In retrospect, he should have gone for it. Facing 4th-and-inches on their own 37-yardline, the Dallas Cowboys punted the ball instead, and they were chasing the New York Giants ever since. New York would go on to score on that drive. They scored on most drives that evening, winning by the score of 28-20, and holding Dallas to just two possessions in the second half of that fateful Week 1 matchup.
Brian Schottenheimer said he chose to punt because he didn’t want to put extra pressure on his brand-new defense. With first time defensive coordinator Christian Parker mid-renovation with the defense and the Giants already in theoretical scoring position, the sentiment is sound, if ultimately ill-advised.
Knowing what we know now – that the defense was
absolutely abysmal and was about to allow New York to charge 83 yards for touchdown – we would all recommend going for it on that fourth down. Even if the attempt would have failed it would have at least saved time since the Giants would only have 37 yards to march instead of the full 83.
If Schottenheimer and the Cowboys take anything away from this, it’s that they need to be more aggressive on offense. If opponents are scoring on 75% of their drives anyway, it’s in the team’s best interest for the offense to gamble.
One week in, the Cowboys are the worst defense in the NFL, allowing a whopping 0.363 in EPA/play. They are second to last in success rate against, offering up successful plays on 59.1 percent of opportunities. In their first action of the year, they missed gap assignments, showed coverage busts, and were bullied off the ball.
Parker’s defense is far more complicated than his predecessor’s, so the timeline to fix things could be long. It’s in the team’s best interest to stay the course and see this transformation through, but there are going to be a lot of bumps along the way.
Parker’s defense has a tough road ahead of them. The worst defense in the NFL a year ago somehow got worse, if only temporarily, over the offseason. That’s not to say things are terminal in Dallas, just that offseason hype got a-lot-a-bit out of control and more gradual learning curve should be expected. Until the improvement is realized, the Cowboys would be wise to carry extra burden on offense.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys’ defensive woes support ultra-aggressive offensive strategy
