At the end of last season, we may have thought VD and Wake "may" become playmakers. Now, we know it, and can add in Dansby, Misi, Starks, and maybe even Jason Allen. Who the hell woulda thunk it? Not me.
I have been beating that drum all off-season. I counted Starks, Wake, Dansby and Bell among the play makers we knew we had. I listed the CBs (Davis and Smith) among those that could develop into play makers. The early returns are that Davis has developed and should be counted among those play makers. Langford, Soliai, Misi, Allen and Clemons have all been at least solid with play making of their own thrown in. IMO any defense that can list 5 play makers and so much solid support is very good. Our weakest starter has probably been Dobbins. And even he's been decent in run support. He just has been a bit of a liability in coverage. But that should improve if Crowder comes back this week as has been rumored. I think that Nolan deserves a great deal of credit for putting these players in position to be play makers. It was obvious we had the talent on the defense the last two seasons, but that we just kept making too many mental errors. Nolan seems to have minimized that so far this season.
Instead of calling out posters, maybe we can do what Raf did and and meat to the post. We also have the mentor program were if you want to help new posters, feel free to go to that forum and say your helping them.
Has misi made another other big plays aside from the sack in buffalo or fumble recovery for td against minny?
Not to nit-pick but, Dansby was not signed. Agree on everything else. Langford had one hell of a game. Five tackles, 2 for loss, a sack, and a QB hit is normally 3 game's production for a 3-4 DE. Our LB's have been special, including Moses, Carpenter, and Dobbins. Add in Crowder and Alama-Francis in the near future, and hopefully Edds next year. WOW!!!
I wanted Dansby signed the last two seasons. I didn't start saying we had enough play makers on defense until after we signed Dansby. We signed him early in the offseason, way before the draft and that was when I started beating the drum about how we had enough defensive play makers and that our main problem was schematic. We also had Nolan by then. The only other defensive player I thought was necessary was a FS. I wanted Earl Thomas, but Clemons has been a pleasant surprise. He's not a play maker but he has been solid. I loved the Clemons pick the previous year, but I didn't think he was ready to step in and play as he has.
Carpenter has been a huge surprise for me. It is harder to pick who has been the biggest surprise between Carpenter and Jason Allen. Both players were first round picks, so they have talent. I didn't expect either to be playing as well as they have been now.
I will go with Allen since I have not watched Cowboy games. Carpenter has been a great surprise. It's funny, after all the games last year, you could pick out plays Crowder missed here and there, with Dobbins, Dansby and Carpenter, not so much.
You are not watching the same Dobbins I have been watching. I am looking forward to the day he is no longer on the field. If there was a good run chances are he was the one who made the mistake or missed the tackle. I do not understand what people see in him. Seemed like they liked him because he was not Crowder. It is hard for me to go with Allen because I saw he had talent when he was out on the field and has been through two training camps with the defense and staff. Carpenter was selected off the street and since he has played really well.
Clemons, and the entire secondary, have been a very pleasant surprise. However, we have not yet faced the VG-Great WR's. I am taking nothing at all away from their play. Just want to see more.
It's funny, I have seen him doing very well in coverage and being at the right place at the right time, unlike Crowder usually is. Now, Bell, I see him missing tackles a lot, and everyone says how great he tackles? Now he does make the big hit once in a while, But he misses a ton of tackles also.
When Crowder come back, I fully expect the same guy we saw with Z and JT. He is a role player, and a hell of a good one when surrounded by talent.
Agreed. I fully expect that this defense will have some tough days. The rules are too slanted towards the offense. That's why we need to the offense to open up a little to get us through those weeks. The days of winning just on defense and the running game are long gone.
I do agree. However, what I would like to see is a balanced O, similar to Dallas with Aikman, Emmit, and Irvin. They transcend the rules changes. I can hope and dream.
Allen & Davis have gone into the ball hawk business together. going to hear a lot of good things about these guys as the year progresses
