down part of our pass rush as this point is the absence of Spencer. In every other way I think we’re going to be better. as mentioned above:

1. Ware and Ellis
2. Better secondary personnel allows for more creative blitz packages and press cover schemes. Also imagine the TE being covered for a change – maybe more coverage sacks from that alone!
3. Better D-line play with returning personnel and Tank having another year to grow into our system.
4. Spencer another year of growth – once he comes back, watch out for the Ware/Ellis/Spencer packages – i think they’ll really be able to create havoc that was evidenced some last year in a small sampling.

clearly don’t know what they’re talking about because you don’t end up with 46 sacks without being able to put pressure on the pocket.

We got plenty of sacks to negate that statement. The only scrap of evidence supporting that was the difficulty Dallas had in preventing 3rd down conversions. But I guarantee, with the upgraded secondary giving the front 7 an extra second or two, combined with better play from Spears, Tank, Canty, and Rat (not to mention Ware and Spencer still getting better), there is not going to be a shortage of sacks, pressures, forced fumbles, and tipped passes. This defense is loaded.

of defending Bill Simmons, who’s the biggest hack of the huge hack stable at BSPN, but he did predict Dallas would go to the Super Bowl and lose to the Jags. His evaluation of Dallas was actually largely sober and complimentary. The pass rush comment was silly, but otherwise it was a fair writeup of the team.

Of course, like all Patriots fans, he has to trash the Giants and say the have a chance to lose ten games this season. So, by their logic, when New England upsets St. Louis in the Super Bowl, it’s a sign of their gritty determination and courageous heroism; when the Giants upset the New England in the Super Bowl, the other team was just lucky and not any good.

Whatever, tool.

Who cares if people think we cant get pressure on the QB? I would just assume everyone keep thinking that. Element of surprise and all.

and this was just a dig at the Wade 3-4.

I’ve been bothered by those articles all week. Simmons doesn’t really pay attention to anyone except the Patriots, but King actually follows football. I can’t wait until Anderson gets sacked 5 times this weekend.

They place too much emphasis on sacks by the defensive end. While gushing over Kearney, Allen, Strahan, and Osi….they think that all defenses should have superior pass rushers at DE.

Our pressure comes from the LB’s, which is how a 3-4 should work.

Bottom line is, these two guys are just completely wrong. You don’t finish 3rd in the NFL in sacks without having a strong pass rush.

And to think, we were 3rd with a poor secondary. Just imagine if our secondary can live up to the expectations. That will allow Stewart and Wade to unleash the pressure even more.

Sure there’s some, although very little truth to their picky critisism. I say picky because they can’t say much about our LBs and DBs, so why not DLine?

That said, even though we have DWare and Ellis, we probably need sacks to come from other areas to be considered an Elite Pass Rush Unit. Our Starting Defensive Line combined for 9 sacks last season. That needs to be anywhere 14-18 from the starters and have a 3rd (Spencer?) and possibly 4th DL/LB (Canty? Ratliff? Tank?) in the 6-8 sack range.

62% of our sacks came from two players (94 and 98) and our next biggest threat was Canty (3.5).

Once we get said performance, the only thing Taco King and Co will be able to say about our D is how we’re ugly meanies that hurt quarterbacks and their feelings.

could it be one of those feast or famine type situations…..??

i.e. IF we had a rush we got the sack, however if we did not we gave the QB all day and that exaggerated the weaknesses in our secondary….

one of those live by the blitz die by the blitz situations

remember, I am a Cowboy fan, and am just thinking out loud

once spencer comes back he’ll be a handfull then i bet they start blitzing bradie and dont forget about our speedy courners that will get a couple…plus tanks been in a full year ….if i was a QB facing dallas defence i’d be ascared to even snap the ball, bodies will be coming from everywhere……..once our secondary settles in f*cking forget about it…..it’s going to be a blood bath…the only teams i see giving us pause are west coast timing offences and the there going to have to throw threw all them arms because you know the coaches will work on them getting there hands up early and often……i see mcnabb getting picked at least twice a game…….thats my $38.02 worth…

we had a shot of being 1st in the league, eccspecially if the winston justice game never happened or they finished with half as much sack that game, but we prolly woulda finshed with 50+, cuz Ellis woulda took pressure off Ware too…

Anderson after he has to come out of the game from those BIG HITS!
I see him holding the ice pack by the 3rd qtr.

That guy loves playing us, he has way to much time back there.

It’s almost impossible for these supposed experts to know as much about every team as they claim, so they just throw a handful at the wall and hope it sticks. I heard someone, I wish I could remember who, saying that Marion Barber had to prove he could run between the 20s and not just in the red zone. Of course, if the guy spent 10 minutes researching, he would see that Barber averaged almost 5 yards a carry. Red zone carries are typically shorter, because they stop counting after you hit the end zone, so he average more than that between the 20s. I think someone here linked to an article that showed he averaged 8 ypc between the 40s. It’s just en vogue to say he has to prove whatever, even though he had over 100 against the Super Bowl champs. They just look at random stats and draft position of starters and give a canned response.

Most posters on this board and every other blog know more about their team than the national “experts.” They just don’t know as much about other teams. The “experts” are the classic, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

We may have had the 3rd most sacks, but we weren’t the third most disruptive defense last year…..With improved LB(Zack) and Secondary(Jones,Jenkins,Scandrick) personnel….I see us far exceeding last seasons sack total…And even if we don’t, we’ll have much more pressures, and turnovers……….

I am not saying we didn’t provide pressure, but in many cases, nearly 4-5 seconds came and passed and we didn’t have significant push….sure one guy had 14 sacks, the other guy had 12….but what else ?….hardly ever got our blitzer past the line to cause immediate pressure situations, we had sacks, just not as much pressure as some like to think….Way too many QB’s were able to dink and dunk 7-12 yard come backs passes on us all day….granted, with a more aggressive secondary, and maybe some more press and man coverages….we’re going to see lots more havoc than in previous years….It basically had to do with our limited depth at CB…….you followin’ me here ?

is that this is only our 2nd year in the Phillips 3-4 .Even Bradie James recently said that last year they were lucky to line up in the correct positions.I think this year,you’ll see a lot more pressure on the QB simply because our players are more familiar with the scheme.

I’ve always heard he was one of the most respected sports writers out there, but I’ve just never seen it. It’s not that I disagree with him in general (although I usually do), but he seems to just write complete garbage. How can we sack McNabb four times and have a weak rush??? How can we chase him up and down, actually I should say left and right, and be mediocre at best? I swear he just, flat out, has something against the Cowboys. And how dare he after Jerry Jones lets him sit in his office and eat his popcorn…that’s audacity…I will agree with BoyzRBack, we do let ALOT of medium routes get picked up. Again, that’s something that will work out as the season progresses though.

A lot of haters out there, guys…Isn’t it fun making them all feel dumb!?