Sturm: No fluke! These Cowboys have opponents looking as flustered as they were during 'Triplets' era

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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Crawford, Collins, Lawrence and Gregory were all 2nd or 3rd round picks. That's investing in the DL for sure, it's just that Gregory was a high risk/high reward pick that didn't work out and Crawford was drafted when we were still running a 3-4.

We just haven't invested in the position like we have the OL.

Then of course there's the borderline 1st round pick we spent on a redshirt.
In retrospect, would have been nice to have Noah Spence.
 

Simpleton

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In retrospect, would have been nice to have Noah Spence.
On the field I'm sure the team loved him, I know most of us did, but I understand not taking him with the off the field stuff considering the suspensions to Lawrence and Gregory.

Of course turning around and spending the pick on Smith is just as much of a risk but hey.
 

Cotton

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I haven't been around much, but wtf have you become?
You people haven't seen this side of me in many many years. It's no wonder you can't remember it. I must say... it feels good.
 

Texas Ace

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I'm enjoying this ride, but I am fearing the huge thud that awaits this team in the playoffs with no pass rush and no one taking the ball away defensively.

The offense isn't going to carry this team to the SB, the odds are just stacked against it.
It's certainly a legitimate concern to have.

My hopes are that this offense just continues to roll, and that the return of Claiborne and Church allows us to go back to having at least a serviceable unit.

As L.T. says, you're not wrong in your assessment, but the best teams in the NFC and even in the NFL for that matter are all flawed. All it takes is a few stalled drives from the opposition and the next thing you know, you're facing an uphill climb against these Cowboys for the entire game.

I think even with this defense, this Cowboys team can go all the way in this year's NFL, but having a decent unit sure could make life a whole lot easier.
 

NoDak

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You motherfucker!

Okay, maybe mf'er was a bit strong.

You sonofabitch!
You were not very respectful of my mom either way.

I will not forget this egregious error on your part.
 

Cotton

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You were not very respectful of my mom either way.

I will not forget this egregious error on your part.
Dude, I'm sorry, okay? Don't go all hiding in the bushes on me, man.
 

Texas Ace

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That's actually not true. Used a 2nd round pick on pass rushers in both 2015 and 2014. That's certainly addressing the defense. And that's not even counting drafting Hitchens and Wilson.
I don't consider that a serious attempt to address the defense.

Yes, we used 2nd rounders on defensive players, but we used them on players we knew going in had huge question marks attached to them and there would be a chance that both guys would not see the field for various reasons.

Well, here we are going into week 13 of the 2016 season and sure enough, neither guy is available to help us.

Had we used those picks on guys who didn't have so many questions surrounding them, we might just be a little better on defense than we are right now.

We have not been good enough in recent years to be gambling so often with such a premium pick and I hope this team understands the need to get an immediate contributor from our early rounders as we head into the next draft.
 

mcnuttz

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I don't consider that a serious attempt to address the defense.

Yes, we used 2nd rounders on defensive players, but we used them on players we knew going in had huge question marks attached to them and there would be a chance that both guys would not see the field for various reasons.

Well, here we are going into week 13 of the 2016 season and sure enough, neither guy is available to help us.

Had we used those picks on guys who didn't have so many questions surrounding them, we might just be a little better on defense than we are right now.

We have not been good enough in recent years to be gambling so often with such a premium pick and I hope this team understands the need to get an immediate contributor from our early rounders as we head into the next draft.
It's time Stephen took away Jerry's 2nd round gamble.
 

dallen

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I wonder how much regret Jerry has over not addressing the defense until this current draft. It would be a shame to see this
team lose because of its weak D. But many of us sense it coming at some point. Maybe not, maybe we have perfected the formula
that keeps our defense off the field. It's exciting as hell, but each and every week, I cringe when opposing qb's slice right through our secondary
and we get ZERO sacks. Ugh.....
How nice would it be to have a redo on that Jaylon Smith pick right now?
 

1bigfan13

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If Leicester City can do it, why not us?
 

Texas Ace

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If Leicester City can do it, why not us?
You can look at that Redskins game in two ways and you wouldn't be wrong with either:

It's a sign of what's to come from the defense and how it will ultimately be our downfall.

The Redskins had over 500 yards of offense and no turnovers and yet they still trailed by 2 scores for the majority of the game and never led.

From that I come away with that I said earlier and that is, this defense could very well cost us, but we can also beat the best teams in the league in spite of it. Let's hope we continue to do the latter all the way into February.
 

1bigfan13

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I'm enjoying this ride, but I am fearing the huge thud that awaits this team in the playoffs with no pass rush and no one taking the ball away defensively.

The offense isn't going to carry this team to the SB, the odds are just stacked against it.
Unless we have a 2 score lead with under 3 minutes to play in the game, I'd like to see us dump the 3 man pass rush. Those are completely ineffective.

As for the rest of the game, I'm fine with the 4 man rushes but would like to see them dial up a few more blitzes to keep teams off balance.

Unfortunately it looks like the best we can hope for is what we saw during the first half of the Redskins game. Which is we give up tons of yards and allow teams to methodically march down the field.....once they hit the redzone we just have to hope our defense stiffens up and holds them to FGs.
 

1bigfan13

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You can look at that Redskins game in two ways and you wouldn't be wrong with either:

It's a sign of what's to come from the defense and how it will ultimately be our downfall.

The Redskins had over 500 yards of offense and no turnovers and yet they still trailed by 2 scores for the majority of the game and never led.

From that I come away with that I said earlier and that is, this defense could very well cost us, but we can also beat the best teams in the league in spite of it. Let's hope we continue to do the latter all the way into February.
My ideal playoff opponents would be Detroit in the Divisional Round and Seattle in the NFC Title Game. Two teams that don't have a tremendous amount of talent on offense and are fairly one-dimensional.

I want to avoid the Redskins and Falcons in the playoffs.
 

Texas Ace

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My ideal playoff opponents would be Detroit in the Divisional Round and Seattle in the NFC Title Game. Two teams that don't have a tremendous amount of talent on offense and are fairly one-dimensional.

I want to avoid the Redskins and Falcons in the playoffs.
That is exactly the scenario I would want for the same reasons you stated.

It's all about matchups, and regardless of Atlanta not being a great team, I don't want that matchup for our defense.

Give me Detroit and Seattle, please.

As for Brady in the SB? Well, let's just hope we can do enough on defense and we smash that very mediocre defense of theirs.
 
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