Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have David Howman, RJ Ochoa, and Jess Haynie.
What single defensive issue hurt most? Rush-lane discipline, communication, or tackling?
Mike: There was too many soft edges and uneven interior lanes that Jacoby Brissett used to break contain and extend plays, which in turn stressed the coverage and turned routine tackles into misses. If Dallas can clean up the lane integrity, containment issues, the communication hiccups, the tackling problems begin to subside fast.
Jess: Lane discipline has been killing Dallas all year. Kenneth Murray has reached 2021 Jaylon Smith level at this point, and the young players are doing what young players do. We can’t get Logan Wilson and DeMarvion Overshown out there fast enough.
RJ: Ultimately I think this comes down to communication. This is a group that clearly has no proper understanding of what they are doing and we have seen that show its ugly face time after time across the entire year.
Howman: I think we’re all dancing around the real issue, which is that linebacker play has been abysmal. Shemar James doesn’t deserve a ton of criticism given he’s a rookie who’s clearly drinking water out of a fire hose, but there’s no such excuse for Kenneth Murray. Furthermore, there’s no excuse for Matt Eberflus continuing to play someone who keeps giving up chunk play after chunk play. Why Murray still sees the field over Marist Liufau boggles the mind.
Did the fourth-down aggression go too far, or were the calls sound and the execution lacking?
Mike: It wasn’t the aggression, it was the execution. With the Cowboys defense leaking like a broken sieve this year, going for it on fourth down was the right math. The problem was the execution with too many long-developing plays and not pairing third-down calls to set up a high-percentage fourth-down play. Protection up front wasn’t clean and penalties put the Cowboys offense into a panic, forcing the situation further. There is an easier answer to all this, however, don’t let it get to a place where Brian Schottenheimer has to make that decision on fourth down. Execute on early downs and be more clinical up front on the offensive line, and this offense doesn’t need to be forced to make fourth down calls. That sounds much better.
Jess: Would we even be having this discussion if Javonte Williams hadn’t fumbled? Hard to take fault with playcalling when players can’t even do the basics. Execution is far more the issue on offense.
RJ: I am more than fine with the Cowboys having a go-for-it attitude on fourth down, especially given the state of the defense. It’s obviously unfortunate that it did not work out.
Howman: If those fourth down decisions work out, we’re talking about how Schotty is a genius instead of asking if it was too much, so no, I have no issue with the decision making.
Where does Logan Wilson move the needle most right away? On run fits between the tackles, third-down coverage, or pressure packages as a late add?
Mike: Wilson’s superpower is reading route concepts and closing windows between the hashes, and then triggering quickly to tackle before the ball carrier reaches the sticks. That lets Dallas defense be able to disguise pressure without busts, and most importantly, get off the field when it matters. He’ll help the run fits with cleaner vision and faster downhill triggers. As a blitzer he’s a useful creeper, not a volume pressure piece. But his coverage recognition upgrades passing downs, his tackling improves the run defense, and the Cowboys two-minute defense improves immediately.
Jess: See my response to the first question. Wilson was a good read-and-react player in Cincy and that is what is woefully lacking among our linebackers right now. He can probably help across the board, but his experience and quick, accurate processing will be welcome in that group.
RJ: He is better than what they have. That’s it.
Howman: Logan Wilson is a decent linebacker but also a team leader in the locker room. Most importantly, though, he gets Kenneth Murray off the field.
See More:
