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Updated: August 26, 2011, 7:47 PM
Case for the Defense
Spagnola: Let's Be Fair To This Defense
Mickey Spagnola
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – All rise.
Let's judge the defense.
Or is that fair?
Fair after four weeks of practice, encompassing just 22 full sessions since there was not a single offseason workout?
Fair after two preseason games, encompassing just 4½ series for the first team?
Fair when neither of the starting cornerbacks has played a down?
Fair since a voluminous new 3-4 scheme that puts North Texas heat on the corners is being implemented at a necessary 100 mph?
Never mind all that. Fair is not a term familiar to this microwave-decision society of ours, and especially the one governing the sports world that has become simplified into either black or white. Gray? Please, that's as old school as the Civil War.
Guilty until proven innocent, that's the way we roll these days.
So in the 4½ series the Cowboys first-team defense has performed – and again, all without injured starting corners Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins, and while signing both starting safeties seven and nine days into training camp – opponents have kicked two field goals and scored one touchdown, while turning over to the second unit that half-possession at their own 47-yard.
Leaving all in a Twitter.
Understandable, though, for those given to making impulse decisions, mostly based on the short-term memory of the Cowboys last year giving up 436 points, more than any other team in the franchise's memorable history – a direct cause of that pathetic 6-10 season. Like, what's new is a natural reaction? Been there, endured that.
Plus, adding fuel to the growing pessimism would be the Cowboys at this point returning at least eight of 11 starters from last year, all depending on if Sean Lee can hold off Keith Brooking at one inside 'backer spot and if Kenyon Coleman or Jason Hatcher replaces Igor Olshansky at defensive end. If not, then this defense returns 10 of 11 starters, the only newcomer being Abram Elam for Alan Ball at one of the safety positions.
Heavens to Betsy, not again.
But in the never-ending battle for truth and justice, let me suggest this to you: Either eight of those 11 starters this year or the 10 of 11, depending on injury and what takes places, are identical to those from the 2009 season. You remember 2009, right? That 11-5 record leading to the franchise's first playoff victory in 13 seasons? That season the Cowboys gave up just 250 points, matching the least since 1994 (248)?
And there is no way you can make a case the absence of safety Ken Hamlin, the only starter from 2009 not to return in 2010 and certainly will not return this year, was worth 186 points because he could "get guys lined up," the faintest praise anyone has ever been blessed with.
Nor can you say the Cowboys played a mess of incompetent offenses in 2009 compared to 2010. In fact, when it comes to points, the average scoring rank of their 2009 opponents was 15.3, although they played five games against teams ranked in the top five in scoring, including No. 1 New Orleans, by the way, the Super Bowl champs they beat by holding to 17 points. In 2010, the average opponents' scoring rank was 14.3, hardly much better, but only three games were against teams ranked in the top five, Philly the highest at No. 3 (twice).
Same guys. Same defense. Same defensive coordinator, at least for the first half of the 2010 season, the Cowboys giving up an average of 29 points over the first half of the season under former head coach Wade Phillips and 25.5 the second half under the defensive jurisdiction of Paul Pasqualoni and head coach Jason Garrett. That all compared to the 15.6 a game over the 2009 season.
Go figure which extreme is the Dallas Cowboys defense, sort of like the old nursery rhyme about the little girl with the curl, that "when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid."
So here the Cowboys go, heading into the third game of this preseason, 7 p.m. Saturday in the newly-reopened Mall of America Field against the Minnesota Vikings, who now will have former Philly QB nemesis Donovan McNabb by way of that short stay in Washington handing off to East Texan Adrian Peterson and throwing to the likes of Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian.
Of course, new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is the biggest change with this defense over the past two seasons, that and his go-sic-'em defensive philosophy. So far the Cowboys haven't sic-ed, if you will, all that well, the first unit recording just a DeMarcus Ware sack in those 4½ series, a handful of pressures and still looking for its first takeaway.
The idea, as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently said, is for all the movement and "multiplicity" of this defense, not to mention the aggression, to create unbearable confusion for offenses. So far, at times it's been the Cowboys' defenders sort of confused, still trying to iron out assignment errors that have led to big plays along with substitution package errors.
Ryan is a big boy. He has placed the blame squarely on his broad shoulders, exonerating "his guys." Funny, when Wade did that everyone was up in arms about how he was not hard enough on his players. Again, go figure.
Now, you'd like to insist the Cowboys' performance had better improve Saturday night since this is the third preseason game, with the first units playing into the third quarter and unlikely to play a significant amount again during preseason with only Thursday's final preseason game in Miami remaining. And since this is the NFL, there is no Western Illinois awaiting on the Sept. 11 horizon. You got to be ready to go.
But having said all that, understand that even though Jenkins has jumped into limited team practice the past two days, he still is highly questionable to play on Saturday. Newman definitely will not, as won't starting defensive end Marcus Spears. Keith Brooking might play sparingly and backup defensive end Jason Hatcher the same. So the Cowboys still won't be featuring their first unit in full force.
Maybe improvement means fewer assignment errors. Maybe improvement means no substitution errors. Maybe improvement at this time means being stingier against the run and fewer big plays. Maybe improvement won't accurately and fairly be judged until the Cowboys reach the bye four games into the season, as scary but realistic as that might seem.
"I think our defense, like our football team, is a work in progress," Garrett said after the Cowboys concluded their final practice of the "training camp mode" on Thursday afternoon. "The more difficult thing for our defense is the defensive system was not in place last year like our offense and kicking game systems have been in. They've had to learn more quickly; they've had to understand how to make adjustments and be resourceful more quickly than the other units have.
"On offense and in the kicking game we've had to kind of be reminded of things and we've had to kind of learn on the run some of the new things that we're trying to do. When you put a whole system in it's more difficult. I think they've responded very well and I think it's a tribute to our coaches. ... We're a long way off in all areas but I think we've made some progress there and hopefully it will show up on Saturday night and through the rest of the preseason."
And for gosh sakes, let's extend that a step further when it comes to this defense with the proverbial curl in the middle of its forehead:
Through the rest of the season.
And that's fair.
Case closed.
Case for the Defense
Spagnola: Let's Be Fair To This Defense
Mickey Spagnola
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – All rise.
Let's judge the defense.
Or is that fair?
Fair after four weeks of practice, encompassing just 22 full sessions since there was not a single offseason workout?
Fair after two preseason games, encompassing just 4½ series for the first team?
Fair when neither of the starting cornerbacks has played a down?
Fair since a voluminous new 3-4 scheme that puts North Texas heat on the corners is being implemented at a necessary 100 mph?
Never mind all that. Fair is not a term familiar to this microwave-decision society of ours, and especially the one governing the sports world that has become simplified into either black or white. Gray? Please, that's as old school as the Civil War.
Guilty until proven innocent, that's the way we roll these days.
So in the 4½ series the Cowboys first-team defense has performed – and again, all without injured starting corners Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins, and while signing both starting safeties seven and nine days into training camp – opponents have kicked two field goals and scored one touchdown, while turning over to the second unit that half-possession at their own 47-yard.
Leaving all in a Twitter.
Understandable, though, for those given to making impulse decisions, mostly based on the short-term memory of the Cowboys last year giving up 436 points, more than any other team in the franchise's memorable history – a direct cause of that pathetic 6-10 season. Like, what's new is a natural reaction? Been there, endured that.
Plus, adding fuel to the growing pessimism would be the Cowboys at this point returning at least eight of 11 starters from last year, all depending on if Sean Lee can hold off Keith Brooking at one inside 'backer spot and if Kenyon Coleman or Jason Hatcher replaces Igor Olshansky at defensive end. If not, then this defense returns 10 of 11 starters, the only newcomer being Abram Elam for Alan Ball at one of the safety positions.
Heavens to Betsy, not again.
But in the never-ending battle for truth and justice, let me suggest this to you: Either eight of those 11 starters this year or the 10 of 11, depending on injury and what takes places, are identical to those from the 2009 season. You remember 2009, right? That 11-5 record leading to the franchise's first playoff victory in 13 seasons? That season the Cowboys gave up just 250 points, matching the least since 1994 (248)?
And there is no way you can make a case the absence of safety Ken Hamlin, the only starter from 2009 not to return in 2010 and certainly will not return this year, was worth 186 points because he could "get guys lined up," the faintest praise anyone has ever been blessed with.
Nor can you say the Cowboys played a mess of incompetent offenses in 2009 compared to 2010. In fact, when it comes to points, the average scoring rank of their 2009 opponents was 15.3, although they played five games against teams ranked in the top five in scoring, including No. 1 New Orleans, by the way, the Super Bowl champs they beat by holding to 17 points. In 2010, the average opponents' scoring rank was 14.3, hardly much better, but only three games were against teams ranked in the top five, Philly the highest at No. 3 (twice).
Same guys. Same defense. Same defensive coordinator, at least for the first half of the 2010 season, the Cowboys giving up an average of 29 points over the first half of the season under former head coach Wade Phillips and 25.5 the second half under the defensive jurisdiction of Paul Pasqualoni and head coach Jason Garrett. That all compared to the 15.6 a game over the 2009 season.
Go figure which extreme is the Dallas Cowboys defense, sort of like the old nursery rhyme about the little girl with the curl, that "when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid."
So here the Cowboys go, heading into the third game of this preseason, 7 p.m. Saturday in the newly-reopened Mall of America Field against the Minnesota Vikings, who now will have former Philly QB nemesis Donovan McNabb by way of that short stay in Washington handing off to East Texan Adrian Peterson and throwing to the likes of Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian.
Of course, new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is the biggest change with this defense over the past two seasons, that and his go-sic-'em defensive philosophy. So far the Cowboys haven't sic-ed, if you will, all that well, the first unit recording just a DeMarcus Ware sack in those 4½ series, a handful of pressures and still looking for its first takeaway.
The idea, as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently said, is for all the movement and "multiplicity" of this defense, not to mention the aggression, to create unbearable confusion for offenses. So far, at times it's been the Cowboys' defenders sort of confused, still trying to iron out assignment errors that have led to big plays along with substitution package errors.
Ryan is a big boy. He has placed the blame squarely on his broad shoulders, exonerating "his guys." Funny, when Wade did that everyone was up in arms about how he was not hard enough on his players. Again, go figure.
Now, you'd like to insist the Cowboys' performance had better improve Saturday night since this is the third preseason game, with the first units playing into the third quarter and unlikely to play a significant amount again during preseason with only Thursday's final preseason game in Miami remaining. And since this is the NFL, there is no Western Illinois awaiting on the Sept. 11 horizon. You got to be ready to go.
But having said all that, understand that even though Jenkins has jumped into limited team practice the past two days, he still is highly questionable to play on Saturday. Newman definitely will not, as won't starting defensive end Marcus Spears. Keith Brooking might play sparingly and backup defensive end Jason Hatcher the same. So the Cowboys still won't be featuring their first unit in full force.
Maybe improvement means fewer assignment errors. Maybe improvement means no substitution errors. Maybe improvement at this time means being stingier against the run and fewer big plays. Maybe improvement won't accurately and fairly be judged until the Cowboys reach the bye four games into the season, as scary but realistic as that might seem.
"I think our defense, like our football team, is a work in progress," Garrett said after the Cowboys concluded their final practice of the "training camp mode" on Thursday afternoon. "The more difficult thing for our defense is the defensive system was not in place last year like our offense and kicking game systems have been in. They've had to learn more quickly; they've had to understand how to make adjustments and be resourceful more quickly than the other units have.
"On offense and in the kicking game we've had to kind of be reminded of things and we've had to kind of learn on the run some of the new things that we're trying to do. When you put a whole system in it's more difficult. I think they've responded very well and I think it's a tribute to our coaches. ... We're a long way off in all areas but I think we've made some progress there and hopefully it will show up on Saturday night and through the rest of the preseason."
And for gosh sakes, let's extend that a step further when it comes to this defense with the proverbial curl in the middle of its forehead:
Through the rest of the season.
And that's fair.
Case closed.
