Dallas Cowboys defense improved, but not enough
Maybe you didn't know coming into this season what kind of head coach Wade Phillips would be, given a mixed-bag record in Buffalo and Denver.
But it seemed certain the defense would benefit.
And with Phillips' first season in the books, it has. The improvement, though, has been measured, not monstrous, as some expected.
"It should be the best defense in the NFL," coordinator Brian Stewart said at the outset of training camp. "Everybody has to stay healthy, and everybody has to play to their capabilities. But that happens, we should be the best defense in the NFL."
There's a big difference between "should be" and "will," and the Cowboys weren't what Stewart was hoping for. In fact, the unit wasn't much better in 2007 than in 2006.
The team wasn't as healthy as he'd hoped, and his defense finished ranked ninth. Injuries sidelined Greg Ellis, Terence Newman and Anthony Henry for extended time, ended Jason Ferguson's season, and hobbled others. Though that qualifies as a relatively healthy year by NFL standards, player absences took their toll.
Still, the group got better, which is the reverse of what happened in 2006.
"I thought our defense played better down the stretch," Phillips said. "It takes a whole team. Our front seven improved as the year went on. We got three more sacks against [Eli Manning], 140 yards passing. I still see improvement."
And surprisingly enough, that improvement was most vivid in the losses.
In the sixth game of the season, the defense looked overmatched against the Patriots' record-setting attack, yielding season highs in yards (448) and points (48) and giving a game offense little chance at victory.
In the team's other two meaningful losses in December and January, the unit wasn't nearly the Achilles' heel it had been earlier in the season. The Cowboys allowed 315 yards in the 10-6 loss to the Eagles on Dec. 16, then 230 yards against the Giants in the divisional playoff defeat last Sunday.
But in those defeats, and in the stretch run, there was one facet of the unit that sagged – the once-stout run defense. After allowing 83.7 rushing yards per game and 3.65 yards per carry in its first 11, the defense yielded 116.7 yards per game and 4.61 yards per carry in its final six games.
And playing for a coach who posted a defensive priority list in meeting rooms that's topped with "Stop the run," that's not good, even if Phillips preferred to take a big-picture view.
"We're going to try to improve and get to that Super Bowl. That's what [Jerry Jones] wants, that's what I want, [what] all our fans want," Phillips said. "We're dedicated to doing that."
He'll have a chance, with a lot of players back on defense. Only one front-seven player, Chris Canty, is not under contract for 2008, and he'll be a restricted free agent if the Cowboys don't get him locked up early in the off-season. In the secondary, Pro Bowler Ken Hamlin is a potential unrestricted free agent, and the oft-targeted Jacques Reeves has an expiring deal as well.
And with two first-round picks and plenty of cap room, there's room to augment. Plus, with a year in the scheme under their belts, and young players such as Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff emerging, there figures to be growth.
The bottom line is the defense showed playmaking ability in 2007, primarily in the sack total making a 35 percent jump from '06 (34- 46). But in the end, they came up a few plays short.
If Stewart's summer premonition is ever to come to fruition, that'll have to change.
"We have a special team," Newman said. "But someone has a more special team."
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