2010 Dallas Cowboys To-Do List: Turnover Efficiency

One area where the team can clearly improve is forcing turnovers. It would help the offense, defense, and special teams, and increase our scoring efficiency. Ball is not skilled at creating turnovers. If only there had been a free agent safety that was at least Ball’s equal in all other areas and among the best in the league at creating turnovers…

What helps the cowboys D this time around..

Sensi wont have a cast
Spencer gets “it” now
Barbie is gone
Spears should be more motivated isnt it a contract year?

Then hopefully another semi decent pass rusher will emerge along with ILB

Either way the front 7 is better and thatll make the secondary better. Jenkins Scandrick have another year. I expect alot more turnovers.

Ware and Spencer and Rat in the middle are just too much to handle

this defense has real potential to be elite. If not, then the Cowboys will probably see a lot of what we saw last year where the defense is a bend-don’t break defense that hurts us in the field position battle yet doesn’t give up a lot of points.

Week 2 NYG (4 Turnovers—>24 points)
a) Bruce Johnson Pick 6 +Extra Point
b) After Felix Jones loses fumble on the kick off return Giants go 7 plays 18 yards for a field goal.
c) Ken Phillips Int of Romo at Dal 28; Giants go 3 plays 28 yards for TD
d) Romo Picked off at NYG 5; Giants march down field and score TD

Week 4 @ Denver (2 Turnovers—>7Points)
a) Tony Romo is sacked and stripped of the ball at the Dallas 9; next play Orton throws a swing pass to Moreno for 9yard TD.

Week 5 @KC (2 Turnovers—>7 Points)
a) Romo fumbles at Dallas 22 and the Chiefs Offense get the ball at Dallas 16. KC scores a TD on that drive.

Week 10 @GB (3 Turnovers—>7 Points)
a) Romo fumble leading to Green Bay scoring a TD immediately on a 3 play 3 yard possesion

Week 13@NYG (1 Turnover—>7 Points)
a) Marian Barber has a 6 yard reception then fumbles the ball, the Giants recover, and their offense scores on the ensuing drive.

In these 5 games we turned the ball over 12 times and allowed the other team to score 52 points.

sure he didn’t get any interceptions, but he broke up the pass play which is just as important, now lets see if we can turn those deflections into interceptions

Thr team that wins the takeaway battle usually win the war.

Atogwe is definitly NOT overrated. However I think there must’ve been some pretty big injury concerns.

There are plenty of teams that need a playmaking safety and the fact that interest seemed so low is only a testament to me that the hernia and other injuries he had just weren’t enough to justify a big contract.

While what you do with it after you take it away is obviously important, since we aren’t taking it away we need to concentrate on that first. One step at a time. I have a feeling that our offense will cash the points in if we give them a short field. Maybe, maybe not, but my point is we have to improve in the first area in order to even have a chance in the second area.

Now, Jenkins has a nose for the ball. I have a feeling Scandrick will pick a few this season, as well. We all saw that Sensabaugh had a few bounce out of his reach because of that cast. Between those three I think we’ll get some picks. Who was it? Ware, that said he wants to pick the ball off this season? We’ll probably step up the picks a level or two this season.

Turnovers, however, probably isn’t the rationale for Wade going with Ball. He has stated more than once that Ball has better coverage skills, which allows him to do more things with the defense. That something is blitzing. Though we have had a formidable pass rush the last couple of years, it hasn’t created turnovers. I think Wade wants to dial it up a notch with the blitz, and create some havoc in the backfield. Disrupting the other teams rhythm, patterns, and timing, is the key to creating turnovers.

But wouldn’t it be EVEN greater to stop teams on 3rd down with greater efficiency? If your defense has playmakers on it, turnovers will come, if few and far between. However, stopping teams on 3rd down will also create those turnovers as teams desperate to score will take desperate measures to do so.

Stopping the other team on those long 3rd & 13’s and not just the 3rd &2’s will keep their offense off the field and ours on the field.

That is true, but Dallas was tied at 4th all season long with 3rd down efficiency. So it isn’t like that is the big department they are lacking.

Theere are two types of teams that do well in terms of takeaways;

One is when you have a stifling run defense that forces your opponent’s offense to become one-dimensional.

The other is when your offense gets on people early and often, again, forcing your opponent’s offense to become…wait for it…one-dimensional.

The problem is that there are very few teams who can stuff the run consistently enough to change the opposing OC’s play calling. The Jets, Ravens and Vikes are the ones that jump out at me. The Broncos did it for the first half of the season until they broke down.

There are a lot more teams with average defenses who put intense pressure on their opponents to score in bunches in order to stay in the game (Saints, Pats, Packers, Chargers, Eagles) and it just makes things so much easier when all you need to do is get after the QB and jump routes.

Marty Schottenheimer’s RB’s always protected the ball better and stripped the ball better on defense because it was a focal point for him. He always had special drills which simulated the game situations and taught players how to strip it and hold onto it.

I think John Fox is of that same ilk.

I am just hoping the cowboys look into Deunta Williams, FS UNC. He was converted from WR so you know he has at least decent hands, and it shows with 12 picks in three seasons. He’s a senior with good size (6’ 1" 210) I guess we’ll see how things pan out. I’m always pulling for the current players and personally I want to see AOA step up and be that guy since he has the prototypical size for a safety AND we got him in the fourth round so another late draft steal for us like we’ve been known for lately.

The lapse in run defense well could include a reflection upon the efficiency of the Dallas offense as well.

Also, in considering the flunctuation from ‘08 to ’09, I wonder how much of that is related to Romo’s injury and Johnson QB’ing in the interim?