dbair1967
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Two weeks in a row now this defense faced a mediocre to poorly performing QB, and said QB had CAREER games against us. Certainly not having DaRon Bland for either game and Diggs being nowhere near 100% hurts, but it shouldn't be THIS bad. Bears were missing 2 of their top 3 CB's and we didn't have people running scot free through their secondary over and over and over. It's apparent that Eberflus' scheme is either severely flawed or he just can't teach it to the players. This is perhaps further evidence that maybe sitting all your starters in preseason games when you are trying to install new systems might be a fundamentally flawed idea. Of course you don't want guys to get injured in meaningless games, but a lot of good that did as we already have a slew of injured guys anyway.
1) Starting with the obvious, the defense against the pass is catastrophically and historically bad. Our secondary the last two games looks like what you'd expect the best Div I teams playing against a Div III team to look like. Theres no pass rush and the blitzes are not much of a help at all. Yesterday I saw them try to blitz a slow safety from 20 yards or so downfield. It's obvious the safeties and MLB are too slow and lack the range to execute whatever the hell it is that Eberflus is trying to get them to do. But the out and out confusion on the back end is mind boggling. On the 4th down TD to the TE the Cowboys had 8 guys playing defense and 3 guys standing next to each other in the middle of the field, covering nobody.
2) Continuing on the defense, it's been so bad that at some point you either have to shitcan the DC or start replacing some of the players. It's incredibly frustrating to me to watch them trot out subpar guys like Murray, Clark, Sam Williams, Fowler, Wilson and Hooker when there are backups who AT LEAST seem more athletic and in many cases performed far better on the field (preseason or in limited snaps during the real games). Why aren't James Houston, Marshan Kneeland and even Ezeiruaku seeing almost all the DE reps? Why won't they play Liufau every down instead of Murray or Clark? (or even Sanborn). How about playing rookie Shemar James? Supposedly Eberflus loved him and he had a really good camp and preseason, he seems eons more talented than Murray and Clark. Juanyeh Thomas should be on the field every snap at S in place of either Wilson or Hooker. Markese Bell hasn't seen any snaps on D that I have seen, he is a far better tackler and has more speed than either of the starters. It's just dumb.
3) Prescott could have been better, but ultimately he didn't have the fumble by Williams on a great run nor was the first pick his fault, it hit Pickens right in the hands and bounced off. Both those turnovers cost us points. I also don't know if it was him or Schottenheimer who called back to back pass plays from the 1 yd line despite Williams (and even Sanders) getting consistent chunks of yards against the Bears front 7. Yes there were way too many checkdowns but after Lamb got hurt the Bears definitely altered their coverages to take away most stuff downfield. Prescott found Turpin a couple of times but for the most part the Bears took away everything over the top. That said, he makes 60 mils per yr. We should be scoring more than 1 TD and 2 FG's against a team that had shown no ability to stop anybody the last 5 quarters and gave up 52 pts last week.
4) I don't think handing off in the backfield on a traditional run play is the smartest idea with a player as good as CeedeeLamb. Yes, I get it you want to get the ball to your best player as much as possible, but when they are running the ball the way they are with Javonte Williams and have also tried Turpin back in that spot several times, seems like that would be smarter. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it just seems like something where the risk far outweighs the reward. Trying Turpin on that would make more sense to me with the way the play was designed anyway because of his pure speed. It's also another reason why having Jaydon Blue active and available (instead of Miles Sanders) would make more sense.
5) Seems like some wanted to make a huge thing out of how Pickens reacted on the sideline after the ball that went off his hands, along with not wanting to talk to the media afterward. He clearly wasn't mad at any player or coach, he was just disappointed in himself. Doesn't bother me that he was pissed that he let the team down. The game was probably over at that point anyway, but that was the dagger for us. He did have a really good game otherwise and just snatched that TD throw with one hand like it was nothing. He's gonna be the #1 WR for several weeks it seems, big opportunity for him.
6) 2nd straight game where there were no 2nd half adjustments at all defensively. It was still a game when the Bears got the ball for the first time in the 3rd qtr, and then they promptly used up almost the entire 3rd qtr on a 19 play, 76 yards drive that took nearly 10 mins. The run defense had been pretty solid for the first two and a half games before that drive, but at one point the Bears (who had no run game themselves the first two and half games) actually ran the ball on 11 straight plays on that drive. Basically it looked like the defense had quit. Another bad sign for Eberflus.
7) The hall of shame "statitudes" that have come out on Dallas after 3 games are getting off the charts bad. Too many to mention in this spot alone but here's a few. Defense got a goose egg on sacks/turnovers (which rarely happens in the NFL). They've forced 1 turnover total in the first 3 games (worst in franchise history). They've given out back to back career games to QB's the last two weeks. Its epic bad.
8) Don't see many "W's" that you could safely assume the rest of the year. They aren't winning this week and will probably get trucked again. Maybe they win at NYJ and/or Carolina. Washington at home, maybe. Losses to Denver and Arizona seem like certainties. At Raiders might be a win. After that they have the 6 week gauntlet of Eagles, Chargers, at Lions, Vikings, Chargers and at Redskins, before closing at Giants. Maybe they win 1 or 2 of those? For the season 6 or 7 wins is their best case scenario, and only 3 or 4 wins is not that far-fetched. We very well could have a top-3 or at least top-5 pick in April.
Really shitty start to the season and it's too bad the pass defense is so poor, because they look like they have a run game, the passing game has been ok (although it'll take a hit without Ceedee) and the run defense for the most part has been better than recent years. We have the best kicker and best kick/punt returner in the league. But this defense gives us basically no chance, even against QB's that have been pretty lousy recently.
1) Starting with the obvious, the defense against the pass is catastrophically and historically bad. Our secondary the last two games looks like what you'd expect the best Div I teams playing against a Div III team to look like. Theres no pass rush and the blitzes are not much of a help at all. Yesterday I saw them try to blitz a slow safety from 20 yards or so downfield. It's obvious the safeties and MLB are too slow and lack the range to execute whatever the hell it is that Eberflus is trying to get them to do. But the out and out confusion on the back end is mind boggling. On the 4th down TD to the TE the Cowboys had 8 guys playing defense and 3 guys standing next to each other in the middle of the field, covering nobody.
2) Continuing on the defense, it's been so bad that at some point you either have to shitcan the DC or start replacing some of the players. It's incredibly frustrating to me to watch them trot out subpar guys like Murray, Clark, Sam Williams, Fowler, Wilson and Hooker when there are backups who AT LEAST seem more athletic and in many cases performed far better on the field (preseason or in limited snaps during the real games). Why aren't James Houston, Marshan Kneeland and even Ezeiruaku seeing almost all the DE reps? Why won't they play Liufau every down instead of Murray or Clark? (or even Sanborn). How about playing rookie Shemar James? Supposedly Eberflus loved him and he had a really good camp and preseason, he seems eons more talented than Murray and Clark. Juanyeh Thomas should be on the field every snap at S in place of either Wilson or Hooker. Markese Bell hasn't seen any snaps on D that I have seen, he is a far better tackler and has more speed than either of the starters. It's just dumb.
3) Prescott could have been better, but ultimately he didn't have the fumble by Williams on a great run nor was the first pick his fault, it hit Pickens right in the hands and bounced off. Both those turnovers cost us points. I also don't know if it was him or Schottenheimer who called back to back pass plays from the 1 yd line despite Williams (and even Sanders) getting consistent chunks of yards against the Bears front 7. Yes there were way too many checkdowns but after Lamb got hurt the Bears definitely altered their coverages to take away most stuff downfield. Prescott found Turpin a couple of times but for the most part the Bears took away everything over the top. That said, he makes 60 mils per yr. We should be scoring more than 1 TD and 2 FG's against a team that had shown no ability to stop anybody the last 5 quarters and gave up 52 pts last week.
4) I don't think handing off in the backfield on a traditional run play is the smartest idea with a player as good as CeedeeLamb. Yes, I get it you want to get the ball to your best player as much as possible, but when they are running the ball the way they are with Javonte Williams and have also tried Turpin back in that spot several times, seems like that would be smarter. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it just seems like something where the risk far outweighs the reward. Trying Turpin on that would make more sense to me with the way the play was designed anyway because of his pure speed. It's also another reason why having Jaydon Blue active and available (instead of Miles Sanders) would make more sense.
5) Seems like some wanted to make a huge thing out of how Pickens reacted on the sideline after the ball that went off his hands, along with not wanting to talk to the media afterward. He clearly wasn't mad at any player or coach, he was just disappointed in himself. Doesn't bother me that he was pissed that he let the team down. The game was probably over at that point anyway, but that was the dagger for us. He did have a really good game otherwise and just snatched that TD throw with one hand like it was nothing. He's gonna be the #1 WR for several weeks it seems, big opportunity for him.
6) 2nd straight game where there were no 2nd half adjustments at all defensively. It was still a game when the Bears got the ball for the first time in the 3rd qtr, and then they promptly used up almost the entire 3rd qtr on a 19 play, 76 yards drive that took nearly 10 mins. The run defense had been pretty solid for the first two and a half games before that drive, but at one point the Bears (who had no run game themselves the first two and half games) actually ran the ball on 11 straight plays on that drive. Basically it looked like the defense had quit. Another bad sign for Eberflus.
7) The hall of shame "statitudes" that have come out on Dallas after 3 games are getting off the charts bad. Too many to mention in this spot alone but here's a few. Defense got a goose egg on sacks/turnovers (which rarely happens in the NFL). They've forced 1 turnover total in the first 3 games (worst in franchise history). They've given out back to back career games to QB's the last two weeks. Its epic bad.
8) Don't see many "W's" that you could safely assume the rest of the year. They aren't winning this week and will probably get trucked again. Maybe they win at NYJ and/or Carolina. Washington at home, maybe. Losses to Denver and Arizona seem like certainties. At Raiders might be a win. After that they have the 6 week gauntlet of Eagles, Chargers, at Lions, Vikings, Chargers and at Redskins, before closing at Giants. Maybe they win 1 or 2 of those? For the season 6 or 7 wins is their best case scenario, and only 3 or 4 wins is not that far-fetched. We very well could have a top-3 or at least top-5 pick in April.
Really shitty start to the season and it's too bad the pass defense is so poor, because they look like they have a run game, the passing game has been ok (although it'll take a hit without Ceedee) and the run defense for the most part has been better than recent years. We have the best kicker and best kick/punt returner in the league. But this defense gives us basically no chance, even against QB's that have been pretty lousy recently.
