dpf1123
DCC 4Life
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 2,173
The Dan Quinn Report - Wk 2 - New York Jets
The formula for the defense is clear and few opponents will have an answer
BOB STURM
SEP 20, 2023
For those of you getting acquainted with the cadence here at #SturmStack, we want you to know that we always try to make sure the trains run on time and you can know what to expect with few exceptions.
Every Wednesday, we give the Dallas Cowboys defense the same treatment that the offense gets on Tuesday. That is, a thorough examination of the good, bad, and the ugly about their most recent performance from a strategic and tactical standpoint.
Dan Quinn has been here now for three seasons and there is a very good chance that when he is gone, we will look back at 2021-2023 as the “good old days” of Dallas Cowboys defense. The play of this defense – especially coming off the Mike Nolan season of 2020 – has been excellent and getting better all the time. They know what they are looking for and have stacked this defense with players who can do it.
On Sunday against the New York Jets, we were told that they would run it right at the Cowboys all day long. They ran it 11 times (if we take out the scrambles of their QB who was under duress all day) and yielded 28 yards. Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook were able to average 2.0 yards per carry combined. In other words, it didn’t turn into much of a battle. Dallas dominated them up front with similar tones to the way they dominated their New York neighbors the week before.
Through two games, the Cowboys have allowed 10 points, have 7 takeaways and 10 sacks. If your defense ever has allowed two scores and has taken the ball away from their opponents seven times, you know you have started a season on the right foot.
Here is the Data Box from their destruction of the Jets:
Dallas is on the top of their defensive game right now. We must remember the opponent, but given that Arizona and New England are next on the schedule, we have reason to believe that most of the teams they play will not be able to get a whole lot done with this Cowboys defense if they can keep their starters healthy. At the moment, there is not much to attack.
So why is Dallas so difficult to get at right now? In other words, what tactically is their plan?
Well, if you were designing a defense, your build might look a lot like Dan Quinn’s right now, because it’s a defense you would run if you had almost no weaknesses:
I have to get pressure on the passer or he has all day to find an open target. But, if I send pressure than nobody can cover these receivers who are always open. What defense can we call?
Dan Quinn has the opposite pleasure right now. He only blitzes if he wants to overwhelm the pass protection and can cover with seven. But, while most teams will then play zone coverages behind a four-man rush, the Cowboys have two top-cover corners who not only can smother your top receivers but also are looking for takeaways. And if your corners can play man, and play it well, then you have a surplus of middle-field defenders who can take all sorts of interesting deployments to make the field uphill the whole way for an opponent. Will it work against the best of the best? We probably won’t know until a Week 5 trip to San Francisco.
But, for now – and it is very early in 2023, they look like what a championship defense looks like. Scary.
Every championship defense needs “that guy.” The guy that opponents have simply no answer for and Dallas definitely has that guy. If Micah Parsons can stay healthy and take games over like he did on Sunday, they will be going a long ways.
Here are the sack leaders in the league since he entered in 2021. He is not No. 1, but you can see that when you add the forced fumbles and recoveries as well as the fear he puts in opponents, he is every bit one of the best of the best. Micah has the second fewest pass rushes on this list – TJ Watt is also an alien and little brother of another alien – but will join the 30-sack club very soon. Nick Bosa has virtually a sack per game and is elite, but if Micah gets 259 more pass rush attempts (as Bosa has), we are reasonably optimistic he can get 4.5 more sacks, too.
As the film will confirm below, Parsons was the story of this game. We wrote about him plenty in Monday’s piece, but allow me to share a snippet here:
Here is our “splash play” leaderboard for the week:
SPLASH PLAYS - WEEK 2
Since we are here, we can update the season tally:
Lastly before the film, here is what the Jets got done through the air on Sunday as Zach Wilson found very little down the field. It is tough sledding right now against the Cowboys defense.
ZACH WILSON NFL NEXT GEN THROW CHART
But, he did hit them with a touchdown pass that worked well, and we will show you what happened on that play below in an otherwise “All-Micah” Film Study:
FILM STUDY
1Q - 7:56 - 3rd and 5 - NYJ 30 - Z.Wilson sacked at NYJ 23 for -7 yards (M.Parsons).
This is the tone-setter. You might recall that last week Micah did the same exact thing on the first third down. That would be quite a trick if you can pretty much name the time and place of your first sack each game, but imagine how much conversation goes into this in the meetings of an opponent. “Here is Dallas and what they like to do on our third downs. We cannot let 11 blow us up in this situation,” they say.
And then he does.
Here is the sideline camera and I want you to play it in slow motion and simply see the routes develop. The Jets only need 5 yards, so the ball will be gone before most pass rushers get to home. But, not here. It isn’t even close. By the time the RB turns around at the sticks, Wilson is already run over by Parsons. It’s unfair.
Again, from Monday: Cowboys show a potential 6-man pressure, but Leighton Vander Esch and Jayron Kearse are just trying to offer a disguise for the pass-rush. They bail out and it is only four. But, those four have a great design that we have seen before, but seldom will it work so well. Micah is wide against the Pro Bowler Duane Brown at left tackle. Chauncey Golston was over the left guard’s outside shoulder and Osa Odighizuwa is outside the center’s shoulder to the same side. This means that each of them will isolate a man and that leaves Brown with no help on Parsons. As the play begins, with Golston and Osa both hard charging to the right-side shoulder of their guy, Parsons shows outside, but it is all just to dive back behind both of his mates in a bee-line for the QB.
Now, the right guard of the Jets, Alijah Vera-Tucker is looking for help, but logically turns to his right tackle to assist with Demarcus Lawrence. This makes sense against almost every opponent.
But, this is the “Agent of Chaos” himself, Micah Parsons. He is so blindingly fast as he cuts back inside that there is no help that even notices the problem, let alone can address it. Parsons has left Brown and is on a dead sprint for the QB and is on him in an instant. You cannot express how fast it all happens and how blurry it must look for Zach Wilson.
2Q - 7:21 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 32 - Z.Wilson pass short middle to G.Wilson for 68 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Here is the one-play drive for the Jets that showed us Garrett Wilson is a dude, too. Here he is lined up against Stephon Gilmore and the Cowboys are going to send pressure. This is their one big blitz of the game as they are no doubt attempting a run blitz as the Jets are in 12 personnel and in a traditional-run look. The play-action fake works like a charm and there is a small gap to make the throw because Gilmore gives up the inside – almost playing it like Cover 3 even though this is Cover 1. Once he loses to the inside, he will need Hooker to help out, but Hooker’s eyes are over on Allen Lazard who is running from the otherside in some sort of post/over combination here. Let’s look from the endzone.
The fake is great and Vander Esch tries to circle back and help. The throw is absolutely perfect and Hooker dives to try to save the play but there is no saving it against a player like Wilson. I would think Gilmore would hate to give up the inside leverage in this situation. Also, this demonstrates the downside of blitzing. The Cowboys called one big blitz in the entire game (big blitz is 6+) and it is the one big Jets play of the day. Sometimes you are the hammer and other times the nail.
Next Gen - Cowboys blitz tracker
3Q - 14:55 - 2nd and 10 - NYJ 25 - (14:55) Bre.Hall up the middle to NYJ 23 for -2 yards (M.Parsons).
Now the Micah Parsons splash play tracker continues. Very early in the third quarter, the middle give to Breece Hall is a play the Jets run constantly. As you can see, Dallas is simply offering no space and this play probably should be a Damone Clark (33) tackle. But, Parsons being Parsons doesn’t just occupy the RG Alijah Vera-Tucker (75), instead, he beats him with quickness to the inside with such ease that he is in the lap of Hall before Hall can even make a move. This is unreal.
3Q - 6:47 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 39 - D.Cook left end to NYJ 37 for -2 yards (M.Parsons). FUMBLES (M.Parsons), RECOVERED by DAL-M.Parsons at NYJ 37. M.Parsons to NYJ 37 for no gain.
I normally wouldn’t show you this view for a run stop, but we need it here because the Jets TE is trying to crack down on Micah to get the edge, with the left tackle pulling around. Remember, teams want to run right at Micah to take his pass rush down a notch. Teams believe he is too small to deal with runs and if they run plays at him, it will punish him physically. One way is to down block him with the tight end – if you can. I think 87-CJ Uzomah, who is 6-foot-6, 271 pounds, thought this would be an assignment he could handle. It was not.
Parsons is a freak, but also let’s shout out 96-Neville Gallimore for putting an amazing rep on tape. Look at him busting his tail to beat the block by Mehki Becton and racing down the line like he has never raced. 58-Mazi Smith getting in the mix is beautiful, too. This is all great, but yeah, Parsons refuses to be blocked, takes the ball away, and looked like he had a touchdown, too. Just incredible. Tackle for loss, forced fumble, fumble recovered — three splashes on one play.
4Q - 11:55 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 40 - Z.Wilson pass incomplete short middle to T.Conklin (M.Parsons) [M.Parsons].
Parsons versus Duane Brown here. I would love to interview Brown about his impressions of Parsons, because Brown is a very respected and decorated player. For him to start outside, swim inside, and hit the QB like that is just absurd. This is game-wrecking at its finest.
4Q - 11:51 - 2nd and 10 - NYJ 40 - Z.Wilson pass short right intended for G.Wilson INTERCEPTED by J.Kearse at NYJ 49. J.Kearse to NYJ 17 for 32 yards (D.Brown).
Penalty on NYJ-M.Becton, Offensive Holding, declined.
Now, here is the very next play. There is a lot here, but this is five-man pressure against Cover-1 again. This is a good opportunity to play virtual QB and ask where you might go with the ball if you were Zach Wilson. The choices are not great. Especially with 11 chasing you again. Switch views below.
This shows you Parsons dancing over the center pre-snap in what must be very unsettling. His entire dance is mesmerizing. But, again, look at how hard it is to even touch Parsons for these offensive linemen. We see this every week. They can’t touch him, let alone block him. Then in the chase, he is a blur. 99-Chauncey Golston gets held here by 77-Becton and then Jayron Kearse reads the eyes of Wilson and steps in the passing lane with a brilliant interception. Just all around a show of why this defense is really something.
4Q - 6:53 - 1st and 10 - DAL 47 - Z.Wilson sacked at NYJ 48 for -5 yards (M.Parsons).
Another crazy moment to wrap this up as Duane Brown is sick and tired of Parsons. Again, do you want to play QB in the NFL? This is what you get to do. Try to find some place to go with the ball while Parsons is tracking you down. It is pain in slow motion as once he gets close, it is probably over and Wilson is now trying to brace for impact – like Daniel Jones before him.
We must never take this dude for granted. Just a pleasure to watch him every week.
The formula for the defense is clear and few opponents will have an answer
BOB STURM
SEP 20, 2023
For those of you getting acquainted with the cadence here at #SturmStack, we want you to know that we always try to make sure the trains run on time and you can know what to expect with few exceptions.
Every Wednesday, we give the Dallas Cowboys defense the same treatment that the offense gets on Tuesday. That is, a thorough examination of the good, bad, and the ugly about their most recent performance from a strategic and tactical standpoint.
Dan Quinn has been here now for three seasons and there is a very good chance that when he is gone, we will look back at 2021-2023 as the “good old days” of Dallas Cowboys defense. The play of this defense – especially coming off the Mike Nolan season of 2020 – has been excellent and getting better all the time. They know what they are looking for and have stacked this defense with players who can do it.
On Sunday against the New York Jets, we were told that they would run it right at the Cowboys all day long. They ran it 11 times (if we take out the scrambles of their QB who was under duress all day) and yielded 28 yards. Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook were able to average 2.0 yards per carry combined. In other words, it didn’t turn into much of a battle. Dallas dominated them up front with similar tones to the way they dominated their New York neighbors the week before.
Through two games, the Cowboys have allowed 10 points, have 7 takeaways and 10 sacks. If your defense ever has allowed two scores and has taken the ball away from their opponents seven times, you know you have started a season on the right foot.
Here is the Data Box from their destruction of the Jets:
Dallas is on the top of their defensive game right now. We must remember the opponent, but given that Arizona and New England are next on the schedule, we have reason to believe that most of the teams they play will not be able to get a whole lot done with this Cowboys defense if they can keep their starters healthy. At the moment, there is not much to attack.
So why is Dallas so difficult to get at right now? In other words, what tactically is their plan?
Well, if you were designing a defense, your build might look a lot like Dan Quinn’s right now, because it’s a defense you would run if you had almost no weaknesses:
- Have a 4-man rush that gets pressure more than anyone in the NFL - Dallas has the top NFL pressure rate of 52.7% with their 4-man rush (SF is second at 43%)
- Play man coverage behind it with high quality corners – no team is playing more “man coverage” than Dallas - 52% (LA Chargers are second at 44%)
- Allow extra men for safety, ambushes and blitzes, and help defenders.
- Only blitz when you want to blitz. Dallas has a 30% blitz rate which is 14th in the NFL and just above the league average of 28%.
- Play with the lead and let the pass rushers eat. This is why you want to win the opening coin toss and get the ball. Because the score of the game changes everything if you can rush the passer like this.
I have to get pressure on the passer or he has all day to find an open target. But, if I send pressure than nobody can cover these receivers who are always open. What defense can we call?
Dan Quinn has the opposite pleasure right now. He only blitzes if he wants to overwhelm the pass protection and can cover with seven. But, while most teams will then play zone coverages behind a four-man rush, the Cowboys have two top-cover corners who not only can smother your top receivers but also are looking for takeaways. And if your corners can play man, and play it well, then you have a surplus of middle-field defenders who can take all sorts of interesting deployments to make the field uphill the whole way for an opponent. Will it work against the best of the best? We probably won’t know until a Week 5 trip to San Francisco.
But, for now – and it is very early in 2023, they look like what a championship defense looks like. Scary.
Every championship defense needs “that guy.” The guy that opponents have simply no answer for and Dallas definitely has that guy. If Micah Parsons can stay healthy and take games over like he did on Sunday, they will be going a long ways.
Here are the sack leaders in the league since he entered in 2021. He is not No. 1, but you can see that when you add the forced fumbles and recoveries as well as the fear he puts in opponents, he is every bit one of the best of the best. Micah has the second fewest pass rushes on this list – TJ Watt is also an alien and little brother of another alien – but will join the 30-sack club very soon. Nick Bosa has virtually a sack per game and is elite, but if Micah gets 259 more pass rush attempts (as Bosa has), we are reasonably optimistic he can get 4.5 more sacks, too.
As the film will confirm below, Parsons was the story of this game. We wrote about him plenty in Monday’s piece, but allow me to share a snippet here:
Here is our “splash play” leaderboard for the week:
SPLASH PLAYS - WEEK 2
Since we are here, we can update the season tally:
Lastly before the film, here is what the Jets got done through the air on Sunday as Zach Wilson found very little down the field. It is tough sledding right now against the Cowboys defense.
ZACH WILSON NFL NEXT GEN THROW CHART
But, he did hit them with a touchdown pass that worked well, and we will show you what happened on that play below in an otherwise “All-Micah” Film Study:
FILM STUDY
1Q - 7:56 - 3rd and 5 - NYJ 30 - Z.Wilson sacked at NYJ 23 for -7 yards (M.Parsons).
This is the tone-setter. You might recall that last week Micah did the same exact thing on the first third down. That would be quite a trick if you can pretty much name the time and place of your first sack each game, but imagine how much conversation goes into this in the meetings of an opponent. “Here is Dallas and what they like to do on our third downs. We cannot let 11 blow us up in this situation,” they say.
And then he does.
Here is the sideline camera and I want you to play it in slow motion and simply see the routes develop. The Jets only need 5 yards, so the ball will be gone before most pass rushers get to home. But, not here. It isn’t even close. By the time the RB turns around at the sticks, Wilson is already run over by Parsons. It’s unfair.
Again, from Monday: Cowboys show a potential 6-man pressure, but Leighton Vander Esch and Jayron Kearse are just trying to offer a disguise for the pass-rush. They bail out and it is only four. But, those four have a great design that we have seen before, but seldom will it work so well. Micah is wide against the Pro Bowler Duane Brown at left tackle. Chauncey Golston was over the left guard’s outside shoulder and Osa Odighizuwa is outside the center’s shoulder to the same side. This means that each of them will isolate a man and that leaves Brown with no help on Parsons. As the play begins, with Golston and Osa both hard charging to the right-side shoulder of their guy, Parsons shows outside, but it is all just to dive back behind both of his mates in a bee-line for the QB.
Now, the right guard of the Jets, Alijah Vera-Tucker is looking for help, but logically turns to his right tackle to assist with Demarcus Lawrence. This makes sense against almost every opponent.
But, this is the “Agent of Chaos” himself, Micah Parsons. He is so blindingly fast as he cuts back inside that there is no help that even notices the problem, let alone can address it. Parsons has left Brown and is on a dead sprint for the QB and is on him in an instant. You cannot express how fast it all happens and how blurry it must look for Zach Wilson.
2Q - 7:21 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 32 - Z.Wilson pass short middle to G.Wilson for 68 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Here is the one-play drive for the Jets that showed us Garrett Wilson is a dude, too. Here he is lined up against Stephon Gilmore and the Cowboys are going to send pressure. This is their one big blitz of the game as they are no doubt attempting a run blitz as the Jets are in 12 personnel and in a traditional-run look. The play-action fake works like a charm and there is a small gap to make the throw because Gilmore gives up the inside – almost playing it like Cover 3 even though this is Cover 1. Once he loses to the inside, he will need Hooker to help out, but Hooker’s eyes are over on Allen Lazard who is running from the otherside in some sort of post/over combination here. Let’s look from the endzone.
The fake is great and Vander Esch tries to circle back and help. The throw is absolutely perfect and Hooker dives to try to save the play but there is no saving it against a player like Wilson. I would think Gilmore would hate to give up the inside leverage in this situation. Also, this demonstrates the downside of blitzing. The Cowboys called one big blitz in the entire game (big blitz is 6+) and it is the one big Jets play of the day. Sometimes you are the hammer and other times the nail.
Next Gen - Cowboys blitz tracker
3Q - 14:55 - 2nd and 10 - NYJ 25 - (14:55) Bre.Hall up the middle to NYJ 23 for -2 yards (M.Parsons).
Now the Micah Parsons splash play tracker continues. Very early in the third quarter, the middle give to Breece Hall is a play the Jets run constantly. As you can see, Dallas is simply offering no space and this play probably should be a Damone Clark (33) tackle. But, Parsons being Parsons doesn’t just occupy the RG Alijah Vera-Tucker (75), instead, he beats him with quickness to the inside with such ease that he is in the lap of Hall before Hall can even make a move. This is unreal.
3Q - 6:47 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 39 - D.Cook left end to NYJ 37 for -2 yards (M.Parsons). FUMBLES (M.Parsons), RECOVERED by DAL-M.Parsons at NYJ 37. M.Parsons to NYJ 37 for no gain.
I normally wouldn’t show you this view for a run stop, but we need it here because the Jets TE is trying to crack down on Micah to get the edge, with the left tackle pulling around. Remember, teams want to run right at Micah to take his pass rush down a notch. Teams believe he is too small to deal with runs and if they run plays at him, it will punish him physically. One way is to down block him with the tight end – if you can. I think 87-CJ Uzomah, who is 6-foot-6, 271 pounds, thought this would be an assignment he could handle. It was not.
Parsons is a freak, but also let’s shout out 96-Neville Gallimore for putting an amazing rep on tape. Look at him busting his tail to beat the block by Mehki Becton and racing down the line like he has never raced. 58-Mazi Smith getting in the mix is beautiful, too. This is all great, but yeah, Parsons refuses to be blocked, takes the ball away, and looked like he had a touchdown, too. Just incredible. Tackle for loss, forced fumble, fumble recovered — three splashes on one play.
4Q - 11:55 - 1st and 10 - NYJ 40 - Z.Wilson pass incomplete short middle to T.Conklin (M.Parsons) [M.Parsons].
Parsons versus Duane Brown here. I would love to interview Brown about his impressions of Parsons, because Brown is a very respected and decorated player. For him to start outside, swim inside, and hit the QB like that is just absurd. This is game-wrecking at its finest.
4Q - 11:51 - 2nd and 10 - NYJ 40 - Z.Wilson pass short right intended for G.Wilson INTERCEPTED by J.Kearse at NYJ 49. J.Kearse to NYJ 17 for 32 yards (D.Brown).
Penalty on NYJ-M.Becton, Offensive Holding, declined.
Now, here is the very next play. There is a lot here, but this is five-man pressure against Cover-1 again. This is a good opportunity to play virtual QB and ask where you might go with the ball if you were Zach Wilson. The choices are not great. Especially with 11 chasing you again. Switch views below.
This shows you Parsons dancing over the center pre-snap in what must be very unsettling. His entire dance is mesmerizing. But, again, look at how hard it is to even touch Parsons for these offensive linemen. We see this every week. They can’t touch him, let alone block him. Then in the chase, he is a blur. 99-Chauncey Golston gets held here by 77-Becton and then Jayron Kearse reads the eyes of Wilson and steps in the passing lane with a brilliant interception. Just all around a show of why this defense is really something.
4Q - 6:53 - 1st and 10 - DAL 47 - Z.Wilson sacked at NYJ 48 for -5 yards (M.Parsons).
Another crazy moment to wrap this up as Duane Brown is sick and tired of Parsons. Again, do you want to play QB in the NFL? This is what you get to do. Try to find some place to go with the ball while Parsons is tracking you down. It is pain in slow motion as once he gets close, it is probably over and Wilson is now trying to brace for impact – like Daniel Jones before him.
We must never take this dude for granted. Just a pleasure to watch him every week.
