Dallas Cowboys revamped run defense is key to turnaround

ELITE RUN DEFENSE ELEVATES SCORING DEFENSE

It’s widely believed Dallas merely needs a middle-of-the-road scoring defense for the powerful offense to lead them to deep playoff contention. There is a lot of truth to this statement, considering the health of key players fares better than 2020.

A major key to fielding a top 16 ranked scoring defense is it often correlates with suffocating (top 5) run defense. Below are the top five run defenses (yards per carry) from 2020 and their overall scoring defense ranking.

1 – TAMPA BAY (3.6 ypc) – 8th scoring defense

2 – INDIANAPOLIS (3.7) – 10th scoring

3 – L.A. RAMS (3.8) – 1st scoring

4 – SEATTLE (3.9) – 15th scoring

5- NEW ORLEANS (3.9) – 5th scoring

All five of the top run defenses finished 15th or higher in scoring defense. Four were in the top 10. Now let’s look at the worst five run defenses.

28 – CAROLINA (4.7 ypc) – 18th scoring defense

29 – DENVER (4.8) – 25th scoring

30 – DALLAS (5.0) – 28th scoring

31 – CINCINNATI (5.1) – 22nd scoring

32 – HOUSTON (5.2) – 27th scoring

None of the worst five run defenses finished in the top half of the NFL in scoring defense. While respectable run defense doesn’t always equate to stingy scoring defense, suffocating run defense typically does. When Dallas fielded the 4th best run defense in 2018, they also claimed the 6th ranked scoring defense.