xwalker
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The top issue is that in the past few years they've had Eli getting the ball out very quickly. The defensive game plan has to have that as a top consideration.
Play tight press coverage. It can me pure man or man-under concepts, but limit the easy quick throws. In Tampa, Ronde Barber even played what I would call press-zone at times (similar to man-under) where he would play tight to the WR at times but then release them to zone coverage behind him and he would revert to playing zone for any crossing receivers or RB coming out.
The DL stunts that Marinelli likes to use usually take too long to get to Eli, but they do need to run them some anyway because it gives the OL something to consider and can help mix the OL up when they do blitz.
Using some zone blitzes (which they did a little in the preseason) would be good. A DE can drop into zone to limit the quick throws in that area while a LB blitzes. When they work, blitzes tend to get to the QB much quicker than DEs looping around the outside of the OT and quicker than DL stunts.
The DEs will likely play a run contain style to some extent. This limits the number of times they will loop wide and deep in the backfield but allows them to jump at the snaps without have to read and react to the running game.
The execution is critical. In recent years I seen teams use a sacrifice rusher to free up another rusher. It's similar to the concept of DL stunts. One defender slams into a blocker, often from a side angle and another rusher slides in behind to get an opening to the QB. It can be DL-DL such as with DL stunts, but also it can also involved blitzing LBs and DBs. Teams have killed the Cowboys over the years doing this to Doug Free. The key is that the 1st defender has not intention of actually rushing the QB, at least not initially. They are strictly trying to force the blocker to block them instead of the rusher that blocker intended to block. It requires precise timing to accomplish. The problem for the Cowboys is not how often they have blitzed. The problem is that their blitzes have often not been effective.
Maybe the very biggest issue, especially on 3rd downs it finding a way to avoid the pick plays (rub routes) by offenses. They Cowboys have struggled with these significantly the past few years. Claiborne has been the top target of offenses using this tactic. Claiborne is a good and sometimes very good man coverage CB, but he has struggled with anything that requires quick thinking. When 2 WRs on on one side of the formation, 1 will run a pick to free up the other one. Way too often, both Cowboys CBs end up covering the same WR and the other one runs free. The CBs need to be able to sometimes switch off coverage in a 2-man zone but also mix it up and sometimes play man. Claiborne has often made the wrong decision and then Scandrick could be seen yelling at him and explaining what he should have done. If the two CBs in these situations can make the correct decision on the fly as to which WR to cover and then mix it up on occasion, it can become an opportunity for and INT because QBs like to make quick throws on these plays.
Another option on the pick plays is to show off-coverage and then have 1 CB come up and press. This screws up the timing of the pick play for the offense.
It gets even more complicated when the LBs start getting picked. This resulted in a TD allowed this preseason when the LB got picked by the receiver being covered by a CB. Awareness by the CB can help in this situation.
Please will spend a lot of time talking about the pass rush and the DEs, but against the Giants and Eli, even defenses with great pass rushing DEs will have problems if the LBs and DBs can't cover the quick throws.
