The defense has been playing well

[BrAinPaiNt]

Whether anyone thinks the starting defense has looked good or bad during the preseason...ask yourself this...do you honestly think it will be good in the regular season as of right now. I can honestly say I do not think it will be good and honestly don't see how anyone could think that at this point but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

I can say the opposite for the offense (barring injury to Dez or Tony). I think they will be good no matter how I feel they have looked in the preseason.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I can honestly say I do not think it will be good and honestly don't see how anyone could think that at this point but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

I don't think anyone expects good but would love for it to be just average.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I don't think anyone expects good but would love for it to be just average.

We can hope...but I think that might be asking for too much this year.

 

[Idgit]

The defense is going to have a hard time getting off the field against anybody. I'll agree that the turnovers have been encouraging. And we've got some young players (eg, Patmon, Coleman) who have shown promise. It's hard to tell anything with the interior DLs on ice skates and the LBs running around in circles as a result. There's no denying that we've been stingier than I expected in terms of giving up points.

We've been giving some snaps to guys who can't contain, and that'll stop in the regular season. The most frustrating thing, for me, is that we're going to have to go into games that count without having had much look at all at Melton (who I think will be fine), McClain (I have no idea how he might look, but we really need him to be better than what we've trotted out in preseason), Lawrence, Spencer, and maybe Josh Brent and/or Okoye. That's 5 guys who could comprise half our DL rotation that we know very little about at this point other than what coaches may have seen in camp for the ones who were lucky enough to make it that far. That's an awful lot of unknown.

 

[jterrell]

People were complaining about the offensive line 4 years ago, and there were other people saying that the line was fine, we didn't need to draft offensive lineman, offensive lineman can be found anywhere. I remember several threads with those sentiments. People who disagreed were 'shouted down'. Told they were 'crying'.

The Cowboys only started drafting offensive lineman when the situation was so severe they were going to get Tony killed (metaphorically speaking of course).

You said it, the dl is terrible. Why haven't the Cowboys addressed the front 7 before this year? There has been a depth issue for several years on this team. This year there is no depth. Mcclain, melton, dlaw and spencer between them have not played a single preseason game and these are the players that are supposed to be relied on?

What are the Cowboys doing? I just don't know and I don't think the Cowboys know either.

Your memory is quite faulty.
The Tyron Smith pick was perhaps the most applauded pick in the last decade.
That was 4 drafts ago.

Every season since OL has been a leading candidate for R1 picks and high picks every year.
DeCastro was easily the top choice of the board and media when he came out and other OL have been in that mix every year.
This year was the first year an OL was somewhat poo-poo'd and then only because the OL was about the only place we didnt badly need help.

What people who looked at the whole picture and didn't fixate on the agenda said was fixing the OL won't guarantee more wins and viola 4 years later they are right.
The OL has gotten progressively better as we've tread water at 8-8.

What are the Cowboys doing? This is the kind of silliness we got over the OL.
So let's recap: They draft DLaw, Sign McClain, Melton, Mincey.

Exactly how much more were they supposed to do?

Melton was signed at a discount because he was injured but McClain and DLaw are just casualties of the game.
They weren't signed so they could tear up pre-season and weren't signed for just one year.

When you whinge from one subject to the next that is absolutely crying.
The OL crying has just transferred to the DL.
And of course it is 2 years too late.
The team has already begun major upgrades there.

Like 30 other teams we are relying upon guys who have yet to play well if at all in this pre-season.
Welcome to the NFL.

 

[bayeslife]

They also aren't being schemed against.

That goes both ways.

 

[Sportsbabe]

Falsely applied.

Put up a list of pluses for stereotypes, and I'll put up one five times as long against it.

This is a good debate

 

[xwalker]

Your memory is quite faulty.
The Tyron Smith pick was perhaps the most applauded pick in the last decade.
That was 4 drafts ago.

Every season since OL has been a leading candidate for R1 picks and high picks every year.
DeCastro was easily the top choice of the board and media when he came out and other OL have been in that mix every year.
This year was the first year an OL was somewhat poo-poo'd and then only because the OL was about the only place we didnt badly need help.

What people who looked at the whole picture and didn't fixate on the agenda said was fixing the OL won't guarantee more wins and viola 4 years later they are right.
The OL has gotten progressively better as we've tread water at 8-8.

What are the Cowboys doing? This is the kind of silliness we got over the OL.
So let's recap: They draft DLaw, Sign McClain, Melton, Mincey.

Exactly how much more were they supposed to do?

Melton was signed at a discount because he was injured but McClain and DLaw are just casualties of the game.
They weren't signed so they could tear up pre-season and weren't signed for just one year.

When you whinge from one subject to the next that is absolutely crying.
The OL crying has just transferred to the DL.
And of course it is 2 years too late.
The team has already begun major upgrades there.

Like 30 other teams we are relying upon guys who have yet to play well if at all in this pre-season.
Welcome to the NFL.

Good post.

 

[Sportsbabe]

Your memory is quite faulty.
The Tyron Smith pick was perhaps the most applauded pick in the last decade.
That was 4 drafts ago.

Every season since OL has been a leading candidate for R1 picks and high picks every year.
DeCastro was easily the top choice of the board and media when he came out and other OL have been in that mix every year.
This year was the first year an OL was somewhat poo-poo'd and then only because the OL was about the only place we didnt badly need help.

What people who looked at the whole picture and didn't fixate on the agenda said was fixing the OL won't guarantee more wins and viola 4 years later they are right.
The OL has gotten progressively better as we've tread water at 8-8.

What are the Cowboys doing? This is the kind of silliness we got over the OL.
So let's recap: They draft DLaw, Sign McClain, Melton, Mincey.

Exactly how much more were they supposed to do?

Melton was signed at a discount because he was injured but McClain and DLaw are just casualties of the game.
They weren't signed so they could tear up pre-season and weren't signed for just one year.

When you whinge from one subject to the next that is absolutely crying.
The OL crying has just transferred to the DL.
And of course it is 2 years too late.
The team has already begun major upgrades there.

Like 30 other teams we are relying upon guys who have yet to play well if at all in this pre-season.
Welcome to the NFL.

I love this. Intellectual discussions turns me on (intellectually).

 

[xwalker]

Whether anyone thinks the starting defense has looked good or bad during the preseason...ask yourself this...do you honestly think it will be good in the regular season as of right now. I can honestly say I do not think it will be good and honestly don't see how anyone could think that at this point but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

I can say the opposite for the offense (barring injury to Dez or Tony). I think they will be good no matter how I feel they have looked in the preseason.

I'm looking for "good enough". They are going to give up a lot of yards, but if they limit TDs to field goals and get turnovers, then they can be "good enough".

 

[ScipioCowboy]

The first team defensive performance against the Dolphins was legit, in my opinion. When I say legit, I mean it wasn't aided by flukey turnovers or an abundance of dropped passes. The defense gathered one turnover, and to their credit, they forced it. It wasn't a case of Neil O'Donnell throwing right to Larry Brown. Patmon put his helmet on the ball and popped it out. The most encouraging aspect was Tannehill's first half stat line. He was 10 of 16 for 80 yards. The completion percentage was decent, but he only averaged five yards a pass. In terms of fielding a top 20 defense, it was an encouraging night.

Unfortunately, the Cowboys can't play Ryan Tannehill every week. They can make the playoffs with a top 20 defense if their offense can match the hype they've been getting all preseason.

 

[mrmojo]

The trend in the NFL is to outlaw defenses. So any type of bend but don't break defense might be considered successful in today's NFL and turnovers are going to be at a premium. I'll hold off judgement on this defense until after the first two games. I am going to be curious how defenses will look league wide and if its going to be a "last one with the ball wins" type league. If so, then I'd be more worried about the offense at this point.

 

[morasp]

Where does he say first team? I think the first team has been decent against the run using all three games. Needs improvement for sure. Any rotation though is pretty porous. If you say the first team defense has done well regarding being scored upon then I'd say they are playing well. Once you start putting the rotational guys in gap control is poor.

My reasonable interpretation is the overall defense is not good considering all players. The starters haven't "not been playing well". Excuse the apparent double negative due to the quote.

Good point. I just got done watching all of the first half defensive snaps in slow motion and came away more optimistic about the defense. Even though the third pre season game is usually a dress rehearsal it's clear they are still evaluating players. It looked like a revolving door of players. Other then a couple good runs by Moreno and a bootleg at the beginning by the QB where Mincey got caught cheating in, our run defense looked pretty good. I haven't watched a pre season game yet this year where a first team defense didn't give up at least one run of over ten yards.

 

[Idgit]

The trend in the NFL is to outlaw defenses. So any type of bend but don't break defense might be considered successful in today's NFL and turnovers are going to be at a premium. I'll hold off judgement on this defense until after the first two games. I am going to be curious how defenses will look league wide and if its going to be a "last one with the ball wins" type league. If so, then I'd be more worried about the offense at this point.

I think we're going to stink on defense overall again, but I do like the way we take the ball away (a lot), and I am curious to see how much the Seattle backlash affects penalties in the regular season. Any efffect whatsoever plays to our advantage and evens out the playing field relative to better defenses. Especially since we've got some physical receivers who will fight to get off jams and muscle for the ball.

 

[wileedog]

Exactly how much more were they supposed to do?.

They were supposed to do more before the entire front 7 fell apart before this offseason.

Seattle and SF managed to build both of their Oline and front 7 at the same time basically from scratch within a relatively short time frame. Yet it is somehow impossible for this team? And people pointing that out are "whining"

BTW Mincey and TMcClain and even to an extent Melton given that he is coming off a major injury and RMcClain who is a headcase are the exact dumpster diving tactics we used for years to fix the Oline before we finally gave in and started throwing #1 picks at it. This is what happens when you have very little to show for your drafting in later rounds, when you are constantly trading up for pet cats and losing draft picks, and when you give major FA money to players with marginal impact like Carr. Not to mention switching defensive schemes and coordinators with no real plan so that half your roster was drafted to play in an entirely different scheme than the one du jour.

But that's just my 'agenda', don't mind me.

 

[John813]

We can hope...but I think that might be asking for too much this year.

I'll take below average. Would be a big improvement over gawd-awful.

 

[bevo11]

I'll take below average. Would be a big improvement over gawd-awful.

Giving up almost 500 yards is "gawd-awful" this defense is historically bad.

 

[Big D]

Whether anyone thinks the starting defense has looked good or bad during the preseason...ask yourself this...do you honestly think it will be good in the regular season as of right now. I can honestly say I do not think it will be good and honestly don't see how anyone could think that at this point but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

I can say the opposite for the offense (barring injury to Dez or Tony). I think they will be good no matter how I feel they have looked in the preseason.

I honestly think that the defense will be better than last seasons. How much better? Who knows, but I liked what Marinelli & co got out of last yrs bunch and firmly believe he's got more to work with now. It looks like we've got some good depth at cb but I'm a little worried about the LBs but they keep playing hard. Teams will eat us up between the 20s but I think our best effort will show up in the redzone area. idk We'll see.

 

[speedkilz88]

 

[morasp]

I wonder if Crawford over Selvie would be performance or injury based?