Too much focus on Safety here. bigger issues

[Denim Chicken]

Problem is the QB, the QB and the QB.

Nothing else.

This was the only reason we didnt win it all last year.

You want a good offense start to invest in the most important position on the team. Dont, and see what happens.

Yeah, the QB allowed 273 rushing yards. He should tackle better.

 

[pacboyX]

Thornhill would have absolutely taken Heath's spot. Better safety play also helps the entire secondary, lbs, and d line. If players aren't open QBs will hold onto the ball helping the D line.

Exactly safeties are the opposite of the QB. They are the core players responsible for watching the QBs eyes and offense as a whole. A real safety can make the QB miserable especially if he has a dline punishing the QB for holding ball that extra second.

 

[TwentyOne]

Yeah, the QB allowed 273 rushing yards. He should tackle better.

No. I dont demand from a QB to play both ways. I just demand from him to do his work.

With a at least good qb we would have scored 35 points on the rams easily. And then, with our good defense we all could have cared less what they did on the ground.

 

[Sydla]

I don't disagree that the pass D needs improvement. All I said, was its not bottom 3rd, yes certain stats are bottom 3rd. our pass D was average to slightly above IMO. I didn't disagree that safety play wouldn't improve. adding any good player to a team, that would be better than what you have would automatically help you get better. I also don't disagree that to be Elite, defense has to be elite all around.....and looking through their roster of DBs and safteies, none of them want me to go WOW, lets go get him....what they did have was pressure up front and sacks and that made the DBs look really good and bunch of no names into players "you" are coveting....

so getting to be an elite defense starts up front. looking back at all the elite defenses, you see that its common, they get sacks, they get pressure and they have the big names on the DL. even the great Seattle defense had great play up front...once that diminished so did the secondary's play.....

and again, I didn't say they are fine or great....you are trying to spin what I said to that....I said, its not bottom third....13th is about average....that's about what we were.....some stats lower, some stats higher as to be expected for an average pass defense....that was my whole point...

and with that said...I think the whole defense should play better...do I want awuzie to play better..HECK yeah...but what can we do? go get another CB? where? how much? at what cost?

to take the leap, the DL and front 7 have to improve. there is abxolutley no denying our DTs left a lot to be desired.....and it came crashing specially in Rams game, when they gashed us for 275 yards, mostly up the middle.

I didn't say bottom third. I said bottom half. And your rebuttal was, "hey, they are 13th in yard per game" as if that really refutes my point. But just about any logical and fair analysis would conclude this pass D is league average and the majority of the more telling stats has them less than average.

I think you ride with Awuzie because he's a talented kid and he was a 2nd round pick for a reason. Right now we are rolling with two starting CBs picked in the first and 2nd round and then two safeties where one was drafted in the 6th and one was a UDFA. It should stun NO ONE that safety play is arguably the biggest weakness in the secondary.

 

[camaro69926]

The cowboys defense was a bend but dont break. They gave up yards but not points. Dallas gave up 324 points (20.2 per game) Bears gave up 283 (17.7 per game) Raiders gave up 467 (29.2 per game). The defense did good. IMO what hurt was not scoring TD's in the redzone. Play selection in redzone sucked some of the blame can go to execution but to me a majority of it was the play calls.

 

[JD_KaPow]

In yards per game they were 13th.

Now chew on these:

Opposing passer rating - 22nd
Interceptions - 26th
Opposing completion % - 29th
Football Outsiders Pass D - 16th

In terms of measuring the effectiveness of our pass D, we were a bottom half of the league pass D.

16th is top half of the league. Just sayin'. The other numbers are all pieces that go into an overall assessment, the FO number is an overall assessment.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Hey, we just miss Woodson, and it's been a while.

Yup, would be nice to have Woodson back or Charlie Waters or even Dexter Clinkscale.

 

[Rayman70]

couldn't disagree more with the OP. At what juncture in the last 20 years do you think was a GOOD time to draft a safety? lol...Its been 20 years man...lmao. Its not askin much to at least put more resources towards that position...ie..like drafting a guy in round 2....or 3. YES...we have woods...but that's it! Not saying we should have willy nilly went out this draft year and gotten a safety at 58...but all Im saying is...when WAS/IS a good time? We was exposed last year at safety in the playoffs. Square peg round hole....

 

[conner01]

that's not an unfair point. I think our redzone offense struggled a lot. few Ints Dak threw in the endzone and too many field goals instead of TDs

Just fixing the red zone could be huge

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I didn't say bottom third. I said bottom half. And your rebuttal was, "hey, they are 13th in yard per game" as if that really refutes my point. But just about any logical and fair analysis would conclude this pass D is league average and the majority of the more telling stats has them less than average.

I think you ride with Awuzie because he's a talented kid and he was a 2nd round pick for a reason. Right now we are rolling with two starting CBs picked in the first and 2nd round and then two safeties where one was drafted in the 6th and one was a UDFA. It should stun NO ONE that safety play is arguably the biggest weakness in the secondary.

they are average. I never argued that. they are not bottom half in major or most. they are bottom half in some. they are top 10 in some. they are average in some. those are undisputed facts.

hopefully awziue can grow some this year and pick up his game.....

 

[ondaedg]

The cowboys defense was a bend but dont break. They gave up yards but not points. Dallas gave up 324 points (20.2 per game) Bears gave up 283 (17.7 per game) Raiders gave up 467 (29.2 per game). The defense did good. IMO what hurt was not scoring TD's in the redzone. Play selection in redzone sucked some of the blame can go to execution but to me a majority of it was the play calls.

I thought we bent too much at times. If we scored more points teams may not have played as conservatively against us as they did.

 

[Hennessy_King]

All I know is. This entire defense let this team down every time we got into the playoffs in recent years. People complaining about the offense is laughable.

 

[charron]

We should look to ugrade all positions constantly. Great offenses and defenses start in the trenches. Goff didn't ball out to beat us, he didn't have to. He let their backup running back who didn't even have a job for part of the year come in and smack our weak DT's in the mouth.

 

[Cebrin]

A good offense and defense starts in the trenches. It's a lot like wiping your tushy. If you're not wiping front to back, everything smells like......

 

[Cebrin]

In yards per game they were 13th.

Now chew on these:

Opposing passer rating - 22nd
Interceptions - 26th
Opposing completion % - 29th
Football Outsiders Pass D - 16th

In terms of measuring the effectiveness of our pass D, we were a bottom half of the league pass D. QBs, as evidenced by Passer Ratings, Completion percentage and Football Outsiders show that QBs largely had good success against us through the air.

Now contrast that with the Bears, who were considered the "elite" defense in the league.

Passer Rating - 1st
Football Outsiders Pass D - 1st
Interceptions - 1st
Completion % - 3rd

They were 7th in Red Zone defense, Chicago was 6th. It's also scheme. Dallas lets certain teams make splash plays, and then squeezes them out in the red zone. Then they run the clock down chipping away the field on offense. Unfortunately, The Rams beat us at our own game.

 

[Cowfan75]

The reason why we don't have at least two rings in the last ten years is because of defense. Period. But, yeah, safety is never a biggie.

 

[Eanwen]

No. I dont demand from a QB to play both ways. I just demand from him to do his work.

With a at least good qb we would have scored 35 points on the rams easily. And then, with our good defense we all could have cared less what they did on the ground.

ehh Brees and Brady combined to score 36 points against the Rams in the playoffs so I think this is a stretch.

At any rate we need to score more points on offense (getting better in the red zone will help) and get more sacks and turnovers on defense.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

In yards per game they were 13th.

Now chew on these:

Opposing passer rating - 22nd
Interceptions - 26th
Opposing completion % - 29th
Football Outsiders Pass D - 16th

In terms of measuring the effectiveness of our pass D, we were a bottom half of the league pass D. QBs, as evidenced by Passer Ratings, Completion percentage and Football Outsiders show that QBs largely had good success against us through the air.

Now contrast that with the Bears, who were considered the "elite" defense in the league.

Passer Rating - 1st
Football Outsiders Pass D - 1st
Interceptions - 1st
Completion % - 3rd

CowboyFanInH continues to only care about bulk stats despite being reminded CONTINUOUSLY that it is a very dumb way to evaluate performance.

 

[northerncowboynation]

way way too much disdain for the draft and FA on safety as our DB and defense most of the year weren't the issue..Yes we lost the Rams game because we couldn't stop the run, that was coach and team loss BUT...,

I realize our offense changed after the Bye and Cooper and other changes were made but our biggest change needed is to SCORE MORE TDS, period..

our offense was the issue as they finished basically 22nd overall in just about every category other then rushing.. we need more scoring to help when the d falters, to stop playing games where it comes down to the last drive ie win or lose by one score or less..I want to see more aggression and more attempts at deep scoring attempts and that starts with the OC..

It why we changed to Moore, anything has to eb an improvement, let RSmith go and got some new Backs, yes even another Guard early didnt make much sense but if the Fo is looking ahead that once the season gets started maybe the Oline will need tweaking at LG and RT and now we have options.. Can Cobb help, maybe and Witten back at least adds depth with experience and in tight games or keep his legs fresh until the big games come up that cant be bad thing..WE also added speed with some FA College kids and maybe TA stays healthy.. more movable parts and options to have creative offensive packages to help Moore and this offense.

Id say second is non special, special teams, maybe a healthy Tavon , Pollard, weber, cobb, and again more aggression helps shorten the field for the offense..
those are two very glaring issues they are trying to fix while half this forum is complaining about the Safety postion. I see what the FO is trying to do and its the right thing IMO

Agree, totally. If S is the number one issue we're good. I don't know that there has ever been a S SB MVP. May be wrong on that. S is just the last line of defense and if he's the leading tackler the D sucks. Barry Church was near the top when he was here and the D sucked!

Offense is the need. Agreed. 7-10 points/game more is the need. Sure we have to limit scoring too and keep the points/game allowed down but we flat out have to score more points and Moore could be part of the answer with play calling

 

[Denim Chicken]

No. I dont demand from a QB to play both ways. I just demand from him to do his work.

With a at least good qb we would have scored 35 points on the rams easily. And then, with our good defense we all could have cared less what they did on the ground.

Lol, our QB outplayed theirs