The problem is at Linebacker.!
by AaronD on Sep 8, 2008 9:01 AM EDT
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PrintI have said it all year - Stop complaining about the youth in the secondary and start worrying about our Linebackers.
Kamerion "I have one move" Wimbley has digressed each year in the league and is pathetically predictable. The sad part is that he is our best LB.
I truely beleive the 3-4 is killing our defense. To fully take advantage of the the plethora of 3-4 schemes and blitz packages available the whole unit has to be stellar. We are far from stellar.
A standard 4-3 defense is what this unit needs.
Granted, Dallas is a 13-3 team with a great offense but that is no excuse. Until Romo busted up his chin I doubt he had even broken a sweat out there......
Overall grades:
Offense C
Defense C
Linebackers F
PS - Why are we kicking FG's when we are down by 3 scores in the 4th quarter?
Romeo was trying to hurry the game up and get out to the hot dog cart before it closed..
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Wimbley has digressed?
Emmitt… is that you?
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
by rolub on Sep 8, 2008 9:20 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I have to agree here, the primary pressure on the QB needs to be coming from the LB’s in this scheme. It’s why Pittsburgh has been so tough on defense for years now. Dallas may have the best offensive line in the league, so I will not give me final judgment until I see how we do against a weaker offensive line, but yesterday was not encouraging.
I agree about Romeo too, I can’t fault the D for not getting a stop in the 4th quarter, when their coach already told them that we were conceding the game by kicking a field goal on fourth and 2 or 3.
I want to emphasize that the field goal attempt is indefensible. I’m not ready to join any Fire Crennel chants, but I need to see some effort against Pittsburgh
It might not be an exaggeration to say he’s the only coach in the NFL that wouldn’t have gone for it.
I wanted to kill him when he said, “if I had gone for it and we didn’t make it, you all would have asked me why I went for it.” No. No that would not have happened b/c it was so obvious that the only call was to go for it.
Don’t act like some stupid fan or writer wouldn’t have asked if he went for it and didn’t make it.
Still should have gone for it.
That’s true, I just hate it as an excuse given by the head freaking coach. He could use that answer for every single question. Any competent journalist would have asked what the benefit is, with 10 mins left, to choose a play that keeps it a 3 possession game. A field goal is of literally zero value there. You’re still three touchdowns away.
Wimbley’s play has been a dissapointment that’s for sure, especially after his rookie season.
If I had been one of the players on the field for the Borwns Sunday I would have felt like our coach was giving up on us by kicking the FG there. That was an awful, awful call. You have to go down fighting, kicking and clawing and punching until the end.
I’ve been behind Romeo the entire ime he’s been here but I may be second guessing that just a bit. This team was clearly not ready to play yesterday and that falls on the head coach. Waiting until the 2nd half to dial up the pressure and send more than the front 3 or 4 after Romo was inexcusable also.
Wimbley and Rogers had better second halfs getting pressure. I recall Wimbley’s pressure resulting in at least one holding penalty which is almost as good as a sack. I don’t think we can put the overall suckyness of the pass rush at his feet. What about a Corey Williams sighting?
The LBs are certainly the problem, by far, but switching to a 4-3 isn’t the answer imo. Actually, I think the 4-3 is harder to find personel for b/c you absolutely have to find beasts on the DL, and there are only so many jared allens and pat williams’ out there.
That’s the advantage of the 3-4, it’s much easier to find players after a few select, important positions (nose tackle, safety) are taken care of. You just have to find athletic, tough and fast guys to go nuts as LB. Ie, you need the opposite of Andre Davis. You also can’t draft a bust like Jackson (yes, I’m still reeling from that shameful performance).
I agree, switching to the 4-3 won’t help, especially not right away. Who on the team would line up at DE? Nobody we have would be all that great. Rogers and Williams could be pretty good DTs, but we wouldn’t have ends.
It would take at least a few years of drafting to get the personnel needed. All we really need for the 3-4 is a couple of LBs. One at LOLB who can rush the passer, one at MLB. Those guys should be easy enough to find in one draft. If Peek can ever stay healthy or Hall turns out to be any good, that’s just a bonus.
We should be looking for:
LBs (at least 2)
a CB
a S
the RB of the future
WRs who can catch.
I guess thats where we disagree!!
I do not know of any powerhouse high school football teams that run a 3-4 defense nor can I think of any great college teams that run the 3-4.
Most defensive players start thier careers as a 4-3 player. The switch obviously isn’t easy.
Also, I think Rodgers, Smith and Williams would do great in a 4-3 scheme. I can see one or two of them actually getting to the QB since it would be impossible for a double team each and every play.
Regardless, the LB’s we have are not good in a 3-4 nor would they probably be good in a 4-3. Call me crazy but when I see a team running a 3-4 the LB’s are usually fast as snot flying all over the field…
The Browns start Willie McGinest. Are you kidding me? Who is he going to run down?
Something needs to change asap. I cannot watch 15 more weeks of that garbage.
Well, high school isn’t the same talent level, of course. I understand the 4-3 is much more widely used in football in general. But we’re talking about the pros… a league of the top 1000 players in the world. So if you’re going to depend on 4 guys to provide pretty much all of your pass rush, you almost always have to find both a Pat Williams type in the middle and a Mario Williams type outside (that’s why we drafted Warren and Brown). Unless you’re the Giants, it’s hard to find guys like that in the lower rounds.
But in a 3-4, once you get a nose, you can find athletic guys from all kinds of places to be effective LBs… diamonds in the rough, so to speak. This is just my opinion, of course. Plus, I don’t think we have a single 4-3 end on the roster (none of the guys you mentioned can play Strahan’s position)… so it would take tons of personel maneuvering to get at least three. Thus, we’re def staying w/ the 3-4, imo. But these LBs better get coached up quick.
Yeah put powerhouse NFL teams that run the 3-4:
Patriots
Chargers
Cowboys
steelers
It works in the NFL. College teams that run variations of the 3-4:
OSU
michigan
Maryland
Miami Fl.
I am sure there are more.
TONS of high school teams run odd fronts. There are so many base D’s run in HS it’s ridiculous. HS is to College as College is to the NFL: much more gimmicks, much more “exotic” strange-lookin offenses, a lot of “give it to the fast kid and let him outrun everyone”
Also, Rogers and WIlliams shouldn’t be trying to get to the QB on EVERY play, regardless of scheme. At some point in most schemes in either front the DT’s job is to occupy blockers.
McGinest is too old. Yes, he needs to be replaced. Give Phil some first day picks and we’ll see what happens. You are confused. You don’t want to switch to a 4-3, you want our LBs to play better.
Switching the defense isn’t going to make up for personnel deficiencies. Jackson sucks and McGinest is too old; 4-3 wont hide that, at least no well enough.
Not sure from where, but we need some new blood at LB. Beau Bell, hurry back.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
I disagree. Our secondary was awful yesterday. Say what you want about Romo having time but it does not take from the fact that, even when he was pressured, receivers were open almost right away. Brandon McDonald was worse than awful, I can’t even think of a word to describe him. Yes, our linebackers weren’t good, but don’t let that hide the fact that it was our secondary that was out there turning Patrick Crayton into Jerry Rice.
If you (and the Cowboys, for that matter) were going to single out one member of our secondary, it would have to be Mike Adams. McDonald made mistakes, but he wasn’t the worst.
The Giants found a way to cover up their terrible secondary in the playoffs, we have to find a way to cover ours. I hate to keep using them as an example, but it’s the best one I can think of. Denver has amazing CBs, and their D still sucks because their front 7 hasn’t played well. You can do without a great back 4, you can’t do without a good front 7.
Adams was bad but I thought McDonald was glaringly so. He just got torched time after time. Look, I think we could take any of those four and say they were atrocious and be well within our rights.
I don’t have direct tv or it recorded or anything, so I can only go from memory of the play and the subsequent broadcast replays. Anyone else feel free to jump in, but I’m pretty sure TO was in the slot and D’Qwell blitzed, maybe another guy too. There’s no doubt TO got behind McDonald. Whether he was supposed to have help or whether he was playing tight b/c of the blitz (and thus not expecting Romo to have that much time and allow Owens to get that deep) I can’t say. But like I said, corners get beat sometimes (like Braylon beat theirs on the drop).
I thought an inordinate amount of passes were caught over the middle, which again points at least somewhat to the LBs. And how many times did Cowboys wide receivers start on one side and do a route crossing the entire length of the field, only to catch it on the other sideline… Corners shouldn’t be expected to stay w/ a receiver for that long… that came from zero pass rush, and usually from (inexplicably) rushing only three guys.
And one final dig on the LBs. The official website’s “Play of the Game” was a unique choice, but very astute. It was 3rd and long for the Cowboys on the last drive before the half, and they were still out of field goal range. Romo dumps it over the middle to Barber 4 yards short of the marker, and one of our inside LBs just completely wiffs making the tackle, allowing the drive to keep going. Without that, it’s 14-7 at the half. This happened all day long, and it’s why most of us are more concerned about the LBs. (not to mention the dropped INT by Davis, who supposedly admitted in the locker room that he cost us 7 points… so that’s twice on the same drive that our inside LBs failed to execute)
Bottom Line, a 3-4 needs playmaking LBs. We still lose on Sunday if Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson were playing corner.
You make good points there. All I am trying to say is that on the occasions our corners were matched up in man against their wideouts, we got hammered. You cannot blame that on anyone but the secondary and it happened time and again. Yes, our linebackers are abysmal but it is disingenuous to say that they are the reason for the myriad failings of McDonald and Co.
Yeah I don’t think anyone is trying to defend McDonald on that one play (if he was, in fact responsible for that deep 1/3 of the field as it appeared he was). I was watching on a pixelated four inch display, so I couldn’t make out a whole lot of whose coverage it should have been on every play. Not to mention, cameras follow the QB and the ball, not the secondary.
I just felt like every time someone caught a ball and a DB was making a tackle, it was Mike Adams. It also seemed like every time a LB should have made a tackle in space, he missed it. I’d take either/or happening and keeping the steelers to 17 points while scoring about 21 ourselves.
3-4 or 4-3 schemes or coverages don’t matter when Romo has the time to count the house. Any pro qb worth his salt would pick us apart given that much time. The Cowboys protection personnel and schemes must have been too good for us.
I’ll grant you that Crennel is not a great motivator or game day decision maker, but he is worth his considerable weight in gold as a defensive genius. Give him a couple more games to prove yet again how bright he is at this.
I haven’t seen much saber rattling on this site about our crossing the goal line just once.
I think our failures on O come from similar grounds as our failures on D: when DA dropped back, it looked like the entire pocket was moving back with him (save Joe Thomas’ guy). Instead of DA being Favre II and forcing it in to coverage where half the time it would be picked and the other half it would be a big play (like last year), he checked down and our WRs dropped balls. Or we had penalties. It was supposed to be a good showing if our D allowed “only” 24 points in this game, and our O was supposed to keep us in it.
Saber rattled. We just have to play better, period.
Looky here… Panic City. Relax, this is just week 1. Our team barely played together this preseason and it showed. Then again, there were a lot of really good teams that looked really shitty yesterday so its not just us. The D line started to look alot better in the second half, which is encouraging. Hopefullly, Stallworth is in next week and Braylon gets like 200-300 windsprints in. Missing Stallworth hurt btw. Even if we don’t win next week, have some faith these guys will start to come together by week 3. Anderson looked really good on that second drive, pretty much the only one where he wasn’t getting pummelled or hurried on every play.
Bright side is, after week 1, and putting Dallas behind us, our schedule doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did prior to the season starting. Tenn, Jack, Houston, Washington, Indy did not look good.
I wouldn’t quite include the Colts in that group. When Peyton Manning gets his feet wet again, that’s still the same football team that’s been atop the AFC South for years.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Sep 9, 2008 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
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