The case for Mike Nolan

[Majic]

The Cowboys need to make big changes on defense, but Mike Nolan isn’t one of them - Blogging The Boys

Lot of truth in this, apart form Atlanta (outlier) has statistically always had a top 15 DEF. The narrative that he has been terrible at every team he has been is not true.

Maybe not the best teacher.

Deserves another year in my opinion. I blame the players and their lack of football intelligence.

 

[WillieBeamen]

Horrible Talent
Dumb Players
Cupcake Culture


The failure on the defensive side of the ball is directly on the front office

This defense was getting its boots smoked last year against Mitch Trubisky and Sam Darnold.

 

[Rustinpeace21]

No, if the players are making the same mistakes over and over again, he still is responsible for letting them be in a position to do that.

 

[CATCH17]

I've always been a fan.

He's terrible here though. Too many gaps in our run defense.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

I am not so sure with the current crop of players that anyone can really be successful with them. They really did not do much with Rods simplistic scheme of just do your one job approach either.

 

[pitt33]

They suck on defense.

Blame it on culture, drafting, coaching or pandemics.

It ain't changing under Jerry & sons.

 

[Majic]

My worry is that Jerry has too much faith in these players and thinks it's just a case of going back to a simplistic scheme with them. Mike McCarthy when interviewing for the position probably said how simplistic how DEF was and how he wanted to change it up. The free agents we signed either didn't work out or in McCoy's case got injured, but with the right players I think we would have made progress with this scheme and we need to continue it next year with Nolan or someone else with the same ideas.

 

[Sydla]

Now is the perfect time to dump him. Letting him go another year and letting his influence go into draft preparations is a mistake.

There's a reason he keeps getting fired and no one would sniff him for a DC job for years until we came along. Players (not on this team) have spoken out about his flaws.

This isn't an endorsement of the talent, which stinks too. But even Aikman was tip toeing around this when he kept pointing out the consistent mistakes made game after game. At some point, when a defense keeps making the same mistakes over and over it's not just the players. When a team does things like continually screwing up coverages (which was a criticism in Atlanta), that's just not all on the players.

They really should have brought in some fresh DC blood IMO and not a retread.

 

[Cowboyny]

The Cowboys need to make big changes on defense, but Mike Nolan isn’t one of them - Blogging The Boys

Lot of truth in this, apart form Atlanta (outlier) has statistically always had a top 15 DEF. The narrative that he has been terrible at every team he has been is not true.

Maybe not the best teacher.

Deserves another year in my opinion. I blame the players and their lack of football intelligence.

Football is a bottom line business, if you don't succeed, you will get replaced. Nolan has pretty much the same group from last year outside of Bryon Jones, yet his defense ranks dead last in the league and by a wide margin. It's one thing to see a team improving the more comfortable they get, but that's not happening, the same mental mistakes are appearing. You remember the comments made from Richard Sherman about Nolan's D being too complex. Also, add in the fact that this defensive unit's effort has been questioned more then once, which suggests that do have any faith in the scheme/coach. This was rarely an issue under Marinelli.

 

[stilltheguru]

Horrible Talent
Dumb Players
Cupcake Culture


The failure on the defensive side of the ball is directly on the front office

This defense was getting its boots smoked last year against Mitch Trubisky and Sam Darnold.

Boy STOP! players are an issue but Nolan is TRASH

 

[JohnsKey19]

Case? Give him a case of Heineken and send him on his way.

 

[Majic]

Now is the perfect time to dump him. Letting him go another year and letting his influence go into draft preparations is a mistake.

There's a reason he keeps getting fired and no one would sniff him for a DC job for years until we came along. Players (not on this team) have spoken out about his flaws.

This isn't an endorsement of the talent, which stinks too. But even Aikman was tip toeing around this when he kept pointing out the consistent mistakes made game after game. At some point, when a defense keeps making the same mistakes over and over it's not just the players. When a team does things like continually screwing up coverages (which was a criticism in Atlanta), that's just not all on the players.

They really should have brought in some fresh DC blood IMO and not a retread.

But apart from Atlanta he's done a good job where ever he has been. When has Sherman played for him? Sherman is a hall of fame player in my opinion but has only played in a Tampa 2 type DEF

 

[foofighters]

The Cowboys need to make big changes on defense, but Mike Nolan isn’t one of them - Blogging The Boys

Lot of truth in this, apart form Atlanta (outlier) has statistically always had a top 15 DEF. The narrative that he has been terrible at every team he has been is not true.

Maybe not the best teacher.

Deserves another year in my opinion. I blame the players and their lack of football intelligence.

That's like saying there's a case to keep herpes around...

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Horrible Talent
Dumb Players
Cupcake Culture


The failure on the defensive side of the ball is directly on the front office

This defense was getting its boots smoked last year against Mitch Trubisky and Sam Darnold.

More than that. Got dragged by Teddy Bridgewater and almost lost a game to Jeff Driskel.

 

[Whyjerry]

Horrible Talent
Dumb Players
Cupcake Culture


The failure on the defensive side of the ball is directly on the front office

This defense was getting its boots smoked last year against Mitch Trubisky and Sam Darnold.

Not much to add there as it is spot on. I will say Nolan deserves the boot. This D is historically bad.

 

[charron]

If a player regresses its on him but if all players regress its more on the coaches. If the coach installs a defense that the players can not run that is on him. And while we do not have the best talent on defense this staff helped bring in free agents that all failed and are responsible for who we drafted. Mike Nolan made the mistake of making too many changes in a year where players could only study the defense on paper with very little practice time. It set them back. This was evident when things got better when he came down from the booth and when he let the DE's go back to their normal stance.

 

[lkelly]

This is the case for Mike Nolan.

 

[WillieBeamen]

Boy STOP! players are an issue but Nolan is TRASH

Nolan may be trash but the players and front office are worse.

Did yall forget how we got beat by the Rams in the playoffs?

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Nolan may be trash but the players and front office are worse.

Did yall forget how we got beat by the Rams in the playoffs?

Was it 270 yards rushing against a RB with a chronic knee problem and another RB that is overweight and hasn't been heard from since?

The defense being trash is not a new concept. Thanks for telling em.

 

[gimmesix]

The Cowboys need to make big changes on defense, but Mike Nolan isn’t one of them - Blogging The Boys

Lot of truth in this, apart form Atlanta (outlier) has statistically always had a top 15 DEF. The narrative that he has been terrible at every team he has been is not true.

Maybe not the best teacher.

Deserves another year in my opinion. I blame the players and their lack of football intelligence.

Whether we keep Nolan or get another defensive coordinator, it's not going to matter much if we don't improve the talent on the defensive side of the ball. I doubt they will do it because of their current philosophy, but the Joneses need to go after a couple of bona fide players in free agency, one in the secondary (Simmons would be my choice) and one at defensive tackle and then go after a couple more with their first two picks in the draft.

We've got a few starters worth keeping on that side of the ball, but too many weak links that cause the defense to break down. Nolan should have done better with what he's got, but he really hasn't been given a lot. Our best player in the secondary is a rookie who still is learning. Our best player at defensive tackle should be a rotational backup at best. And our linebackers have looked lost quite often (I don't know how much of that is on them and how much is on Nolan, but I don't believe there's a true talent issue there.)