Our Misguided Defensive Philosophy

[Majic]

Our Defensive Philosophy is misguided. We have LB's with speed and are undersized and powerful DE's with no bend (not including Parsons). Should be other way around in my opinion. Does not bode well for this season.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

With no solid tackles I expect rushing attacks to run over our Linebackers

 

[blueblood70]

Our Defensive Philosophy is misguided. We have LB's with speed and are undersized and powerful DE's with no bend (not including Parsons). Should be other way around in my opinion. Does not bode well for this season.

Wow you must have missed your calling bro... I didn't know where you were graced with greatness and we had like professionals in here that know more about sports than the career coaches....


I mean you're on here telling Mike Zimmer who's been around for 30 years what he should be doing/..lol you sure got a lot of confidence for somebody you sit behind a desk on a keyboard... Which by the way we don't know the philosophy or the scheme flex that we're going to see with Zimmer coming in year one and tying to make them adapt TO HIS SCHEME.

 

[CowboysRule]

Our Defensive Philosophy is misguided. We have LB's with speed and are undersized and powerful DE's with no bend (not including Parsons). Should be other way around in my opinion. Does not bode well for this season.

You want more undersized defensive linemen?

 

[thunderpimp91]

The general idea of getting bigger bodies along the LOS is actually a good idea if you're going to have less size/more speed out of your backers. Have the front four eat blocks to keep those quicker players at the second level clean to stop the run. You do that and Parsons should feast on 3rd and longs.

 

[Majic]

Wow you must have missed your calling bro... I didn't know where you were graced with greatness and we had like professionals in here that know more about sports than the career coaches....


I mean you're on here telling Mike Zimmer who's been around for 30 years what he should be doing/..lol you sure got a lot of confidence for somebody you sit behind a desk on a keyboard... Which by the way we don't know the philosophy or the scheme flex that we're going to see with Zimmer coming in year one and tying to make them adapt TO HIS SCHEME.

Mike Zimmer will work with whatever he is given. My opinion (which you may not agree with) is that in todays NFL particularly with mobile QBs who move out of the pocket you need pass rushers who can bend and adjust. We don't have that.

 

[Majic]

You want more undersized defensive linemen?

No, I want big powerful tackles and edge rushers who are flexible.

 

[TNCowboy]

No, I want big powerful tackles and edge rushers who are flexible.

Flexible?

Our DEs were - as a group - probably the best in the NFL last (regular) season.

 

[Aven8]

Mike Zimmer will work with whatever he is given. My opinion (which you may not agree with) is that in todays NFL particularly with mobile QBs who move out of the pocket you need pass rushers who can bend and adjust. We don't have that.

In his last go here it’s not like we were oozing with talent so I assume you’re right.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Our Defensive Philosophy is misguided. We have LB's with speed and are undersized and powerful DE's with no bend (not including Parsons). Should be other way around in my opinion. Does not bode well for this season.

Parson's doesn't have much bend either, or he'd have more than 13+ sacks a season. Relying on speed and blazing up the field will only get you so far. If you remember Robert Quinn several years ago, he's a guy that had good bend to me!

 

[thunderpimp91]

Mike Zimmer will work with whatever he is given. My opinion (which you may not agree with) is that in todays NFL particularly with mobile QBs who move out of the pocket you need pass rushers who can bend and adjust. We don't have that.

Yeah Zimmer really doesn't have much of a choice. This defense was top 5 in points allowed last year so the Cowboys were not going to go out and do a major overhaul to get guys that fit what Zimmer wants.

The second part of your post is exactly why losing a Sam Williams despite being a pretty average player hurts so much. I think the more important piece to stopping mobile QBs is maintaining rush lane discipline, but having that rotational guy on 3rd and 7 who can come in and not just contain the QB but get to the QB is crucial. Losing Williams and Fowler and Armstrong is going to hurt the pass rush and impact the number of negative plays this defense can create.

 

[blueblood70]

Mike Zimmer will work with whatever he is given. My opinion (which you may not agree with) is that in todays NFL particularly with mobile QBs who move out of the pocket you need pass rushers who can bend and adjust. We don't have that.

No not really there have been many eras of quarterbacks who are mobile you know I know Brett farve doesn't go back that far but he was hard to get down but let's talk about Steve young Randall Cunningham Michael Vick I don't know Roger Staubach I don't know running quarterbacks have been around forever yeah they're more athletic now but then they used to have to go out and do the same thing with running backs that could stop on a dime and make you lose your shoes break your knees break your ankles as they used to say this NFL is not much different than the old NFL except for the rules the rules are slanted towards the offense now we're the defenses aren't allowed to do much..

I do get what you were trying to say and although what you're saying is true you're just forgetting about all the stuff that's happened in 100 years of the NFL there are plenty of guys you had to make sure you were on a swivel to bend and go get they just were called running backs back in the day but those same running backs are now quarterbacks yes I said it they tried to make all those guys in the running backs and receivers and tight ends instead of letting them play quarterback and now they're playing quarterback but it doesn't change the game me it's the same guy you have to account for whether he was gonna throw or run because when he's not running he would be handing off to a dangerous running back all the way back to Eric Dickerson and dudes like that that would leave you with your jock on the field you still have to play the game the same way at end and at linebacker things do ebb and flow and I know for a while everyone called this a running league and then they called it a passing league no it's an adaptable league and that's why the Cowboys are getting ran over now because their defensive coordinator put together defenses that we're way too hybrid and way too small and other teams looked at and you don't know what we're just gonna run down your throat this is no longer a passing or running era it's an adaptable era they will look at you on the other side and see what they can take advantage of just like it was back in the 60s seventies 80s nineties and now..

And like I said I get what you're saying and what you're saying is true to a point but you're blowing it out of proportion on how much you think football has changed it's just the rules the physicality has changed... To me that's it I mean outside of that football still football it's a smart football coaches will devise schemes to blow holes in your weaknesses so they will run the ball at you all game like Buffalo did last year.. They have a mobile quarterback did they have to run much with the quarterback no he had like 100 yards passing but they ran the running back that is old game and we couldn't stop it that sure looked like 70s football to me it looked like 90s football to me... We've seen that a little bit playing defense and using the run game when Cooper rush was in and at times you just run the football when defenses can't handle the run game if they don't adapt they don't have at least some rotational players that you can bring in to stop the run same thing with the pass you better be ready with a nickel and a dime for when teams that look like they're just a running team all of a sudden opens it up on you you literally need to be adaptable it's called position flex and all teams are doing it...

 

[blueblood70]

Mike Zimmer will work with whatever he is given. My opinion (which you may not agree with) is that in todays NFL particularly with mobile QBs who move out of the pocket you need pass rushers who can bend and adjust. We don't have that.

It's not misguided Mike Zimmer knows what he's getting into and that's what all this offseason's about and he brought in kendricks he will bring in more of his own players and he won't mix them together plus we just lost Sam Williams so I'm expecting him to bring in a guy like in ndoku. No I don't know how to spell his name but he played with Zimmer in Minnesota and he's available as a free agent and he's an end he'd be a perfect example of what Dan Quinn did here bringing some of his own guys like Fowler who wasn't a big deal but he sure did do his job and they're gonna go ahead and do that I'm sure sometime between now and the start of the season we are way early with them trying to figure out what they do and don't have as far as Mike Zimmer goes this is his time right now figuring out what he might need before the season starts.

 

[jazzcat22]

It is more like we have many misguided fans (and media) that feel they need to not like anything about the team.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Nah, LBs have to cover.

Quinn was a crappy DC because he did not scheme numbers advantages at the LOS. Big - presumably slow - LBers are a liability.

 

[Rockport]

Our Defensive Philosophy is misguided. We have LB's with speed and are undersized and powerful DE's with no bend (not including Parsons). Should be other way around in my opinion. Does not bode well for this season.

You don’t even know what the defensive philosophy is and you’re declaring it misguided?

 

[Majic]

You don’t even know what the defensive philosophy is and you’re declaring it misguided?

Small quick LB's. Big heavy DE's.

 

[blueblood70]

It is more like we have many misguided fans (and media) that feel they need to not anything about the team.

Fastest way to get clickbait get content created that attracts clicks literally just say Dallas Cowboys they'll find 6° of separation to find any story to circle back to the Cowboys... And yeah the fans then buy into the hype and I don't understand that look with your eyes you can't look with your eyes because we haven't played a single real game yet there isn't truly a roster set we don't no what's gonna happen starting game one but it's the greatest reality TV there is is watch the damn games and then we can criticize and break down what's going on in front of our eyes..

I mean a lot of this has been said the last three seasons historically bad offseasons the Cowboys don't do enough blah blah blah they're going to be a 500 team they're gonna finish third or fourth in the division... Then we win the division two out of the last three years and like Jerry said he's right and I know it's not enough but we have been at top 16 the last decade in regular season wins it's not like we're getting our butts kicked and embarrassing ourselves it's literally just falling short in the playoffs five out of the last eight years we've been to the playoffs ought to be some positive in that everyone's like yeah but all we do is lose in the playoffs well what if we all we did is never get to the playoffs would you rather lose that badly I mean everybody worries about how much people are paid why we're losing and it to me doesn't matter this is about football I'd rather have my team have the second seed and have a home game then not have a playoff game at all...

 

[blueblood70]

Small quick LB's. Big heavy DE's.

No what you're describing is a full blown old school 3-4 defense.. That's not what he's running if they wanted to do that they have guys that can play a heavier end and then they can make other guys into what we call outside linebackers which would would be our defensive ends guys like DeMarcus Ware played both but when you're in a 342 of your linebackers are technically defensive ends they're mainly pass rushers that try to also stop the run and then the three guys up on the line are heavier because technically they're all defensive tackles but you just get more athletic defensive tackles on the ends but they're not playing that type of defense they are all playing some kind of hybrid you know some old school mixed with new school...

And yes we all remember when Parcells was here we remember when Zimmer was the defensive coordinator and they use the defense like that that doesn't mean he hasn't changed defensive roles and physicality have changed you can adapt and by the way tank isn't that small bro and they have other guys like they just brought in and Kneelands ,I don't think he's small. I'm sure they'll have packages that will remind you of old school Zimmer which they can use goldston or other guys and that type of formation on the outside again you would kick back Parsons and tank or kneeling into outside linebackers but it doesn't change a whole lot..

 

[Rockport]

Small quick LB's. Big heavy DE's.

Damone Clark 6’3” 240
Eric Kendricks 6’0” 232
Marist Liufau 6’2” 239
DeMarvion Overshown 6’2” 220
Micah Parsons 6’3” 245

Other than Overshown who didn’t play last year, they’re much bigger than last year. It’s interesting you base giving up on the season the size of the defense.

Now, who‘s the DE that’s too big and too heavy?