Goose: QBs, WRs need to check their egos at the door if they want to win this year

[Irving Cowboy]

Gosselin: The Cowboys QBs, WRs need to check their egos at the door if they want to win games this year
By Rick Gosselin

Rick Gosselin recently held a chat to talk all things D-FW sports. Here are some highlights:

Question: Hi Goose. Do you think the Cowboys will average more passing or rushing attempts per game this season? I'd like it to be more on the running side to keep that terrible defense off the field

Gosselin: That will be the key to any success the Cowboys have this season. They need Elliott to compete for a rushing title to keep the pass rush off Romo and this defense off the field. That was the formula in 2014 and it worked to perfection.
Elliott needs to protect both Romo and this defense. The Cowboys ran the ball more than they threw it in 2014. Few teams do that any more. But that's the key. The quarterback and receivers need to check your ego at the door. Forget about the stats and just try to win football games. They can do that by running the football.

Question: Anything in particular that you'll be looking for out at training camp?

Gosselin: A pass rush. You need to get into the 40s in sacks to compete for Super Bowls. The NFL champion Denver Broncos had 52 last year. On paper, the Cowboys will take fewer than 15 sacks into September. So where are the sacks going to come from? Is Benson Mayowa the answer? Charles Tapper? The Cowboys need to have a double-digit sacker this season to get where they want to go and I'm just not sure who that can or will be. I doubt either DeMarcus Lawrence or Randy Gregory can get there playing only 12 games. I'll be spending a lot of my time watching the defensive line this camp. Someone needs to step up.

Dallas Cowboys: Replay: Rick Gosselin answers Cowboys, Rangers, Mavs and Stars questions (July 25) | SportsDay

 

[Omegasupreme]

Regarding sacks, I did my own analysis a few years ago of teams who were considered successful with sacks and QB pressure and basically it seemed to me that if there were at least three players whose combined sack total was over 21, the team was considered a strong QB pressure team. So in my humble and probably flawed analysis, a team needs to have at least three defensive line players with 7 sacks or more for the season to be a strong pressure team.

Right now that would have to be 1 DL (Crawford), 1 LB blitzing (Lee or Durant) and 1 blitzing DB (Scandrick). Could happen

 

[dbair1967]

Gosselin apparently not familiar with 1993 Cowboys

 

[TheZoneSucks]

What would really help is if the owner checked his ego, and fired the GM.

 

[ravidubey]

The Broncos needed every one of their sacks because their offense was so suspect. Offensive domination with a balanced attack can overwhelm opponents. Each early stop by the defense becomes money in the bank.

The best counter attack is for the opposing offense to itself to use a balanced attack. That was the Achilles Heel of the 1990's Cowboys. Dallas' waves of undersized DL were neutralized the longer they had to defense both run and pass.

 

[onlyonenow]

The Broncos needed every one of their sacks because their offense was so suspect. Offensive domination with a balanced attack can overwhelm opponents. Each early stop by the defense becomes money in the bank.

The best counter attack is for the opposing offense to itself to use a balanced attack. That was the Achilles Heel of the 1990's Cowboys. Dallas' waves of undersized DL were neutralized the longer they had to defense both run and pass.

and that was usually when we would grind out a 7 minute drive with emmitt. The 49rs were the only offense that really could compete with ours. No one else ever did at least from 92-95 anyway.

 

[dbair1967]

That was the Achilles Heel of the 1990's Cowboys. Dallas' waves of undersized DL were neutralized the longer they had to defense both run and pass.

Cowboys rush defense rankings from 91-96

1991: 8th
1992: 1st
1993: 11th
1994: 10th
1995: 16th
1996: 9th

While some of the positive rush defense results could be attributed to playing with leads, it should also be noted that the defense held opponents to relatively low yds per rush as well. 3.9, 3.6, 3.9, 3.6, 4.0, 3.6