Some Defensive stats that are offensive

[BrAinPaiNt]

The Cowboys are 10yrds per game away from being in the top half for yds per game and 3 pts per game away from being the 11th ranked team for pts per game. We may be bad but others aren't much better.

They are 10 yards away from being the 19th worst in yards. They are also 10 yards away in the other direction of being 9th worst.


We are 3 points per game away from being 23rd worst or the other way 6th worst.

Not sure making up a 10 yard stat is worth much because we are not 10 yards more or less than we are. Same for going the route of making up a stat of 3 points per game more or less...because we are dealing with the yards and points we actually have.

 

[Noryb]

They are 10 yards away from being the 19th worst in yards. They are also 10 yards away in the other direction of being 9th worst.


We are 3 points per game away from being 23rd worst or the other way 6th worst.

Not sure making up a 10 yard stat is worth much because we are not 10 yards more or less than we are. Same for going the route of making up a stat of 3 points per game more or less...because we are dealing with the yards and points we actually have.

I guess my point was I don't see much separation between the middle of the road defenses when you look at pts per game and yards per.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I guess my point was I don't see much separation between the middle of the road defenses when you look at pts per game and yards per.

I get your point ... but My counterpoint is that if you just go those small amounts the other way...I think you understand my point.

 

[CyberB0b]

So far this season

Defense is giving up 360 yards per game for 11th most in the league

69 points given up for 13th in the league (and that is with a 3 way tie for 10th)

23 points per game average which is 13th worse in the league (and this is with a 3 way tie for 10th)

24 penalties on defense which is tied for 7th worst in the league

Total yards of penalties 227 which is 5th worst in the league

Of course it is probably an improvement from last year...but it is clear that it is not that good.

The offense (minus the turn overs) is good enough to win us games even if the defense is bad that day.

I don't think the defense is good enough to win us games if the offense is bad that day.

Last year we were going through Dlinemen all year. We still have not had our Dline completely healthy yet.
This year it seems like we are going through LBs.

The shocking thing is that they are probably near the bottom in time on the field. If it weren't for this offense, they would be really bad. St Louis had one of the worst offenses in the league.

 

[WV Cowboy]

I didn't get to see the game, .. so I kept up by watching the Red Zone. (We didn't have that until this season, I'm liking it a lot)

We had just scored to go up 27-24, I was fired up. And then soon after that they came back with a score update. They showed the Rams offense at about their own 20 getting ready to snap the ball.

Being tainted as a Cowboys fan over the past several years, I'm saying "no, no, no", ... thinking they must have just hit on an 80 yard TD play to regain the lead.
Then they showed Carter's pick 6 and I was really jacked up, .. thinking we have outscored them 34-3 since spotting them 21 pts and I was feeling pretty good.

Now my question. The next time they showed our game, .. the Rams were on our 4 yd line. Did they just march down the field easily or what?

 

[Noryb]

I get your point ... but My counterpoint is that if you just go those small amounts the other way...I think you understand my point.

I do...

What made me dig into the stats were the sack totals because I thought the pass rush has been decent, not great, but decent the first 3 games. What I've seen with these amateur eyes is soft coverage that doesn't give the pass rush time to get there. I'd love to see where we rank on QB hits and pressures.

 

[Noryb]

The shocking thing is that they are probably near the bottom in time on the field. If it weren't for this offense, they would be really bad. St Louis had one of the worst offenses in the league.

Time of possession for St. Louis: 31:43, 32:05 and 32:50.

 

[CyberB0b]

Time of possession for St. Louis: 31:43, 32:05 and 32:50.

I was referring to the Cowboys offense eating a lot of clock. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Carolina Cowboy]

Yesterday was another stark reminder that this defense is just not good.

Another heretofore nobody quarterback has a career passing day against this defense, and a mediocre offense has a field day, doing whatever they wanted.

The Rams completed a large percentage of their third downs and in all honesty, how many times did they punt?

We should have no illusions that this defense is even OK, and they sure won't be when they get lit up by Brees and the Saints on national television.

Which has turned into an annual event it seems.... which kind of sucks since my brother and most of my family are Saints fans....

 

[Stash]

Which has turned into an annual event it seems.... which kind of sucks since my brother and most of my family are Saints fans....

I think it's gonna be brutal to watch.

 

[Idgit]

I think getting Spencer back does help more so than not having him. Spencer has mostly played in a 3-4 not asked as often to come off the edge but to drop out into coverage. With Ryan he was given more opportunities to rush the passer and put up a pretty decent season with 11 sacks in 14 games. I don't expect him to come in and turn this group into a top rated pass rushing team but I do think he helps provide more of a pass rush than what we currently are seeing.

I was especially skeptical of ever getting him back after the surgery. Mostly because my understanding of the surgery was that the cartilage regeneration only happened a minority of the time. And then he seemed to be recovering so slowly that I assumed it was a bad sign.

But, if he's got the cartilage regrowth, and he's got his strength back, then really the big issues are his time away from the game and his porting over to a new system. I remember how excited the coaches were to get Spencer playing in this defense last offseason. I think they expect big things from him. I have no idea, though, how long it's going to take him to play himself into playing shape.

At this point, I've gone from doubtful to cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to come back and be making consistent impact plays by, say, the last quarter of the season. In between now and then, I see him getting 10-15 snaps/game and us ramping up depending on how well he performs. For a team that's got almost zero in terms of a down-lineman pass rush, I'll take that and be ok with it. I'd prefer having McClain and Lawrence back, with him, though.

 

[jterrell]

The defense is vastly improved but it is hardly great or even good.

It is finally looking like a defense meant to bend but don't break.

The LB play has been above average and better than expected. We can use Hitchens and if Ro and Durant can actually stay on the field that could be a strength.
Bruce Carter was impressive yesterday. It looks like the light is coming on for him in this scheme.

The pass rush is definitely poor but that was rather to be expected when you have nothing but spares rushing the passer and no DeMarcus Ware to draw double teams.
Hopefully the pass rush gets better but it doesn't portend well playing Brees that you can't pressure a QB.

The safety play was terrible last year and is still below average but at least it is trending up a bit.

Mo was pretty terrible yesterday but I am actually more concerned with Carr. He was beaten deep at least 3 times by full strides. He's well more physical than Mo but he gets torched far too often.

 

[morasp]

It's easy to belittle a young quarterback but Davis made some very good accurate throws. He wasn't holding the ball very long but when he did there was pressure. On one pass he was running to his right with Wilber bearing down on him and he made a pin point Romo like throw to get a first down.

As far as the defense goes I thought they were the difference in the game yesterday. When it came down to it they got the turnover to seal the game and the pick six to negate ours.

 

[cowboys1981]

Well if we can get Ro, Durant, and Spence healthy, and now Scandrick should be back in the groove, our D should improve.

We will need it to against the Saints on Sunday.

Having Lawrence should help too

 

[Doomsday101]

I was especially skeptical of ever getting him back after the surgery. Mostly because my understanding of the surgery was that the cartilage regeneration only happened a minority of the time. And then he seemed to be recovering so slowly that I assumed it was a bad sign.

But, if he's got the cartilage regrowth, and he's got his strength back, then really the big issues are his time away from the game and his porting over to a new system. I remember how excited the coaches were to get Spencer playing in this defense last offseason. I think they expect big things from him. I have no idea, though, how long it's going to take him to play himself into playing shape.

At this point, I've gone from doubtful to cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to come back and be making consistent impact plays by, say, the last quarter of the season. In between now and then, I see him getting 10-15 snaps/game and us ramping up depending on how well he performs. For a team that's got almost zero in terms of a down-lineman pass rush, I'll take that and be ok with it. I'd prefer having McClain and Lawrence back, with him, though.

Fully understand that I pretty much feel the same. All I'm saying is I think we can do better with him at this stage than without him. I'm not setting any type of overall numbers but I do think he will be able to help bring more pressure than what we are currently getting from the DL. If he fails to do that then as I said I look for Dallas to bring up someone like Sam as they continue to look for ways to bring outside pressure

 

[Corso]

I didn't get to see the game, .. so I kept up by watching the Red Zone. (We didn't have that until this season, I'm liking it a lot)

We had just scored to go up 27-24, I was fired up. And then soon after that they came back with a score update. They showed the Rams offense at about their own 20 getting ready to snap the ball.

Being tainted as a Cowboys fan over the past several years, I'm saying "no, no, no", ... thinking they must have just hit on an 80 yard TD play to regain the lead.
Then they showed Carter's pick 6 and I was really jacked up, .. thinking we have outscored them 34-3 since spotting them 21 pts and I was feeling pretty good.

Now my question. The next time they showed our game, .. the Rams were on our 4 yd line. Did they just march down the field easily or what?

Yes sir.
The Rams were marching pretty easily all day.

I think there were only three, maybe four punts forced by both teams combined.

 

[Sportsbabe]

For all the posters who say "don't worry be happy", even the Defense know they "aint right".

“I’m glad we won obviously, but we’ve just got to improve,” defensive tackle Nick Hayden said. “I feel, as a person, like we lost. We lost that game. I’m not satisfied with what we did out there. I’m not too happy. I’m glad we snuck by with a W, but we’ve just got to be better.”

Hayden said the Cowboys were “undisciplined,” on defense and the communication was “terrible.” The Cowboys did not sack Austin Davis, and saw the Rams backup completed 30 of 42 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns. Zac Stacy led St. Louis with 67 yards on 12 carries with the Rams finishing with 121 yards on 30 carries.

I feel just like you Nick Hayden.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Yes sir.
The Rams were marching pretty easily all day.

I think there were only three, maybe four punts forced by both teams combined.

They had scored two offensive TD's early in the 1st quarter, and since then we had shut them down, held them to 3 pts.

Meanwhile we score 34.

I was hoping we could even get the ball back in that situation and score again. But no, they drive it to our 4 yd line in no time, and turn it into a game again.

This did not surprise me, .. just disturbed me and bummed me out. I was hoping we had taken control of the LOS and the game.

 

[Risen Star]

Which has turned into an annual event it seems.... which kind of sucks since my brother and most of my family are Saints fans....

Assume the position. It's coming.

 

[Carolina Cowboy]

Assume the position. It's coming.

I'll just start drinking early.