Practice Tweets

[Nirvana]

Is it just me or did Dak add a few MPH to his fastball?

 

[Trouty]

Im actually enjoying some of the pushing and shoving from the LOS. I also feel that our DB woes are behind us and that our young bucks at DB are going to shine and cause some turnovers.

Love it, too, Reboot! That fighting will bring them closer in the end, and also shows the drive and competiveness is alive and thriving.

I'd be more worried if we didn't see any of it, to be honest. Love the big uglies getting mixed up!

 

[Alexander]

 

[Trouty]

Damn, man

Please, let's avoid a season of dreaded hamstrings.

 

[Sydla]

We play single high man a lot but we play just as much cover 3 where the CBs keep bailing. Neophytes often think that cover 3 is man outside when it is not. Last year with the 3 man fronts taking center stage we playing a lot of quarters and 1-4-2 looks. They also ran hybrid looks where it was man in the middle of the field on backs and TE but cover 3 elsewhere.

We drafted 2 corners that have top zone awareness and let go the 2 man corners we had go. Church could not play deep safety unless it was quarters and even then it was dicey which pigeonholed the team into the old school FS/SS looks. Heath can single high so he is light years better off. Woods has good range too to play deep.

Why you would think that we were going to run more man is beyond me. We have the S and CB now to play anything we want. The only thing holding us back is a LB who can take the deep middle but Lee can do it out of the nickel and Smith/Nzeocha can potentially as well. Hitchens has marginal speed so I have my doubts.

One I never said we would play "more" man. I said I suspect it will still be the predominant pass D will play. Like each of the past three seasons. Sturm analyzes this every year and even last year, our predominant defense was man, not zone. Although, it seems we started playing more two deep safety later in the year.

I think people are assuming we are going to a zone team because apparently that's what Marinelli wants. But is that true?

 

[Stash]

Yeah Dak did not practice with the ones until well into August when Romo went down. Then Dez got dinged early in the year. They definitely seemed to start to click in the playoff though.

I think that was one of the few elements that wasn't working as smoothly as we would have hoped, but you have to like the finish.

I have no doubt if they had just a bit better chemistry, Dallas wins that week one game against the Giants too.

 

[Stash]

Pass interference.

No doubt. Sheesh!

 

[Stash]

Is it just me or did Dak add a few MPH to his fastball?

I definitely saw some zip there.

And it looked effortless.

 

[Sepia]

 

[gimmesix]

One I never said we would play "more" man. I said I suspect it will still be the predominant pass D will play. Like each of the past three seasons. Sturm analyzes this every year and even last year, our predominant defense was man, not zone. Although, it seems we started playing more two deep safety later in the year.

I think people are assuming we are going to a zone team because apparently that's what Marinelli wants. But is that true?

I believe that Kiffin tried to implement more zone when he first took over with Marinelli joining his staff. However, Marinelli scraped it primarily because several of the corners we had couldn't do it well. Two of those corners were Carr and Claiborne.

You keep pointing to the last three seasons, but not looking at the reasons our predominant defense was man.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/blue-star/Marinelli-Expect-More-Man-Coverage-in-2014-261864901.html

 

[unionjack8]

NFLN reporter at cowboys camp is

Hot As hell.....

 

[CT Dal Fan]

NFLN reporter at cowboys camp is

Hot As hell.....

I've always liked Jane Slater. And her reporting is really spot on, too, she doesn't give us a lot of hype, just the facts.

 

[ConstantReboot]

One I never said we would play "more" man. I said I suspect it will still be the predominant pass D will play. Like each of the past three seasons. Sturm analyzes this every year and even last year, our predominant defense was man, not zone. Although, it seems we started playing more two deep safety later in the year.

I think people are assuming we are going to a zone team because apparently that's what Marinelli wants. But is that true?

We played more man to compensate for our players not being able to play zone. I read that Marinelli favors playing zone because thats where most INTs and turnover happens on passing downs. Hence the influx of DBs into our system thats capable of playing in both man and zone.

 

[Stash]

NFLN reporter at cowboys camp is

Hot As hell.....

You're gonna get @Trouty started up again!

 

[BigD16]

Noooo! I'm so hyped to see Beasley 2.0

 

[Trouty]

You're gonna get @Trouty started up again!

My love <swoons>

 

[Trouty]

NFLN reporter at cowboys camp is

Hot As hell.....

She's gorgeous, brotha, and does a hell of a job!

 

[Sydla]

I believe that Kiffin tried to implement more zone when he first took over with Marinelli joining his staff. However, Marinelli scraped it primarily because several of the corners we had couldn't do it well. Two of those corners were Carr and Claiborne.

You keep pointing to the last three seasons, but not looking at the reasons our predominant defense was man.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/blue-star/Marinelli-Expect-More-Man-Coverage-in-2014-261864901.html

I know we played more man because Marinelli believed that suited Claiborne and Carr better. I also know that Marinelli saw the league evolving to more pass heavy and he and Smith, while in Chicago, started playing more man coverages than they ever had. So before he even got to Dallas, he was playing more man than he had. Further, Awuzie, Lewis, Brown aren't strictly zone defenders, they can play both, which I think he wants to do.

People assume that with Heath, he can play more two safety, but in Chicago, they used two coverage safeties to mix and match single high safety looks at times. There was an article in SI back when Marinelli was in Chicago that talked about the shift the Bears were making away from Cover 2s and even other zones to more man principles given three an four WR sets, etc.

Further, if the Cowboys were going to a zone scheme, that's something that would likely been reported, either during the draft when they took 3 CBs, etc. Maybe I missed it but I don't recall much chatter about the Cowboys making a scheme shift in the secondary. In fact, I recall Garrett talking a lot after the draft about Awuzie and Lewis being guys that can do a lot of things - press, zone, inside, outside.

My guess is that the Cowboys plan on playing pass D just like they continually have............ a lot of Cover 1 with maybe a bit more zone. I think Sturm noted we played man between 40-45% of the time last year. I could see that number maybe dipping a bit but I suspect man will still be the scheme we use the most over the various zones we could play. That's why they added Awuzie and Brown and Lewis. These are guys that can play in either scheme.

 

[gimmesix]

I know we played more man because Marinelli believed that suited Claiborne and Carr better. I also know that Marinelli saw the league evolving to more pass heavy and he and Smith, while in Chicago, started playing more man coverages than they ever had. So before he even got to Dallas, he was playing more man than he had. Further, Awuzie, Lewis, Brown aren't strictly zone defenders, they can play both, which I think he wants to do.

People assume that with Heath, he can play more two safety, but in Chicago, they used two coverage safeties to mix and match single high safety looks at times. There was an article in SI back when Marinelli was in Chicago that talked about the shift the Bears were making away from Cover 2s and even other zones to more man principles given three an four WR sets, etc.

Further, if the Cowboys were going to a zone scheme, that's something that would likely been reported, either during the draft when they took 3 CBs, etc. Maybe I missed it but I don't recall much chatter about the Cowboys making a scheme shift in the secondary. In fact, I recall Garrett talking a lot after the draft about Awuzie and Lewis being guys that can do a lot of things - press, zone, inside, outside.

My guess is that the Cowboys plan on playing pass D just like they continually have............ a lot of Cover 1 with maybe a bit more zone. I think Sturm noted we played man between 40-45% of the time last year. I could see that number maybe dipping a bit but I suspect man will still be the scheme we use the most over the various zones we could play. That's why they added Awuzie and Brown and Lewis. These are guys that can play in either scheme.

I agree that we will use a mix of coverages. This scheme isn't limited to Cover-2; it's just a part of the mix. However, we were limited in our use of it with Carr and Claiborne on the field. Marinelli understood their limitations and adjusted for it.

He has players now who do not have those limitations. That doesn't mean we're going to play primarily Cover-2 or even that our mix of man coverage will change. It could, but I don't know if it will. It only means Cover-2 will be a more viable part of the mix. Marinelli is big on his defense being able to create turnovers and that's one of the advantages of playing Cover-2, the secondary is playing with the ball in front of them instead of with their backs turned to the quarterback.

It'll ultimately be interesting to see what kind of balance he strikes with this. I would think that the amount of Cover-1 that we play will go down, but I don't know how much.

 

[Sepia]

Xavier: