So now that we know it was all Mike Nolan’s fault, the Dallas Cowboys can get back to the business of winning football games.
You would need Indiana Jones, a Truffle hog and an oil rig to find the flaw in hiring Dan Quinn as the new Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator.
The flaw starts with the Cowboys drafting CeeDee Lamb, and continuing to regard defense as a nuisance.
When the Cowboys drafted Lamb, I ripped the pick, not the player.
Lamb looks like he is going to be a Pro Bowl player. He is also an addition to the richest part of the Dallas Cowboys.
How did that help?
And it’s not the scheme. Nolan has culpability for the Cowboys’ historically bad defense in 2020, but this disaster is on the players and the franchise, which continues to prioritize the sexy splash of offense over the dull necessity of defense.
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The most successful franchises find a scheme, draft players to fit it, and don’t deviate much.
Not our Cowboys.
Since 2007, the Dallas Cowboys have listed Brian Stewart, basically Wade Phillips, Paul Pasqualoni, Rob Ryan, Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Kris Richard and Nolan as defensive coordinators.
They have flopped from a 4-3 to the Bill Parcells’ preferred 3-4, over to the “Phillips’ 4-3,” and, one year after trying Nolan’s 3-4, most likely will go to the 4-3 for Quinn.
The players have their bad guy and it’s not the mirror.
In 2007, recently retired Cowboys coach Bill Parcells talked extensively to Babe Laufenberg, the longtime Cowboys radio color announcer who was the sports anchor at KTVT Channel 11 at the time.
At the time, the Cowboys were rolling under first-year coach Wade Phillips, and his switch from Parcells’ 3-4 to the “Phillips’ 4-3.”
“Players are human beings. They are going to protect themselves,” Parcells told Babe. “So when things go well, it’s going to be the coach, or the system didn’t let me do this.
“You know, there’s not a dime’s worth a difference between the system they do now and the system we played. They can say whatever they want. There’s just so many things you can do on defense.”
You don’t have to like Parcells to agree with his point, which is as valid today as it was then.
Considering most teams play a nickel or dime defense the vast majority of snaps, this 4-3/3-4 stuff is a diversion from the real problem.
The combination of Marinelli and Richard combined for a perfectly good “coach” for the Cowboys’ defense, but McCarthy understandably wanted his own guy.
At least according to a few people who watch the film religiously, the Cowboys have two or three defensive players other teams would want: cornerback Trevon Diggs, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and maybe Randy Gregory.
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The Cowboys’ best defensive player of the past 20 years remains DeMarcus Ware, who last played here in 2013.
On defense, the Cowboys look for draft day steals and add washed-up free agents to address their needs.
Jaylon Smith, a second-round steal. Great guy, decent player.
Same for Randy Gregory, another second-round steal.
While he looked good in his return this season, Gregory is still a player who has played a total of 38 NFL games since the Cowboys drafted him in the second round in 2015. He has missed two full years because of suspensions.
Leighton Vander Esch is a first-round talent when he plays. You can’t be great on the sidelines.
No team has disregarded the safety position for essentially the last 15 years like the Cowboys.
They let cornerback Byron Jones go via free agency because he was too expensive and wasn’t making plays on the ball. He was also solid and better than the options at the time.
If Jones was an offensive player, he would have signed an extension with the Cowboys.
Adding veterans like Ha Ha Clinton Dix, Dontari Poe, Gerald McCoy were band-aids that were necessary because the team missed on so many draft picks. And none of them finished the year with the Cowboys.
Adding troubled defensive end Aldon Smith was a steal until he finally played like a bust. Smith, who looked so promising in the first month of the season, was essentially invisible the last three months.
The Cowboys refused to trade him for anything when he had value, and now he looks like a player who may not make the 2021 final roster.
And every fan needs to get over this team not drafting T.J. Watt in 2017. He was available when the Cowboys picked the human strikeout that was Taco Charlton. Most teams passed on Watt.
Changing the scheme does not change the talent, nor does adding Quinn suggest the priority this franchise places on defense is much different.
They need a defensive tackle who can play, a linebacker who makes plays, and a real safety with range.
The NFL is a scoring league more than ever before, but you still need some three-and-outs and stops that don’t end in the end zone.
CeeDee Lamb can’t fix that.
