Archer: It's early but Cowboys run defense looks shaky

[Cotton]

It's early but Cowboys run defense looks shaky

by Todd Archer

OXNARD, Calif. -- If you’re not going to get carried away by preseason results, then you can’t get carried away by preseason statistics.

Through two preseason games, the Dallas Cowboys are allowing 202 yards per game, which is best in the NFL. Their pass defense is also No. 1, giving up only 57 yards per game.

In today’s NFL, even facing second- and third-team quarterbacks in two preseason games, that is just a ridiculous statistic. Meaningless, obviously, but still ridiculous.

If you don’t want to get carried away with positive defensive statistics, then it makes only sense to not get carried away with negative defensive statistics.

But -- and you knew there would be a but -- the Cowboys are allowing 145 yards per game on the ground. The San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers have rushed 76 times for 290 yards. The good: The Cowboys are giving up just 3.8 yards per carry. The bad: The first drive Sunday against the 49ers.

Before we get too carried away, the Cowboys did not have probable Week 1 starters Tyrone Crawford, Nick Hayden, Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens in their front seven.

But -- there’s that word again -- it doesn’t mean everything should be ignored.

It wasn’t inside the locker room.

“When you go out there and give up that amount of rushing yards, preseason or not, that’s just not acceptable with our style of defense,” safety Barry Church said. “We’ll get it done. We’ll get it fixed.”

Last year, there were run-defense concerns in training camp. There was one practice in which the offense was so dominant that their running backs weren’t touched until five yards downfield. In the preseason games last season, the Cowboys allowed 158.3 rushing yards per game.

In the regular season, the Cowboys gave up 103.1 yards per game on the ground, which was a 25-yard difference over 2013. They gave up just two 100-yard rushers for the season.

“With our defense, it’s a one-gap defense,” Church said. “If you’re not in your gap, the ball is going to split up in your gap and it’s going to expose you. That’s the good thing about this defense. We’ll know from watching film immediately who did what and why the running game was effective against us. We’ve definitely got to fix what we’ve got to fix and come out against Minnesota and have a better performance.”

 

[BipolarFuk]

Before we get too carried away, the Cowboys did not have probable Week 1 starters Tyrone Crawford, Nick Hayden, Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens in their front seven.

Yeah and they could all be hurt by week 6.

Except Hayden. You can't get rid of that guy.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

The guy who I think has surprisingly looked weak against the run to me has been Mincey.

 

[Jiggyfly]

The guy who I think has surprisingly looked weak against the run to me has been Mincey.

I don't know how you see that he has been getting penetration and the big gains to the right side happened against Gregory.

Also the d-line were slanting a lot and theLB was late or got blocked preventing them from covering there gap assignment.

 

[Simpleton]

But -- and you knew there would be a but -- the Cowboys are allowing 145 yards per game on the ground. The San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers have rushed 76 times for 290 yards. The good: The Cowboys are giving up just 3.8 yards per carry. The bad: The first drive Sunday against the 49ers.

But then...

Before we get too carried away, the Cowboys did not have probable Week 1 starters Tyrone Crawford, Nick Hayden, Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens in their front seven.

Last year, there were run-defense concerns in training camp. There was one practice in which the offense was so dominant that their running backs weren’t touched until five yards downfield. In the preseason games last season, the Cowboys allowed 158.3 rushing yards per game.

In the regular season, the Cowboys gave up 103.1 yards per game on the ground, which was a 25-yard difference over 2013. They gave up just two 100-yard rushers for the season.

This article should've been titled: "I don't have shit to write about so I'm just going to put together 500 meaningless words because I have a deadline".

 

[Smitty]

There's only one explanation here.... one of you is making shit up.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I don't know how you see that he has been getting penetration and the big gains to the right side happened against Gregory.

Also the d-line were slanting a lot and theLB was late or got blocked preventing them from covering there gap assignment.

In the Chargers game him being out of position is what created the easy TD run at the beginning of the game. You may want to go back and watch because he is getting pushed around a lot early on and really not doing much of anything.

 

[Stars]

C'mon archer, I scan your article and all I see are pre-season stats after the first two games. Meaningless and turrible.

 

[Jiggyfly]

In the Chargers game him being out of position is what created the easy TD run at the beginning of the game. You may want to go back and watch because he is getting pushed around a lot early on and really not doing much of anything.

I don't remember much from the Chargers game but he was not getting pushed around a lot against SF.

Anyway I did not see what you saw he was active and got penetration from my view.

 

[boozeman]

But then...



This article should've been titled: "I don't have shit to write about so I'm just going to put together 500 meaningless words because I have a deadline".

True, but I do think we might struggle against the run.

I remember Campo's first year, we were all like, we are rushing the passer and we had a horrible preseason and then the Pickle Juice game that set the tone for the season.

We are getting smaller on the DL. We will have guys considered DEs playing a lot inside. We have not one guy who could be considered a true 1-T or nose.

 

[fortsbest]

We might somewhat struggle, but the defense in the 49er game only gave up what? 13 points really? I didn't watch it all, but I thought except for a few long runs they did ok.

 

[Simpleton]

True, but I do think we might struggle against the run.

I remember Campo's first year, we were all like, we are rushing the passer and we had a horrible preseason and then the Pickle Juice game that set the tone for the season.

We are getting smaller on the DL. We will have guys considered DEs playing a lot inside. We have not one guy who could be considered a true 1-T or nose.

Conceptually I agree, I wanted Malcolm Brown at 27, although our run D was decent last year and there is no reason we should be worse this year, barring injuries. We only lost Melton, Selvie, Spencer, Carter and about 6 games out of Durant, none of those guys were stalwarts against the run outside of possibly Spencer at times.

The only logical way our run defense should be significantly worse compared to last year, outside of injuries, would be if our running game takes a huge step back and we can't keep offenses off the field.

 

[boozeman]

The only logical way our run defense should be significantly worse compared to last year, outside of injuries, would be if our running game takes a huge step back and we can't keep offenses off the field.

Well, yeah.

That is fixing to happen. Wait and see.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I don't remember much from the Chargers game but he was not getting pushed around a lot against SF.

Anyway I did not see what you saw he was active and got penetration from my view.

First play, he goes unblocked and just maintains his assignment but doesn't attempt to make a play, basically holds outside contain while the RB goes up the middle. (5 yard running play)

Second play, the run goes outside to the right far away from Mincey. Nothing he can do here. First down for the 49ers.

Third play, Mincey goes unblocked, Kaepernick keeps it and runs right at Mincey and gets 9 yards. (Horrific play by Mincey)

Fourth play, it's a pass where Mincey is initially blocked with no penetration but he trails the play and his hustle at least forced Kaepernick to throw the ball away after scrambling far to his right. Kaep dodged two pass rushers before Mincey arrived.

Fifth play, it's third and one and they 49ers run directly at Mincey and get the first down with a gain of 2 yards or so.

Sixth play, it's a run that initially goes left but Hyde has a huge cutback lane to the right and gets a 15 yard gain.

Seventh play, quick pass, no one had a chance at a pass rush.

Eighth play Mincey goes unblocked but Crawford makes the tackle for loss in the backfield before Mincey even knew what was going on.

Ninth play Mincey moves inside to DT on third down and is blocked with no pressure. Pass is complete for first down.

Tenth play is a run towards Mincey who is blocked about three or four yards backwards while the run goes at him.

Eleventh play is a quick fade route where Mincey goes unblocked but the pass is out too quickly and horribly off the mark.

Twelfth play is a pass breakup in the endzone by White. Mincey wasn't able to penetrate at all from RE but Kaepernick threw the ball fairly quickly without any pressure in his face.

Field goal.

Second drive Mincey was out of the game. So yeah, I don't think Mincey performed well at all. When the 49ers ran at him they either gashed him or got the yards needed for the first down. Mincey actually went unblocked a lot but part of that is by design in the read option offense. Mincey is kind of the DE designed to be picked on by those offenses.

 

[ravidubey]

Well, yeah.

That is fixing to happen. Wait and see.

Obviously. We lost the leagues leading rusher, so we can only go down.