The importance of good defense

[Flamma]

I think you’d have a tough time convincing either of the Jones pair to take a DT top 10 anyway. They don’t respect the position. It’s played on rotation so they don’t want to spend on it.

They’ve tried everything….(low picks, high picks, mid picks, cheap free agents, UDFA, older dudes)….except spend for a proven mid to higher end free agent.

I PROMISE they consider the position well invested in and not an issue due to Osa contract and the first round investment in Mazi. Nevermind facts and what’s in front of your eyes, they expect an ROI. That’s not at all how it works but that’s what they are used to getting in life, and they run the team that way.

Yes. I agree. This is exactly how they think. Otherwise they'd be doing things differently.

 

[Flamma]

I was just inspired to rewatch the 1977 SB. Don't offsetting fouls result in replaying the down? Dallas ran, and failed a 3rd down and offsetting penalties resulted in 4th down. Is that right?

 

[fivetwos]

I was just inspired to rewatch the 1977 SB. Don't offsetting fouls result in replaying the down? Dallas ran, and failed a 3rd down and offsetting penalties resulted in 4th down. Is that right?

See my comment above on that game. Curious to know if you saw something similar.

#11

 

[kskboys]

Yeah I don't believe the stigma placed on them is fair either, it's pretty closed minded to say they will all be like Mazi that's not fair to those guys, if it's anyone's fault it's ours for not evaluating him properly

100%

Mazi's skillset and production in college screamed 3rd/4th round pick. Here's the monstrous warning sign that we either completely ignored or were just too dumb to understand: "poor lateral mover who can't create angles."

Know what that means? It means you don't have to double team him as he can't get off blocks.

Nothing about Mazi said 1st round pick.

 

[kskboys]

The problem is acquiring great DTs. Dallas hardly ever picks in the top 10. They refuse to move up into the top 10, and really good DTs are too rich for them to pick up in FA. How do we get great DTs?

Well, partially, but the biggest problem is that we don't focus on the position and cannot identify them. Take last draft, for instance. Instead of overdrafting Guyton in the 1st, we should've jumped on Tavondre Sweat at DT. He was an absolute beast for TENN.

We have passed up DT after DT, and when we do take them it's almost always some slim tall pass rusher who gets pushed around or a DT w/ glacier feet(Vanilla Gorilla for instance). I don't know if Jerry simply doesn't understand what makes a DT effective or just doesn't care.

 

[kskboys]

It's the reason the chiefs have gone to the last 2 super bowls

Their offense low-key has been suspect

The cowboys however idk what gets us to a SB, we've had good offense and good defense and can't get past the divisional round

Not really. A good playoff D starts up front w/ disruptive DTs. We do not have that. And that's why we can't get past the divisional round.

Aside from Mahomes being freakishly good, the big reason the Chiefs keep going to super bowls is Chris Jones, Derek Nnadi, George Karlaftis. That combo completely disrupts the opposing O w/ interior pressure and by shutting down anything up the middle.

 

[dupree89]

So far in the 1977 game, Doomsday has harassed, sacked or hit Craig Morton and forced two interceptions. While the Orange Crush has also been able to get to Staubach, those turnovers have helped Dallas get out to a 10-0 lead.

I am too lazy to look it up, but I wonder if this was the only Super Bowl that had 5 players throw passes.

 

[Flamma]

Well, partially, but the biggest problem is that we don't focus on the position and cannot identify them. Take last draft, for instance. Instead of overdrafting Guyton in the 1st, we should've jumped on Tavondre Sweat at DT. He was an absolute beast for TENN.

We have passed up DT after DT, and when we do take them it's almost always some slim tall pass rusher who gets pushed around or a DT w/ glacier feet(Vanilla Gorilla for instance). I don't know if Jerry simply doesn't understand what makes a DT effective or just doesn't care.

The problem might be who is doing the evaluating.

 

[CATCH17]

100%

Mazi's skillset and production in college screamed 3rd/4th round pick. Here's the monstrous warning sign that we either completely ignored or were just too dumb to understand: "poor lateral mover who can't create angles."

Know what that means? It means you don't have to double team him as he can't get off blocks.

Nothing about Mazi said 1st round pick.

I hated the pick.

I don’t believe in drafting run stuffers with first round picks.

He’s even more of a jag then I could’ve imagined.

 

[Flamma]

See my comment above on that game. Curious to know if you saw something similar.

#11

A lot of times MVP is a toss up. I think Larry Brown got it for the Cowboys in SWB XXX, right? All he did was stand there, but it was a big reason Dallas won. Yet they ignored Hughes. Do they usually give players off the bench MVP?

Didn't they give it to both Martin and White? They were disruptive all game. Giving Hughes the opportunity. They could have given it to him.

 

[KJJ]

The Cowboys need a great defense that plays great in big games. They haven’t had a defense like that since they were winning championships in the 90s. The DL has been a huge problem for years. Contending teams dominate us upfront.

 

[fivetwos]

A lot of times MVP is a toss up. I think Larry Brown got it for the Cowboys in SWB XXX, right? All he did was stand there, but it was a big reason Dallas won. Yet they ignored Hughes. Do they usually give players off the bench MVP?

Didn't they give it to both Martin and White? They were disruptive all game. Giving Hughes the opportunity. They could have given it to him.

Yeah they shared it. I mentioned Martin in the post but wasn’t clear about the sharing part in the Morton paragraph.

 

[blueblood70]

Defense still wins championships. Just watch the super bowl from a few weeks ago.

I'm pretty sure it was more than a month ago but yeah we get your point and I agree I mean look at how Matthew Stafford got bailed out from leaving the league in interceptions having two interceptions in the Super bowl and what happened this defense neutralized those turnovers by getting one of their own and completely shutting down any hopes of turning those interceptions into something that could lose them the game...

People around here have like really vague memories of what happened with Troy Troy had one of the best run games in offensive lines in football he had multiple targets to throw to but he had one of the best defenses and coaching Staffs to ever assemble and I saw Troy no interceptions in playoff games I saw Troy throw interceptions in key moments I remember like Patrick farms remembers look at his touchdown interception ratio imagine having all that benefit of a team around you that's so good and you still make mistakes that's crazy right that Mister perfect Mr. Hall of Fame quarterback had moments where he had us playing from behind.

I don't remember which Buffalo game it was but I remember they got down 10 to nothing or something and it was one because it was a bad start by Troy in the second-half the defense bailed him out then the run game bailed him out they play defense and run and hardly ask Troy to even throw the ball the rest of the game I know he made good throws but this dude did not carry the Cowboys and neither did Roger it was the entire team it was all the weapons it was in the trenches it was the coaching staff neither which Prescott or Romo ever really had in the playoffs we're talking about in the playoffs I don't wanna hear about all the pro bowlers and guys here on the team and sporadic times seasons yes collectively there was some good talent on the last couple decades teams but they didn't show up in the playoffs in the important areas running the football stopping the run and having weapons show up instead of blow up in a bad way...

I mean you really can't blame Romo for having your kicker missed 2 kicks having your best running back that year fumble the damn football on a hole so big it probably was gonna be a touchdown but at the very least it would have been a 60 yarder and then having a bad call by the referees turned around on days all of the same game but sure romo's career is he chokes in big moments all quarterbacks have bad moments in games but on the great teams they don't blame him and sit and lose games because of it they make a stand and they go out and play well on defense special teams everywhere that's what you get as a team in a team game......

 

[fivetwos]

The second team defensive line for the 1992 team was better than many teams starting four.

LBs were deep. A first rounder wasn’t a starter.

Darren Woodson was a backup. The depth was unreal.

One can easily say that all that talent could never be acquired in the cap era, but Jimmy did grab most of those guys in a short time period…..or was it Jerry that was scouting the likes of Dixon Edwards and Jimmie Jones?

 

[Flamma]

Point of my post was that the game felt like a blowout watching it as a kid, has been generally perceived that way since, but really didn’t feel like it when I saw it a few months ago.

Edit….let me add this….that feeling is probably about the NFL being so different now and I’ve grown used to it. A ten point lead in the third quarter is worth a lot less these days than it was in 1977.

This is a great point. It's our perspective. As a 10 year old kid I remember this game being over IMO when we went up 10-0 and they couldn't move the ball. I just got back from sled riding to watch the game. At that time I watched something similar the year before when Oakland dominated the Vikings. This was no different. But rewatching the game is interesting. Because 10 points is nothing to us now.

 

[blueblood70]

It's the reason the chiefs have gone to the last 2 super bowls

Their offense low-key has been suspect

The cowboys however idk what gets us to a SB, we've had good offense and good defense and can't get past the divisional round

it is true but Patrick Mahomes already had his day the first couple years first couple Super Bowls were a lot to do with him,

but they started getting rid of a lot of talent around him and had him carrying the offense, and yeah he's had some down years stat wise,

he hasn't been as dominant or elite and Spagnola's defenses have stood up the last few seasons especially during the regular season but that's exactly why they lost, Spagnola's defense got ran over and destroyed by that eagles offense and at the same time the eagles defense shut down Patrick mahomes it was a blowout except for the garbage time, that's right garbage time Mahomes....lol

 

[KJJ]

We want as good of a quarterback as we can get. Same with the running back. But if we continue to neglect the defense, we won't be seeing any of these Super Bowls any time soon. It's so fun watching front sevens that just dominate.

We haven’t neglected the defense. Not sure but I believe we’ve used more first round picks on the defense the past couple of decades but some were flops. We’ve struggled to find a dominant DT.

 

[kskboys]

We haven’t neglected the defense. Not sure but I believe we’ve used more first round picks on the defense the past couple of decades but some were flops. We’ve struggled to find a dominant DT.

Neglected? Maybe not, but did a PPoor sorry a job of putting it together.

 

[kskboys]

A lot of times MVP is a toss up. I think Larry Brown got it for the Cowboys in SWB XXX, right? All he did was stand there, but it was a big reason Dallas won. Yet they ignored Hughes. Do they usually give players off the bench MVP?

Didn't they give it to both Martin and White? They were disruptive all game. Giving Hughes the opportunity. They could have given it to him.

I'd say it's often a joke. Eli getting the MVP in 07 was just stupid. Justin Tuck was most obviously the MVP, leading a D that sacked Brady 5 times and hit him a ton more than that and held one of the most prolific Os of all time to a paltry 14 pts.

 

[nate dizzle]

And in December and January against good offenses the turnovers dissapeared. Why do you think that is?

Did turnovers disappear or just switch sides?

Tough to be aggressive when the offense is turning the ball over and can't manage a first down.