The one thing standing in the Cowboys' way of repeated offensive success

The Cowboys finished 7-9-1 in Brian Schottenheimer’s first year, marking a failure and the backend of consecutive losing seasons. Early expectations treated the hire as safe rather than smart, with concerns that play-calling would be a downgrade. A year later, the offense is described as electric and among the league’s best, but the defense is described as miserable. That defensive performance led to major staff changes and a thorough roster overhaul. Christian Parker is brought in with youth and inexperience, but with a background suggesting improvement over Matt Eberflus. Caleb Downs is presented as a tailored fit, and the immediate goal is a defense around league average, which could have produced several additional wins and a playoff berth.

"On its face, the season was a failure. A 7-9-1 finish. It also was the backend of the Cowboys' first time with consecutive losing seasons since the Dave Campo era. Of course, Campo was an early comparison after Schottenheimer was first promoted to head coach. Both had been with the team under the previous coach and worked their way up from a mere assistant to a coordinator that still largely deferred to their head coach."

"The initial feeling with Schottenheimer was that, much like how Campo was a familiar face that had seen success in Dallas, Jerry Jones knew what he was getting with Schottenheimer. It was the safe hire, not the smart hire. And many others insisted that Schottenheimer calling plays would be a major downgrade. A year later, things have changed. Schottenheimer's offense was electric, one of the best in the league, but they were completely let down by a miserable defense that led to a house cleaning on that side of the coaching staff and a very thorough roster overhaul."

"Christian Parker comes in with youth, inexperience, but a background that suggests he'll be an upgrade over Matt Eberflus. He also has the personnel to do it, with Caleb Downs being a tailor-made fit for the most crucial piece of Parker's defense. All the new coordinator needs to do now is create a unit that sits around the league average. Anything better would obviously be welcome, but the bar sits very low."

"An average defense last year would have surely put the Cowboys in the playoffs. An average defense likely nets wins over the Packers, Panthers, and Vikings. Arguably the Lions and Cardinals as well. That's three to five more wins, which gives the Cowboys double digits in the first column, in a year where Green Bay clinched the final playoff seed at 9-7-1. The Cowboys offense was more than good enough to get the team to the postseason. The problem is the defense"

Read at Blogging The Boys