So what's going wrong on 3rd downs for the defense?

[big dog cowboy]

I'm on board with the zone defense/lack of pass rush excuse. The biggest concern now is that the rest of the league may be catching up to us. Sunday night was painful to watch. Third and long meant nothing to the Giants.

 

[links18]

Better competition?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Better competition?

Washington?

Jacksonville?

New York Giants?

I'm not sure it's due to the competition.

 

[Neverhood]

Moore has been fine. People complain and think he's garbage after 1 bad game. If that were the case carr would be a janitor at this point. Moore is always contesting the ball he's right there and he's good at getting his hand in there and breaking up the pass.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Moore has been fine. People complain and think he's garbage after 1 bad game. If that were the case carr would be a janitor at this point. Moore is always contesting the ball he's right there and he's good at getting his hand in there and breaking up the pass.

Moore's play has regressed some, but he hasn't been Carr-awful.

I think one of the biggest reasons for the falling off of the 3rd down defense is the play of the corners– all 3 have regressed over the past month.

 

[links18]

Washington?

Jacksonville?

New York Giants?

I'm not sure it's due to the competition.

Those are two division teams. Everyone around here keeps saying that bad teams are somehow capable of greatness against us if they are in the division.

 

[perrykemp]

For me the secondary is the most concerning element.

Their best player in the secondary is Scandrick who in IMHO who is a mediocre #1 CB, who would be an average #2 CB, and who ideally would be the best #3 (Nickle) CB in the entire in NFL.

It goes downhill from Scandrick.

 

[JBell]

Against the Giants Melton and Crawford weren't their usual disruptive selves up the middle (minus Crawford's huge pressure on 3rd down during NYG's final drive)

 

[JD_KaPow]

Why is the defense giving up a much higher % of 3rd down conversions than they were earlier on this season?

The pass rush isn't any worse, and may be a tad better than earlier in the season.

Regression to the mean. We had been better on 3rd down than on 1st and 2nd. Research shows that that isn't sustainable, and over time, the 3rd down performance will regress to look more like the 1st and 2nd down performance.

 

[windjc]

Well we've played 11 games and the last one was the first time our defense looked like crap.

So we can panic and say oh nos! it's a problem or we can wait and see how the defense responds the rest of the season.

This defense hasn't been worse than average this year. Unfortunately Dallas really needs the defense to improve going into the playoffs because there are a few teams we cannot win a shoutout against. Contenders need a better defense than Dallas has played so far.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Those are two division teams. Everyone around here keeps saying that bad teams are somehow capable of greatness against us if they are in the division.

I'm not of that ilk.

 

[CCBoy]

I would not consider this a trend, because we'd been steady at around 42% allowed since the Seattle game, then with Sunday night's game, the Giants' 11 of 16 performance brought it up to 45.1%. We'd held the Giants to 5 of 13 in the first game, so it looks like they made the right adjustments.

More importantly, though, keep an eye on drive success rate. It's a much better stat than 3rd down conversion % because it takes all downs into account when measuring how well an offense moves the chains. (The defense ranked 32nd in the NFL in 2013.) After 8 games, we ranked 8th. Three games later, we've now slipped to 18th.

As always, Percy, a good snapshot of current changes.

The team needs to evolve itself, and meet challenges in transitions...better. 3rd downs and Red Zones are important as the team enters the Black 'n Blue December.

 

[Risen Star]

I don't know, Mike. Maybe you should check PFF. Because the talent is certainly there.

Let us know what you find.

 

[Risen Star]

I would not consider this a trend, because we'd been steady at around 42% allowed since the Seattle game, then with Sunday night's game, the Giants' 11 of 16 performance brought it up to 45.1%. We'd held the Giants to 5 of 13 in the first game, so it looks like they made the right adjustments.

More importantly, though, keep an eye on drive success rate. It's a much better stat than 3rd down conversion % because it takes all downs into account when measuring how well an offense moves the chains. (The defense ranked 32nd in the NFL in 2013.) After 8 games, we ranked 8th. Three games later, we've now slipped to 18th.

The more the defense plays, the more it will get exposed. And, of course, the better the QB they play against. We started the season with some pretty poor pocket passers.

This is a bad defense. They lack talent on all three levels of the defense. You can either accept that and hope for some major rebuilding in the offseason or you can continue to be flabbergasted as to why they struggle.

 

[reddyuta]

I would like them to blitz more.we just cannot cover anyway,why not bring more blitzes?it worked for the eagles.

 

[Risen Star]

I would like them to blitz more.we just cannot cover anyway,why not bring more blitzes?it worked for the eagles.

Scandrick on the blitz. I like it.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I would like them to blitz more.we just cannot cover anyway,why not bring more blitzes?it worked for the eagles.

The Cowboys performance in blitzing this season hasn't been pretty.

I would just as soon see them play coverage, which a bunch of man-under, with a safety or two playing deep. Sanchez isn't a scrambler. No need playing all-zone all the time.

 

[fifaguy]

I wouldn't worry too much about any statistic from the last Giants game. The last game was basically the Giants, a division rival, playing their super bowl this year at home. This was the last chance to give them and their fans something to hang their hats on. They were playing for a lot of pride. And that just may have been Coughlin's last game against the Cowboys. I am sure he wanted the W bad. Real bad.

What is really sweet is that the Cowboys went into their house, took their best shot, and ripped their hearts out with a gut-wrenching last-minute comeback win. The Giants and their fans will have to deal with the sting of elimination at the Cowboys hands for the next ten months. Another year getting sweeped.

Sometimes teams just have a really good game plan and execution.

On the flip side, almost every team we played this year, their defense is asking the same question as to why they can't stop the Cowboys 3rd down offense.

We did have a bit of luck - Eli's gift to Church - but that stop hat we made at the end was nice...

 

[LatinMind]

Why is the defense giving up a much higher % of 3rd down conversions than they were earlier on this season?

The pass rush isn't any worse, and may be a tad better than earlier in the season.

This is happening league wide. So many teams going no huddle is keeping base defenses in on 3rd downs. And Dallas has had quite a few 3rd down conversions on penalties too.

 

[Risen Star]

Better competition?

Pay no attention to him. He's doing what he's always done.

You'd think after watching the Cowboys epic fail building their defense through the CB position that Winicki would have an epiphany and realize his underpants gnomes approach....

1. Stockpile cornerbacks.

2.

3. Profit.

....to a quality defense is fatally flawed. But nothing's going to knock him off his stride. We're always a few cornerbacks away from contention.

If you're a fanatic football fan who's old enough to drink legally in this country and you don't know that games are won or lost in the trenches, you're a lost cause.