Was Our Secondary That Bad?

[MichaelWinicki]

Their should be C on heaths jersey for the way he played last night. That's the real captain of the secondary.

Heath has elevated his coverage game.

Could the Cowboys let Church walk and replace him with Heath?

Heath is certainly more athletic.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

"Is our defense really that bad?"

Tony Romo says HI for the last 10 years...

Tony has had some lousy defenses but the '07 & '09 playoff team defenses were good... the '09 defense being very good.

 

[StarBoyz83]

The Secondary was holding all over the place against backups and still getting burned. I'd say theyre pretty bad.

 

[revospeed]

Jones is the weak link in our secondary. Maybe give him a role as a returner or special teamed because all he does is cover grass and tackle once the first down is made. No ball skills at all. His job should be on the line in training camp.

 

[T-RO]

He was crazy accurate most of the time,he was incredibly lucky in others, his receivers made some hard catches and in the case of his last throw, the Defense was incredibly bad.

How was he lucky?

That one pass that leaked between Lee's helmet and hand...yes. Other than that?

 

[T-RO]

Heath has elevated his coverage game.

Could the Cowboys let Church walk and replace him with Heath?

Heath is certainly more athletic.

One good game doesn't convince me Heath is a starting caliber player. I'd be curious to hear how coaches grade him out over the year.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

One good game doesn't convince me Heath is a starting caliber player. I'd be curious to hear how coaches grade him out over the year.

Oh I don't dispute that point.

 

[perrykemp]

Good questions.

Church is steady but is limited due to a lack of speed. They have to be careful, because they could end up with a worse player if they move on from Church and depend on a young guy. On the other hand, it would be helpful to have a Strong Safety with more range. Ideally you would like to be able to have the Strong Safety occasionally cover the TE in man coverage, but Church can't do that. The Cowboys have some LBs that are likely faster than Church. Another thing to consider is that as speed limited players age, they don't have much margin before they are just too slow. The super fast guys can lose some speed as they age and often still be OK.

Wilcox has played quite a bit even when Church was not out. When they play the 3-2 package, that has 6 DBs on the field. The Dime defense is a 4-1-6 which again has 6 DBs on the field. I have not really studied Wilcox much this season but from what I have seen he has been much better than in past years. It's odd because he was his absolute worst ever this preseason. I think in retrospect, that the new DB coaching hierarchy must have been forcing him to learn to play 'their" way and to unlearn what the previous DB coach had taught him. The Cowboy would be OK if he replaced Church but he would likely be a player that you would want to upgrade if possible. His role this season as a 5th or 6th DB was ideal for him, IMO.

Carr is a difficult decision and it obviously depends on the cost. He has never missed a game or start in the NFL. There is value in that even if he is just a mediocre player. He is another speed and athletically limited player and he is 30 which means that he will just get slower as the months pass. Also Carr has said he is considering retirement.

Claiborne is another difficult decision. He played really well in the first 7 games before being injured. He has never played a full season and has only played about 3 of 16 possible preseason games. Even at his very best, he is not a ballhawk (He was in college but not in the NFL). I expect them to sign him to another 1-year, 3M deal.

Scandrick is showing signs of decline and might be approaching injury prone. He is under contract, but these issues just add to the need for more talent to be added at the CB position. Scandrick has the worst hands that I can remember seeing for a starting NFL player.

Brown was terrific considering that he was a rookie. Some people will complain about a few bad plays, but he played well over 700 snaps as a rookie and only had a handful of bad plays.

Leon McFadden is the last CB on the roster. They didn't even have a CB on the practice squad. He did OK in very limited action. I can't really blame him for giving up a TD to possibly the best WR in the league on a trick play. He is smallish and not overly fast and this is his 3rd season of hanging around the NFL so his upside is limited.

Summary: They could stand to both sign a quality free agent CB (maybe Trumaine Johnson) and to use a premium pick on one in the draft. I doubt if they use a premium pick on a Safety but if the right opportunity comes along, I would do it.

Great write up.

 

[Silverstar]

When Rodgers was interviewed on the field after beating the vagiants, he said they needed to start fast against us since Dak and Zeke were having a great year.

Looking back I feel like...was I the only one who saw that comment or what?

Rodgers came out on fire and it's like our defense wasn't prepared mentally and didn't "get it" until making adjustments at halftime.

There should not have been any halftime adjustments...they should have already been prepared for that!

 

[Rockdoc]

i think we maybe a little hard on Jones.
He is having to play a slot WR one play, a TE the next
we have seen him almost shut down pro bowl TEs at times
i dont think he is done improving, but i think we need to simplify his man to man coverage assignments.

i am intrigued by Heath. does he suck like i always assumed or a hidden talent that hasnt been used. He may have been the best DB yesterday.
maybe not a starter but on the field in nickle or dime more consistently

Brown, solid, solid. he's the starter from the start next year.

DTs that are truly run stuffers but pressure the QB

one viscious DE pass rusher please

 

[bark]

I'm in this same boat. I haven't seen that many toe-drag receptions in a single game in my life. And in that first half, he didn't have a ton of guys streaking wide open. His ball placement was terrific and had to have converted like 9 third downs in the half.

Our defense needs a lot of work up front. We really don't have any distributors on that side of the ball, save for Lee. But sometimes the other guy is really, really good too.

Hell, we played him better than Seattle or New York did when you get right down to it.

Yep he just hung a 40 spot on that 200 million dollar giant D

 

[percyhoward]

Tony has had some lousy defenses but the '07 & '09 playoff team defenses were good... the '09 defense being very good.

Those were the 2 good ones out of 8. In the regular season, anyway.

 

[bark]

i think we maybe a little hard on Jones.
He is having to play a slot WR one play, a TE the next
we have seen him almost shut down pro bowl TEs at times
i dont think he is done improving, but i think we need to simplify his man to man coverage assignments.

i am intrigued by Heath. does he suck like i always assumed or a hidden talent that hasnt been used. He may have been the best DB yesterday.
maybe not a starter but on the field in nickle or dime more consistently

Brown, solid, solid. he's the starter from the start next year.

DTs that are truly run stuffers but pressure the QB

one viscious DE pass rusher please

Dude has great speed and has improved every year he has been here.
Every time he is given a chance..... he makes plays in a secondary where playmakers are lacking

 

[bsbellomy]

The defense tackled poorly as a whole. The plan to substitute players was a disaster. Rodgers also came out on fire and we had to change the gameplan to defend that. Better tackling helps solves a lot of the issues, but the entire defense was disorganized in the first half which is a real shame given we had a bye week while the Packers had to play the Giants.



YR

I think overall a VERY POOR effort by Anthony Brown. He looked like a sixth round rookie last night. I remember one scramble by Rodgers last night he ran right through Brown for the first. I remember thinking shades of Mike Jenkins.

 

[Zman5]

Safety is the hardest position for fans to analyze.
1. You have to study the All-22 to have any chance to accurately assess Safeties. Most people complaining about Jones are not watching the All-22.

2. Fans can only guess on the Safety's responsibility on many plays.

3. The CBs were better this year with the rookie Brown being the only new CB. Considering that the pass rush is not great, it is highly likely Byron Jones at Safety was a big boost to the CBs.

4. Barry Church is slow and old guy Durant was one if the 2 Nickel LBs. Their deficiencies contribute to how much space the FS is trying to cover.

5. On that final catch by the TE, I didn't see a good view of the coverage. Jones was not in man on him. The Cowboys appeared to be in somewhat of a prevent coverage, but the All-22 is needed to verify exactly what hapened.

I have to watch the All-22 to be sure but according to your buddy Broadus, it was Carr who made the mistake in the last play.

Brodus thinks Jones was at the right spot but it was Carr who dropped too far back away from his zone responsibility.

 

[percyhoward]

The entire defense was disorganized in the first half which is a real shame given we had a bye week while the Packers had to play the Giants.

It wasn't just the defense either. I'd extend it to include the offense and coaching staff as well.

 

[Zman5]

It's not a very athletic secondary... It's more so now with Jones at FS, but more is needed.

Except for Church, our DBs are very athletic. The main issue with our secondary is that most of them came from small schools and lack experience against high level competition.

 

[percyhoward]

The pass defense was always going to get exposed as the playoffs unfolded.

Rodgers - Ryan - Brady. It wasn't if - but when.

There's literally nothing to suggest this defense would have performed any better against any of the other remaining playoff QB.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Heath has elevated his coverage game.

Could the Cowboys let Church walk and replace him with Heath?

I know it's kind of a strange concept. But, how about we just draft a really good safety to replace Woodson instead of continuing to plug someone in every 2 or 3 years?

 

[jamesdojr]

Yes. They are. We had a week's rest. He was down to his 2nd, 3rd and 4th receivers and completely abandoned the run game. Took them down the field in 30 seconds to win it and converted a 3rd and 20. They are THAT bad AND then some. We'll never get anywhere without our defense having 1-2 playmakers this offseason. Ready to trade/sell the farm for an impact player Ricky Williams style.

Exactly. All if them can go... Carr, Claiborne, Wilcox, Jones, Church, Scandrick all can go. I know Dallas can't cut all of them but any of them could go and itd be a great move.

The only one who balled was Jeff Heath. And Anthony Brown gets a rookie pass.

Bring in Eric Berry or Dre Kirkpatrick. Stephon Gilmore would be great too. But Eric Berry is my top target this offseason. I like JPP, Michael Brockers, and Dontari Poe on the Dline.

YES... I know we can't sign them all. I'd just be happy with any 1 or 2 of them.