Some Defensive stats that are offensive

[Fredd]

Spencer is just gravy to me...but if the team is relying on him to be productive, I think they will be very unhappy...I am looking forward to seeing Lawrence whenever he can get in there (isn't he gone until game 9?)

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Spencer is just gravy to me...but if the team is relying on him to be productive, I think they will be very unhappy...I am looking forward to seeing Lawrence whenever he can get in there (isn't he gone until game 9?)

I would be highly doubtful that anyone connected to the organization is expecting Spencer to play 40 snaps a game this season.

However is 15 or 20 out of the question? Probably not.

And I would bet that Spencer (even with his micro-fracture repaired knee) is still the best pure pass rusher on the team.

 

[Fredd]

I would be highly doubtful that anyone connected to the organization is expecting Spencer to play 40 snaps a game this season.

However is 15 or 20 out of the question? Probably not.

And I would bet that Spencer (even with his micro-fracture repaired knee) is still the best pure pass rusher on the team.

that is why he is gravy...he'll never be the meat & potatoes any more, but hopefully, he can bring his own little secret sauce to the plate (enough food analogies)

 

[MichaelWinicki]

that is why he is gravy...he'll never be the meat & potatoes any more, but hopefully, he can bring his own little secret sauce to the plate (enough food analogies)

Yep.

At this point I would think that if the knee was a problem it would have shown up.

 

[Risen Star]

BTW, the team has given up 69 points, the defense has only given up 55. The offense gave up 2 TDs. and one of the TDs the defense gave up was on a 2 yd drive after an INT was returned from midfield to the 2.

But the defense has been in a favorable position so far. They haven't faced a single quality pocket passer yet and the best QB they have faced was in shut down mode the entire 2nd half of a game they already had won.

They are every bit as bad as last year. That's what happens when you lose Ware, Hatcher and Lee to an already bad defense.

 

[Bullflop]

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.

LOL -- I'll be stocking up on beer to get myself properly sedated by the time that New Orleans game comes on.
The mere anticipation of Brees completing pass after pass on our accomodating secondary makes me cringe.

 

[big dog cowboy]

LOL -- I'll be stocking up on beer to get myself properly sedated by the time that New Orleans game comes on.
The mere anticipation of Brees completing pass after pass on our accomodating secondary makes me cringe.

I wonder what the goal for 1st down allowed will be. Hopefully less than 40.

 

[Biggems]

But the defense has been in a favorable position so far. They haven't faced a single quality pocket passer yet and the best QB they have faced was in shut down mode the entire 2nd half of a game they already had won.

They are every bit as bad as last year. That's what happens when you lose Ware, Hatcher and Lee to an already bad defense.

a valid point, but I am trying to remain as positive as possible.

 

[Bullflop]

I wonder what the goal for 1st down allowed will be. Hopefully less than 40.

I'm intending on approaching that game on my recliner with the intention of enjoying the game no matter what happens to cause me unbearable discontent. Brees seems to have a bad habit of lighting us up for numerous deep thrusts into our secondary all game long. I fully intend not to let it bother me with my beer mug at hand. I find that Coors Light goes well with Cheez-Its. That should constitute my basic approach to gametime Nirvana.

 

[Nav22]

Our 5 best front-7 players are currently hurt (Lee, Melton, Spencer, McClain, Durant).... and people wonder why the D struggles?

Our D could be middle-of-the-pack if they weren't snake-bitten every season.

 

[Bullflop]

Our 5 best front-7 players are currently hurt (Lee, Melton, Spencer, McClain, Durant).... and people wonder why the D struggles?

Our D could be middle-of-the-pack if they weren't snake-bitten every season.

I think Jerry should erect a fully-staffed hospital right next door to Valley Ranch, if only for convenience sake.

 

[Dale]

This might have been addressed in the pages before, but do those numbers reflect the 14 points that offenses have scored against us? Also, we had another INT that set up an offense at the 1-yard line if I'm not mistaken.

Overall, I'd say the numbers are slightly better than I anticipated, even factoring in that we've gone up against two low-quality offenses in Tennessee and St. Louis.

The most alarming number for me is the low sack figure. It's a number we had to anticipate after letting go two of our top sackers, but it's still depressing to see in action.

 

[Champsheart]

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 most important stat is points against. This 69 point number is misleading. This # includes 14 points our Offense gave up, I a pick 6, the other a TD fumble return our offense gave up. Our offense also gave up another INT returned to our 1 yard line Obviously our defense has only given up 55 points. With the INT returned to the 1 yard line you could even make and argument the defense should only be charged with 48 points against. but that would never hit the books.
Now since all the teams defense PA # includes TD's on turnovers their offense gave up, I have no idea where the Cowboys should actually rank.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

I am kind of confused about this thread.

Everyone, and I mean everyone expected before the season that the defense was not going to be a top 10 or even 15 defense in the league. There were a great number of posters here expecting us to be historically bad, even worse than last year. NFL mouths were pointing to the defense as being the weakest in the league.

Dallas was 26th in pts allowed last year and 32nd in yards allowed. Many people suggested that if we could even approach something near 20th in points allowed that our offense was good enough to challenge for the NFC East title.

Right now we are 23rd in yds allowed. To me, this is a useless number. I don't care how many yards we are giving up if we aren't giving up TD's and ultimately points. We are tied for 18th in points allowed right now. As others have pointed out that includes 2 TD's given up by the offense and another gift wrapped on the 1 yard line.

Even with us giving up an average of 23 points a game, I think before the season most people would have been ok with that improvement. We lost the best 3 players on defense from a year ago (not even counting Spencer as he didn't play enough to even consider him). We have been without Lee all year, we missed his replacement one game. We missed Scandrick, arguably our best corner for two games. Melton is just coming back from a knee injury and dealing with a groin or hammy now. Selvie has a messed up shoulder that he will probably deal with all year. Our second round draft pick, a pass rusher, won't be here for another 4-6 weeks. Terrell McClain is just getting back into game shape.

With all that has gone on...I think the defense has been probably better than 90% of the posters here expected them to be.

Another thing I don't quite get is the complaining about changing to a 4-3 and that we haven't tried to get any bodies for it. Our first 4 picks in 2012 were defensive players. Seven of 9 players picked this year were defense. We added Melton. We added Mincey, who has actually looked pretty decent but would probably be best inside or on the other side. Our free agency moves have all been defense the past couple years. While this has been going on we have built one of the best OL's in the league that with three young studs could be dominant for the next 10 years.

If Romo continues to get better from an injury standpoint and the offense becomes as explosive as it could be....I think the defense might have improved enough to give us a better shot at the playoffs.

It's not worse than it was a year ago. We had two better players in Ware and Hatcher, but the group is playing better now as a whole and there is a chance they will get better as they gel and get healthy.

 

[blindzebra]

Our defense has 24 penalties? Is that right? Pretty sure the whole team doesn't have 24 penalties.

We have 17 penalties as a team and at least 7 of those were on the offense.

 

[AdamJT13]

Our defense has 24 penalties? Is that right? Pretty sure the whole team doesn't have 24 penalties.

You are correct. The team has committed 17 penalties. Twelve of those have been by the offense, four by the defense and one on special teams.

Some sites (such as NFL.com) list the opponent's penalties with all of the defensive stats, so people mistakenly think that the penalties listed there are those committed by that team's defense. So our opponents -- not our defense -- have committed 24 penalties.

 

[Stash]

You are correct. The team has committed 17 penalties. Twelve of those have been by the offense, four by the defense and one on special teams.

Some sites (such as NFL.com) list the opponent's penalties with all of the defensive stats, so people mistakenly think that the penalties listed there are those committed by that team's defense. So our opponents -- not our defense -- have committed 24 penalties.

Nice to see you posting.

Your knowledge and insight are always appreciated.

 

[Stash]

Three weeks in and I have to ask the question:

How many stops are we truly getting?

How many times are opposing offenses actually punting?

I don't have numbers in front of me, but after watching three games, I rarely remember seeing opposing punters having to work.