Our defense consistently makes it a long field

[T-RO]

When you factor two things together it's telling.

1. Our defense is 30th in take-aways
2. Our defense is 16th in yardage allowed

I am not about to tear our defense down. They have played better as the season has gone along and I'm proud of my boys, (Rat, Ware, Brooking, etc).

But look at the reality of these two stats combined. The combination of an embarrassing lack of turnovers and mediocrity at defensive yardage allowed inherently does two things:

Gives the offense fewer possessions relative to other teams
Gives the offense a long field

 

[kramskoi]

When you factor two things together it's telling.

1. Our defense is 30th in take-aways
2. Our defense is 16th in yardage allowed

I am not about to tear our defense down. They have played better as the season has gone along and I'm proud of my boys, (Rat, Ware, Brooking, etc).

But look at the reality of these two stats combined. The combination of an embarrassing lack of turnovers and mediocrity at defensive yardage allowed inherently does two things:

Gives the offense fewer possessions relative to other teams
Gives the offense a long field

...the defense has high bendability and that makes it efficient from the standpoint of points allowed...most of the AFC defenses have high bendability also...

...this years team is only 5 turnovers behind the '07 squad...the offense just is'nt as prolific or efficient as 2007...up until the Philadelphia game they were averaging over 32 ppg...they are averaging a full touchdown less so far this year...

...this year's defense is giving up 3 ppg less than the '07 team at the same point of the season...the NE game skews that a bit though...

 

[SaltwaterServr]

When you factor two things together it's telling.

1. Our defense is 30th in take-aways
2. Our defense is 16th in yardage allowed

I am not about to tear our defense down. They have played better as the season has gone along and I'm proud of my boys, (Rat, Ware, Brooking, etc).

But look at the reality of these two stats combined. The combination of an embarrassing lack of turnovers and mediocrity at defensive yardage allowed inherently does two things:

Gives the offense fewer possessions relative to other teams
Gives the offense a long field

Considering where we started the season racking up 877 yards by giving up 450 yards to Tampa Bay and then 427 to NY, being ranked 16th overall at 330 yards per is not too shabby.

Moreover since yards don't win games, it's noteworthy to point out that Dallas is 1st in the NFC in fewest points allowed. Make particular note that the undefeated New Orleans Saints are 9th in the NFC in points allowed, or 17th overall.

 

[THUMPER]

The biggest issue to me regarding our defense is the lack of forced turnovers. The better teams always force turnovers and we aren't doing that.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

The biggest issue to me regarding our defense is the lack of forced turnovers. The better teams always force turnovers and we aren't doing that.

I don't put too much stock in forced turnovers reason being they can be such a factor of luck in so many situations. Example would be last year's Bucs. Going into our game they led the league in interceptions.

I wanted to see how they came about, and went into their game footage to see them all on the highlight reels. Of the 12 or 13 they had, you could say that 1 was good defense. Maybe 2. The rest were passes tipped by offensive players, balls throw into the back of a helmet that caromed off, passes thrown directly to the defensive personnel with no offensive player in sight, etc. Pressure wasn't a factor in all but one of them. Just bad decision making on part of the offense, or blind freaking luck.

That one year that Chicago did so well, before their Super Bowl run, they led the league in turnovers. What did they have the next season, like 4 wins and very poor turnover ratio?

Luck.

You cannot train for a ball bouncing off the back of a shoe and landing in your hands. You cannot train for an official not calling a play dead when you had possession and the ball down by contact. You cannot train for an insignificant swat and the ball popping out after a 40 yard completion . You cannot train for a ball popping out on its own during a return during the second game of the season.

Luck. You either have it or you don't.

 

[Apollo Creed]

And some Wade lovers have the nerve to kick Garrett while he's down. When you factor in the Buehler effect, our defense has been very average.

 

[30yrheel]

the defense has been nothing to brag about. if it's third and long, we invariably give up the first down. that cost us the packer game as much as anything.

 

[Apollo Creed]

the defense has been nothing to brag about. if it's third and long, we invariably give up the first down. that cost us the packer game as much as anything.

The 2 minute defense is terrible as well.

 

[casmith07]

Our defense is probably the closest thing you'll see to an AFC defense in the NFC. New Orleans' defense is playing like an AFC defense as well.

 

[21Savage]

I think it's safe to say that anybody who calls our defense average at best doesn't know what they see when they watch the games.

 

[Future]

And some Wade lovers have the nerve to kick Garrett while he's down. When you factor in the Buehler effect, our defense has been very average.

This defense has been very good. A lot of points they have given up have been short fields and a lot of the yards have been in garbage time.

 

[gmoney112]

Does anyone believe this crap? Really?

It boggles my mind when people say this. Have you watched the Cowboys much this season?

I've watched every game this season. The last 4 weeks this defense has been playing outstanding, I'm saying top 3 defense in the NFL. Did we force a lot of turnovers against the packers? No. But how many points did they have after 3 quarters of football? We gave up a TD in the 4th because half our secondary went down within 5 plays, naturally the Packers attacked it, which they are very good at doing.

I wish our defense could play like this for the rest of the season.

 

[playmakers]

Throw out the stats, give me points allowed that's all that matters.

 

[Apollo Creed]

This defense has been very good. A lot of points they have given up have been short fields and a lot of the yards have been in garbage time.

Very good? Maybe compared to previous years, but our offense has carried us this year.

 

[Coakleys Dad]

I think the D has played very well the past 6 games...It gave the O possession in the packer game between the 30-40 3 times in the first half but the O could not capitalize...

 

[JD_KaPow]

The OP is exactly right.

We're 24th in the league in offensive starting field position, largely because of a lack of takeaways and a poor kickoff return team.

The defense is playing well, but it is not one of the best Ds in the league (whoever said top 3 is smoking something). The lack of takeaways is a big issue. And no, it's not just luck. 30th last year, 26th this year in interceptions. That has to improve before we can consider calling this an elite defense.

And no, the defense isn't "very average" either, whatever that means. It's a good defense, just not a great one.

 

[T-RO]

...the defense has high bendability ...

High bendability means that we stop the other team from scoring but give up forty yards of field position and lots of game time....that's kinda my point.

 

[T-RO]

The last 4 weeks this defense has been playing outstanding, I'm saying top 3 defense in the NFL.

The defense has played better and I will commend them on the effort they gave us on Sunday. But over the course of several seasons...meh. OK, but not championship caliber.

 

[21Savage]

The defense has played better and I will commend them on the effort they gave us on Sunday. But over the course of several seasons...meh. OK, but not championship caliber.

*** does several seasons have to do with right now. Right now, over the last six games, they've been playing championship caliber defense. I don't know how anybody can argue against that.

Check out all the times in the Greenbay game when the offense had excellent field position (and Joe and Troy commented on these) only to come up with no points.

And you can also say that the defense will be a lot better statistically if the offense hasn't put them in some bad positions all year to give up points. 4 TOs in the Giants game resulting in points. TO against Denver when Spencer missed the int resulting in 7. Fumble against Greenbay on the 3 yard line. ETC

This defense has mostly given up garbage points, points of TOs, and hurry up points (which they seem to have fixed).

 

[links18]

Everyone missed the OP's point. The defense is hurting the offense by never giving it a short field. Although I seem to remember the offense starting out drives around the 50 last week and doing squat with it.