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Cowboys continue to crash and burn while trying to fix flaws
01:11 AM CST on Friday, December 31, 2010
By RAINER SABIN / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING – Football is a game that promotes change. Adjustments are made at halftime, playbooks are amended during the season, and lineups are altered from one game to the next. Teams that diagnose their problems and identify ways to fix them are usually rewarded. The ones that can't are penalized.
Then there are the 2010 Cowboys, who have pinpointed their flaws, enacted sensible solutions and have been unable to provoke the turnaround they wanted. Their failure to do so has been a source of frustration for the entire team, but it's been even more aggravating for a defense that is at a loss for answers as it prepares to face Philadelphia in the season finale Sunday.
"This year, we just didn't get the job done," linebacker Bradie James said.
Back in November, during Wade Phillips' final days as coach, James and his teammates clung to a foundation that was solid last year but had started to crumble beneath them. They had hoped that the defense would once again play at the level it did in 2009, when the Cowboys yielded only 15.6 points per game, the lowest average among NFC teams. They longed for the days when they forced quarterbacks to make hurried decisions.
Pressure was the name of the game in Phillips' system. They knew it. And Phillips preached it when he elected before the 2008 season to use more coverages with man principles. Back then, it was assumed that if the changes to the pass defense were implemented properly, the Cowboys would reduce the opposition's completion percentage but generate fewer turnovers. It was an acceptable tradeoff.
All they had to do was harass the quarterback. But in the first eight games this season, the Cowboys struggled to do just that. They collected only 17 sacks and defended fewer passes, 23, than any team in the league. They also weren't generating takeaways, as the Cowboys made just five interceptions – the lowest number in the NFC during that period.
The expected benefits of playing man coverage hadn't materialized, but the handicaps remained.
Something was fundamentally wrong, and when Phillips was fired Nov. 8, new defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni was charged with fixing it. In short order, Pasqualoni tweaked the playbook, adding more zone coverages with the hope that they would help the Cowboys create turnovers. But the changes were a shock to the system.
"Sometimes it takes guys a while to get comfortable with it and recognize what they have to recognize," Pasqualoni said. "If you're going to work on zone, you're not ever going to be done with it. Some teams work at it for years."
The Cowboys, however, had only days to adapt, and the steep learning curve has proved difficult for some to overcome. Instead of tracking one offensive player as they did earlier this year, defenders were now being asked to guard an area, identify formations, account for adjusted pass routes and maintain a line of communication with each other. The same players, who once had their backs facing the quarterback, were now reading his eyes and reacting when he released the ball.
For cornerback Mike Jenkins, the transition hasn't been an easy one.
"I'm a man corner," he said. "That's what I came here to play."
But, as linebacker Keith Brooking said, it's the players' responsibility to execute what the coaches call, and they have carried out Pasqualoni's plan with mixed results.
Since Pasqualoni took ownership of the defense, the Cowboys have intercepted 12 passes. Only the New England Patriots have picked off more in the last seven weeks. Yet the Cowboys' pass coverage remains susceptible, as they have allowed opposing quarterbacks during that period to throw for an average of 307.7 yards per game.
Those statistics highlight the rapid fall the Cowboys have experienced, as they have transformed from the stingiest team in the NFC to its least resistant.
"Regardless of if its zone or man, it's up players to go out there and make plays," Brooking said.
This year, they haven't, leaving the Cowboys without the resolution they sought in their failed attempts to inspire change.
Trouble spot
How the pass coverage has fared before and after the firing of former coach Wade Phillips on Nov. 8:
Comp.-Att. Pct. Pass yds per game Int.
First 8 games 154-227 68 229.4 5
Last 7 games 176-276 64 307.7 12
01:11 AM CST on Friday, December 31, 2010
By RAINER SABIN / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING – Football is a game that promotes change. Adjustments are made at halftime, playbooks are amended during the season, and lineups are altered from one game to the next. Teams that diagnose their problems and identify ways to fix them are usually rewarded. The ones that can't are penalized.
Then there are the 2010 Cowboys, who have pinpointed their flaws, enacted sensible solutions and have been unable to provoke the turnaround they wanted. Their failure to do so has been a source of frustration for the entire team, but it's been even more aggravating for a defense that is at a loss for answers as it prepares to face Philadelphia in the season finale Sunday.
"This year, we just didn't get the job done," linebacker Bradie James said.
Back in November, during Wade Phillips' final days as coach, James and his teammates clung to a foundation that was solid last year but had started to crumble beneath them. They had hoped that the defense would once again play at the level it did in 2009, when the Cowboys yielded only 15.6 points per game, the lowest average among NFC teams. They longed for the days when they forced quarterbacks to make hurried decisions.
Pressure was the name of the game in Phillips' system. They knew it. And Phillips preached it when he elected before the 2008 season to use more coverages with man principles. Back then, it was assumed that if the changes to the pass defense were implemented properly, the Cowboys would reduce the opposition's completion percentage but generate fewer turnovers. It was an acceptable tradeoff.
All they had to do was harass the quarterback. But in the first eight games this season, the Cowboys struggled to do just that. They collected only 17 sacks and defended fewer passes, 23, than any team in the league. They also weren't generating takeaways, as the Cowboys made just five interceptions – the lowest number in the NFC during that period.
The expected benefits of playing man coverage hadn't materialized, but the handicaps remained.
Something was fundamentally wrong, and when Phillips was fired Nov. 8, new defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni was charged with fixing it. In short order, Pasqualoni tweaked the playbook, adding more zone coverages with the hope that they would help the Cowboys create turnovers. But the changes were a shock to the system.
"Sometimes it takes guys a while to get comfortable with it and recognize what they have to recognize," Pasqualoni said. "If you're going to work on zone, you're not ever going to be done with it. Some teams work at it for years."
The Cowboys, however, had only days to adapt, and the steep learning curve has proved difficult for some to overcome. Instead of tracking one offensive player as they did earlier this year, defenders were now being asked to guard an area, identify formations, account for adjusted pass routes and maintain a line of communication with each other. The same players, who once had their backs facing the quarterback, were now reading his eyes and reacting when he released the ball.
For cornerback Mike Jenkins, the transition hasn't been an easy one.
"I'm a man corner," he said. "That's what I came here to play."
But, as linebacker Keith Brooking said, it's the players' responsibility to execute what the coaches call, and they have carried out Pasqualoni's plan with mixed results.
Since Pasqualoni took ownership of the defense, the Cowboys have intercepted 12 passes. Only the New England Patriots have picked off more in the last seven weeks. Yet the Cowboys' pass coverage remains susceptible, as they have allowed opposing quarterbacks during that period to throw for an average of 307.7 yards per game.
Those statistics highlight the rapid fall the Cowboys have experienced, as they have transformed from the stingiest team in the NFC to its least resistant.
"Regardless of if its zone or man, it's up players to go out there and make plays," Brooking said.
This year, they haven't, leaving the Cowboys without the resolution they sought in their failed attempts to inspire change.
Trouble spot
How the pass coverage has fared before and after the firing of former coach Wade Phillips on Nov. 8:
Comp.-Att. Pct. Pass yds per game Int.
First 8 games 154-227 68 229.4 5
Last 7 games 176-276 64 307.7 12