The New Look Cowboys Defense

[rwalters31]

The New Look Cowboys Defense

With the new back field and rearranged DL what will the Cowboy defense look like this year?

1. I think to answer this we need to look no further than our Division.
2. The one team that always sends us home in the playoffs is the Packagers.

If these are our premise and the way to defense, I see three defensive lineups.

1. The 4-3 is a goner with the nickel and dime formations are our base. The reason are the receivers we will face this year.
2. The zone should be retired as it did not work for us in four years. With the new guys a press defense will cause more problems for the QB especially for Rogers. With the QBs we will be facing send five or six every time until they give up on the pass and run.
3. We have the offense to support this kind of defense and the turn overs should double.

Chime in on your opinion on the schemes.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

The New Look Cowboys Defense

With the new back field and rearranged DL what will the Cowboy defense look like this year?

1. I think to answer this we need to look no further than our Division.
2. The one team that always sends us home in the playoffs is the Packagers.

If these are our premise and the way to defense, I see three defensive lineups.

1. The 4-3 is a goner with the nickel and dime formations are our base. The reason are the receivers we will face this year.
2. The zone should be retired as it did not work for us in four years. With the new guys a press defense will cause more problems for the QB especially for Rogers. With the QBs we will be facing send five or six every time until they give up on the pass and run.
3. We have the offense to support this kind of defense and the turn overs should double.

Chime in on your opinion on the schemes.

I think you're going to see a lot more zone...

I think that's been a goal of this DC for a while now.

You read the write-ups for many of these DB's that have been brought in and zone is their strength... Same thing for Carroll, who played well for Philly in '14 & '15 in a mostly "zone" environment.

 

[Pants]

I agree with the "more" secondary set up...I can see 5 in there and maybe 6 on passing downs with Lee and Smith as LB's...

...but, I have said this in other threads, I think the kiddie corps are going to be good but they will go through growing pains early in the season....the offense will need to control the clock and scoreboards as much as possible until they get their feet wet...I think by mid-season, this team, if injury-free, can be dynamic

 

[jazzcat22]

11 DB's, the heck with the pass rush.

Actually get the pass rush fixed...it has been the issue more so than any thing else, rather zone or man....get to the QB and the turnovers will happen.
We been saying this for how long now. Even in DeMarcus Ware's last few years (because of his injuries) we were saying our pass rush needs to be better.

 

[rwalters31]

11 DB's, the heck with the pass rush.

Actually get the pass rush fixed...it has been the issue more so than any thing else, rather zone or man....get to the QB and the turnovers will happen.
We been saying this for how long now. Even in DeMarcus Ware's last few years (because of his injuries) we were saying our pass rush needs to be better.

You may be on to something here! When the Giants won their last two SBs, they had in only DEs in the pass rush and every body else in the secondary. OK, maybe a LB or two but getting to the QB and covering are the two best things a team can do. However, if you have a Belichick you can scheme the defense with average players and be just as good or better.

 

[Alexander]

A lot depends on Jaylon Smith.

Without him, the nickel prospects are a bit tougher.

I still find it suspicious that he is not practicing on days the OTAs are open to the media. Plus it is likely per Broaddus nobody outside of the team sees him practice until camp.

If he is ready to go, why all the mystery? It is not like his condition will not become evident sooner or later. If he is good to go, put him on display.

 

[xwalker]

The New Look Cowboys Defense

With the new back field and rearranged DL what will the Cowboy defense look like this year?

1. I think to answer this we need to look no further than our Division.
2. The one team that always sends us home in the playoffs is the Packagers.

If these are our premise and the way to defense, I see three defensive lineups.

1. The 4-3 is a goner with the nickel and dime formations are our base. The reason are the receivers we will face this year.
2. The zone should be retired as it did not work for us in four years. With the new guys a press defense will cause more problems for the QB especially for Rogers. With the QBs we will be facing send five or six every time until they give up on the pass and run.
3. We have the offense to support this kind of defense and the turn overs should double.

Chime in on your opinion on the schemes.

They played primarily man the past 2 years.

They need to be good at both man and zone. Zone requires more intelligence which is why Claiborne had to primarily play man.

The big issue was that they had multiple limitations they had to scheme around. Carr, Church and Hitchens had limited range in coverage. Claiborne had limited intelligence which required the coaches to keep things simple for him.

Byron Jones had to try to make up for all of the limited players around him.

The new players should not have limitations other than being inexperienced.

If Jaylon is 100%, that alone makes coverage much better because he projects to be an elite coverage LB.

Heath or Woods have more range than Church.

 

[DeaconMoss]

I can see a D that consistently plays 5 DB's, if Smith is healthy. The Skins, Giants and Eagles are built to throw the ball.

4 DL
2 LB - Lee, Smith
5 DB's - Brown, Jones, Heath, Oscan then Chuzie or Lewis. And if the rooks don't pan out, you have Carroll the vet. If the rooks do pan out, I see Oscan being moved via trade.

 

[jterrell]

4-2-5 as base.
Mix of zone and man with zone more prevalent.
Nickels, Dimes, CB and LB all will get a few blitzes in.
heavy sub packages all over except LB where a fully healthy sean lee and jaylon smith (if he is ever fully healthy) would play every defensive snap.

 

[Rogerthat12]

A lot depends on Jaylon Smith.

Without him, the nickel prospects are a bit tougher.

I still find it suspicious that he is not practicing on days the OTAs are open to the media. Plus it is likely per Broaddus nobody outside of the team sees him practice until camp.

If he is ready to go, why all the mystery? It is not like his condition will not become evident sooner or later. If he is good to go, put him on display.

He is improving but probably is not ready to go full strength, regardless of what they are saying.

I think they hope, if the healing continues on its current pace, that Smith will be full go and ready for training camp.

However, at this time, they are easing him into base level OTA work with rest days in between.

He has not really done football things on the field for some time, so he will need to acclimate to that as well.

Full recovery we simply have no way of knowing at this point, time will tell.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

4-2-5 as base.
Mix of zone and man with zone more prevalent.
Nickels, Dimes, CB and LB all will get a few blitzes in.
heavy sub packages all over except LB where a fully healthy sean lee and jaylon smith (if he is ever fully healthy) would play every defensive snap.

Yep.

One of the interesting storylines for me this season will be how will they (the DC & the defensive staff) handle the substitution thing so it doesn't get messy like what happened vs. the Packers in the playoff game.

 

[gimmesix]

The New Look Cowboys Defense

With the new back field and rearranged DL what will the Cowboy defense look like this year?

1. I think to answer this we need to look no further than our Division.
2. The one team that always sends us home in the playoffs is the Packagers.

If these are our premise and the way to defense, I see three defensive lineups.

1. The 4-3 is a goner with the nickel and dime formations are our base. The reason are the receivers we will face this year.
2. The zone should be retired as it did not work for us in four years. With the new guys a press defense will cause more problems for the QB especially for Rogers. With the QBs we will be facing send five or six every time until they give up on the pass and run.
3. We have the offense to support this kind of defense and the turn overs should double.

Chime in on your opinion on the schemes.

We were a press man defense because neither Carr nor Claiborne play zone well. Marinelli prefers Cover-2 but couldn't get it to work with those players so we played man more. Now, it appears that we have corners who can handle zone responsibilities better so I would expect more zone, which should result in more turnovers because the corners and safeties don't have to play with their backs to the quarterback as much.

 

[gimmesix]

4-2-5 as base.
Mix of zone and man with zone more prevalent.
Nickels, Dimes, CB and LB all will get a few blitzes in.
heavy sub packages all over except LB where a fully healthy sean lee and jaylon smith (if he is ever fully healthy) would play every defensive snap.

I don't know if the 4-2-5 will be our base, but it will be used a lot because of lot of teams prefer 3-receiver sets or having a tight end on the field who's basically just a big receiver. I think when teams use a two-receiver, in-line-tight end look, we'll have Wilson on the field as a third linebacker because we don't have a Church-like safety who is basically another linebacker. (Blanton might be closest to that description.)

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't know if the 4-2-5 will be our base, but it will be used a lot because of lot of teams prefer 3-receiver sets or having a tight end on the field who's basically just a big receiver. I think when teams use a two-receiver, in-line-tight end look, we'll have Wilson on the field as a third linebacker because we don't have a Church-like safety who is basically another linebacker. (Blanton might be closest to that description.)

Yeah, "base" may not be the right word, but I think you're going to be see at least 5 DB's as being the standard. Be it part of a 4-2-5 or the 3-2-6.

 

[Alexander]

Yeah, "base" may not be the right word, but I think you're going to be see at least 5 DB's as being the standard. Be it part of a 4-2-5 or the 3-2-6.

It is natural effect of playing an opponent who can't or won't run the ball to a consistent degree.

 

[Melonfeud]

It is natural effect of playing an opponent who can't or won't run the ball to a consistent degree.

Skins might have a ground game with that peirnn(?m.s.) r.b. they drafted ,what I've read is that he is a force to reckon with.

 

[Ring6]

You have to mix up coverages on the back end and disguise them to get to QBs. There is no best alignment all can be beaten. Unpredictable is best. Past was zone weak. Future should be better when switching to zone.

 

[jobberone]

Schemes change with opponent and in game. We play a lot of SPs. I don't see much change although we could play more or less zone. And I don't see us getting out of 4 DL most of the time. We do play more than a little bit of 3 DL than many teams.

 

[gimmesix]

You have to mix up coverages on the back end and disguise them to get to QBs. There is no best alignment all can be beaten. Unpredictable is best. Past was zone weak. Future should be better when switching to zone.

I agree that we'll see some man, Cover-1, Cover-3, etc., but I expect our primary coverage to be Cover-2 now that we have the personnel for it.

 

[dallasdave]

The New Look Cowboys Defense

With the new back field and rearranged DL what will the Cowboy defense look like this year?

1. I think to answer this we need to look no further than our Division.
2. The one team that always sends us home in the playoffs is the Packagers.

If these are our premise and the way to defense, I see three defensive lineups.

1. The 4-3 is a goner with the nickel and dime formations are our base. The reason are the receivers we will face this year.
2. The zone should be retired as it did not work for us in four years. With the new guys a press defense will cause more problems for the QB especially for Rogers. With the QBs we will be facing send five or six every time until they give up on the pass and run.
3. We have the offense to support this kind of defense and the turn overs should double.

Chime in on your opinion on the schemes.

New DB's who can get some turnovers - that is what this defense is going to get-along with a better pass rush.