Frisco, Texas – After losing 48-32 to the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the NFC playoffs, much has been made about the Cowboys' offensive failures.
And that focus also includes the question of whether to keep head coach Mike McCarthy, who is essentially offensive coordinator and play-caller, into the final year of his five-year contract. Much of the attention has been focused on quarterback Dak Prescott, who is a finalist for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award and a finalist for the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, despite his contract being a finalist. He's focusing on his final year and wondering if he's really going to be okay. This equates to a base salary of $59.45 million in 2024.
But what about the Cowboys defense? Any thoughts? Do you have any concerns?
Here we see that the Cowboys are 5th in total yards allowed, 5th in total passing yards, and 5th again in terms of points conceded, averaging 21 per game.
But here's my concern, and considering the six games the Cowboys lost and the number of yards they gave up rushing, it's one of my biggest concerns when looking back at the 2023 season.
Arizona 28, Cowboys 16, 222 rushing yards.
San Francisco 42, Cowboys 10, 170.
Philadelphia 28, Cowboys 23, 109.
Buffalo 31, Cowboys 10, 266.
Miami 22, Cowboys 20, 91.
Green Bay 48, Cowboys 32, 143.
Do you feel a trend? Two trends?
First, the Cowboys gave up at least 28 points in five of their six losses.
Second, five of the six losses were to teams that would eventually make the playoffs, with every team except Arizona (4-13) winning at least nine games in the regular season, four of which Won at least 11 games.
In those six losses, the Cowboys gave up 199 of a total of 363 points in 18 games, averaging 33.1 points per game. Granted, the defense was only responsible for 41 points in the loss to the Packers in the playoffs, but even in the one game in which the Cowboys allowed their lowest score of 22 points, the defense allowed the Dolphins a 12-play, 64-yard drive that ended the game. started. -A walk-off 29-yard field goal that won the game as time expired.
Otherwise, they would have defeated the Dolphins 20-19. Then it was a rare oddity since they beat Detroit 20-19. This marked the first time in a season, and the third and fourth time in franchise history, that they won two games by the same score. The only other 20-19 wins were in 2011 when they beat Miami on Thanksgiving and in 2012 when they won at Cincinnati.
As for rushing yards in those six losses, why did they only hold Miami to less than 100 yards (91), giving up an average of 166.8 rushing yards in those six losses? And the Cowboys were able to beat Detroit by just one point while allowing 125 rushing yards — the Lions gave up on kicking the extra point that would have sent the game into overtime. .
Again, this is why this season was so deceiving, going 12-5 for the third consecutive year under McCarthy and going 1-3 in the playoffs the last three seasons. The Cowboys are just 4-5 against teams with winning records, defeating the Rams (10-7), second-time Eagles (11-6), and Seahawks (9-8). However, they needed to score 41 points to win. 6th place, Lions (12 wins, 5 losses).
Look at how important defense is in this NFL, where three of the four teams will play in the conference finals on Sunday. The Ravens have given up 20 or fewer points in 12 of their 18 games, including only 10 points in a divisional round playoff win, and have given up 20 or more points in 11 of their 14 games. There were no goals conceded. NFC champion San Francisco allowed 20 or fewer points in 11 games, winning 10 of those games and scoring just 21 points in the divisional round playoff win. Oh, and Kansas City won 12 of 14 games and he scored 20 points or less in 14 of 19 games, and only lost 2 where he scored 21 points.
Now, the Cowboys have won all but one of the teams they should have beaten this season, with the lone exception being a loss to the Cardinals. He finished 8-0 at AT&T Stadium, which is great. But in the scheme of things, their wins came against teams with a combined winning percentage of .392, tied for sixth-worst in the NFC with Seattle. Dallas beat teams with a combined 80 wins, far behind San Fran's 97 wins and Detroit and Philadelphia's 89 wins.
He is hospitable to those who have not, but not so much to those who have.
On top of all of these concerns, the Cowboys are waiting agonizingly to see if defensive coordinator Dan Quinn will take the head coaching job in Seattle. He has interviewed twice for the Seahawks' defensive coordinator position in 2013-14. Coach from 2009 to 2010. Seattle appears to be scheduled to have several more meetings with coordinators next week for the conference title game, and there are rumors that the manager would like to bring Quinn in next week.
As McCarthy said of Quinn, “Dan is an extremely valuable member of the team.”
Their defensive flaws were obvious. Despite coming off the line of scrimmage multiple times, the only one who really added any weight to that front was 325-pound veteran Jonathan Hankins. Maj Smith, a first-round draft pick, lost about 300 pounds after the draft, played just 25.2 percent of the defensive snaps and finished with just 15 tackles. What's most telling about his rookie season is that Mazi only took four snaps in the loss to Green Bay.
Then, his inability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks reared its ugly head in the second half of the season. The Cowboys had just one sack in each of the five straight games between the win against Seattle and the loss to Miami. After recording four sacks in the final game of the regular season against the underwhelming Commanders, he had zero against the Packers and finished with five sacks in six of the final seven games.
Additionally, the loss of veteran linebacker Leighton Vander Esch left the linebacker corps short-staffed, which they sought to fill with “backup” safety Moonlight. And it certainly didn't work very well when the offense got tough against the Cowboys defense by playing two tight ends.
And finally, after masking a lack of depth in the secondary by losing Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs after two games, the Cowboys' biggest need in the playoffs was a loss against Washington. Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore was going to play after suffering a shoulder injury. This player was selected because they lacked depth at cornerback and didn't have enough confidence in the next guy, Nashon Wright or Noah Igbinoghene. The Packers crushed their attempts to play zone coverage.
In addition, the Cowboys have nine defensive unrestricted free agents who are starters or key contributors heading into the new league year, including Gilmore, Hankins, Jordan Lewis, Jaylon Kearse, That includes Dorrance Armstrong (21 sacks over the past three years, second only to Micah Parsons' 14 seasons in 2023, 7.5 seasons).
Speaking of Parsons, the three-time Pro Bowler and Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year candidate is entering his fourth season, but the Cowboys will pick up his fifth-year option for 2025 by May 2nd. You will need to obtain a deposit, and at least a deposit will be required. $20 million against the cap unless he signs a costly long-term extension.
This defense needs to improve. Free agent. NFL draft. transaction. Diggs (ACL) could return, and depending on how his neck issue is judged, Vander Esch and last year's third-round draft pick Demarvion Overshawn (ACL) could return as well. Maz made a big leap in his second year. So is another leap forward from safeties Markkez Bell and Juane Thomas.
Bottom line: This defense needs to improve. Need to improve against top competitors. Because, as I pointed out in Wednesday's article, mick shott The Cowboys' schedule will be significantly more difficult in 2024, with 11 of their 17 games coming against teams with winning records from 2023, nine of which will be against 2023 playoff teams, and five of those games will be against 2023 playoff teams. They will play against the winning team. Heck, three of those games are against teams that will play in Sunday's conference championship game.
Lions and Niners and Ravens, oh.
So in my book, we're not even in February yet and if there's already widespread anxiety about the 2024 season, it's defense.
