Clueless Cowboys Defense: What Do They Want To Be?

FRISCO - A "lack of identity''? Something like that, except on defense, Dallas is doing it to itself ... First and 10 ...

1) Who Am I?

The Dallas Cowboys fired defensive coordinator Mike Nolan on Friday, along with defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. It was necessary, if you ask me, even if the defense finally started to take shape as the type of unit Nolan was hoping for in the final games of the season.

So now the Cowboys need to find a new defensive coordinator. But before that, the Cowboys need to do something right out of an Avett Brothers song:

‘Decide what to be and go be it.’

On defense, I mean.

I think Nolan knew what he wanted this defense to be. That wasn’t the problem. It wasn’t the Zoom-session installations either. No, the problem was he wanted this to be a 3-4 defense. And Nolan inherited a defense that didn’t have 3-4 personnel. It had 4-3 personnel. But, sure let’s turn it on a dime during a pandemic. It never should have happened. The Cowboys should have had the foresight to either tell Nolan it was a two-year plan and would play with a 4-3 in 2020, or hire someone who could use the personnel they had. Because this season, in many ways, was a complete disaster.

The Cowboys gave up 386.4 yards per game, which was in the bottom third of the NFL. The Cowboys gave up 29.6 points per game, fifth-worst in the NFL. There were many times, especially in the first half of the season, in which the defense just looked lost.

That’s coaching. That’s execution. That’s also what happens when you ask a team to change defensive schemes on a dime and they don’t have the personnel to do it. You would think the Cowboys learned their lesson the first time around.

Oh, wait. Did you forget about that? I didn’t.

It was after the 2012 season. The Cowboys had just finished up their umpteenth 8-8 season under then-head coach Jason Garrett (ok, it was only their second). Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had just shooed off defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and his long, flowing locks. Jerry and Jason needed a new defensive coordinator, and the hire was a name brand — Monte Kiffin. The legendary coordinator of Tampa Bay’s Cover 2 defense, Kiffin felt like the right kind of hire. Wasn’t ambitious. Wanted to coordinate the defense and only the defense. Brought one of his top lieutenants, Rod Marinelli, with him.

I covered both Kiffin and Marinelli in Tampa. For that scheme and that personnel, they were perfect. There was just one problem — the Cowboys played a 3-4 defense under Ryan. I thought to myself, ‘Does … Monte know how to coordinate a 3-4? Because that’s the personnel they have.’

He did not. Nope. Jerry wanted to go back to a 4-3. In less than a year. Without the personnel to do it. At times, that unit looked like a train wreck. This was the unit that gave up 51 points to Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, which wouldn’t have been so bad except the Cowboys scored 48 points in that game and could have won that game. This was also the defense that gave up 48 points on the road to New Orleans in an embarrassing effort on Sunday Night Football.

Somehow, the group ended up finishing … yep, you guessed it — 8-8. That unit was the seventh-worst in scoring defense, giving up 27 points per game. They were also dead last in yards allowed with 415.3 yards per game.

The next season Kiffin was the assistant head coach for defense, whatever that was, and Marinelli was the defensive coordinator. But, in 2014, the Cowboys went 12-4 and made the playoffs. The defense became a middle-of-the-NFL unit, but it allowed five fewer points per game and 60 fewer yards per game.

So what happened? It was Year 2 of the scheme change. The Cowboys invested in draft picks that could help like defensive end Demarcus Lawrence and linebacker Anthony Hitchens. They also signed free agents that could fit into the scheme like defensive end Jeremy Mincey, defensive tackle Henry Melton, defensive tackle Terrell McClain and linebacker Rolando McClain. In other words, they assembled the talent to execute the scheme. But, again, why attempt this type of scheme change without planning in the first place?

What the Cowboys did then, and what the Cowboys did last season, was in direct opposition to what the Cowboys did before the 2003 season when Bill Parcells arrived.

Perhaps no head coach in the 1980s and 1990s was more associated with the 3-4 than Parcells. Lawrence Taylor may have had something to do with that. But when he arrived in Dallas before the 2003 season, no head coach in Cowboys history besides Jimmy Johnson would have had more of a blank check to make changes under Jones. Yet, when Parcells arrived, he stuck with the 4-3 for two years and retained then-defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

The Cowboys made the playoffs in Parcells’ first year (10-6), and then took a step back the following season (6-10). After two years of minor changes, the Cowboys went into the 2005 NFL Draft and fully bought in on the 3-4 by drafting DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Chris Canty and Jay Ratliff.

The Cowboys reaped the benefits of that slow ramp-up for the next five years, as they had five straight winning seasons and three playoff berths.

So, why not a slow ramp-up in 2020? Or why hire a coordinator that didn’t use a 4-3 scheme? Mike McCarthy wanted to hire ‘his guy.’ But he forgot one of the cardinal rules of coaching — pick the scheme to fit your players. And the Cowboys’ defense paid for it. And now Nolan pays for it by losing his job.

Jerry and company should have learned that lesson nearly a decade ago, but for some reason they forgot.

The Cowboys should keep that in mind as they go coordinator shopping again for the 2021 season.

2) Dak has leverage? Duh.

I had no idea that Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was moonlighting as Hotels.com’s Captain Obvious. It sure sounded like it as he talked about Dak Prescott’s upcoming contract negotiations.

"I don't know how you can have any more leverage,'' Jones conceded.

You think so, Jerry? I mean, you guys signed him to a one-year franchise tender, he was putting up the best numbers of his career before he was hurt and his back-up is about to be a free agent. Your team played well enough in the final month to take yourself out of the running for the Top 2 quarterbacks in the draft (in case you wanted to go that way) and your backup for 2021 looks like Ben DiNucci.

I think I’ve covered how ‘screwed’ you are from a leverage standpoint. The only saving grace is that you can, indeed, franchise tag Prescott again.

Don’t screw this up, Jerry. Just get Dak in his long-term deal now and save everyone the drama of last season.

Cowboys COO Stephen Jones sounds like he know this needs to get done, too.

Oh, and HERE’S a fun rumor-mill story for you. Our Mike Fisher walks you through a ‘telephone game’ story about Texas quarterback Deshaun Watson. Why are we writing about this in a Cowboys story? Because, as Fish shows you, this game of ‘telephone’ has been played before, when it came to Prescott last offseason.

3) Cowboys Mock Draft Tracker

It’s 2021 NFL Draft season (at least it is for the Cowboys and the 17 other NFL teams that didn’t make the playoffs). And CowboyMaven has its Cowboys Mock Draft Tracker up and running. Throughout the ramp-up to the 2021 NFL Draft, we’ll be updating the tracker with mock drafts from around the Internet — ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, Fox Sports and all the others. You can find it all in one convenient place right here. So click it, bookmark it and keep up with it.

As for my CowboyMaven mock draft? Well, I’ll be publishing mine at regular intervals starting the weekend of the Senior Bowl, right here in First and 10.

4) Cowboys Coordinator Tips?

Our man Fish has them.

Get a comfy chair.

5) Dak Is No. 1: Cowboys' Top 5 Free Agents

I mean, yes, it’s pretty obvious that Dak Prescott is the Cowboys’ No. 1 free-agent priority this offseason. But after that? Throughout the season I’ve been updating my Cowboys Top 5 Free Agents story, and now that the season is over my list is final. My Top 5 is here, plus updates on all of the Cowboys’ other impending free agents.

Who is coming back? Who is not? We’ll see in a few months. But for now, I think these are the priorities.

6) Cowboys rookie on PFF All-Rookie Team, but …

If you’re looking for a data-driven approach to evaluating talent, then ProFootbalFocus.com is where you want to go. You hear about it every Sunday night on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, in part because analyst Cris Collinsworth has majority stake in it.

Well, one Cowboys rookie had a big season — wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. So when the PFF All-Rookie team came out on Friday … Lamb wasn’t on it.

But one Cowboys rookie was. Find out who by clicking here. You can also find out who beat out Lamb at wide receiver.

7) The Cowboys ‘Futures’ List

Right after the season the Cowboys, like every other NFL teams, signs a bunch of players that get what they call ‘Futures’ contract. They’re not like stocks, but I guess you could say the Cowboys are ‘placing a bet’ on their future.

Why are they called ‘Futures?’ NFL teams tend to take on more players than they can take on during training camp in the summer, when they can only carry 90. A ‘Futures’ player is one the Cowboys feel has potential to make that 90-player cut when training camp begins.

Some of the names are going be familiar to you. One was on the 53-man roster but was what they call an Exclusive Rights Free Agent — defensive back Saivion Smith. Others are players that were on the practice squad, such as tight end Isaac Alarcon. Others are street free agents who were signed in a pinch that the Cowboys want to make sure don’t go anywhere.

Does this mean they’ll make the 53-man roster in 2021? Probably not. But these signings fall under the category of ‘Leave no stone unturned for talent.’

8) Who Do Cowboys Play On 2021 NFL Schedule?

We know who the Cowboys will play in 2021, with the caveat that the NFL is ruminating on adding a 17th regular-season game for 2021. But, for now, if you’re checking out those 2021 opponents, there’s a ‘sunny’ and an ‘easy’ destination, if COVID-19 will lift in time to let Cowboys fans travel en masse once again.

Oh, and there’s a ‘chief’ opponent you’ll be interested in noting, too.

9) Whitt’s End: If Elway Can 'Fire Himself,' Why Can't Jerry?

From our Richie Whitt:

Jerry likes to say that "if you work for yourself, you can't fire yourself.'' But isn't that just what John Elway did in Denver? Hall-of-Famer Elway is as iconic in Colorado as Hall-of-Famer Jones is in Texas. But the Broncos boss, realizing that he's overseeing the first team in NFL history to go to the Super Bowl one year and then fail to make the playoffs for the next five years straight, basically "bumped himself upstairs'' in the Broncos organization and is now overseeing the hiring of the GM who will replace him.

If Elway can do it ... why can't Jerry Jones? If the Broncos think five years is too long, how can the Cowboys not think 25 years is too long?