The 2020 season has been a disaster for the Dallas Cowboys, and owner Jerry Jones points to one significant decision that he probably got wrong.
The Cowboys completely overhauled their defensive scheme prior to the season, moving from a 4-3 defense to a more complex system that involved 3-4 looks under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan. That, Jones says, was probably a mistake.
“I would really make sure that any changes we were making, I would want to make sure that we did it in the same way that we didn’t make changes on offense,” Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “Because we didn’t think that we had the situation or we had the time to make those changes and it really be effective. We’ve obviously done some things. We changed, and we’re having a hard time getting those in place to be a good defense.”
Jones’ son, executive vice president Stephen Jones, concurred that the Cowboys were “probably too aggressive” in the scheme change.
“I think the biggest thing would be just maybe not diving in headfirst in changing, a total change of our scheme,” Stephen Jones said.
It’s easy to look back and say this in hindsight, but it’s clear that the Cowboys went a bit too far in their changes. The results speak for themselves, with the Dallas defense in danger of setting records for futility. That said, nobody threatens a record like that just because of a scheme. This is a talent issue as well, and one that Jones will be tasked with fixing going forward.
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