FRISCO, Texas – It's no secret that the Cowboys defense hasn't gotten off to the start they had hoped for under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.
After a 24-16 loss to the Buccaneers on Thursday night, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said there would be changes being made going forward, which has already included adding senior defensive assistant Mike Pettine and Parker moving from the sidelines to the booth to call the defense.
One more change that will need to be made? Fixing their struggles against explosive plays, which are registered as a run of 10 or more yards and a pass of 20 or more yards. The Cowboys have allowed 37 total explosive plays thus far this season, tied for the fourth-most in the NFL.
In this week's edition of Tape Talk, a look at where some of those explosive plays have been given up and what Dallas can do to limit them:
Eliminating explosive plays in the passing game
The Cowboys' secondary has been dealing with a lot of injuries to start the year, and it's fair to say that is part of the reason why Dallas has allowed some plays down the field in certain scenarios.
However, the Cowboys have also still had plays where they're prepared for downfield shots and have allowed them. On this example, a portion of it is bad luck as DaRon Bland loses his footing on 3rd and 21 which allowed Jalon Daniels to fire a pass into Emeka Egbuka and move the chains.
Still, just looking at the play, there appeared to be a bit more cushion between Bland and his matchup compared to the others across the board defensively for Dallas. After the game, Bland said they were in Cover 3, and the key is to "keep on top of [the receivers]." In those situations, especially going into a game against the Packers where they had a lot of success a week ago with downfield passes, the Cowboys will have to do a better job of that.
Cowboys defense must improve finishing tackles
On run plays through five games this season, the Cowboys have missed 32 tackles, the ninth-most in the NFL. As a whole, tackling is something that Brian Schottenheimer has acknowledged multiple times his team needs to improve at going forward.
The Bucky Irving explosive play to start the second half last Thursday was an example of it. Jaishawn Barham does an excellent job of penetrating early and gets a shot on Irving, but can't get two arms around him and it leads to Irving being able to find some space, which is where he's been dangerous over the course of his young career.
What happens after Irving finds that space is where Dallas needs to clean things up. Multiple defenders are in the area, and there isn't much running room for Irving, but he's still able to find the crease (due to some unfortunate collisions that led to other collisions) and Irving pops free for a huge gain. Of course, guys knocking each other over won't happen on each play, but even still, Dallas needs to convert on their first tackling opportunities better than they have.
Have to find ways to keep the QB contained
While the Cowboys were able to hold Jalon Daniels to 23 yards on seven carries Thursday night, Dallas still leads the league in yards allowed quarterbacks this season with 211 on 34 carries, good for 6.2 yards per carry.
Quarterback runs for first downs, which the Cowboys have allowed 16 times this year, also the most in the NFL, can be back breaking, especially on third downs. There have been times, like on this play, where Dallas is able to collapse the pocket a little bit and seems to have everything surrounded, but at times creates rushing lanes late and allows players like Jayden Daniels in this scenario to take off.
One return for the Cowboys defense that could help in this department is DeMarvion Overshown, who is hopeful to play on Sunday night against Green Bay. If Jaishawn Barham stays in the middle of the field and that moves Overshown to the weakside, where he's played a majority of his career, that could allow him more freedom and flexibility to use his speed and eliminate/close down more rushing lanes quickly.
