Originally Posted by SickwithIt101

Not coming in here to troll, just saw the post is all.

I'm letting you know right now, that even though Pete was mentored by Monte their defenses are nowhere near the same. Pete runs primarily man defense he is not afraid to blitz and bring pressure. Monte gets into that tampa 2 look and I swear there are times when you see nothing but the T2. Monte is very conservative and plays a bend but dont break defense while Pete is VERY aggressive.

Pete will run a T2 look on 3rd and long from time to time, but he has not copied Monte's defense by any means. Monte's Tampa Bay defenses were very small, they sacraficed size for speed while Pete's defenses (at USC and in Seattle) are very big and very strong. It would be hard to find a defense like Seattle's being coached by Monte.

Originally Posted by SickwithIt1010 (Post 3243412)

Not coming in here to troll, just saw the post is all.

I'm letting you know right now, that even though Pete was mentored by Monte their defenses are nowhere near the same. Pete runs primarily man defense he is not afraid to blitz and bring pressure. Monte gets into that tampa 2 look and I swear there are times when you see nothing but the T2. Monte is very conservative and plays a bend but dont break defense while Pete is VERY aggressive.

Pete will run a T2 look on 3rd and long from time to time, but he has not copied Monte's defense by any means. Monte's Tampa Bay defenses were very small, they sacraficed size for speed while Pete's defenses (at USC and in Seattle) are very big and very strong. It would be hard to find a defense like Seattle's being coached by Monte.

Originally Posted by chrlopez1 (Post 3243907)

U dont have to blitz to get to the QB. I THINK THE 4-3 will help our secondary and we can always send a safety on a delayed blitz. The 3-4 HS to have exotic blitzes because right from the beginning u only have 3 down DL and ur lb has to run with the RB WITH more time to pressure the QB .....THE QB CAN EAT US ALIVE. I am optimistic like I am every year.

Originally Posted by CowboysBeastMode (Post 3244541)

well the past 2 yrs its been a struggle to rush the passer with only 4. i do think if they keep ratliff that moving him to the 3 tech would be less wear and tear but still he hardly played this maybe the years playing nt are catching up to him as well as ware

Originally Posted by D-Unit (Post 3245185)

I still believe that the absence of safeties who can cover has resulted in problems being able to generate more pass rush on the QB. It definitely had a role in Rob blitzing less. Bend but don't break defenses make it easier for QBs to take the underneath stuff which results in quicker releases and less chances for our defensive front to generate sacks.

Kiffin's defense is more of the same "bend but don't break" philosophy, but the key element for him was having hard hitting safeties who were counted on to jar the ball away from defenders by delivering vicious hits. So they would entice teams to throw underneath and when they did, they would try to blow up receivers.

With the new passing friendly rules, Kiffin's defensive philosophy takes a HUGE hit. That's why teams are going away from it, but only keeping parts of it. I also think that's why he hasn't been successful in recent years. It should be called the "Yellow Flag" defense.

Talking about this reminds me of why I was so upset initially at the hiring. All I'm hoping for is that Monte will be able to once again use his guru prowess to evolve his defense once again. How? I dunno, but he can't expect to rebuild the 2002 Bucs defense and have the same success.

I keep hearing analyst suggest, how we need to find ourselves the next Sapp, Rice, Brooks, Lynch, etc.... Forget it. Monte needs to evolve... just like Carroll has evolved... like Lovie has evolved... etc etc.

With Jason in charge now, I hope he communicates that to Kiffin.

Originally Posted by Trogdor (Post 3245202)

I was worried too at first. Kiffin already said he's going to scheme around the players and not ask them to fit his system. That right there is all I need to hear. Kiffin is a smart guy and we have some excellent pieces.

Originally Posted by D-Unit (Post 3245239)

I can't help but guess what he could do, but I think it starts up front at UT and NT. My question is who plays what?

In my mind, I think Ratliff is the perfect 3 Tech. His strength is penetrating the line. But for some reason he loves taking on double teams, so will he by choice want to play more 1 Tech? If Monte really is going to have success in his defense, I think getting/convincing Ratliff to play 3 Tech is key. That's the whole reason why we've been saying Ratliff would prolong his career and be a better player in the 4-3. Make him that penetrating UT which essentially gives us 3 DEs on the line. The beauty of it is with most of our DTs, Kiffin could really make all of them interchangeable between the 1 and 3 tech. Who's listed as the starter isn't really that important if that's the case. But yeah, gettting Ratliff off the assignment of going against the Center and Guard and just giving him the assignment of beating a single Guard sounds like it could produce excellent results!

Originally Posted by Trogdor (Post 3243510)

Excellent post D.

Also Kiffin has already stated he is not forcing our press corners to fit his system. He'll be evolving it to make it work. Meaning we'll end up with something more akin to Seattle/Chicago than the old Tampa 2.

Hell it would even be acceptable to play "Press and Bail" zone coverage. Alternate it with press-man and you end up with QBs reading the wrong coverage and INTs are bound to happen.

Originally Posted by thule (Post 3245401)

You've said this twice in the thread now. Can you link where Monte Kiffin stated anything since becoming a member of the cowboys? I haven't found a link and was under the assumption we wouldn't have a press conference until the positional coaches were in place.

Originally Posted by D-Unit (Post 3243403)

Been trying to digest the **** storm that this offseason has brought upon us. I was really upset with the Rob Ryan firing, but it's been a few days and I'm learning to be hopeful of our new changes. I hope the Rams defense sucks cause I don't want to be too pissed off that we let him go.

So I think I've collected my thoughts on the topic (which seems to be changing by the minute). But typing things out is an outlet that helps me to settle my sanity, so if you're not interested, just click the back button. No worries, this might get wordy, and I might be completely wrong, but it's just my own interpretation. hey hey hey! :)

So when Jerry first called for changes with no intention of getting rid of himself (as GM) or our HC or our QB, I thought changes would come mostly in how things were run, not so much personnel changes but more cultural changes about how some things were done around Valley Ranch...ie, Jerry ending his "open door" policy between him and players. ...and if anything was made maybe finally getting a new OC, ST coach or a couple position coaches. I thought more accountability would be put on Garrett. But things unraveled pretty quickly once they announced the firing of Rob Ryan.

At first I thought the Rob firing was a Jerry move, and I was STEAMED!... but the more I thought about it the more I started to put the pieces together that this was actually a Garrett move. A Garrett move made possible by Jerry empowering him more, but nevertheless, certainly a Garrett move.

A few days ago, I posted that I thought Jerry needed to make Garrett "the man"...taking the diapers off. I thought he needed to give Garrett the same freedom and reign that Jimmy had and Parcells had. Those were the 2 best eras under Jerry and I thought we needed to go back to that in order to get back on the right track.

So it looked like "empowering" Jason was step #1 of Jerry's "changes are coming" spew. GOOD!, cause Jason Garrett needed to become the full time HC, not just in title, but in action, in ability, in decision making, in problem solving and in force. Jason being the one to call Rob on his vacation to break the news was a huge sign to me that Jerry had in fact put things in Garrett's hands. It wasn't Jerry firing Rob over the phone. It was Jason firing Rob. It's was Jason's words that were the only official release from the team regarding Rob's firing.



The cries for Garrett's head to roll after the loss to Washington were loud and clear and it clearly made Jerry very uncomfortable (even in his own words). So when Jerry and Jason sat down about everything after the season, I imagine a part of it went something like, "Hey Jerry, I know I've put you in an uncomfortable spot. I hear what the media is saying, but if I'm not going to be fired now and I'm going to be given another chance, then I want all the responsibility. If I fail, I can go out knowing that I did everything I could to the best of my ability." What I'm hoping is that Jerry put a condition on that... that if Jason is to be given more, then he needs to give up the job of OC. That's to be seen, but I hope that change is coming.

So here we are the day after the news broke that the Cowboys have hired Monte Kiffin. Is it Jerry here talking about it? No. Here's the only team announcement I found (on ESPN):



Further providing evidence that not only was the Rob firing Jason's doing, but the Monte hiring was Jason's doing. I had no idea of the connection between the two, but it's simply stated there how Jason saw him on a day-to-day basis in Tampa Bay. A lot of people who thought Jerry was looking for another "splash" signing are being mislead here. This is another Garrett move. Jerry has always been a guy who can be easily convinced if you hype him up enough.

Things I like about the Kiffin hire are:
- He and Garrett have a working relationship together from the 2004 season when Jason was with the Bucs.
- Carroll (Kiffin guy) is having success with his hybrid 4-3 defense (with 3-4 personnel).
- Kiffin is a guru of his defense. Following the trend of Parcells (guru of the 3-4, 2 gap) and Wade Phillips (guru of the 3-4, 1 gap) when our defense has been at it's best... this must have been a selling point to Jerry.
- Kiffin should be able to bring in some great position coaches seeing how long he has been around the game and the guys who he has worked with (Lovie Smith, Pete Carroll, Rod Marinelli, Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards, Mike Tomlin, Raheem Morris and many more..)
- Kiffin is a guy who only wants to be DC. Not some hot shot looking to boost his resume. This could even be his last job in football.
- Kiffin is looking to rebuild his reputation after recent years of failure.

So I'm laying off the hate on Jerry this offseason if this trend continues. To me this looks like Garrett is taking the reigns and putting his full stamp on the team. With it, will come the highest expectations and little room for failure. But I think this is the way things have to happen for the Cowboys to be in the right direction. Less Jerry decision making and more HC decision making.

Originally Posted by Trogdor (Post 3257701)

I was iffy on it from a football standpoint but from an accounting viewpoint I couldn't argue the switch to 4-3 which meant cutting ties with Rob.

The assistant coach hires have been absolutely amazing. Add in JG off play-calling and it feels more like a dream offseason than a nightmare.

Originally Posted by FreshBoy! (Post 3257425)

Trust in JG. Cowboys make the NFC Championship at the very least this year.

Originally Posted by leroyisgod (Post 3258215)

I just finally started reading this thread. Do you really feel this is "Jason's" team? I find that hard to swallow since he's been forced to give up the play calling duties and force his brother out.

Originally Posted by D-Unit (Post 3258399)

I agree that giving up the playcalling wasn't Jason's idea, but I do think it was the price he had to pay in order to get Jerry to hand him the reigns. Up to this point Jason was still hand cuffed. He didn't have the team in his hands like Jimmy and Bill did. I do think that is the case now. I think now that Jason is a "walk around" HC, that we'll have better synchronization, better function and better results. I always was fond of Jason's approach to the kind of team he wanted to build. Now, that he's "the man", I think we'll continue to see him as the focal voice of the team.

The true test will be to see if Jerry makes the announcement that Callahan is the OC, or if Jason makes it.

Originally Posted by Trogdor (Post 3258437)

Pretty much this except I don't agree with the last part. Jerry is the mouthpiece of this organization and would be the mandated public speaker at every post-game interview if the NFL didn't require head coaches to show.

Garrett was rumored to of wanted the 4-3 when he first signed but we told we would run the 3-4. If anything I think the fact he was allowed to fire Ryan and bring in Kiffin to run his 4-3 shows that Garrett has been given the reins.

I hold Garrett's SCHEME in high regard but his play-calling especially situation-based has always been poor perhaps he reviewed the tape and noticed. That or as D mentioned perhaps the deal was he would be given staff control but would have to delegate playcalling.

In any case I am MUCH more excited about the upcoming season at this stage compared to last year. We have a ton of excellent pieces but we really need to nail the draft and find some bargain free agents to get closer to the teams potential.