The problem with the defense is simple

[DuncanIso]

i was very disappointed in Dontari Poe's performance.
another 2 or 3 like that and i say lets get a look at Neville Gallimore.
i'm VERY concerned about LVE and the stack of injuries...and he wasn't havin' a good game before he got hurt.
im alone on this but i still like Jaylon...i have much respect for how he came back from that injury.
he over-runs plays like most young LBs.
i think the more experienced he gets...the better that area of his game will be.
im a Jaylon fan...love that dude.
over-all...we need better players around DLaw,Aldon,Griffen,Jaylon,Woods and Diggs.
better in the trenches.
another good young LB to put with Jaylon and hopefully LVE.
and we need better people in the secondary.

Poe needs to go find another team.

 

[DuncanIso]

When Dlaw was leading the league in sacks we didn't have this problem. The rams had Donald and our 20 mil player did nothing. Dlaw is being paid to cover holes. He's currently isn't living up to his contract.

the lack of QB sacks is getting to be a problem.

he needs to get at least one this weekend.

we need a win.

 

[xwalker]

When the LBers and Dlaw were beasting we had one of the best defenses in the league. We are paying Dlaw and Smith to cover up a lot of holes. The problem is they are no longer playing at the elite levels they were and LVE has been exposed.

Not really.

The Rams only scored 20 points.

The Cowboys win a high percentage of games when they hold the opponent to 20 points or less.

 

[TheSkaven]

The Defense is not the problem???

Make the counter point. Goff had 275 passing yards, 0 TDs and 1 pick. They had a nice game plan on offense against the boys, mitigating the pass rush. Team made no adjustments at halftime.

I’m not saying they’re the 85 Bears, but if you hold a team to 20 or less points, you should win in the NFL today.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

The defense gave up 20 points on Sunday. That’s respectable. They’re not the problem. The problem was the lack of adjustments by the coaches and the conservative nature of the offense.

The Rams came in with a fairly simple game plan; get the ball out of Goff’s hands quickly. That’s what they did. There’s no shame in getting exposed in the first half; the problem is that they did nothing to adjust in the second.

The Cowboys only threw the ball on 41% of first downs. That’s even more conservative than Garrett. They almost never tried to throw deep.

WHY????
A coach can only ask from there players based on their abilities.
Neither Garrett nor Big Mike seems to trust our QB with the long ball or he hesitates to throw it long.
Again ask yourself WHY????
The long ball has been dead in Big D since #4 became our starter.
WHY??????

 

[MaineBoy]

Here’s a different take: the problem with defense is the front office.

the FO insisted on drafting three linebackers with known health issues - Lee, LVE, and Smith. They invested serious draft pics and money in them and have this to show for it: 2 of them not on the field and 54 running away from contact to protect his knee. So almost nothing to show from those 3 decisions. Linebackers are a weakness as a unit despite the investments.

the FO refuses to invest reasonable resources in the safety position. Who knows why. The refuse and keep addressing it year after year with late draft picks. Successful defenses have talented safeties. Even the generally cheap Patriots make sure they have good safeties. Jimmy did too.

The FO won’t invest enough in the tackle position either. It’s always bandaids. So we always have problems in the middle and it’s never a strength. They have no problem giving tons of money to underperforming ends and linebackers though.

the FO has a gift for picking weak, retread defensive coordinators. Either vanilla, predictable schemes or schemes too complex to execute. It’s truly a gift. They never choose upcoming talent or effective veterans.

so we’re left with weak linebackers, safeties, tackles, and coaching BY DESIGN. And when you give this defense 17 points from the offense, it’s a miracle the defense plays at the level it does.

 

[kskboys]

Primary reason: We lost the battle at the LOS. Nothing you do is going to consistently work when that is happening. The first step to any good D is to win up front. History screams this.

 

[kskboys]

- Waay too much damn rotation. Going more on a play by play basis,.. instead of series by series basis.
And this was supposed a defense led by reputedly one of the better DL coaches in Jim Tomsula, and a DC that was supposed be
one of the better defensive minds in Nolan.

Seems like they are going the Rob Ryan way in trying to be so exotic and creative that they are out-thinking themselves.
i know those vet players had to be questioning this system among themselves afterwards.

Some players need to get into continuous grind mode first to gain a focus and rhythm,.. instead of this musical tune chairs.

- and why was Crawford in on goal line defense instead of a healthy Dontario Poe ? isn't that why we signed Poe to be a immovable run stopper ?
Frankly i saw on a handful of plays all game from Poe, and he like most of our DTs, wasnt' particularly good.

- and then comes a poorly instinctive LB who still gets to make the signal calls but yet he's the main one that is constantly out of position,
constantly suckered and fooled by misdirection, screen passes, still running around blocks and cannot cut thru traffic, and has coverage issues.
LVE tends to get suckered by misdirection as well, but is far a superior coverage guy than Jay, but whereas Smith has been a stone of durability
since he was red shirted in 2016, LVE has been a Sean Lee like train wreck of injuries, and now his durability has to be questioned.

Nonsense. A rotation on the DLine is an absolute must. That's what all good/great D's have. What you really mean is that we don't have enough talent for the rotation.

 

[kskboys]

Here’s a different take: the problem with defense is the front office.

the FO insisted on drafting three linebackers with known health issues - Lee, LVE, and Smith. They invested serious draft pics and money in them and have this to show for it: 2 of them not on the field and 54 running away from contact to protect his knee. So almost nothing to show from those 3 decisions Linebackers are a weakness as a unit despite the investments.

the FO refuses to invest reasonable resources in the safety position. Who knows why. The refuse and keep addressing it year after year with late draft picks. Successful defenses have talented safeties. Even the generally cheap Patriots make sure they have good safeties. Jimmy did too.

The FO won’t invest enough in the tackle position either. It’s always bandaids. So we always have problems in the middle and it’s never a strength. They have no problem giving tons of money to underperforming ends and linebackers though.

the FO has a gift for picking weak, retread defensive coordinators. Either vanilla, predictable schemes or schemes too complex to execute. It’s truly a gift. They never choose upcoming talent or effective veterans.

so we’re left with weak linebackers, safeties, tackles, and coaching BY DESIGN. And when you give this defense 17 points from the offense, it’s a miracle the defense plays at the level it does.

Well said.

McC was left w/ a roster full of injury prone LB's, subpar DT's, and no S's. Prolly going to take a couple drafts to fix this.

 

[quickccc]

Nonsense. A rotation on the DLine is an absolute must. That's what all good/great D's have. What you really mean is that we don't have enough talent for the rotation.

there is a right way. .and a wrong way to go about rotation. if you're bouncing players from play to play while having them go from
5-2-5... 4-2-5 and 3-4 every other play, i don't see how players can adjust and get in mode and rhythm that fast.

That's now two confusing elements they have to take on ... Rams quick set, and Nolan's confusing rotation.

 

[RonnieT24]

Dlaw standing up was uncomfortable looking. I’m being patient and allowing it to marinate. Aldon has done that his whole career so he gets it. I expect this defense to get better as the year goes on and get us TO’s. I would also like to see Anae get a series or two.

This is a good and logical take. Are you sure you're a Cowboys fan? D-Law is being asked to play style which is different than what he is accustomed to. Without preseason we should expect it to take him a minute to get the hang of it. Indeed Aldon, having played in SF has spent his entire career in that defense so even after 4 years off he is still ahead of most of our guys as relates to knowing what to do in it. I do think the defense will improve as the year goes on. Hell it got better as the game wore on last week. The got a turnover and forced a couple of punts in the second half after the Rams punter was able to take a nap in the first. Also look at the Rams' rushing yards by quarter. I think you will see that most of their damage was done early and the defense put the clamps on it for the most part in the second half. I am not nearly so worried about the execution as I am about injuries. If guys start dropping like flies there is not going to be anything that can save this season. But that goes for every team.

 

[cern]

the problem with the defense is not the obvious recognition of its glaring deficiencies, but rather how to fix it by adapting with what we have. once again, that falls on the coaching staff.

 

[DandyDon52]

The defense gave up 20 points on Sunday. That’s respectable. They’re not the problem. The problem was the lack of adjustments by the coaches and the conservative nature of the offense.

The Rams came in with a fairly simple game plan; get the ball out of Goff’s hands quickly. That’s what they did. There’s no shame in getting exposed in the first half; the problem is that they did nothing to adjust in the second.

The Cowboys only threw the ball on 41% of first downs. That’s even more conservative than Garrett. They almost never tried to throw deep.

There u go, offense was awful, lackluster and no innovation, and it doesnt fit dak at all. He should be running offense rams were.
Also special teams, didnt hurt, but also didnt help. There was one punt late in game, and dal had lamb back there, and he had room to take
off with it, but instead used fair catch. I noticed he shook his head afterward, and I wonder if he made that call or was told to just
fair catch it? A good return their could have changed the game.
They also were not balanced, 39 passes and I think 22 runs and elliot was getting some good runs.
I dont think kellen knows how a running game should be used, and too often they pass too much and pass when they should run.
I think he just picks a play at random, lol no master plan at all.

 

[Haimerej]

Looks like our coaching wasn’t as much of a problem as many thought. Turns out it was more about the talent.

Which feeds the Jerry bad GM narrative. Thing is, most of the fans saw things like Jerry, too. "We've got a heck of a talented team here."

 

[Diehardblues]

Which feeds the Jerry bad GM narrative. Thing is, most of the fans saw things like Jerry, too. "We've got a heck of a talented team here."

Yep
Jethro always over hypes us. It’s all part of promoting his product which is fine as long as we don’t buy totally into it. And then base our expectations as such. Then we begin looking for scapegoats.

Much like many have assumed and or over hyped with a more proven HC we’d automatically look or be improved. Like that’s all we were missing was coaching.

Results can be very humbling. And that’s all this article was about . Week 1 results didn’t present that anything is different . Yet anyway.

There's still time for Mikey to save our franchise from Jethro. Lol

And this was wasnt directed at you Jeremiah. Your thought sparked my response . Thanks!

 

[MRV52]

It all went downhill when they introduced that horrible name Hot BOYZ.

 

[Haimerej]

Yep
Jethro always over hypes us. It’s all part of promoting his product which is fine as long as we don’t buy totally into it. And then base our expectations as such. Then we begin looking for scapegoats.

Much like many have assumed and or over hyped with a more proven HC we’d automatically look or be improved. Like that’s all we were missing was coaching.

Results can be very humbling. And that’s all this article was about . Week 1 results didn’t present that anything is different . Yet anyway.

There's still time for Mikey to save our franchise from Jethro. Lol

And this was wasnt directed at you Jeremiah. Your thought sparked my response . Thanks!

I don't doubt the physical talent on the team. There's just not much savvy talent. Rewatching clips you see breakdowns on fundamentals all over the place. That can, theoretically, be coached up. But we've been saying that for years now.

 

[nalam]

I don't doubt the physical talent on the team. There's just not much savvy talent. Rewatching clips you see breakdowns on fundamentals all over the place. That can, theoretically, be coached up. But we've been saying that for years now.

may be our D misses Lee more than we know, he should be become some kind of coaching assistant and impart the recognition skills to the LB crew

 

[Verdict]

You can't have holes on both lines and expect to win. This team hasn't been the same since Dlaw got hurt. He was playing at such a high level and like the best player in the league on defense.

Tank has never been the best player in the league on defense. Lol. Not even close.

 

[DuncanIso]

Mike Nolan.

Voted worst DC in the NFL in 2014.