Dallas Cowboys Game Tape Review: Defense

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Giving up 5 yds per run is what poor defenses do. It matters if a team is smart enough to keep doing it all the way down the field. What makes you think that if the D can't stop the run all the way down the field it will magically do so inside the 10? Plus running the ball keeps the ToP up for the O and keeps the D on the field, wearing them down.

Since the 2005 season there have been 23 teams that allowed over 4.5 yds/att. Only 5 of them finished over .500 (21.7%). Of those 5, one had Peyton Manning and led the league in Passing Yards, another the same year had Drew Brees and was 2nd in the NFL in Passing Yds.

Football 101, running inside the ten requires better execution because there are more players in a confined area, holes are smaller, ballcarriers are reached quicker, etc.

I'm not saying there's no problem with the run defense, but it's not like we were whipped by Dallas in the rushing attack. They averaged like 4.8 YPC and never had a carry over 12 yards. That's an efficient day running the football, but hardly getting gashed like it seems some people are commenting on.

We're not going to give up 4.5 YPC for the season. It's just not going to happen. We might have a below average run defense overall (we did on Sunday, at least), but like I said above, if it doesn't affect the pass defense for the negative (because of schematic alterations to plug a leaky run defense), it won't matter.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Football 101, running inside the ten requires better execution because there are more players in a confined area, holes are smaller, ballcarriers are reached quicker, etc.

I'm not saying there's no problem with the run defense, but it's not like we were whipped by Dallas in the rushing attack. They averaged like 4.8 YPC and never had a carry over 12 yards. That's an efficient day running the football, but hardly getting gashed like it seems some people are commenting on.

We're not going to give up 4.5 YPC for the season. It's just not going to happen. We might have a below average run defense overall (we did on Sunday, at least), but like I said above, if it doesn't affect the pass defense for the negative (because of schematic alterations to plug a leaky run defense), it won't matter.

Thanks for the Football 101. It's very unusual for a D giving up over 4.5 Yds/Att to suddenly become a monster inside the 10. Of course it's harder to run inside the 10 because your options are cut down. But the same guys on the DL are still on the field inside the 10. And they're going against the same OL that has been kicking their ass up and down the field. Fine, you can put 9 in the box, but now I've got an extra TE and a power run formation. Bottom line, the chances of a D giving up a huge yds/att number and stuffing the opponent consistently inside the 10 is slim.

We actually were whipped in the run game, but because of piss-poor coaching and Garrett being to much of a "genius" for his own good Dallas didn't take advantage.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Thanks for the Football 101. It's very unusual for a D giving up over 4.5 Yds/Att to suddenly become a monster inside the 10. Of course it's harder to run inside the 10 because your options are cut down. But the same guys on the DL are still on the field inside the 10. And they're going against the same OL that has been kicking their ass up and down the field. Fine, you can put 9 in the box, but now I've got an extra TE and a power run formation. Bottom line, the chances of a D giving up a huge yds/att number and stuffing the opponent consistently inside the 10 is slim.

We actually were whipped in the run game, but because of piss-poor coaching and Garrett being to much of a "genius" for his own good Dallas didn't take advantage.

You made a logical jump somewhere and I lost you. My bad.

We agree on the Cowboys' management of the game being a huge component in only getting 7 points. We didn't play "7 points" good on defense that day.

I have little concept of how you've interpreted what I've written about our run defense. I argued that:

1) We didn't give up big plays, runs or passes
2) Dallas can't play whole-field, slow-paced football the way we forced them to play
3) Other teams are going to throw on us frequently as well
4) If we can perform like we did against Dallas with just seven guys in the box, and play the run to the level we did, we'll be fine

I'm a little confused about why people are concerned about getting our run defense to post sub 4.0 YPC numbers. It'd be nice for sure to excel in all facets of the game, but if teams actually ran the ball 60% of the time against us because they thought they could sustain an offense that way, I'd be thrilled. That's good for us.

I don't remember saying anything about having a great red zone rushing defense one way or the other. I feel that if we put a lot of guys in the box to stop the run, teams are going to throw on us there too.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

3) Other teams are going to throw on us frequently as well.
4) If we can perform like we did against Dallas with just seven guys in the box, and play the run to the level we did, we'll be fine

For # 3, not if we keep giving up 4.7 Yds/Att. For #4, No, we won't.

Here's what you said that's raising eyebrows, "Giving up 5 yards a run only matters if it forces you to pull extra guys out of pass defense to stop it because you can't make any other adjustment. Our front seven is far too good to reach that point."

That's where the over 4.5 Yds/Att arguments are coming from. Regarding the part about our front 7 being too good for that, against an average/below average OL, with shitty playcalling, we gave up 4.7 per rush with a long rush of 12, so it's not like we shut them down but gave up one 80 yd run. We're lucky Dallas chose to throw 67.6 % of the time and definitely agree on the poor Dallas playcalls.

I'm a little confused about why people are concerned about getting our run defense to post sub 4.0 YPC numbers. It'd be nice for sure to excel in all facets of the game, but if teams actually ran the ball 60% of the time against us because they thought they could sustain an offense that way, I'd be thrilled. That's good for us.

No one said anything about sub 4 YPC numbers. And if Dallas ran 60% of the time on Sunday, assuming even a 4.5 YPC, we would've lost.

I, and others, believe you're missing or downplaying the problems on our DL and at OLB against the run. Our problems were covered by a poor coaching job by Dallas, but a couple more weeks of film with run performances like Sunday and we'll be looking at teams running at us 60% of the time and us not being able to stop it, then getting beat with PA or in 1-on-1 coverage with no help over the top the other 40% of the time.