News: You May Not Realize It But The Cowboys Defense Keeps Getting Better

[JDSmith]

I need to ask: I keep reading articles about the Cowboys defense and a lot of them end up saying "The Cowboys will be without their two best pass rushers for the first 4 games"...

Is Randy Gregory really one of the Cowboys' two best pass rushers?

Because of his injury as a rookie it hasn't been proven in games, but whenever the podcasts talk about drills and practice etc... Gregory is head and shoulders above anyone else we have. I know those are only drills and he hasn't shown it in games yet, but I think he's clearly our most talented pass rusher - if not best (yet).

Losing him hurts the team and hurts his development.

 

[DandyDon52]

Well, you can look at it one of two ways. We were ranked 12th and 2nd in takeaways in 13' and 14', respectively. Then in '15 we dropped to last in the league. So either '13 and '14 were outliers and the D showed their "true colors" last year, or '15 was an outlier and we'll we should bounce back to a respectable number in '16.

15 was an out-lier, Teams played us different due to no tony, and they saw that our coaches could not score many points with tony out of the game.
I think by game 6, or Cassels 1st game , this was confirmed, and then what teams did was concentrate on not giving up
easy or short scores with turnovers.
So the other teams game plan was in large part no turnovers, just score a few points, and rattle the qb and you will beat the cowboys.
Dallas lost games 13-12,10-6, teams knew dallas could not score much on their own, so just dont give them turnovers, just punt the ball.

The other thing is dallas cut or didnt sign, several defensive players, who had got 17 of the 32 turnovers in 2014.
So the guys who got 1/2 of the t/o were no longer on the team. This had a effect too.

The other thing is that the cowboys defense and I think Marinelli as a DC are just avg, not real bad , and not real good.

Marinelli's scheme doesnt lend itself to getting ints, where a player undercuts a wr and steals the pass, it is more tackle after the catch
type defense, or block the catch. Be in position and make the tackles.
It isnt a gambling defense.

The players not resigned or cut, were evidently more important than the coaches and jones boys thought they were.

So 15 was a combination of things, but still to have fewest turnovers ever in history of NFL is pretty bad , and that has to say
something about Marinelli, that many fans dont want to see or say.
It happened on his watch, so make excuses, or realize, he is partly to blame for that.

This defense will probably go back to being avg, and with turnovers, I dont know, but I dont expect them to be average there,
probably a bit below avg.
But if our offense can score a lot of points, then other teams have to go all out trying to move the ball, which should mean
more turnovers, so they could be better than avg.
Depends on what our offense does points wise.

Bottom line is the defense is AVG, Marinelli is AVG ! Some think he is great DC , who just needs better players, but I think
Better players make any coach look better, and a good coach will make avg players look good, not bad.

 

[skinsscalper]

A lot of members been posting the exact opposite of this the last few weeks.

They aren't going to like this article one bit.

Oh don't you worry. The ****** Monologues production crew will be twisting this info in a million different directions in an attempt to debunk the information.

 

[skinsscalper]

I need to ask: I keep reading articles about the Cowboys defense and a lot of them end up saying "The Cowboys will be without their two best pass rushers for the first 4 games"...

Is Randy Gregory really one of the Cowboys' two best pass rushers?

Tough to say, man, to be honest. The kid really showed some serious push in the only meaningful game that he played in last season (unfortunately the first game of the season) before he was injured. He didn't seem to be much of a force upon his return but I think he was as rookie that missed the majority of any meaningful learning and developing reps due to injury and I don't think he was really fully recovered when he DID come back. Another year in the system and that much more experience will certainly help but I don't think we are going to really see which way his arrow is pointing until about week 8-10 of this season. If he continues his development he'll be solid at worst and possibly dominating by year 3.

The homer part of my fan hood says he'll be the best pass rusher on this team, this time next year, but honestly no one knows just yet.

 

[Idgit]

I need to ask: I keep reading articles about the Cowboys defense and a lot of them end up saying "The Cowboys will be without their two best pass rushers for the first 4 games"...

Is Randy Gregory really one of the Cowboys' two best pass rushers?

One, that's not saying a lot with our current group, but two, he didn't show anything much last season, whether it was due to his high ankle sprain or not is the subject of debate, but he was drawing comparisons to Demarcus Ware from excited reporters in camp, and that got the Cowboys faithful riled up. Basically, he's the closest thing we've got to a blue chipper on the DL at that rush end position. Lawrence, came on strong and actually produced last year, so he's definitely a big loss.

Other than Gregory, though, we've got a guy we signed off the Raiders RFA list, and a guy we poached off of the Chiefs PS and a guy we took in the 5th last year in the rotation, so, basically a 3-pack of sno-balls. As a group, the young DLs have some interesting players, but the chance of any given interesting player turning out when you need them to most is not very good as we've learned the hard way in Dallas the last few years.

For my part, I think Gregory smokes himself out of the league. But if he doesn't, he sure looks like an impact player in the making to me.

 

[Califan007]

Excellent responses, thanks...*thumbsup*

 

[TX Cowboy]

I have to assume that in your mind the 'sheeple' are any fans who agree with the article. Who else do you perceive as drooling over his opinion? And of course the article is from blogging the boys which, unless I'm mistaken, is a fan driven blog - which means the person in question might just know as much as you. As might the people who agree with the article - the so called sheeple... nevermind.

sheeple - people compared to sheep in being docile, foolish, or easily led.

I was going to attempt an adult discourse, but the more I read your post the more convinced I am that you're just a ******. The profanity filter will undoubtedly clean that word up, but most of the profane words will fit just fine in that sentence, so feel free to choose the most insulting one.

Why bother? you've already demonstrated hatred for the truth and so it would be a waste of time to engage this any further

 

[TrailBlazer]

If some fans want to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the truth, go right ahead. IMO this defense will be nothing more than middle of the road, best case scenario. I'm really hoping for mediocre but I'm afraid they lack reliable talent at every level. This will be an offensive minded team and they will need to control clock and help the D as much as possible. They don't necessarily have to be a good defense but they MUST be an opportunistic defense. When a play is there to be made they better make it, unlike what I have seen from them in recent years.