Nice addition to the Defensive front

[Galian Beast]

Tyron Crawford is essentially new too.
He missed all last year and has never played a real game snap in this defense.

That's not true.

 

[DallasEast]

That's not true.

How so? Tyrone Crawford's last regular season snap was in 2012. He played defensive end in Rob Ryan's 3-4 defense. This would be his first season (fingers crossed) playing in Rod Marinelli's 4-3 defense.

 

[DFWJC]

That's not true.

Sure it is.
In Marinelli's 1st year, he went down in training camp.
There reason to be a little optimistic with him...or maybe hopeful.

 

[IrishAnto]

It will be the same following every draft, I imagine. I will always be eager to see what the new talent has to offer, but I'm not getting my hopes up. It will take a combination of these guys to replace both Hatcher and Ware's production. And considering their production yielded less than stellar results, we have to hope they can actually improve on that production which is pretty ridiculous to hope for from this crop of rookies.

In fairness after September it was mostly Hatcher's production and even he disappeared for a few games.

I’m hoping that a year’s worth of experience for those who played last year, better health for those who were injured along with a couple of the rookies giving us some rotational help will improve the unit.

 

[Screw The Hall]

Yeah, I think they're going to be better than we were last year. And there's an outside chance some of them might be more than just contributors. I like that we've got a bunch of ok players, rather than what we had last year, anyway. We talk about a defense only being as strong as it's weakest link...well, we upgraded a lot of weak DL links this week. They're still not all that strong, but they're stronger, anyway.

That's why I'm almost positive this unit is going to be much better than last year. This year they have a bunch of mediocre NFL players on the line. I'm not sure everyone understands what an upgrade that is over last year.

 

[jday]

In fairness after September it was mostly Hatcher's production and even he disappeared for a few games.

I’m hoping that a year’s worth of experience for those who played last year, better health for those who were injured along with a couple of the rookies giving us some rotational help will improve the unit.

The Tampa 2 only works, if the front four can disrupt, penetrate, and frustrate the QB in much the same way Seattle operated last year. You absolutely cannot give the QB time in the pocket, or the game is lost. You need a 300 lb plus mountain at the 1-tech DT, a penetrator at the 3-tech (which Melton or Crawford very well could be), and guys with decent speed to set the edge and get to the QB quick, fast, and in a hurry. The DE spot is where the Cowboys have the most questions.

Spencer is still anybody's guess, since we really didn't get a good look at him in this new position for him last year and he is coming back from injury at the ripe age of 30. Mincey is really a head scratcher as a Free Agent acquisition - he had a total of 10 tackles last year between two different teams, the Jaguars and Broncos and also is 30. And before you bring up the Broncos Super Bowl appearance, let's not forget it wasn't because of the defense. From what I've read, the rookies are not really expected to start this year, contributing mostly in Nickel packages, but that won't truly be decided until after training camp. But obviously that is a big question mark. George Selvie is the one guy with the least amount of questions, however, I will point out his game seem to slide towards the end of the season.

I'm not saying it's impossible for this defense to turn it around, just improbable.

 

[IrishAnto]

The Tampa 2 only works, if the front four can disrupt, penetrate, and frustrate the QB in much the same way Seattle operated last year. You absolutely cannot give the QB time in the pocket, or the game is lost. You need a 300 lb plus mountain at the 1-tech DT, a penetrator at the 3-tech (which Melton or Crawford very well could be), and guys with decent speed to set the edge and get to the QB quick, fast, and in a hurry. The DE spot is where the Cowboys have the most questions.

Spencer is still anybody's guess, since we really didn't get a good look at him in this new position for him last year and he is coming back from injury at the ripe age of 30. Mincey is really a head scratcher as a Free Agent acquisition - he had a total of 10 tackles last year between two different teams, the Jaguars and Broncos and also is 30. And before you bring up the Broncos Super Bowl appearance, let's not forget it wasn't because of the defense. From what I've read, the rookies are not really expected to start this year, contributing mostly in Nickel packages, but that won't truly be decided until after training camp. But obviously that is a big question mark. George Selvie is the one guy with the least amount of questions, however, I will point out his game seem to slide towards the end of the season.

I'm not saying it's impossible for this defense to turn it around, just improbable.

Depends on what you’re definition of “turn it around” is.

If you mean top 10 - 15 then I’d agree that’s improbable.

I’m hoping we can get to around 20 – 15.

I think with a bit of luck (something the defense has been short of lately) that’s doable.

In truth I’m not counting on Spencer at all as nothing I’ve heard suggests he’s anywhere near ready.

 

[jday]

Depends on what you’re definition of “turn it around” is.

If you mean top 10 - 15 then I’d agree that’s improbable.

I’m hoping we can get to around 20 – 15.

I think with a bit of luck (something the defense has been short of lately) that’s doable.

In truth I’m not counting on Spencer at all as nothing I’ve heard suggests he’s anywhere near ready.

In other words, your expecting the offense to make up for alot of the defense deficiencies? That's not entirely unrealistic. But Romo is returning from surgery, were hoping Witten is the same Witten, Murray can stay healthy and what looks to be a very good offensive line is not a mirage. If the offense is going to help the defense, they have to have long sustaining drives, which means running the ball. The new offensive coordinator, from what I've read, plans to do just that, but once again, I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[IrishAnto]

In other words, your expecting the offense to make up for alot of the defense deficiencies? That's not entirely unrealistic. But Romo is returning from surgery, were hoping Witten is the same Witten, Murray can stay healthy and what looks to be a very good offensive line is not a mirage. If the offense is going to help the defense, they have to have long sustaining drives, which means running the ball. The new offensive coordinator, from what I've read, plans to do just that, but once again, I'm not getting my hopes up.

That should be a big help but I do expect some of the following to happen.

Let’s not forget last year was the first year back in the 4-3 so you have to figure that as part of their troubles (dwarfed by the injuries I know).

I’m hoping a years experience will help with the quality of the safety’s play and that of Bruce Carter.

If Claiborne can stay healthy enough to get him going that would go along way to improve the secondary.

Hopefully Melton can at least largely replace Hatcher’s production.

Can Holloman continue his progress and has Wilber found his position at the SAM position?

And is it possible that the DL we enter training camp with can mostly see their way into and through the season?

I wouldn’t bet my house on it, but our luck has to change sometime.

 

[jazzcat22]

Depends on what you’re definition of “turn it around” is.

If you mean top 10 - 15 then I’d agree that’s improbable.

I’m hoping we can get to around 20 – 15.

I think with a bit of luck (something the defense has been short of lately) that’s doable.

In truth I’m not counting on Spencer at all as nothing I’ve heard suggests he’s anywhere near ready.

Stephen Jones touched on this in his conference call. Said they know they won't go from a defense ranked in the 30's to a top 10 defense, or something like that. [paraphrasing from what I remember] But they feel with the draft and udfa's, and the FA veterens, stay healthy, they can make a big enough improvement to get in or near the top half. that's the goal anyway.

As for Spencer, yes they want to see hwat he can do in this defense yet, but could be a PUP candidate too.

 

[jday]

That should be a big help but I do expect some of the following to happen.

Let’s not forget last year was the first year back in the 4-3 so you have to figure that as part of their troubles (dwarfed by the injuries I know).

I’m hoping a years experience will help with the quality of the safety’s play and that of Bruce Carter.

If Claiborne can stay healthy enough to get him going that would go along way to improve the secondary.

Hopefully Melton can at least largely replace Hatcher’s production.

Can Holloman continue his progress and has Wilber found his position at the SAM position?

And is it possible that the DL we enter training camp with can mostly see their way into and through the season?

I wouldn’t bet my house on it, but our luck has to change sometime.

Therein is the issue. In this brand of defense, it all depends on the front four. If the front four can't do their jobs, it will be really difficult to tell if the LB's and Secondary has improved and even if you can tell, it really won't matter much.

 

[xwalker]

Tyron Crawford is essentially new too.
He missed all last year and has never played a real game snap in this defense.

He was drafted in 2012. That means that he was here a full season before the injury.

 

[DFWJC]

He was drafted in 2012. That means that he was here a full season before the injury.

Not under Marinelli he wasn't, and that's what I was saying....no real NFL game time under Marinelli yet.

 

[Fredd]

this defense can be successful if they stay healthy and on the field...they were not bad last year when they all played...with the recent additions, this defense could surprise many...and marinelli would get the full credit