Skip to main content

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. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marinelli..... Keep being special!

                It was a time not so long ago when Jason Hatcher had a pro bowl season with 11 sacks. Hatcher was probably the last dominate pass rusher for the Dallas Cowboys. Since joining the team in 2013 Rob Marinelli has been the leader of the “JAG” (Just A Guy) committee, when it comes to pass rushers. He’s had some solid linemen, but none has been special. That probably will not change much this upcoming season.                 Drafting Taco Charlton was taking a position of need. Was he the best player available at his position? Only time will tell. Can he step in week one and be the pass rusher the Cowboys hope he can be? We will just have to wait in see. There are many questions surrounding Charlton, and he play was have to answer them. The consensus is that Charlton is a very talented but inconsistent player. He has shown flashes of being special at the coll...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Keys to beating the Packers

             It’s been an up and down start to the 2017 season for the Dallas Cowboys. I haven’t reached the sky is falling phase yet for this team. In the grand scheme of things, this team is still right where they want to be. They’re one game out of first place for the Division and the Conference. They still have to play Philly and the Redskins twice. This team already has one division win in its hat. Everything that the Cowboys hope to accomplish this year, is still very much attainable. Most reasonable fans looked at this schedule, at the beginning of the season and knew that it would be tougher rode for the Cowboys. This team wasn’t going 16-0 and it’s better to struggle now, early in the season, as oppose to late in the year when the games matter most.             With that out the way, the Cowboys have a lot of work to do in order to get back to the 2016 team that we s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calling on General Garrett

I have written a number of blog post about what we, as fans, expect from the players on this Cowboys team. Now let’s put some responsibility at the feet of Jason Garrett. In order for the Dallas Cowboys to make the jump to being a championship team they will need an A+ effort from their General. Jason Garrett is coming off an amazing season with the Dallas Cowboys  which lead to him receiving the coach of the year award. He was able to guide his team to a 13-3 record, a division title, and the best record in the NFC. They eventually lost to the Packers in the divisional round, but the Cowboys still had a good season. I still don’t think we have seen the best of Garrett’s coaching abilities. Since the three straight seasons going 8-8 from 2011-2013, Garrett has been an above average coach. It should be mentioned that in those three season the Cowboys playoff chances can down to the last game of the season. Some people blame Romo for those loses and some b...
Post a Comment
Read more