What improvements have been made to the D-line since Marinelli got here?

[Kaiser]

Mincey led our D-line with 6 sacks that year. Mayowa led our D-line with 6 sacks this year. Hayden won the starting 1DT position that year. Thornton wasn't able to win the starting 1DT position this year.

Mincey played full time and had six sacks. Mayowa played basically half time and had six, if DLaw wasn't injured he is twice the player Mincey is. If Crawford was healthy all year he would have had more sacks than Mincey did while playing the strong side.

Thornton didn't win the starting job because McClain was finally healthy and played very well, which negates your point. Along with finding David Irving on the Chiefs practice squad.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Mincey played full time and had six sacks. Mayowa played basically half time and had six, if DLaw wasn't injured he is twice the player Mincey is. If Crawford was healthy all year he would have had more sacks than Mincey did while playing the strong side.

Thornton didn't win the starting job because McClain was finally healthy and played very well, which negates your point. Along with finding David Irving on the Chiefs practice squad.

I figured in the off season that DL would be our Achilles heel and here we are yet again.

This DL simply can not compete against elite QB's which is necessary to beat championship QB's in post season play.

We need to address the DE position in free agency and the draft and avoid troubled, drug using or poor character prospects.

We need impact and catalytic players that are play makers on the field.

Many of our DL are rotational or depth players but we ultimately lack play making ability with consistency.

I think we have pieces, Collins and Irving come to mind but we need game wreckers!

Hopefully, we dig into free agency and the draft with this sting of defeat in our thoughts and with a plan as to how to substantially improve the situation on that side of the ball, rotational guys only get you so far.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Mincey played full time and had six sacks. Mayowa played basically half time and had six, if DLaw wasn't injured he is twice the player Mincey is. If Crawford was healthy all year he would have had more sacks than Mincey did while playing the strong side.

Thornton didn't win the starting job because McClain was finally healthy and played very well, which negates your point. Along with finding David Irving on the Chiefs practice squad.

I'm not saying Mayowa isn't better than Mincey or Thornton isn't better than Hayden. I just don't think they're significantly better. 4 years and your greatest improvement at starting RDE was Mincey to Mayowa? 4 years and your greatest improvement at starting 1DT was Hayden to McClain/Thornton? And Tyrone Crawford is looking more and more to be a bad contract. Irving is someone who has flashed potential but is nothing more than potential at the moment. It would be great if he could turn into something special, like it would've been great if Chris Whaley could've turned into something special. Every team has their UDFA projects that may or may not pan out. D-Law had one good season when he played opposite of Greg Hardy. He's gotten 1 career sack outside of that season. Maliek Collins is a guy I really like. He looks like he could become a solid starting 3DT in this league. But jury's still out. Lots of guys flash potential early then fizz out. Heck, fans were ecstatic over Anthony Hitchens' rookie season and now he's become a perennial roster bubble guy.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I figured in the off season that DL would be our Achilles heel and here we are yet again.

This DL simply can not compete against elite QB's which is necessary to beat championship QB's in post season play.

We need to address the DE position in free agency and the draft and avoid troubled, drug using or poor character prospects.

We need impact and catalytic players that are play makers on the field.

Many of our DL are rotational or depth players but we ultimately lack play making ability with consistency.

I think we have pieces, Collins and Irving come to mind but we need game wreckers!

Hopefully, we dig into free agency and the draft with this sting of defeat in our thoughts and with a plan as to how to substantially improve the situation on that side of the ball, rotational guys only get you so far.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Kaiser]

Many of our DL are rotational or depth players but we ultimately lack play making ability with consistency.

Part of that is by design, Marinelli plays a wave attack and I would argue that the combination of McClain and Thornton gave the Cowboys above average play at the 1T.

DLaw is a good player who would give you double digit sacks if he was healthy. Tyrone Crawford would have had better stats if he was healthy all year as well.

Also David Irving had flashes of dominance, I think he just needs the reps to become a very good player in the NFL - and one that has the potential to be a dominant player. He has certainly been dominant in stretches.

Also Maliek Collins should be significant better next year, most second players improve considerably with more film study and weight room work.

 

[Kaiser]

D-Law had one good season when he played opposite of Greg Hardy. He's gotten 1 career sack outside of that season.

He only started three games this year because of injury. Sean Lee had poor stats in 2012 when he was injured and only played a few games. Does Sean Lee suck also?

 

[LocimusPrime]

Part of that is by design, Marinelli plays a wave attack and I would argue that the combination of McClain and Thornton gave the Cowboys above average play at the 1T.

DLaw is a good player who would give you double digit sacks if he was healthy. Tyrone Crawford would have had better stats if he was healthy all year as well.

Also David Irving had flashes of dominance, I think he just needs the reps to become a very good player in the NFL - and one that has the potential to be a dominant player. He has certainly been dominant in stretches.

Also Maliek Collins should be significant better next year, most second players improve considerably with more film study and weight room work.

So you kinda like our D line. That's cool. I think there are some pieces there.

 

[Zman5]

The Cowboys coaching staff is really going to be introspective this offseason on their analysis of the defense.

The offense masked a ton this season... the 26th rated pass defense (by QB rating) -- a pass rush that was mostly non-existent for much of the season, and in general, outside of Sean Lee, a collection of 'nice' players but no consistent game changers.

They should have been introspective after 2014 season when we lost to one legged ARod.

 

[MileyDancer]

The blitz started to work so we go back to not doing it.

Which is the problem with ALL our coaches.

 

[Kaiser]

So you kinda like our D line. That's cool. I think there are some pieces there.

I agree, I think some of the pieces are there. McClain, Thornton and Collins are all fine at DT. If Tyrone Crawford ends up at 3T and we bring in one more guy, I think we are fine at DT.

If David Irving improves as much next year as he did this year, he locks down the LDE spot and you have a very good player there.

If DLaw is healthy and Mayowa is his backup, you have a decent rotation there. Not special, but guys that can still play.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Part of that is by design, Marinelli plays a wave attack and I would argue that the combination of McClain and Thornton gave the Cowboys above average play at the 1T.

DLaw is a good player who would give you double digit sacks if he was healthy. Tyrone Crawford would have had better stats if he was healthy all year as well.

Also David Irving had flashes of dominance, I think he just needs the reps to become a very good player in the NFL - and one that has the potential to be a dominant player. He has certainly been dominant in stretches.

Also Maliek Collins should be significant better next year, most second players improve considerably with more film study and weight room work.

McClain was really good for a stretch this season but struggles with health too much to be relied upon.

Thornton has been overall a disappointment, saying himself that he has struggled with the scheme and needs to step up. He played better toward the end of the regular season but injury also ruined his possible contributions.

Not sure about DLAW, his back injury is a major concern that could linger and with a contract year coming soon, you just have not seen enough to justify the money to keep him including the significant injury risk factor.

DLAW played well with Hardy at RDE in 2015 and flashes but is also inconsistent when looking at the total body of work.

I think David has potential and flashes but is inconsistent, only time will tell what he becomes but you can not count on that as a given.

Collins shows promise and will get better definitely a core piece at 3T.

Tyrone Crawford has been injured often and simply has not produced enough to warrant that bad contract.

Gregory may never play again, time will tell.

Tapper is a complete unknown with a back condition that could be problematic for his career.

We need an influx of DE talent in the draft and someone with ability in free agency yet again, we shall see if they can get it right this time.

We need a game wrecker and some play makers on defense, truly on all levels of the defense.

 

[ShiningStar]

Do you want a brutally good answer? The best thing he did was right the ship after Stewart and Rob messed things up Parcells being the bigger fool, trying to change to the 3-4 when we had a good 4-3 coach. So rod at least did that. Stewart and Rob Ryan were wastes of time.

 

[CyberB0b]

Part of that is by design, Marinelli plays a wave attack and I would argue that the combination of McClain and Thornton gave the Cowboys above average play at the 1T.

DLaw is a good player who would give you double digit sacks if he was healthy. Tyrone Crawford would have had better stats if he was healthy all year as well.

Also David Irving had flashes of dominance, I think he just needs the reps to become a very good player in the NFL - and one that has the potential to be a dominant player. He has certainly been dominant in stretches.

Also Maliek Collins should be significant better next year, most second players improve considerably with more film study and weight room work.

Wow, you are like an excuse machine. Crawford is a huge bust, who said he was hurt? DLaw has been disappointing. He's been bad because he was taking steroids in the offseason and got caught, not because of injury. Thornton was a huge offseason bust, Irving disappeared when we needed him most. His best games were against garbage teams in garbage time.

 

[Zman5]

I think part of the problem is that we have multiple guys playing multiple positions. It's going to be hard for any player to do that well.

On paper, it sounds good but playing DT then DE is not easy. Same thing with what we did with Byron Jones playing both CB and FS. We have bunch of jack of all trades and master of none type of players.

We need to have these guys develop in one position so that they can work on being the best that they can be in that position.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

He only started three games this year because of injury. Sean Lee had poor stats in 2012 when he was injured and only played a few games. Does Sean Lee suck also?

You can't honestly compare Sean Lee to Demarcus Lawrence. Lee plays at an All Pro level EVERY time he's on the field. He's done so for years. He's one of the most consistent players in the league production-wise, but unfortunately not very reliable health-wise. Lawrence had a monster 2nd half of his 2nd season. That's all he's accomplished as a pro. I'm not saying he'll never amount to much. But he's going into the final year of his rookie contract and hasn't shown to be worth signing to a hefty second contract. Maybe we can keep him on a one-year prove it deal like we did with Claiborne if he doesn't have a monster year next year, but then we'd also be comparing Claiborne to Sean Lee.

 

[Kaiser]

Wow, you are like an excuse machine. Crawford is a huge bust, who said he was hurt? DLaw has been disappointing. He's been bad because he was taking steroids in the offseason and got caught, not because of injury. Thornton was a huge offseason bust, Irving disappeared when we needed him most. His best games were against garbage teams in garbage time.

OK, I take it all back.

Irving was only dominant against "garbage teams" ...... like the Packers.

Crawford wasn't hurt when he missed games..... he had a bad Uber driver on gameday, or something.

DLaw didn't miss 9 starts because of his back... it was one of those super secret suspensions that teams list as an injury.

But I'm the excuse machine. Riiiiiiiightttttttt.

 

[Kaiser]

You can't honestly compare Sean Lee to Demarcus Lawrence.

If you actually read that post and think I was comparing their play, you need to read it again.

After you buy new glasses.

 

[CyberB0b]

OK, I take it all back.

Irving was only dominant against "garbage teams" ...... like the Packers.

Crawford wasn't hurt when he missed games..... he had a bad Uber driver on gameday, or something.

DLaw didn't miss 9 starts because of his back... it was one of those super secret suspensions that teams list as an injury.

But I'm the excuse machine. Riiiiiiiightttttttt.

Did Irving show up on the stat line in the playoffs? Nope.
I thought an injury was the excuse for Crawford last year. What about this year? The truth is that he sucks and is overpaid. If he can't be productive on the field, he is a liability.
DLaw, Mr. Steriods. Involuntary absence from the first four games of the year, then gets hurt when he actually sees some action. Again, a complete Houdini act. He disappeared.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

If you actually read that post and think I was comparing their play, you need to read it again.

After you buy new glasses.

I originally went through the players on the D-line and mentioned how each one is either untalented or unproven. Lawrence would fit into unproven. He only had one good half of one season in three years. He's going into the final year of his rookie contract and hasn't shown that he's worth resigning to any significant amount of money. And there are uncertainties about his back for the foreseeable future. Nothing about him shows that he's a reliable player even if he could stay healthy. At least we know what we're getting out of Sean Lee if he's able to stay on the field. Even David Irving only really had 2-3 great games all season. These are guys that show potential but don't really make you feel comfortable if they're the best you have to offer. Every player offers potential. They didn't make the NFL on their good looks. But if all you have to show after 4 years of building a D-line is 2-3 guys with potential, then you didn't do a very good job.