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I've Seen the Error of My Ways.... Defense Please

        Allow me to apologize. I’m sorry to all of Cowboys nations, as I have made a mistake. I was one of those Cowboys fans that was standing tall for this defense. I even went as hard to call out the offense for not doing enough to win games. After that Cardinals game, I jumped all over Scott Linnehan and Jason Garrett for a lack of creativity for this offense. My argument, at the time, was that the offense had the three all pro linemen, pro bowl QB, pro bowl running back, and a pro bowl wide receiver. I now see the error of my ways, and I must ask for forgiveness.
            The Cowboys have scored 28, 31, and 30 points in their last three games. Their record is 1-2 in those three games. Thirty points use to be enough to win in the NFL, considering that the league leader in points per game is KC (32.8). Only two teams average over 30 points per game this season. The point is that when your offense scores 30 points the defense isn’t supposed to allow 35. I’m completely off the back of the Cowboys offense. If this offense continues to play this way the Cowboys will be fine going forward. They must fix this defense, in a hurry.
            It’s not fun beating a dead horse. I write these blogs because I’m thinking about and researching the Dallas Cowboys anyways in my free time, so why no put my thoughts on the internet. I bleed Sliver and Blue. Writing about the team that I love brings me great joy. Back to this dead horse, the Dallas Cowboys defense has been a punch line to many jokes for too long. Tony Romo had to overcome a terrible defense his entire career with the Cowboys and that doesn’t appear to have changed. Dak is walking in the same shoes as Romo, as far as carry a team that can’t stop a nose bleed, and something has to be done immediately.
            I still find it hard to pile on the defense for the Cowboys. I want to like Demarcus Lawrence, Bryon Jones, Anthony Brown, and some of the other young studs on the defense. Then I see that they just can’t seem to work together as a unit to be effective enough to hold teams under 30 points. I don’t want to hear anything about the Cowboys having a top 5 scoring defense last season, because now we see that was a mirage. The defense benefitted from the success of the offense last season and there is no other way around it. At this point we aren’t asking this defense to be the 2000 Ravens. We just want them to be a respectable unit.
            There is such a thing as “bend but don’t break defense.” Holding the Rams to 7 field goals is an example of bending but not breaking. The Cowboys are allowing 26.5 points per game this season. That is a whole touchdown more a game than they allowed last season (19.1). Barry Church is the only missing piece to this unit. He is balling in Jacksonville, and hindsight is 20/20. It looks like a bad move to let him walk but the Cowboys couldn’t afford him. Carr, Wilcox, and Claiborne aren’t lighting the world on fire, so the Cowboys aren’t missing them. They are definitely missing Barry Church at the Strong Safety position. Missing Church maybe a byproduct of replacing him with Jeff Heath. Please don’t get me started on Heath.

            Yes, the Cowboys have issues to work out. No, they won’t get all the issues fixed this season. They can still make the playoffs if they’re able to put together a defense that can, at the very least, hold teams to 20 points. This offense has shown the ability to put up 30 points and I don’t think we’ve seen this offense clicking on all cylinders yet. If the Cowboys hope to make the playoffs in 2017 it will have to start with improved play for the defensive unit. 

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