Offense vs Defense

[Arkyvarminter]

I was watching a video, can't remember where, where the analysts were discussing the state of the Dallas Cowboys. They were saying that the offense was the big question mark going into the season. They talked about how the offensive line is weak and who was going to be the 3rd receiver as well as could Dez and Miles stay healthy. They also questioned the running backs and their ability to stay on the field.

I alway thought the offense was overall in pretty good shape and the defense was much more of a concern. I know we have question marks on the Oline but the D is what let us down last year. Which side of the ball needs the most improvement? I say the defensive side.

 

[nablives]

I think I get where that opinion is coming from, and I think it's fair. Unless we're being homers, I can't see how anyone would have confidence in that O-line, or feel great about the additions made to it this off-season. At least on defense, they added the top CB in FA and the top CB in the draft. The defense could very well remain the side of the ball with more concerns, but at least Dallas took a couple of serious steps to improve that side. I comprehend that they can only do so much in one off-season, but that's irrelevant to the opinion we're discussing.

Personally, I think a healthy offense is still better than that defense, unless they come out and show me that the pass rush is no joke, and it's not all about Ware.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I was watching a video, can't remember where, where the analysts were discussing the state of the Dallas Cowboys. They were saying that the offense was the big question mark going into the season. They talked about how the offensive line is weak and who was going to be the 3rd receiver as well as could Dez and Miles stay healthy. They also questioned the running backs and their ability to stay on the field.

You must have been watching ESPN.

 

[perrykemp]

I alway thought the offense was overall in pretty good shape and the defense was much more of a concern. I know we have question marks on the Oline but the D is what let us down last year. Which side of the ball needs the most improvement? I say the defensive side.

The Dallas offense was ranked just 15th in points last year -- as average a average can be. The Panthers, Ravens, and Jets all scored more points.

If the goal is a deep run into the playoffs, the offense needs to get better.

Note: I didn't break down each team to see how many points defenses contributed the overall team totals.

 

[CyberB0b]

During Garrett's reign as the OC and Head Coach, the team has always put up a lot of yards, but have been terrible in redzone, scoring, and 3rd/4th and short situations.

 

[Frozen700]

The offense is the least of my Worries

The Defense couldn't bail the offense out for nothing last season. Then to top it off, the couldn't hold leads either.

The D is my main concern.

They have to be better, we got the parts now. Now its a matter of playing well together

 

[TheFinisher]

The Dallas offense was ranked just 15th in points last year -- as average a average can be. The Panthers, Ravens, and Jets all scored more points.

If the goal is a deep run into the playoffs, the offense needs to get better.

Note: I didn't break down each team to see how many points defenses contributed the overall team totals.

This.

The ultimate goal on offense is to score points, and we were in the middle of the pack in points scored last season. Big yardage totals don't mean sqaut, it's about the scoreboard... and we still have to make improvements there if we want to be considered a good offense.

 

[Omegasupreme]

This.

The ultimate goal on offense is to score points, and we were in the middle of the pack in points scored last season. Big yardage totals don't mean sqaut, it's about the scoreboard... and we still have to make improvements there if we want to be considered a good offense.

Bingo. Most points wins the game period. Best managed offense knows how to score points at critical moments. Red zone? Division game? Managing a small or huge lead? Or how about win the game, win the division, and go to the playoffs?

Bunch of yards? Shut up and score points.

Defense allowed 21.7 points per game. Giants allowed more per game. Dallas did not have a bad defense, they had an offense that was statistically confused. A QB having a solid year with TDs to Ints ratio and yet, somehow taking more sacks than any other year. Not execution, this is incompetence...like calling play action on 4th down and 30.

Having a running back have 253 yards in a game and just one TD is strange. But in a play action offense the QB was 14-24, despite the 253 yards by the running back. Something is wrong, and it is not a defense problem.

It would be a defensive problem if the offense was regularly losing games 35-34, 28-24, or even 34-31. But check the number of TDs that the offense averages in the last few years since 2007.

There have been plenty of teams, including last year's Giants and Patriots, who recognized a weaker defense and played the ridiculously obvious weekly objective of scoring more points than the other team. The Fouts Chargers, the Martz Rams, the Cunningham Vikings, are examples of good offense with weak defense. Dallas has neither.

In a few years we are going to look back at these years with Witten, Miles, Bryant, and Romo and see how this massive talent was wasted on a naive and overmatched red headed Lane Kiffin. There is no excuse for how this offense only averages less than three TDs a game.

Most points wins the game.


http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...y=GAME_STATS&d-447263-s=TOTAL_POINTS_GAME_AVG

 

[jobberone]

There is room for concern on both sides of the ball but the defense derailed our playoff hopes last year. I believe the offense will improve and that should help make us competitive. We'll see about the defense. I expect some hiccups early on esp if Jenkins can't play.

 

[FiveRings]

Last year out two biggest concerns were the secondary and the offensive line. My number one worry throughout the whole team is the O-line now because the secondary is sealed for the most part. As for offense vs defense i have to say the offense worries me more just because we have some pretty big holes in the line and losing Robinson who was a big producer last year. That's being rather knit picky though

 

[TheFinisher]

Bingo. Most points wins the game period. Best managed offense knows how to score points at critical moments. Red zone? Division game? Managing a small or huge lead? Or how about win the game, win the division, and go to the playoffs?

Bunch of yards? Shut up and score points.

Defense allowed 21.7 points per game. Giants allowed more per game. Dallas did not have a bad defense, they had an offense that was statistically confused. A QB having a solid year with TDs to Ints ratio and yet, somehow taking more sacks than any other year. Not execution, this is incompetence...like calling play action on 4th down and 30.

Having a running back have 253 yards in a game and just one TD is strange. But in a play action offense the QB was 14-24, despite the 253 yards by the running back. Something is wrong, and it is not a defense problem.

It would be a defensive problem if the offense was regularly losing games 35-34, 28-24, or even 34-31. But check the number of TDs that the offense averages in the last few years since 2007.

There have been plenty of teams, including last year's Giants and Patriots, who recognized a weaker defense and played the ridiculously obvious weekly objective of scoring more points than the other team. The Fouts Chargers, the Martz Rams, the Cunningham Vikings, are examples of good offense with weak defense. Dallas has neither.

In a few years we are going to look back at these years with Witten, Miles, Bryant, and Romo and see how this massive talent was wasted on a naive and overmatched red headed Lane Kiffin. There is no excuse for how this offense only averages less than three TDs a game.

Most points wins the game.


http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...y=GAME_STATS&d-447263-s=TOTAL_POINTS_GAME_AVG

Awesome post, I agree 1000%. The defense was not great down the stretch, but they are taking way too much blame for us missing the playoffs last year. It was a total team effort, and both sides of the ball were not good enough.

15th Ranked Offense + 16th Ranked Defense = 8-8 Record.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Offensively the only question mark I have is the OL and whether it's good enough. Defensively I have questions about their ability to get to the quarterback consistently.

 

[Eskimo]

After the huge investments in the defense between FA and the draft to fix the secondary, LB corps and even the DL I do think the defense should be much improved this year. I also think there will be some benefit from Ryan having more time to teach his defensive strategies and I also think he will be able to implement his whole defensive ideology this year with a vastly improved group of coverage players. I truly do believe that the upgrades should make us much more competitive at the end of games. Right now I am hoping for 20 ppg allowed.

As for the offense losing Robinson was a significant blow but getting back a healthy Miles and a Dez Bryant who understands his routes and adjustments better should more than compensate for his departure. I also still largely believe that Robinson was a product of Romo's ability and question how effective he will be for the Jags when he has pretty much well been a JAG for the first four years of his career sans Romo. Holmes and Coale could be major additions to the arsenal this year but we haven't really ever seen either of them line up for snaps with us even in preseason yet. The OL continues to be a large worry with a major rebuild done in this past offseason and still two spots up for grabs IMO (Center and RG). At the very least I expect Costa to be a bit better, Livings to be league average and the RG to not collapse at the end of the year like Kosier did. If you remember, during the middle of the year we actually had league average OL play for the most part - it was the beginning and the end of the year that we took it on the chin. In the end, this year's offense should be better if only for better OL consistency throughout the year and better short yardage running - I expect about 25 ppg.

This to me is very much a transition year as Garrett's crew (Callahan, Robinson, Peete, Ryan, Baker, Ebeflus, Henderson, Woicik) truly get a chance to put their stamp on this team which is finally devoid of the inherited cancers and players in rapid decline with bloated contracts. Our roster will be competitive with the rest of the league now so it'll be interesting to see what the coaching staff can accomplish.

 

[CyberB0b]

I also think there will be some benefit from Ryan having more time to teach his defensive strategies and I also think he will be able to implement his whole defensive ideology this year with a vastly improved group of coverage players.

Don't hold your breath on that one. Ryan has only coached 1 top 10 defense in his career as a DC.

 

[sonnyboy]

I was watching a video, can't remember where, where the analysts were discussing the state of the Dallas Cowboys. They were saying that the offense was the big question mark going into the season. They talked about how the offensive line is weak and who was going to be the 3rd receiver as well as could Dez and Miles stay healthy. They also questioned the running backs and their ability to stay on the field.

I alway thought the offense was overall in pretty good shape and the defense was much more of a concern. I know we have question marks on the Oline but the D is what let us down last year. Which side of the ball needs the most improvement? I say the defensive side.

Always best to throw out the perceptions and stick to the facts:

Offense:
11th in total yards, 18th in rushing and 7th in passing
15th in scoring at 23.1 points per game
4th in the NFL with a 100.1 offensive team passer rating
5 rushing TDs

What does this tell us? Well in todays game it is thought that passer rating is most telling. Teams with the best passer rating tend to score the most points. 4th in passer rating yet only 15th in scoring? 11th in total yards yet only 5th in scoring? 5 rushing TDs???

Our red zone offense was weak because of a weak offensive line.

Defense:
14th in total yards, 7th in rushing and 23rd in passing
16th in scoring at 21.7 points per game
23rd in defensive pass rating at 88.4
7th in sacks with 42

We stopped the run and rushed the passer better than 25 teams, yet were right smack in the middle of the pack in points allowed. And of course only 23rd in defensive passer rating????

Anyone think we may need some new DBs?

 

[dallasfan4lizife]

defense will be better than the offense this year.

This offense has looked mediocre the past few years, even though tony has put up great numbers.

defense has all the pieces besides a fat NT to be top 10

 

[Eskimo]

Don't hold your breath on that one. Ryan has only coached 1 top 10 defense in his career as a DC.

Hope springs eternal in the offseason.

I do think there is some legitimacy to this POV, though. Ryan wants to be aggressive with CBs in man-to-man with heavy blitzing. I also think he likes to play some zone with blitzing. The problem last year was the CBs weren't able to man up against quality QB/WR combos so whenever we did so we got killed with some mismatch on the field. If we tried to lay back in zone coverage there was too much open space underneath.

Ultimately you are going to hamstrung by your personnel from time to time and Ryan could only do so much. He actually did manage to do a much better job than Wade Wilson from the previous season. Yes, that Wade Wilson who is known as a great DC and went on to coach the Texans into a top defense despite losing his best player for most of the year (Mario Williams).

I still think this defense is missing a complementary pass rusher and will need more contribution from other players. I am crossing my fingers that we have hit UDFA gold again with Adrian Hamilton as I don't think the light will suddenly go on for Anthony Spencer. The other possibility would be better contributions from the ILBs (Lee/Carter) as last year's group got shutout.

 

[Eskimo]

Always best to throw out the perceptions and stick to the facts:

Offense:
11th in total yards, 18th in rushing and 7th in passing
15th in scoring at 23.1 points per game
4th in the NFL with a 100.1 offensive team passer rating
5 rushing TDs

What does this tell us? Well in todays game it is thought that passer rating is most telling. Teams with the best passer rating tend to score the most points. 4th in passer rating yet only 15th in scoring? 11th in total yards yet only 5th in scoring? 5 rushing TDs???

Our red zone offense was weak because of a weak offensive line.

Defense:
14th in total yards, 7th in rushing and 23rd in passing
16th in scoring at 21.7 points per game
23rd in defensive pass rating at 88.4
7th in sacks with 42

We stopped the run and rushed the passer better than 25 teams, yet were right smack in the middle of the pack in points allowed. And of course only 23rd in defensive passer rating????

Anyone think we may need some new DBs?

Yes, I think any fair-minded person would come to the same conclusion.

Our offense was held back primarily by a poor short-yardage offense. This inability in short yardage is just much more magnified in the red zone because there isn't as much field to defend against the pass which means loaded boxes to defend the run. The problem is how do you rebuild the interior while maintaining the proper salary cap structure and deal with the $5M penalty. I think we chose to go for middle-tier FAs that Callahan believed he could mold into an effective unit.

As for the defense we could defend the run and rush the passer but could not defend the pass. The main culprits were weaknesses at LB and CB. Well the two CBs are majorly upgraded with the signing of Carr and the drafting of Claiborne. The LB corps is majorly upgraded in coverage with the additions of Connor and Carter. The big unknown is whether we get better production outside of the second safety spot and I still hold hope that Matt Johnson can upgrade that position by giving us a playmaker in the running and passing games. Last year Elam was okay against the run but failed to knock down or intercept a pass in the whole season which is truly shocking.

I do have hopes for this roster. It is arguably our most complete roster since the championship team if we can get average play out of the interior OL - even more complete than the 2007 team but probably not quite as talented overall. I do hope Garrett's emphasis on character and process and Woicik's work on strength and conditioning sway more close games our way this year than last year. I really think we are a year away but would not be surprised if we manage to get in the playoffs.

 

[CyberB0b]

Hope springs eternal in the offseason.

I do think there is some legitimacy to this POV, though. Ryan wants to be aggressive with CBs in man-to-man with heavy blitzing. I also think he likes to play some zone with blitzing. The problem last year was the CBs weren't able to man up against quality QB/WR combos so whenever we did so we got killed with some mismatch on the field. If we tried to lay back in zone coverage there was too much open space underneath.

Ultimately you are going to hamstrung by your personnel from time to time and Ryan could only do so much. He actually did manage to do a much better job than Wade Wilson from the previous season. Yes, that Wade Wilson who is known as a great DC and went on to coach the Texans into a top defense despite losing his best player for most of the year (Mario Williams).

I still think this defense is missing a complementary pass rusher and will need more contribution from other players. I am crossing my fingers that we have hit UDFA gold again with Adrian Hamilton as I don't think the light will suddenly go on for Anthony Spencer. The other possibility would be better contributions from the ILBs (Lee/Carter) as last year's group got shutout.

You mean Wade Phillips? Anyways, Ryan was the one hyping up all the talent on the team. He said multiple times he never had this much talent and he came up lame.

 

[gimmesix]

I was watching a video, can't remember where, where the analysts were discussing the state of the Dallas Cowboys. They were saying that the offense was the big question mark going into the season. They talked about how the offensive line is weak and who was going to be the 3rd receiver as well as could Dez and Miles stay healthy. They also questioned the running backs and their ability to stay on the field.

I alway thought the offense was overall in pretty good shape and the defense was much more of a concern. I know we have question marks on the Oline but the D is what let us down last year. Which side of the ball needs the most improvement? I say the defensive side.

With the new additions, the defense might be better than the offense, but it wasn't last year.

So until the defense proves it, I can't say it's in better shape than the offense, which has some things to prove as well.