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Eberflus Report Week 2: They zoned out
The defense wasn't good against the Giants. Not at all.
Bob Sturm
Sep 17, 2025
Here we go. Our objectives today will be:
We were so encouraged by the defense in Philadelphia. They held the champions to just a field goal in the second half on opening night and gave Dallas every opportunity to win in the end.
Sure, the team came up short, but the defense played its first game without Micah Parsons in a way that suggested they wanted to prove to the football universe that they can be fine without him. They want to write their own story.
Of course, in the hardest league in the world, you have to play again the next week. The next opponent is going to try things that the first opponent did not. And then week after week, new challenges against new opponents will truly tell you if your team has weaknesses that can be exploited.
Well, not to spoil the ending here, but the Giants found weaknesses that the Eagles weren’t really even curious about.
The Giants scored on seven drives and had an eighth end deep in Dallas territory. They rolled up 506 yards which had not happened to the Giants since 2019 when Pat Shurmur was still their coach. It has been a while.
They also had 37 points and passed for 450. Trust me, the Giants were just as shocked as the Cowboys were that so many Giants big passes were found. At no point in the last decade did the Giants approach seven different 25-yard passes. It was surprising to both sides.
But, it all happened and now Matt Eberflus’ defense is in shambles. And, frankly, they should be. That was ridiculous.
As we said Monday, Dallas had allowed 37 points and 500 yards 14 times in franchise history and has managed to win for just the second time. You definitely should not win games where you are this bad on defense, but thank the offense and your kicker for bailing you out.
As they say, it is always more fun to be taught tough lessons if you can still manage to win – and, let’s be fair, their one takeaway led directly to victory.
But, doggone, that was brutal.
Ironically, in our season preview discussions, we noted that the defense’s worst two metrics in 2024 that had to improve were:
Of course, things have changed since 2024. Many players are gone, including Parsons, Jourdan Lewis, DeMarcus Lawrence, and yes, DaRon Bland for this game among others. So, in typical fashion, they may have addressed the two major weaknesses, but then opened up several new ones because now stopping the pass, rushing the passer, getting takeaways, and things of that nature look like they might be a real issue again.
Something about the Dutch Boy and “fingers in the dike” come to mind.
Anyway, let’s look at the damage from our Josh Clevenger’s chart:
Let’s talk explosive plays for a moment. There are many coaches who will tell you that takeaways differential are often the determiner of game results unlike any other stat. If you read me, you know I subscribe to this theory because the numbers support it very well.
But, in recent years, the explosive play differential has become just as compelling.
Let’s talk explosives
In modern football, creating explosives or chunk plays are the main objective of offensive strategy. The old “three-yards and a cloud of dust” is impossible to depend upon, so we are looking for 20-plus yards at once now. Not to bog down, but explosives are defined in different ways, but I have settled on 20-plus yards and I don’t care if it is a run or a pass (some people say 10-plus runs, and 20-plus passes) because as you have heard me say 100 times, a yard is just a yard. The field doesn’t care if you ran or passed. It is still second-and-9.
In 2024, the best offense was Baltimore with 85 and the worst offense was New England with 43. Dead average was right around 60. In 2023, the best was San Francisco with 85 and the worst was New England again with 37 (Yeesh, Patriots!). Average was closer to 62. And in 2022, Kansas City had 83 and the Giants had 43 and the middle was about 61. So, our brief three year research tells us that in the NFL, the very best teams in the sport are averaging almost 5 explosives a game while the worst are at 2.5 per. The average explosive count per game for the average offense is about 3.6 or so.
So, yes, giving up eight explosives in one game is insane (a pace of a 136-explosive season). Especially to a team that never comes close to that number. The Giants had seven 25-yard passes on Sunday and only 20 all of last season!
Now that we have established that the Giants are not an explosive offense (at least they weren’t), let’s talk Cowboys defense.
Matt Eberflus has been hired as the third coordinator in three years. As they normally love to do, the Cowboys hired a guy who they knew, rather than a guy who has a scheme that feels cutting edge or modern in any way. I am not saying his defenses don’t work, because they often are just fine. I am saying that I don’t feel like the league is taking note at the innovations, nor does the talent he has to work with seem to fit with the objectives of the scheme.
Why do I say that?
Well, from 2021-2023, nobody in the NFL played more man coverage than the Dallas Cowboys. And, they were great at it as they led the NFL in takeaways and sacks, which many might suggest are two of the most important stats. But, to run man coverage, you have to have the secondary personnel who can handle it.
Well, just five players played over 2,000 snaps in those three seasons on the defense. Those player were: Micah Parsons, Jayron Kearse, Trevon Diggs, Malik Hooker, and Donovan Wilson.
Those last three names: Trevon Diggs, Malik Hooker, and Donovan Wilson are now being asked to lead a secondary who is going to play roughly 98% zone. In fact, how about a visual? From the Twitter account Football Insights, please note which team is registering 0% man coverage so far:
Now, we are OK with changes. We also trust our DC knows what he is doing. We wrote a big piece with our friend and defensive guru Cody Alexander at MatchQuarters about the Eberflus scheme and why it can work great. But, when you take the man-personnel you have and shove it into a zone coverage team, we might be skeptical.
Then, when you make 36-year old Russell Wilson look like he is 25 again, we are going to be more than a bit skeptical that this team can run zones well. They were torched again and again by the Giants (of all people) against zone every time on Sunday. The league is going to be throwing so many bombs and ideas at this secondary in the weeks to come. Just look at these 7 25-yard passes and none of them were short passes that broke free. These were almost all vertical shots.
You know me well enough to know that I cannot let this happen without a historical record. This is my task this morning. A deep look at those seven.
The Seven Verticals that destroyed the Cowboys Zones
No. 1
1Q - 7:47 - 3-24-NYG 48 - R.Wilson pass deep middle to W.Robinson to DAL 2 for 50 yards (M.Hooker).
OK, this first one is Tampa-2. On 3rd and 24, you have one job and that is to get off the field. So, of course, you need to be calling a defense that is prepared for the opponents best vertical plan. Dallas runs Tampa 2 which means a LB has to carry any seam vertical because the safeties are widening out to help with Nabers and Slayton on the outside. Of course, the Giants confuse the drop LB (59-Murray) with the TE hooking up in the middle while the slot WR Robinson heads right for the goal-post and nobody goes with him. Essentially you have three defenders going with four guys (the drop LB cannot take both guys) and therefore, this is a blown coverage where the under guys don’t know what they are doing. This is a confused-looking defense. But, wait, it gets worse.
No. 2
1Q - 3:34 - 3-1-NYG 40 - R.Wilson pass deep left to M.Nabers pushed ob at DAL 32 for 28 yards (T.Diggs).
On 3rd and 1, the Cowboys switch to Cover 3. Essentially, Diggs is playing man against Nabers because help cannot get there for most routes. He has him lined up and funnels him to the sideline. If I am Russ, I probably am trying a fade to Nabers every time. I just think he can beat anyone like this – just as Dak and CeeDee think the same thing. People will get on Trevon Diggs for this, but Nabers can cook almost any corner alive on an island like this. I can’t be mad at losing, but might need to be more physical at the snap to try to prevent this a bit.
No. 3
2Q - 6:27 - 1-10-NYG 46 - R.Wilson pass deep middle to W.Robinson to DAL 29 for 25 yards (J.Sanborn).
Somehow Russ knew the Cowboys were in Tampa 2 again here because he is so excited to throw this seam to Robinson again on the back-shoulder fade. In presnap, the Cowboys are trying to disguise their safeties a bit, but he quickly sees Jack Sanborn trying to run with WanDale Robinson and that is an issue. The safeties are fine here, but if Russ puts the throw on the back-shoulder, it will happen in front of them. That is a quick chunk play where the QB knew the answer to the test. So, either stop running that or disguise it better because he knew as if he read Sanborn’s hips or something.
No. 4
2Q - 5:43 - 1-10-DAL 29 - R.Wilson pass deep left to M.Nabers for 29 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is the very next play and the Cowboys are in Quarters (something they haven’t run much in years) and it shows. Donovan Wilson appears out to lunch as Diggs funnels Nabers to him. Wilson has to be sniffing the most dangerous man out and Nabers runs right by him as Diggs is wondering why his safety is watching Theo Johnson for some reason. My skepticism on the split-safety ideas is that this defense might not have safeties that know what to do when they are not single-high. Cover 2, Cover 4, and Cover 6 is half-field responsibilities and therefore you share the middle of the field and have to provide help to your side’s corner. I would put this on Wilson, I believe.
Now, to the second half.
No. 5
3Q - 7:14 - 1-10-NYG 33 - R.Wilson pass deep right to D.Slayton to DAL 15 for 52 yards (M.Hooker).
This is Cover 3 and this is Kaiir Elam trying to deal with Darius Slayton. This rep is so bad by Elam that I am not even sure what I am looking at. It appears that Elam is trying to funnel him outside and Slayton fakes and releases to the inside and at that point Elam is so cooked that this almost looks like pregame warmups. I have no explanation for this at all and therefore I will just say that I am pretty clear on who busted on this one.
No. 6
4Q - 2:50 - 4-4-DAL 32 - R.Wilson pass deep right to W.Robinson for 32 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is 4th and 4 and the Cowboys are up 27-23. The Giants have a great motion here in presnap that short-circuits the coverage (again, they don’t know their roles) and the Cover 3 gets crossed up. Diggs is now seeing the TE and remember, the game is on the line here. In the Cover 3 with motion, it is my belief that he must now move to TE and that means Robinson is now for 28-Hooker. Hooker is clearly unsure and doesn’t take anyone so Diggs has two guys. The safety is flat-footed 6-Wilson again and Robinson cannot believe he can run uncovered to the end zone. Diggs will get blamed for this, but I think he is the only one who saw what was happening, but playing his outside leverage, he had no chance to save anything. Perplexing and confused.
No. 7
4Q - 0:33 - 1-10-DAL 48 - R.Wilson pass deep right to M.Nabers for 48 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
OK, closing time. Dallas up 34-30 and you just have to protect the end zone. The safest look is probably Cover 4 and Dallas is in it. Quarters should mean that you have help on verticals and therefore two of you have to close on Malik Nabers and make a play on the ball. Instead, Elam sends him back into Wilson and again Wilson appears a bit stunned that Nabers is running past him. Where are his eyes? What is the confusion? Can Elam play better here, I guess, but that is Malik Nabers and Elam seems in a pretty decent spot. But, why are we in Quarters if the middle is surrendered that easy?
My summary on these seven plays: Dallas does not know what it is doing in zones and yet insists on running nothing but zones. I am not suggesting that Trevon Diggs is perfect, but I do think he is the new “guy makes money and is not playing great” target. Diggs is a good player and seemed to know his job. Getting beat on a fade is life in the big leagues. But, Elam and Wilson were repeatedly lost and Hooker busted badly on a huge play, too. The Cowboys were in Cover 1/3 for the last four years and now want to play split-field safeties. Then, I would ask you to do what Parcells did. When he arrived, he had to play the old schemes until he could get his guys. I feel like Eberflus is just switching everything without new players who can do it and it is a real mess right now.
Quite frustrating.
NEXT-GEN THROW CHART
This part may not fit the theme, but given that we talked Cam Skattebo back in the spring and my summary went like this:
He is going to be a problem and I bet he becomes a main focus of that offense shortly.
Good News: Checking in on the defensive tackles
I think that 95-Kenny Clark, 97-Osa Odighizuwa, and 90-Solomon Thomas were all very good for most of this game. So, I put together the snaps I really liked for your pleasure.
There is a fair amount of butt-kicking going on inside and that is exciting. Now, where is the edge rushing? Can we get some pressure without blitzing from the edges? Perhaps Jadeveon Clowney can assist. But, the DT spot is as good as it has been in quite some time. No, I am not reversing my opinion on the trade, but Kenny Clark is instantly changing things inside for sure. He has always been an excellent player.
Defensive Roles and Snaps Data
Just like yesterday, I have discovered Anthony Reinhard’s work on Twitter and at Statbutler.com and asked him if he would allow me to post his stuff in my reports. He was all for it, so give him a follow and support if you like what you see. I think this is great information that is laid out in a visually exceptional way. I hope you like it.
Quick thoughts - Marist Liufau is still missing in action and I wonder if there is anyone on the bench that can play 2-high safety?
FILM STUDY
Speed round of a few more plays before we close the books on Week 2.
1Q - 9:16 - 1-10-DAL 38 - R.Wilson sacked at DAL 43 for -5 yards (J.Houston).
Another week, another James Houston sack. This guy is fun and I really hope they aren’t going to take away his snaps to get Clowney more action. Houston deserves to play just based on this alone.
1Q - 1:13 - 3-7-DAL 14 - R.Wilson pass incomplete short left to W.Robinson (R.Steward).
Good red zone stop on 3rd down that forces a field goal when Reddy Steward and Malik Hooker make a play on the ball vs Robinson.
2Q - 2:00 - 2-10-NYG 23 - R.Wilson sacked at NYG 14 for -9 yards (K.Clark).
Here is a blitz sack where the extra rushers allow 95 and 97 to go win 1-on-1 battles and get home. Again, this defense doesn’t want to blitz, but they might have to consider it to generate pass rush pressure as the season goes along. Especially on early downs.
3Q - 10:25 - 4-3-DAL 10 - R.Wilson pass incomplete short right to C.Skattebo [S.Thomas].
Big stop for the defense here on a 4th down. Solomon Thomas showing those traits that got him picked 3rd overall back in 2017. Great closing speed and it forced an erratic throw and a stop. Murray there as well.
OT - 2:49 - 1-10-NYG 34 - R.Wilson pass short left to D.Singletary to NYG 30 for -4 yards (K.Murray).
Much better work from Kenneth Murray as he read this one like a book. Great anticipation and then closed the deal quickly. And that led to the very next play:
5 - 2:09 - 2-14-NYG 30 -R.Wilson pass deep left intended for M.Nabers INTERCEPTED by D.Wilson at DAL 30. D.Wilson to DAL 30 for no gain (M.Nabers).
If you are going to get fried all day, it is best to end it with an interception to lead your own team to victory. Donovan Wilson had a very tough day, but when Russ arm-punts it to you, you bring it in and then go have dinner with a win. Surely, Russ had to know that you can’t keep just throwing it as far as you can with nothing but touchdowns.
SPLASH PLAYS - WEEK 2
17 splash plays in Week 2 is a decent return, but obviously way too many busts as well. Here is the leaderboard now:
OK, look forward to your thoughts. On to Chicago.
The defense wasn't good against the Giants. Not at all.
Bob Sturm
Sep 17, 2025
Here we go. Our objectives today will be:
- Evaluate the defensive efforts in general (and it was rough).
- Study the SEVEN 25-yard explosives allowed
- Check in on the defensive tackles
- Playing time and Roles Given
- Film Study and Splash Plays
We were so encouraged by the defense in Philadelphia. They held the champions to just a field goal in the second half on opening night and gave Dallas every opportunity to win in the end.
Sure, the team came up short, but the defense played its first game without Micah Parsons in a way that suggested they wanted to prove to the football universe that they can be fine without him. They want to write their own story.
Of course, in the hardest league in the world, you have to play again the next week. The next opponent is going to try things that the first opponent did not. And then week after week, new challenges against new opponents will truly tell you if your team has weaknesses that can be exploited.
Well, not to spoil the ending here, but the Giants found weaknesses that the Eagles weren’t really even curious about.
The Giants scored on seven drives and had an eighth end deep in Dallas territory. They rolled up 506 yards which had not happened to the Giants since 2019 when Pat Shurmur was still their coach. It has been a while.
They also had 37 points and passed for 450. Trust me, the Giants were just as shocked as the Cowboys were that so many Giants big passes were found. At no point in the last decade did the Giants approach seven different 25-yard passes. It was surprising to both sides.
But, it all happened and now Matt Eberflus’ defense is in shambles. And, frankly, they should be. That was ridiculous.
As we said Monday, Dallas had allowed 37 points and 500 yards 14 times in franchise history and has managed to win for just the second time. You definitely should not win games where you are this bad on defense, but thank the offense and your kicker for bailing you out.
As they say, it is always more fun to be taught tough lessons if you can still manage to win – and, let’s be fair, their one takeaway led directly to victory.
But, doggone, that was brutal.
Ironically, in our season preview discussions, we noted that the defense’s worst two metrics in 2024 that had to improve were:
- Stopping the run - 27th
- Red Zone TD% - 32nd
Of course, things have changed since 2024. Many players are gone, including Parsons, Jourdan Lewis, DeMarcus Lawrence, and yes, DaRon Bland for this game among others. So, in typical fashion, they may have addressed the two major weaknesses, but then opened up several new ones because now stopping the pass, rushing the passer, getting takeaways, and things of that nature look like they might be a real issue again.
Something about the Dutch Boy and “fingers in the dike” come to mind.
Anyway, let’s look at the damage from our Josh Clevenger’s chart:
Let’s talk explosive plays for a moment. There are many coaches who will tell you that takeaways differential are often the determiner of game results unlike any other stat. If you read me, you know I subscribe to this theory because the numbers support it very well.
But, in recent years, the explosive play differential has become just as compelling.
Let’s talk explosives
In modern football, creating explosives or chunk plays are the main objective of offensive strategy. The old “three-yards and a cloud of dust” is impossible to depend upon, so we are looking for 20-plus yards at once now. Not to bog down, but explosives are defined in different ways, but I have settled on 20-plus yards and I don’t care if it is a run or a pass (some people say 10-plus runs, and 20-plus passes) because as you have heard me say 100 times, a yard is just a yard. The field doesn’t care if you ran or passed. It is still second-and-9.
In 2024, the best offense was Baltimore with 85 and the worst offense was New England with 43. Dead average was right around 60. In 2023, the best was San Francisco with 85 and the worst was New England again with 37 (Yeesh, Patriots!). Average was closer to 62. And in 2022, Kansas City had 83 and the Giants had 43 and the middle was about 61. So, our brief three year research tells us that in the NFL, the very best teams in the sport are averaging almost 5 explosives a game while the worst are at 2.5 per. The average explosive count per game for the average offense is about 3.6 or so.
So, yes, giving up eight explosives in one game is insane (a pace of a 136-explosive season). Especially to a team that never comes close to that number. The Giants had seven 25-yard passes on Sunday and only 20 all of last season!
Now that we have established that the Giants are not an explosive offense (at least they weren’t), let’s talk Cowboys defense.
Matt Eberflus has been hired as the third coordinator in three years. As they normally love to do, the Cowboys hired a guy who they knew, rather than a guy who has a scheme that feels cutting edge or modern in any way. I am not saying his defenses don’t work, because they often are just fine. I am saying that I don’t feel like the league is taking note at the innovations, nor does the talent he has to work with seem to fit with the objectives of the scheme.
Why do I say that?
Well, from 2021-2023, nobody in the NFL played more man coverage than the Dallas Cowboys. And, they were great at it as they led the NFL in takeaways and sacks, which many might suggest are two of the most important stats. But, to run man coverage, you have to have the secondary personnel who can handle it.
Well, just five players played over 2,000 snaps in those three seasons on the defense. Those player were: Micah Parsons, Jayron Kearse, Trevon Diggs, Malik Hooker, and Donovan Wilson.
Those last three names: Trevon Diggs, Malik Hooker, and Donovan Wilson are now being asked to lead a secondary who is going to play roughly 98% zone. In fact, how about a visual? From the Twitter account Football Insights, please note which team is registering 0% man coverage so far:
Now, we are OK with changes. We also trust our DC knows what he is doing. We wrote a big piece with our friend and defensive guru Cody Alexander at MatchQuarters about the Eberflus scheme and why it can work great. But, when you take the man-personnel you have and shove it into a zone coverage team, we might be skeptical.
Then, when you make 36-year old Russell Wilson look like he is 25 again, we are going to be more than a bit skeptical that this team can run zones well. They were torched again and again by the Giants (of all people) against zone every time on Sunday. The league is going to be throwing so many bombs and ideas at this secondary in the weeks to come. Just look at these 7 25-yard passes and none of them were short passes that broke free. These were almost all vertical shots.
You know me well enough to know that I cannot let this happen without a historical record. This is my task this morning. A deep look at those seven.
The Seven Verticals that destroyed the Cowboys Zones
No. 1
1Q - 7:47 - 3-24-NYG 48 - R.Wilson pass deep middle to W.Robinson to DAL 2 for 50 yards (M.Hooker).
OK, this first one is Tampa-2. On 3rd and 24, you have one job and that is to get off the field. So, of course, you need to be calling a defense that is prepared for the opponents best vertical plan. Dallas runs Tampa 2 which means a LB has to carry any seam vertical because the safeties are widening out to help with Nabers and Slayton on the outside. Of course, the Giants confuse the drop LB (59-Murray) with the TE hooking up in the middle while the slot WR Robinson heads right for the goal-post and nobody goes with him. Essentially you have three defenders going with four guys (the drop LB cannot take both guys) and therefore, this is a blown coverage where the under guys don’t know what they are doing. This is a confused-looking defense. But, wait, it gets worse.
No. 2
1Q - 3:34 - 3-1-NYG 40 - R.Wilson pass deep left to M.Nabers pushed ob at DAL 32 for 28 yards (T.Diggs).
On 3rd and 1, the Cowboys switch to Cover 3. Essentially, Diggs is playing man against Nabers because help cannot get there for most routes. He has him lined up and funnels him to the sideline. If I am Russ, I probably am trying a fade to Nabers every time. I just think he can beat anyone like this – just as Dak and CeeDee think the same thing. People will get on Trevon Diggs for this, but Nabers can cook almost any corner alive on an island like this. I can’t be mad at losing, but might need to be more physical at the snap to try to prevent this a bit.
No. 3
2Q - 6:27 - 1-10-NYG 46 - R.Wilson pass deep middle to W.Robinson to DAL 29 for 25 yards (J.Sanborn).
Somehow Russ knew the Cowboys were in Tampa 2 again here because he is so excited to throw this seam to Robinson again on the back-shoulder fade. In presnap, the Cowboys are trying to disguise their safeties a bit, but he quickly sees Jack Sanborn trying to run with WanDale Robinson and that is an issue. The safeties are fine here, but if Russ puts the throw on the back-shoulder, it will happen in front of them. That is a quick chunk play where the QB knew the answer to the test. So, either stop running that or disguise it better because he knew as if he read Sanborn’s hips or something.
No. 4
2Q - 5:43 - 1-10-DAL 29 - R.Wilson pass deep left to M.Nabers for 29 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is the very next play and the Cowboys are in Quarters (something they haven’t run much in years) and it shows. Donovan Wilson appears out to lunch as Diggs funnels Nabers to him. Wilson has to be sniffing the most dangerous man out and Nabers runs right by him as Diggs is wondering why his safety is watching Theo Johnson for some reason. My skepticism on the split-safety ideas is that this defense might not have safeties that know what to do when they are not single-high. Cover 2, Cover 4, and Cover 6 is half-field responsibilities and therefore you share the middle of the field and have to provide help to your side’s corner. I would put this on Wilson, I believe.
Now, to the second half.
No. 5
3Q - 7:14 - 1-10-NYG 33 - R.Wilson pass deep right to D.Slayton to DAL 15 for 52 yards (M.Hooker).
This is Cover 3 and this is Kaiir Elam trying to deal with Darius Slayton. This rep is so bad by Elam that I am not even sure what I am looking at. It appears that Elam is trying to funnel him outside and Slayton fakes and releases to the inside and at that point Elam is so cooked that this almost looks like pregame warmups. I have no explanation for this at all and therefore I will just say that I am pretty clear on who busted on this one.
No. 6
4Q - 2:50 - 4-4-DAL 32 - R.Wilson pass deep right to W.Robinson for 32 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is 4th and 4 and the Cowboys are up 27-23. The Giants have a great motion here in presnap that short-circuits the coverage (again, they don’t know their roles) and the Cover 3 gets crossed up. Diggs is now seeing the TE and remember, the game is on the line here. In the Cover 3 with motion, it is my belief that he must now move to TE and that means Robinson is now for 28-Hooker. Hooker is clearly unsure and doesn’t take anyone so Diggs has two guys. The safety is flat-footed 6-Wilson again and Robinson cannot believe he can run uncovered to the end zone. Diggs will get blamed for this, but I think he is the only one who saw what was happening, but playing his outside leverage, he had no chance to save anything. Perplexing and confused.
No. 7
4Q - 0:33 - 1-10-DAL 48 - R.Wilson pass deep right to M.Nabers for 48 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
OK, closing time. Dallas up 34-30 and you just have to protect the end zone. The safest look is probably Cover 4 and Dallas is in it. Quarters should mean that you have help on verticals and therefore two of you have to close on Malik Nabers and make a play on the ball. Instead, Elam sends him back into Wilson and again Wilson appears a bit stunned that Nabers is running past him. Where are his eyes? What is the confusion? Can Elam play better here, I guess, but that is Malik Nabers and Elam seems in a pretty decent spot. But, why are we in Quarters if the middle is surrendered that easy?
My summary on these seven plays: Dallas does not know what it is doing in zones and yet insists on running nothing but zones. I am not suggesting that Trevon Diggs is perfect, but I do think he is the new “guy makes money and is not playing great” target. Diggs is a good player and seemed to know his job. Getting beat on a fade is life in the big leagues. But, Elam and Wilson were repeatedly lost and Hooker busted badly on a huge play, too. The Cowboys were in Cover 1/3 for the last four years and now want to play split-field safeties. Then, I would ask you to do what Parcells did. When he arrived, he had to play the old schemes until he could get his guys. I feel like Eberflus is just switching everything without new players who can do it and it is a real mess right now.
Quite frustrating.
NEXT-GEN THROW CHART
This part may not fit the theme, but given that we talked Cam Skattebo back in the spring and my summary went like this:
He went at pick No. 105 early in Round 4 and the Cowboys took Shavon Revel at No. 76 (who incidentally might be a real solution as a zone corner very soon). I cannot tell you how hard it is going to be to watch him be great for the Giants while the Cowboys don’t invest in RB, but Sunday gave us a glimpse of what is ahead, in my opinion.
He is going to be a problem and I bet he becomes a main focus of that offense shortly.
Good News: Checking in on the defensive tackles
I think that 95-Kenny Clark, 97-Osa Odighizuwa, and 90-Solomon Thomas were all very good for most of this game. So, I put together the snaps I really liked for your pleasure.
There is a fair amount of butt-kicking going on inside and that is exciting. Now, where is the edge rushing? Can we get some pressure without blitzing from the edges? Perhaps Jadeveon Clowney can assist. But, the DT spot is as good as it has been in quite some time. No, I am not reversing my opinion on the trade, but Kenny Clark is instantly changing things inside for sure. He has always been an excellent player.
Defensive Roles and Snaps Data
Just like yesterday, I have discovered Anthony Reinhard’s work on Twitter and at Statbutler.com and asked him if he would allow me to post his stuff in my reports. He was all for it, so give him a follow and support if you like what you see. I think this is great information that is laid out in a visually exceptional way. I hope you like it.
Quick thoughts - Marist Liufau is still missing in action and I wonder if there is anyone on the bench that can play 2-high safety?
FILM STUDY
Speed round of a few more plays before we close the books on Week 2.
1Q - 9:16 - 1-10-DAL 38 - R.Wilson sacked at DAL 43 for -5 yards (J.Houston).
Another week, another James Houston sack. This guy is fun and I really hope they aren’t going to take away his snaps to get Clowney more action. Houston deserves to play just based on this alone.
1Q - 1:13 - 3-7-DAL 14 - R.Wilson pass incomplete short left to W.Robinson (R.Steward).
Good red zone stop on 3rd down that forces a field goal when Reddy Steward and Malik Hooker make a play on the ball vs Robinson.
2Q - 2:00 - 2-10-NYG 23 - R.Wilson sacked at NYG 14 for -9 yards (K.Clark).
Here is a blitz sack where the extra rushers allow 95 and 97 to go win 1-on-1 battles and get home. Again, this defense doesn’t want to blitz, but they might have to consider it to generate pass rush pressure as the season goes along. Especially on early downs.
3Q - 10:25 - 4-3-DAL 10 - R.Wilson pass incomplete short right to C.Skattebo [S.Thomas].
Big stop for the defense here on a 4th down. Solomon Thomas showing those traits that got him picked 3rd overall back in 2017. Great closing speed and it forced an erratic throw and a stop. Murray there as well.
OT - 2:49 - 1-10-NYG 34 - R.Wilson pass short left to D.Singletary to NYG 30 for -4 yards (K.Murray).
Much better work from Kenneth Murray as he read this one like a book. Great anticipation and then closed the deal quickly. And that led to the very next play:
5 - 2:09 - 2-14-NYG 30 -R.Wilson pass deep left intended for M.Nabers INTERCEPTED by D.Wilson at DAL 30. D.Wilson to DAL 30 for no gain (M.Nabers).
If you are going to get fried all day, it is best to end it with an interception to lead your own team to victory. Donovan Wilson had a very tough day, but when Russ arm-punts it to you, you bring it in and then go have dinner with a win. Surely, Russ had to know that you can’t keep just throwing it as far as you can with nothing but touchdowns.
SPLASH PLAYS - WEEK 2
17 splash plays in Week 2 is a decent return, but obviously way too many busts as well. Here is the leaderboard now:
OK, look forward to your thoughts. On to Chicago.
