Why is Marinelli getting a free pass?

[perrykemp]

I just read that the Cowboys are on pace to force the fewest turnovers in modern era of NFL football.

They have forced 4 turnovers and are on pace to force 8 of them.

The fewest turnovers forced ever is 11 (2013 Texans) so the Cowboys are actually on pace to obliterate that extremely dubious record.

Question: When does Rod Marinelli start to take some criticism for the play of the defense?

Here on CZ, for the most part, criticism of Marinelli -- heck anything less than strong praise of Marinelli, results in the person doing the criticizing being dog piled, being called a troll, or generally just being paraded as the village idiot.

I am not advocating firing Marinelli, however, I believe the season has reached the point (8 games in) to take a step back and question the decisions being made on defense.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

read some of the posts, there's plenty of Marrinelli hate.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

the main reason Ive given him a little bit of a pass is that the D has typically been ignored AND/OR poor players been put in place.

The only "performers" he's really been given are Byron Jones and Hardy. Thats a lot of other holes.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Why do people always start threads with the idea that...Why is so and so getting a free pass...when the board has tons of threads that contain many posters complaining about the so and so who is supposed to be getting a free pass?

I am not ragging the OP because it has happened many times over the years by many different posters.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

He's not getting a pass. I'm not a fan of his scheme. I don't like not having his corners bump and run. I don't like his corners not being aggressive for the first 5 yards. I don't like how his corners play 10 yards off receivers.

 

[RunDMC]

He hasn't gotten one from me. David Irving not being a starter much less in favor of Nick Hayden is inexcusable. Playing so vanilla and not blitzing when we can't get any pressure is inexcusable. Not attacking the weakness of Philadelphia's line is inexcusable which is their interior guards. Not benching Rolando McClain is inexcusable. Not abandoning that bend, but don't break style is inexcusable when it's clear it doesn't work.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

the main reason Ive given him a little bit of a pass is that the D has typically been ignored AND/OR poor players been put in place.

The only "performers" he's really been given are Byron Jones and Hardy. Thats a lot of other holes.

He has been given A LOT. Maranelli did far more with LESS. We invested our 2 1st picks into defense. We invested a 2nd and 3rd round pick last year into his defense.

I don't see lack of talent. I see some youth. But I don't see Maranelli putting guys in the best position to succeed.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

I believe part of the answer is that they go very hard for a quarter-quarter and a half which is maybe 3 possessions. During this period, they are flying to the ball, going for the strip, you name it, basically all the things we like to see and then they are sucking wind the rest of the game. Once they are tired, they stop flying to the ball, they stop trying to strip the ball, they are in limited situations to even attempt an interception, and they can barely sniff the QB, all the things necessary to create turnovers.

 

[romothesavior]

Why do people always start threads with the idea that...Why is so and so getting a free pass...when the board has tons of threads that contain many posters complaining about the so and so who is supposed to be getting a free pass?

I am not ragging the OP because it has happened many times over the years by many different posters.

I'm sure there are some anti-Marinelli threads and posts, but he has gotten far less criticism than Garrett and Linehan. I also haven't seen any criticism of him in the media like I have JG. I do think it's fair to say he's getting a free pass relative to the criticism he deserves.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

I don't see Maranelli putting guys in the best position to succeed.

Sounds like the offense too.

Coaching makes all the difference in the NFL.

 

[perrykemp]

the main reason Ive given him a little bit of a pass is that the D has typically been ignored AND/OR poor players been put in place.

The only "performers" he's really been given are Byron Jones and Hardy. Thats a lot of other holes.

Front office has invested heavily in the defense:

• $50M contract for Carr
• Trading up for Claiborne
• Trading up for Lawrence
• $45M contract for Crawford
• $51M contract for Lee
• 1y/$11M contract for Hardy

These are the decisions they made.

They decided to invest heavily in the DL and CB and not at safety.

Now they have to live with those decisions.

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

Why do people always start threads with the idea that...Why is so and so getting a free pass...when the board has tons of threads that contain many posters complaining about the so and so who is supposed to be getting a free pass?

I am not ragging the OP because it has happened many times over the years by many different posters.

Agreed. I jumped off the Maranelli bandwagon in the game thread last night.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

He hasn't gotten one from me. David Irving not being a starter much less in favor of Nick Hayden is inexcusable. Playing so vanilla and not blitzing when we can't get any pressure is inexcusable. Not attacking the weakness of Philadelphia's line is inexcusable which is their interior guards. Not being Rolando McClain is inexcusable. Not abandoning that bend, but don't break style is inexcusable when it's clear it doesn't work.

Pretty much this.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Sounds like the offense too.

Coaching makes all the difference in the NFL.

I agree. But to the point Romo masked all of those problems and now they are paying the price.

 

[vaturkey]

I believe part of the answer is that they go very hard for a quarter-quarter and a half which is maybe 3 possessions. During this period, they are flying to the ball, going for the strip, you name it, basically all the things we like to see and then they are sucking wind the rest of the game. Once they are tired, they stop flying to the ball, they stop trying to strip the ball, they are in limited situations to even attempt an interception, and they can barely sniff the QB, all the things necessary to create turnovers.

Agree. We are the best on the first possession of the game and our worst on the last possession of the game. Our defense collapses in the 4th quarter. I'd surmise we might be the worst defense in the league in the last 15 minutes of a game. Call it fatigue, call it scheme, call it whatever. Bottom line is the defense doesn't finish games. All this talk about Byron Jones being the best thing since sliced bread is premature. I haven't seen many game changing plays out of the kid. He may get there soon, but as Parcells used to say, annotating oil is way premature.

 

[Sydla]

the main reason Ive given him a little bit of a pass is that the D has typically been ignored AND/OR poor players been put in place.

The only "performers" he's really been given are Byron Jones and Hardy. Thats a lot of other holes.

Ummmmm........... he has input in who is picked, etc.

Nick Hayden is here for one reason.............. Marinelli loves him. Did he love him last night when on every key short yardage play last night Hayden got trucked?

 

[Miller]

I don't give anyone a free pass. I think the whole staff right now deserves to be panned for their lack of execution, game planning, preparation, conditioning, etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one but I feel like we are still stuck in neutral despite last year because Romo runs this team and he is getting older. Last year seems like an aberration and we are having similar issues to the years preceding last year. Tiring broken record that seems to wear me down.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Front office has invested heavily in the defense:

• $50M contract for Carr
• Trading up for Claiborne
• Trading up for Lawrence
• $45M contract for Crawford
• $51M contract for Lee
• 1y/$11M contract for Hardy

These are the decisions they made.

They decided to invest heavily in the DL and CB and not at safety.

Now they have to live with those decisions.

There was not anything to invest in on safety. Who has been available? They did what was best. Their problem isn't investing in safety. Their problem is simply not having more playmakers and not playing the players they do have and putting them in positions to succeed. They are now trying to do it with Byron but it took them to play the Pats to do that.

The linebacking corp is what really hurt this team. They went from having Bruce Carter, Justin Durant, Sean Lee, Hitchens, Rolando McClain just last season to simply not having anything this year.

The story of this offseason should be called "arrogance". There were a lot of moves made this offseason out of arrogance .

 

[Wolfpack]

It was odd (but typical) that he came out with some blitzes that seem to work well, then went away from it for the most part. The team never adjusts well mid game anyway so why change from something that is actually working to something that isn't working as well?

 

[Floatyworm]

When you coach an 0-16 team......That buys you a lot of clout