One Cool Customer delivered some news that many around the National Football League might find hard to believe, but Dallas currently has the best defense in the National Football League.
The Chargers passed for a total of 75 yards against the Cowboys a week ago. They were sacked three times for 11 combined yards, which leaves the Chargers with 64 net passing yards against the Cowboys.
The 49ers passed for just 71 yards last night. The Cowboys notched three sacks for a combined 21 yards, wich resulted in exactly 50 net passing yards for the 49ers.
Chargers for 64, 49ers for 50. That's 114 net passing yards over two games or 57 passing per game, the exact number NFL.com is showing for the Cowboys.
That is six sacks from the men upfront and some serious shut down from the secondary. That is the kind of stuff that fans want to see from a defense. Yes it is early in the preseason and things could change significantly over the regular season, but it is also a far cry from where the Cowboys were last year.
The Cool One is not the only person to take notice. The Dallas Cowboys leader in the secondary has noticed the difference as well and he is quick to credit those in front of him with the lion's share of the praise.
"This year, just the level of the competition and the level of talent has just risen to the top. You've got Gregory in there, you've got Hardy coming off the edge, Mincey is still in there, Crawford is coming along nicely, that difference is going to be night and day. And what you're going to see out there is the quarterback is not going to have as much time back there to throw the ball so he's not going to be able to go through his progressions to find the open receiver. ... That's a means we don't have to cover as long and that's a great opportunity for tips and overthrows and that's where I thrive." - Barry Church
A good pass rush makes a secondary better. From his statements to KESN FM 103.3 it is obvious Church believes in that. He is convinced that the ability of Rod Marinelli's Merry Band of Rushman to get home is going to make the Cowboys secondary much more of a weapon that it has been in recent years.
"It changes it tremendously. We get to jump things, we get to be more aggressive on the back end and when we're in man to man coverage we don't have to worry about ... covering for eight seconds here and there or having to worry about him coming back to our guy through the progression because we know that they're not getting out of the pocket and they're not going to outrun our edge rushers. It's just going to be night and day out there and I can't wait for it."
Traditionally the Dallas Cowboys have always been able to bring heat to the pocket, guys like Randy White, Harvey Martin, Charles Haley, and DeMarcus Ware have always been top sack artists. The have also had excellent play from the defensive backs who played behind them. It looks like what Barry is expecting is that we, as fans, can expect to see a return to what we have come to expect from the Dallas defense thanks to having improved play up front.
If Church is correct those numbers that OCC shared with us might not be so unbelievable after all. Somebody pour the kool aid!