Sturm: This Defense Needs Shavon Revel to Be The Guy

Smitty said:
I mean, if Overshown just stays healthy, he doesn't have to be a star, but he's probably an improvement over what we've had.

That's the thing, we have filled black holes on defense with some solid pieces. Nothing is certain till it's certain but Barham/Winters/Overshown SHOULD be an improvement over Wilson/Murray/Sanborn.

Downs/Durant/Moore/Revel SHOULD be an improvement over the mish-mash of corners we trotted out there last year. Hell, I can't even give a coherent four name group because the names and starting snaps were all over the place. Diggs was trash. Reddy fucking Stewart (who???) started 5 games for us. Kaiir Elam. Trikweze Bridges (???).

I mean, three of those guys don't even belong on active rosters, and if you count Diggs fucking off, that's probably four guys who didn't belong on active rosters. Starting games for us. And then hell, Revel graded out as the worst starting CB in football with a minimum of X snaps or whatever, because he was recovering from injury and had no confidence. Bland was hurt all year. Etc.

If these guys are just healthy, they go from not NFL caliber to average. Just by staying healthy. I still have hopes for Carson but I'm not sure they like him.
Click to expand...
We've "replaced liabilities." Great. Check that box.

But I'm not interested in building an "average" defense or celebrating an offense that's only "great" because of its yardage totals.

The word average is meaningless in the NFL. An "average" defense dominates one opponent, then gets destroyed by the next. That's statistical noise. I want a team that's dependable.

What wins championships is consistency.

To get there, this team needs:
  1. Situational football ingrained into its DNA. That's Schotty, Klayton Adams, and Christian Parkers' responsibility. Bill Parcells accomplished this almost immediately in 2003 (thanks to guys like Woody). You could see the difference from Day One.
  2. Leaders at every level who demand accountability.
    • Up front: I trust Clark and Quinnen Williams to establish that culture.
    • Linebacker: It has to be DeMarvion Overshown.
    • Secondary: Hopefully it's Caleb Downs.
    • Offense: Dak already sets the standard, but CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Tyler Smith, and Javonte Williams have to hold themselves—and everyone else—to it. Does Williams have the toughness and talent to be that guy?
That's the foundation.

Then we can add or develop the shutdown corner, dominant edge rusher, physical tight end, and elite running back that takes us from good to legit contender.

And let's stop pretending the offense is already carrying the team.

The raw numbers looked great, but what happened when a late playoff run was on the line against Philadelphia and Detroit?
  • After Barkley fumbled, the offense completely stalled and burned almost no clock.
  • Then they got the ball inside the 7-yard line. Lamb dropped a touchdown, and there was zero confidence in the running game.
  • After the defense came up with another miraculous stop, the offense barely managed enough with a late slant to Pickens to get into field-goal range. But then Pickens folds a couple of weeks later.
That's not a dominant offense, but one still searching for answers.

So which version are we getting this year?

The CeeDee Lamb who makes every impossible catch—or the one who disappears in critical moments?

The George Pickens who's fully engaged—or the one who mentally checks out vs Detroit?

The Javonte Williams who can still finish games—or the one who wears down?

The offensive line that controls games—or the one whose inconsistency kills drive after drive?

The "average defense" narrative needs to die.

Because neither side of the ball is championship-caliber yet.

Both the offense and defense have a lot of work to do before this becomes the disciplined, accountable, cohesive football team that can form the foundation to compete for a Super Bowl next season and maybe for many more.
 
Smitty said:
Yeah, I’m not saying we should be building average, @ravidubey . But that’s where we are right now with the resources we had this offseason.

I’m just explaining why we should be much improved just based on what we did accomplish.
Click to expand...

Nobody aspires to be an average unit but it's the first step in improving on last year's dumpster fire.

I could see our group being borderline top 10 if things fall right and Parker truly is the genius he's billed to be, but I'm not counting on it exactly.

If we can keep Parker around for 2-3 years I could easily see it evolving into an elite unit over time with a few more solid additions.
 
Smitty said:
Yeah, I’m not saying we should be building average, @ravidubey . But that’s where we are right now with the resources we had this offseason.

I’m just explaining why we should be much improved just based on what we did accomplish.
Click to expand...
I know, and I’m less reacting to your post vs this ongoing public narrative that if the Cowboys “could play a lick of defense” or had an “an even average” defense we’d have gone far last year

We need to show real championship behaviors deep in our marrow, not average numbers, to reach the playoffs
 
ravidubey said:
We need to show real championship behaviors deep in our marrow, not average numbers, to reach the playoffs
Click to expand...


That demonstrably false. Do you think the Eagles for example were anything other than average last year?

Yet there they were in the playoffs.

Same with the Packers. Same with the Panthers. Denver, New England, Houston and Seattle all had average offenses.
 
Genghis Khan said:
That demonstrably false. Do you think the Eagles for example were anything other than average last year?

Yet there they were in the playoffs.

Same with the Packers. Same with the Panthers. Denver, New England, Houston and Seattle all had average offenses.
Click to expand...

That's true but it's one thing to make the playoffs and another to go all the way.

We definitely have enough to make the playoffs, and even make the NFCC potentially of things fall right, but obviously going all the way is a different conversation that requires more.
 
For this year I'll just take a defense that knows how to line up and doesn't shit all over itself when the ball is snapped.

If we clear that hurdle, we can talk next season.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
For this year I'll just take a defense that knows how to line up and doesn't shit all over itself when the ball is snapped.

If we clear that hurdle, we can talk next season.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I mean I want a dominant defense. But the ingredients are in the oven at this point. You just sort of have to let it bake and see how it turns out. I am fully expecting a competent defense. I am not expecting a dominant defense. That's just a lot to expect from a unit that last year was really really bad. Like all time worst Cowboys defense bad. When you're the 32 best defense in the NFL there can be a really wide gap between you and just a league average defense. Yes, competent defense would very likely make us a playoff team. Does it make us a Superbowl team? I doubt it, not unless the offense gets even better.

Those are my expectations for this season. Now maybe I would have done some things differently during the offseason to make the defense even better than that. But I'm not the GM and I certainly can't go back in time. And my hope is that if you take what we built this offseason and what we build next offseason and put it all together that maybe another year from now we can be talking about a dominant defense or an elite defense or whatever. I would love to see it. Great defense in Dallas is so fun to watch.
 
To be honest, if we had a Macdonald-level defensive genius at DC or HC I'm 100% certain our defense could be nearly as good as Seattle's last year, which is to say one of the best in the league.

Our talent isn't that far off theirs depending on how much Ezeiruaku has improved.

But obviously it's unlikely that Parker is on that level, although if somehow he is I'd jettison Schottenheimer ASAP and avoid the mistake the Ravens made by keeping Harbaugh.
 
Cowboysrock55 said:
Yeah, I mean I want a dominant defense. But the ingredients are in the oven at this point. You just sort of have to let it bake and see how it turns out.
Click to expand...
We hope they're there. Not to go full DFDC, but we aren't even sure about the ingredients outside of Quinnen. Of course we expect it from Downs, but even the most highly-touted rookies do fail.

That's why I just want a defense that can function first. Just show you can line up and not lose your minds because a couple of receivers criss-cross. Just show you'll do the most fundamental things like get off blocks and tackle. We were so bad last year in literally every possible area it's mindblowing. And as easy as it is to blame it all on Nolanflus, they were almost as bad under Zimmer the year before.

So that's why I'm guarded. Just show me you can line up and look like a halfway solid defense first. If you get out-talented, okay, I can live with that until we can upgrade some players. But don't just gift opposing offenses the world, please.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
We hope they're there. Not to go full DFDC, but we aren't even sure about the ingredients outside of Quinnen. Of course we expect it from Downs, but even the most highly-touted rookies do fail.

That's why I just want a defense that can function first. Just show you can line up and not lose your minds because a couple of receivers criss-cross. Just show you'll do the most fundamental things like get off blocks and tackle. We were so bad last year in literally every possible area it's mindblowing. And as easy as it is to blame it all on Nolanflus, they were almost as bad under Zimmer the year before.

So that's why I'm guarded. Just show me you can line up and look like a halfway solid defense first. If you get out-talented, okay, I can live with that until we can upgrade some players. But don't just gift opposing offenses the world, please.
Click to expand...

They were pretty decent defensively the last half of the year under Zimmer so I'm fairly certain it was Eberflus being terrible combined with trading our best defensive player 4 days before the opener.
 
Genghis Khan said:
That demonstrably false. Do you think the Eagles for example were anything other than average last year?

Yet there they were in the playoffs.

Same with the Packers. Same with the Panthers. Denver, New England, Houston and Seattle all had average offenses.
Click to expand...
I don’t want a defense that gets whipped one week and is dominant vs lesser competition showing average numbers.

And the Eagles were well above average finishing 5th in points allowed and still very good situationally, like when they denied us any points off two late fourth quarter turnovers from their bumbling offense. In Arlington.

Yeah they lost in the end, but here their offense is mailing it in against a barely .500 team on the road and they kept showing up and making it a game.

That's what I'm talking about. A show of heart in key situations when the deck is stacked against you. Can we do that consistently?

It's unfortunately in Philly's defensive DNA, and it's their pathetic offense and pretender of a QB who's thankfully going to slow them down
 
ravidubey said:
I don’t want a defense that gets whipped one week and is dominant vs lesser competition showing average numbers.

And the Eagles were well above average finishing 5th in points allowed and still very good situationally, like when they denied us any points off two late fourth quarter turnovers from their bumbling offense. In Arlington.

Yeah they lost in the end, but here their offense is mailing it in against a barely .500 team on the road and they kept showing up and making it a game.

That's what I'm talking about. A show of heart in key situations when the deck is stacked against you. Can we do that consistently?

It's unfortunately in Philly's defensive DNA, and it's their pathetic offense and pretender of a QB who's thankfully going to slow them down
Click to expand...

He's not talking about their defense specifically, the average comment was about their offense/overall team.
 
Simpleton said:
He's not talking about their defense specifically, the average comment was about their offense/overall team.
Click to expand...
They clearly had situational success already in their DNA having advanced to and won a Superbowl in dominant fashion

Last year some of the shine came off Hurts and Barkley. Losing Kelce was major for those two in particular.

Hurts has been gifted with the best OL I can remember a young QB ever having, outside of Dak

And his ownership understood how to keep that front well-stocked and resilient to injury, but you can't replace a guy like Kelce.
 
ravidubey said:
I don’t want a defense that gets whipped one week and is dominant vs lesser competition showing average numbers.

And the Eagles were well above average finishing 5th in points allowed and still very good situationally, like when they denied us any points off two late fourth quarter turnovers from their bumbling offense. In Arlington.

Yeah they lost in the end, but here their offense is mailing it in against a barely .500 team on the road and they kept showing up and making it a game.

That's what I'm talking about. A show of heart in key situations when the deck is stacked against you. Can we do that consistently?

It's unfortunately in Philly's defensive DNA, and it's their pathetic offense and pretender of a QB who's thankfully going to slow them down
Click to expand...


You said, "to reach the playoffs".

Plenty of teams are average on one side of the ball and reach the playoffs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom