November 20, 2011; Landover, MD, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive back Barry Church (42) runs with the ball against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Sixteen. This number represents the total number of turnovers the Dallas Cowboys defense produced in the 2012 season. Sixteen turnovers just happens to be fewest created by a Dallas Cowboys defense in franchise history.  Only two teams had fewer turnovers in 2012. The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. It should be noted that both of these teams are are picking in the top five of this year’s draft. The Dallas Cowboys defense also finished tied for last in the league with just seven interceptions.

Free agent acquisition Brandon Carr led the team in picks with three, and no one else had more than one. If the Dallas Cowboys hope to make a run at the Super Bowl in the near future, they are going to need to create more than seven interceptions and 16 total turnovers.

Below is a chart that shows every Dallas Cowboys safety in the last two seasons and the total number of turnovers each player created.

The Cowboys’ safeties during the 2011 and 2012 seasons snatched four interceptions.  Compare this with the San Francisco 49ers safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner over the same period. The 49ers starting safeties produced 12 INTs.  The next chart is a list of other safeties around the league and how they  fared the last two seasons in terms of take-aways.

There is a belief that an increased pass-rush creates more interceptions when in fact that is not necessarily true.  The Denver Broncos led the league in sacks with 52 and had only 16 total INTs, putting them in the middle of the pack in terms of turnovers.  The Atlanta Falcons finished 28^th overall in sacks, but had the 5^th most INTs in the league. Will an increased pass-rush help improve Dallas’ 30^th ranked defense? Certainly. But in order for the Dallas Cowboys to be successful in 2012 they are going to need better safety play.

Safety is a definite need for Dallas come April’s draft. Barry Church was signed to a four year extension in 2012, even after a torn achilles ended his season. It remains to be seen how he recovers from this potentially devastating injury. The other starter, Gerald Sensabugh is coming off of a year in which he really struggled, and does not appear to be a good fit in Monte Kiffin’s defense that requires speed and playmaking ability in the back end. The front office will need to make a decision on whether to keep him and his high salary. The Cowboys did invest a 4^th round pick on Matt Johnson in 2012, but he never played a snap during the season after suffering multiple injuries.

If the 2013 Dallas Cowboys can improve their safety play and create more turnovers, the sky is the limit for a team filled with talent. But in order for their defense to reach their potential, major upgrades are needed at the safety position. 16 total turnovers indicate that these changes need to be made sooner rather than later.

Miller, a Miami Dolphins fan (I know, it’s funny), claims that the Dallas Cowboys have horrible safeties. It doesn’t matter that both of our safeties made the Pro Bowl. Nah. They suck. He said the Dolphins have better safeties.

So while those “listed” safeties on the Cowboys site are hardly anything to sneeze at, they are not a blistering list of Super Bowl bound safeties either and if you compare them to the Miami Dolphins, well, at least in experience…yeah we got Dem Boyz’.

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