CFZ The Defense saved our season; The offense must improve

[Bobhaze]

A major tip of the cap to Cooper Rush and the job he did as a solid backup QB to hold this team together the last 5 games. He played within himself and his limitations.

But if we’re being completely objective, the reason this team saved its season is even simpler: it’s the defense. Without the top shelf performance of this defense, we would probably be 2-4.

Here’s some evidence:

• Our offense is averaging 18 points a game. That’s not sustainable to have a deep playoff run. If the offense doesn’t improve. this will quickly just be another year added to the last 26.
• The defense is leading the league in sacks, is 4th against the pass and 19th against the run. That’s incredible.
• The defense is only giving up 16 points a game, but with the offense only averaging 18, it makes the defense be the one carrying the weight of whether we can win. That’s not sustainable.
• Our STs have also been outstanding. A blocked punt, blocked FG, improvements in the return game and Brett Maher has been an early surprise.
• On the rare game the defense cannot hold opponents under 18, the offense MUST be able to rise to the occasion to carry the team on occasion.

The Cowboys defense has saved our season so far. But if this is going to be something more than what we’ve been the last 26 seasons, the offense has to make major improvements.

 

[starfan1]

@SteveTheCowboy
this is pretty much what most of reasonable folks have been saying and theres not a thing wrong with it.In fact its spot on the only thing Id add is the run gamehas been effective we just need the dipstick on the sideleines to stick with it

 

[GINeric]

I appreciate the job Rush did as a backup. He definitely played great at times, but was exposed by the better competition. I was one of the people who felt if Rush was able to beat the Eagles, he should win the starting job for the rest of the year.

Well we see how that turned out. Rush is a backup quarterback for a reason at the age of 28 and I'm glad that the "Rush is better than Dak" talk is put to bed for good. Only people with extremely low football IQs believed that.

With that said, im so happy our defense was able to mask Rush's lack of starter quality abilities to keep us afloat until Dak was ready. Im still not convinced Dak hand is fully healthy, so our defense will still be key to winning.

Again, much respect to Rush.

 

[Bobhaze]

The season probably rides on Dak’s ability to take this offense to a higher performance level. If he cannot lead this offense to better performances, it’s going to ge an up and down season.

On the other hand, if the offense can start scoring in the 20s on a regular basis, this team is going to be a very tough out. Dak doesn’t have to be the guy carrying this team. But he must raise the level of offensive output. He’s not elite but he’s also not terrible either. He’s capable of raising the bar for the offense. We’ll see.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

@SteveTheCowboy
this is pretty much what most of reasonable folks have been saying and theres not a thing wrong with it.In fact its spot on the only thing Id add is the run gamehas been effective we just need the dipstick on the sideleines to stick with it

Agreed....fully. The defense is really showing up and winning ball games. A LOT thanks to Micah The Beast!

I have been saying for a couple years we need both Zeke AND Tony. And we need lughead to use them properly including staying with a run late in the game.

But people do have to realize if you aren;t running Zeke 20+ times....like Emmitt....then he's not gonna get those 2016 numbers when he ran 20+. So that BS needs to stop right now.

 

[JoeKing]

Cooper Rush saved our season. The defense just did what it does.

 

[glimmerman]

Dak has to follow the formula. Run the ball and take the shorter passes. Play action and things open up in the second half.

 

[reddyuta]

we wiill not make the playoffs by averaging 20 points a game,Dak needs to play upto his contract.

 

[nightrain]

A major tip of the cap to Cooper Rush and the job he did as a solid backup QB to hold this team together the last 5 games. He played within himself and his limitations.

But if we’re being completely objective, the reason this team saved its season is even simpler: it’s the defense. Without the top shelf performance of this defense, we would probably be 2-4.

Here’s some evidence:

• Our offense is averaging 18 points a game. That’s not sustainable to have a deep playoff run. If the offense doesn’t improve. this will quickly just be another year added to the last 26.
• The defense is leading the league in sacks, is 4th against the pass and 19th against the run. That’s incredible.
• The defense is only giving up 16 points a game, but with the offense only averaging 18, it makes the defense be the one carrying the weight of whether we can win. That’s not sustainable.
• Our STs have also been outstanding. A blocked punt, blocked FG, improvements in the return game and Brett Maher has been an early surprise.
• On the rare game the defense cannot hold opponents under 18, the offense MUST be able to rise to the occasion to carry the team on occasion.

The Cowboys defense has saved our season so far. But if this is going to be something more than what we’ve been the last 26 seasons, the offense has to make major improvements.

Dak will provide a great deal of additional HP to the offense. The first game was a total dud for the entire team, but the Philly game? Eliminate 2 of 3 turnovers and the Cowboys win that game. I think they are in a good place having their guy come back from injury who immediately improves a team that, to everyone's surprise, has gone 4-2 without their QB1.

 

[jazzcat22]

I believe Dak can get back to where he was at this time last season. Playing at a high level. Now it may take him a few quarters or so to knock some rust off.
So Moore needs to keep calling those run plays, as if anything with Rush in there. We seen how that run game can be successful. As Zeke was running hard the past few games. And Pollard has been getting some longer runs.

Yes the defense carried the team as well. So if Dak, which I believe he will, can turn a few of those FG's into TD's. The offense and defense will compliment each other, for the first time in many years.
This team will be hard to beat.

 

[cowboyec]

our defense is good enough to bring one home.
our offense needs to be consistently on point in the red zone....tds....fgs....when we get there...we need pts.
hopefully kmoore sticks with the ground game.
im excited to watch this unfold.
i'll add this....when we go hurry up on offense...it seems like we almost always end the drive with a score.
i'd love to see a game where we start and stay in that tempo.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

We averaged 21 PPG with Rush at QB.

If Dak is not, at the very least, 2 score possessions (9 points) better than Rush then why is he taking up so much more cap space than Rush?

The pressure is on Dak more so than anyone else on this team right now. Dak has not done himself any favors either with some of the things he's said while he's been hurt also.

 

[cnuball21]

I feel good about how the OL has stepped up and exceeded expectations.

It’s going to come down to Dak staying healthy and being himself and the WRs elevating their play so the passing game can be as good as the run game.

 

[maryquality]

our defense is good enough to bring one home.
our offense needs to be consistently on point in the red zone....tds....fgs....when we get there...we need pts.
hopefully kmoore sticks with the ground game.
im excited to watch this unfold.
i'll add this....when we go hurry up on offense...it seems like we almost always end the drive with a score.
i'd love to see a game where we start and stay in that tempo.

I, too, like the hurry up offense. Except for when you need inches for a first down and it's fourth down and you pass it for an incompletion on your side of the field!!

 

[cnuball21]

We averaged 21 PPG with Rush at QB.

If Dak is not, at the very least, 2 score possessions (9 points) better than Rush then why is he taking up so much more cap space than Rush?

The pressure is on Dak more so than anyone else on this team right now. Dak has not done himself any favors either with some of the things he's said while he's been hurt also.

Did you remove defensive TDs scored? I don’t think so bc that number seems a little skewed.

We’ve scored 9 TDs this year which is 3rd worst in the NFL.

I expect offensive PPG and TDs to take a pretty nice spike the remainder of the season once we get into a rhythm and hit our stride.

 

[jazzcat22]

We averaged 21 PPG with Rush at QB.

If Dak is not, at the very least, 2 score possessions (9 points) better than Rush then why is he taking up so much more cap space than Rush?

The pressure is on Dak more so than anyone else on this team right now. Dak has not done himself any favors either with some of the things he's said while he's been hurt also.

Dak is easily 2 TD's better. So remove a FG from that, and punt from that from what we got from Cooper in those 2 possessions. That is 11 points. Easily.

 

[john van brocklin]

A major tip of the cap to Cooper Rush and the job he did as a solid backup QB to hold this team together the last 5 games. He played within himself and his limitations.

But if we’re being completely objective, the reason this team saved its season is even simpler: it’s the defense. Without the top shelf performance of this defense, we would probably be 2-4.

Here’s some evidence:

• Our offense is averaging 18 points a game. That’s not sustainable to have a deep playoff run. If the offense doesn’t improve. this will quickly just be another year added to the last 26.
• The defense is leading the league in sacks, is 4th against the pass and 19th against the run. That’s incredible.
• The defense is only giving up 16 points a game, but with the offense only averaging 18, it makes the defense be the one carrying the weight of whether we can win. That’s not sustainable.
• Our STs have also been outstanding. A blocked punt, blocked FG, improvements in the return game and Brett Maher has been an early surprise.
• On the rare game the defense cannot hold opponents under 18, the offense MUST be able to rise to the occasion to carry the team on occasion.

The Cowboys defense has saved our season so far. But if this is going to be something more than what we’ve been the last 26 seasons, the offense has to make major improvements.

It is all going to come down to if Dak can give us solid QB play.
He does not have to be elite, just steady and solid.

 

[Diehardblues]

We finally have a good enough defense to compliment Dak and our offense which doesn’t need to carry this team .

We can’t use the excuse anymore of needing a better defense .

 

[Creeper]

I love the Cowboys running the football but the more they run, the fewer points they will score. TOP will go up but possessions will go down.

The Cowboys defense is best with a two score lead. When they can get after the QB they are dominating. If they play close games and have to defend the run it plays to their weakness. The Eagles last scoring drive is an example of what I mean. So in my opinion, with Dak back they need to open up the offense a bit more. I would still run the ball 25 times but they absolutely need to add more big plays to the offense.

I realize there are a coupe of problems with this. First, when Dak gets back there may be some rust. If his passes are off it could mean more turnovers which would be very bad, especially against a team like Detroit. The second issue is the OL has to get better at pass blocking, picking up the blitzes and stunts etc. But ont he positive side, if they show a willingness to run the football at any point, it will help keep the defense on their heels.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

Did you remove defensive TDs scored? I don’t think so bc that number seems a little skewed.

We’ve scored 9 TDs this year which is 3rd worst in the NFL.

I expect offensive PPG and TDs to take a pretty nice spike the remainder of the season once we get into a rhythm and hit our stride.

We scored 1 defensive TD.

That takes the average from 21.4 PPG to 20 PPG, so basically no difference.