What has ailed our defense?

[Galian Beast]

Has it been the pass defense or the run defense?

Yards Pts

Run Defense
2011 - 7th in yards 6th in touchdowns
2010 - 12th in yards 12th in touchdowns
2009 - 4th in yards 4th in touchdowns
2008 - 12th in yards 8th in touchdowns
2007 - 6th in yards 17th in touchdowns
2006- 10th in yards 11th in touchdowns

Pass Defense
2011 - 23rd in yards 16th in touchdowns
2010 - 26th in yards 31st in touchdowns
2009 - 20th in yards 10th in touchdowns
2008 - 5th in yards 10th in touchdowns
2007 - 13th in yards 8th in touchdowns
2006 - 24th in yards 27th in touchdowns

You decide.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Lack of talent. Ware is basically a one man show out there. Can't win like that.

 

[Galian Beast]

I think lack of consistent secondary play. We've been consistently good against the run. We haven't been so consistent against the pass.

The last 3 years we've been in the 20s in passing yards. That leads to rushing and passing touchdowns.

I think we gave our secondary a lot more credit than it deserved recently, since we had players go to the pro bowl in 2009.

Hopefully Carr and Claiborne can be our saviors.

 

[Bluestang]

I think lack of consistent secondary play. We've been consistently good against the run. We haven't been so consistent against the pass.

The last 3 years we've been in the 20s in passing yards. That leads to rushing and passing touchdowns.

I think we gave our secondary a lot more credit than it deserved recently, since we had players go to the pro bowl in 2009.

Hopefully Carr and Claiborne can be our saviors.

I agree.


Some people forget that Jenkins went in as an alternate. I'm not discrediting Jenkins' play in 2009 at all but being a primary and the alternate are two different things.

 

[Galian Beast]

I agree.


Some people forget that Jenkins went in as an alternate. I'm not discrediting Jenkins' play in 2009 at all but being a primary and the alternate are two different things.

I definitely think we've overvalued our team's talent level.

One thing that surprises me constantly is our offensive rankings.

We rank high in offensive yards EVERY year, but we don't rank very high in scoring.

We need our running game to really step up for Romo this year.

 

[jnday]

I think lack of consistent secondary play. We've been consistently good against the run. We haven't been so consistent against the pass.

The last 3 years we've been in the 20s in passing yards. That leads to rushing and passing touchdowns.

I think we gave our secondary a lot more credit than it deserved recently, since we had players go to the pro bowl in 2009.

Hopefully Carr and Claiborne can be our saviors.

Jenkins has been the posterboy for inconsistent play and Newman has been hot or cold due to injuries, age, etc. Carr and Mo should be a big upgrade. If Ware can get some help, the defense should be stout.

 

[Bluestang]

I definitely think we've overvalued our team's talent level.

One thing that surprises me constantly is our offensive rankings.

We rank high in offensive yards EVERY year, but we don't rank very high in scoring.

We need our running game to really step up for Romo this year.

I've been saying something similar to this for awhile. Our running yardage between the 20s is superb but when we get to the redzone it gets ugly. As much as people criticize Garrett's playcalling the offensive line didn't give him much faith in the running game. When you can't give defense something to account for they can cheat on the coverages even on play action passes. I'm hoping Callahan has found the solution to this particular problem.


Just take a look at my signature - that's just awful.

 

[Bluestang]

Jenkins has been the posterboy for inconsistent play and Newman has been hot or cold due to injuries, age, etc. Carr and Mo should be a big upgrade. If Ware can get some help, the defense should be stout.

What confuses me is how people can defend Jenkin's position right now. He doesn't deserve a new contract at this time. The argument these folks use is that Scandrick didn't deserve his extension, however, Scandrick has been consistent player in the slot up until last season when Elam left him out to dry a few times in bracket coverage.

 

[morasp]

Unitl the team quit in 2010 the defense was top ten for three years in a row. I thought the slide started when they got cheap and didn't resign Hamlin. I mean those guys basically went into New Orleans when the Saints were at their peak and shut them down. Minus Hamlin it was the sam core group that we're now rebuilding.

 

[Galian Beast]

Unitl the team quit in 2010 the defense was top ten for three years in a row. I thought the slide started when they got cheap and didn't resign Hamlin. I mean those guys basically went into New Orleans when the Saints were at their peak and shut them down. Minus Hamlin it was the sam core group that we're now rebuilding.

We were only top 10 in yards... in points we weren't that good, and points is the ultimate stat in my opinion.

 

[morasp]

We were only top 10 in yards... in points we weren't that good, and points is the ultimate stat in my opinion.

What were we in points? Points can also be special teams, romo throwing a pick six, or the offense turning it over on our side of the fiels and giving the defense a short field to defend which I don't have the stats but remember happeing quite a bit. I don't know if the defensive points allowed ranking excludes the special teams and pick six points but even if it does I do seem to remember the defense defending a short field quite a bit.

 

[AdamJT13]

We were only top 10 in yards... in points we weren't that good, and points is the ultimate stat in my opinion.

We were eighth in offensive points per possession and only 11th in yards per possession.

Our offense was a top-10 offense as far as its ability to score points. We ranked only 16th in total points because our defense and special teams contributed only seven points all season.

 

[Sarge]

I definitely think we've overvalued our team's talent level.

One thing that surprises me constantly is our offensive rankings.

We rank high in offensive yards EVERY year, but we don't rank very high in scoring.

We need our running game to really step up for Romo this year.

:signmast: :signmast:

 

[morasp]

We were eighth in offensive points per possession and only 11th in yards per possession.

Our offense was a top-10 offense as far as its ability to score points. We ranked only 16th in total points because our defense and special teams contributed only seven points all season.

I think he meant defensive but I'm not sure. Adam, do you know if the points allowed ranking for a defense includes special teams points and points scored by the opponents defense?

 

[THUMPER]

Has it been the pass defense or the run defense?

Yards Pts

Run Defense
2011 - 7th in yards 6th in touchdowns
2010 - 12th in yards 12th in touchdowns
2009 - 4th in yards 4th in touchdowns
2008 - 12th in yards 8th in touchdowns
2007 - 6th in yards 17th in touchdowns
2006- 10th in yards 11th in touchdowns

Pass Defense
2011 - 23rd in yards 16th in touchdowns
2010 - 26th in yards 31st in touchdowns
2009 - 20th in yards 10th in touchdowns
2008 - 5th in yards 10th in touchdowns
2007 - 13th in yards 8th in touchdowns
2006 - 24th in yards 27th in touchdowns

You decide.

The Fourth Quarter. We can play well all game, shutting the opponent down until late in the game when they seem to score at will. We rarely seem to stop an opponent down the stretch and it's been like that for 15+ years now.

Stupid Romo! Why does he let the other team score like that?

 

[Teague31]

Stupid players. The schemes are constantly being dumbed down cause our guys can't grasp the concepts.

 

[jblaze2004]

Unitl the team quit in 2010 the defense was top ten for three years in a row. I thought the slide started when they got cheap and didn't resign Hamlin. I mean those guys basically went into New Orleans when the Saints were at their peak and shut them down. Minus Hamlin it was the sam core group that we're now rebuilding.

where is hamlin now and what is he doing? Believe me hamlin wasn't getting it done either. I don't think he even starts for a team now. IDK he has been bouncing around from team to team. Lets not act like he was the savior...:laugh1:

 

[Yakuza Rich]

- Ineffective blitzing. Even years where we have had a lot of sacks, we tend to get killed on the blitz too much. That's why Wade, who was blitz heavy in San Diego, toned down the blitzes in Dallas...we have struggled with blitzing since the Campo days. I will say we are getting better.


- Safety play. The safeties are the last line of defense. To add to that, safety play has become increasingly important in the NFL over the past 10 years. Not since Woody and Roy in 2003 have we had playmaking safeties who know where they are supposed to be (more or less, Woody directing Roy around). Look at the safeties we have had over the years:

Tony Dixon
Lynn Scott
Keith Davis
Alan Ball
Ken Hamlin

We went thru something like a 35 game stretch with only 1 INT from our safeties (IIRC). Your safeties are supposed to make some interceptions and usually they are the guys you want to make interceptions because they can return it back for big yardage, whereas corners may make a pick, then get tackled by the WR that was next to them.


- Lack of physical, good tackling corners. I think the NFL has increasingly become about not giving up the big play. While the safeties are considered the 'last line of defense', the corners need to play their part as well


- Dumb players. How many times do we see the defense look completely baffled before the snap against the Eagles when they run some motion or when Eli checks out of a play? How many missed assignments have we seen over the years.


- Poor ILB pass coverage.






YR

 

[TheSport78]

Two words: Dave Campo

 

[CATCH17]

Lack of talent. Ware is basically a one man show out there. Can't win like that.

Hopefully the new corners and front 7 guys turn things around.


We need 1 or 2 of those front 7 guys to turn in an unexpected spectacular year.