most fans are finding unacceptable. It is one thing for Jerry to think Garrett was a good head coach when he hired him, but for Jerry to now admit that he knew their were going to be games lost from "miscues" and "sideline errors" during the "training process" and that he expects that to pay dividends down the road.
The bottom line as to why alot of fans are not very happy right now and are more on edge right now (more chipper threads lately) has more to do with Jerry hiring somebody even he agrees was not ready to be an NFL head coach than being upset with the defense.
