Key Matchup: Terrell Owens vs. Dallas' Secondary
Cowboys coach Bill Parcells spent the offseason overhauling his defense and received praise for his major moves:
Signing CB Anthony Henry and NT Jason Ferguson and drafting DEs Marcus Spears and Chris Canty and LBs DeMarcus Ware and Kevin Burnett. That was a large infusion of talent but, so far at least, it has not brought results. The Cowboys are ranked 24th in total defense, giving up 340 yards per game.
At 225 yards a game, Dallas' pass defense ranks 22nd in the league. What is more illuminating than those numbers is how Dallas has given them up: in big chunks.
Check out how each of the Cowboys' opponents' #1 WRs have faired:
Keenan McCardell: 9 catches for 125 yards and 2 TDs
Santana Moss: 5 for 159 and 2
Brandon Lloyd: 4 for 142 and 2
Randy Moss: 4 for 123 and 0
In fact, Dallas yielded the above quartet a total of nearly 550 yards at a rate of 25 yards per catch.
Obviously, even with Henry's addition, the Cowboys' secondary is stilll just not that good. Despite his $25 million contract, Henry is no more than average as a cornerback. He does not have elite speed and has trouble playing big-time receiverss in man coverage. Last year, when Henry still played for Cleveland, Owens was able to beat him for big chunks of yardage: 4 catches for 109 yards (27.3 per catch) and two TDs.
The Cowboys thought they were getting a shutdown corner when they used the 5th pick of the 2003 draft on Terence Newman, who starts opposite Henry. Newman has shown flashes of brilliancee but has been very inconsistent.
The unit's biggest problem has been their safties. Starting free safty Keith Davis is an NFL Europe alum who played primarily on special teams last year and is uninspiring at best. Strong safety Roy Williams is the much bigger name... And perhaps one of the most overrated players in the NFL. Williams is excellent as a blitzer and in run support, but he is terrible in coverage. His overeagerness to make plays in the running game makes him vulnerable to play action. More important, he does not have good awareness when in coverage. This was most evident in week two when Santana Moss burned the Cowboys for two long, late TDs. On both plays Williams was late in reacting and could not get back in time to give his corners help over the top.
This week, the unit must face Terrell Owens, who is on pace for over 2000 yards. They will certainly roll coverage to his side and provide whichever corner who lines up on him with help deep. But with Williams and Davis back there, that might not matter. Don't be surprised if TO approaches 200 yards and scores two or three times.
Signing CB Anthony Henry and NT Jason Ferguson and drafting DEs Marcus Spears and Chris Canty and LBs DeMarcus Ware and Kevin Burnett. That was a large infusion of talent but, so far at least, it has not brought results. The Cowboys are ranked 24th in total defense, giving up 340 yards per game.
At 225 yards a game, Dallas' pass defense ranks 22nd in the league. What is more illuminating than those numbers is how Dallas has given them up: in big chunks.
Check out how each of the Cowboys' opponents' #1 WRs have faired:
Keenan McCardell: 9 catches for 125 yards and 2 TDs
Santana Moss: 5 for 159 and 2
Brandon Lloyd: 4 for 142 and 2
Randy Moss: 4 for 123 and 0
In fact, Dallas yielded the above quartet a total of nearly 550 yards at a rate of 25 yards per catch.
Obviously, even with Henry's addition, the Cowboys' secondary is stilll just not that good. Despite his $25 million contract, Henry is no more than average as a cornerback. He does not have elite speed and has trouble playing big-time receiverss in man coverage. Last year, when Henry still played for Cleveland, Owens was able to beat him for big chunks of yardage: 4 catches for 109 yards (27.3 per catch) and two TDs.
The Cowboys thought they were getting a shutdown corner when they used the 5th pick of the 2003 draft on Terence Newman, who starts opposite Henry. Newman has shown flashes of brilliancee but has been very inconsistent.
The unit's biggest problem has been their safties. Starting free safty Keith Davis is an NFL Europe alum who played primarily on special teams last year and is uninspiring at best. Strong safety Roy Williams is the much bigger name... And perhaps one of the most overrated players in the NFL. Williams is excellent as a blitzer and in run support, but he is terrible in coverage. His overeagerness to make plays in the running game makes him vulnerable to play action. More important, he does not have good awareness when in coverage. This was most evident in week two when Santana Moss burned the Cowboys for two long, late TDs. On both plays Williams was late in reacting and could not get back in time to give his corners help over the top.
This week, the unit must face Terrell Owens, who is on pace for over 2000 yards. They will certainly roll coverage to his side and provide whichever corner who lines up on him with help deep. But with Williams and Davis back there, that might not matter. Don't be surprised if TO approaches 200 yards and scores two or three times.
posted by ahb at 12:10 AM
1 Comments:
interesting read. like the content, just run it through the spell checker first ;-) other than that, nothing but good things to say.
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