Over the last two seasons, the Dallas Cowboys were confident they had the defensive unit to get them to the promised land.
That’s a lot of lip service to some fans, but the stats back it up.
They were 1st in takeaways for two consecutive years and 4th in sacks with 54 in 2022.
It is debatable if Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson, or a combination of the two should get credit for those teams in the 90s.
Nevertheless, the front office has been front and center in watching the creation of championship-level squads.
The Cowboys have invested in premium draft picks and savvy trade deals to develop a competitive defense.
Asking this question is unnecessary, but I’ll ask it, nonetheless.
How does Dan Quinn’s unit compare to the 1992 squad led by Dave Wannstedt?
One could only wonder. We will still take a deep dive at the position groups to see which team has the edge.
The Cowboys defensive line in 1992 WAS talented and prideful
The early 1990s was when I fell in love with defenses.
The Dallas Cowboys had a lunchpail type of defensive line with only one headliner but a good group of supporting casts.
Charles Hailey was an established pass rusher who was traded from a good situation in San Francisco to a better one in Dallas.
After playing with the bay area team for six seasons, he walked into Dallas’ doors as a certified sack master with 63.5 sacks.
Granted, he didn’t exceed six sacks in the 1992 season, but his presence was more than felt.
Hailey was the vocal leader of this group. That’s saying it nicely. Simply put, he was a habitual line crosser.
It’s what Dallas needed then; honestly, that was the NFL in the 90s.
Tony Tolbert, Russell Maryland, and Tony Casillas round out the remaining starters on that team.
They worked well together and were stout against the run giving up a measly 77 yards per game.
It wasn’t the flashiest group who combined for 14 sacks between the three of them.
Much more critical than the sacks were the overall depth they had. The reserves were Jim Jeffcoat, Jim Jones, Chad Hennings, Leon Lett, and Tony Hill.
They were as good as many starters on other teams.
The current defensive front may surprise some teams this season.
DeMarcus Lawrence is a little further along in his career than Hailey was when he joined the team in 1992.
He is also known for putting his money where his mouth is.
Does anyone remember his rant before playing the New Orleans Saints in 2018?
He has collected 54.5 regular-season sacks in his first nine seasons. It has been complete punches in the mouth, but they’ve been impactful.
While DeMarcus has been great, Hailey had a legit hall-of-fame career, and it’s hard to pick against him.
Dorance Armstrong, Osa Odighizuwa, and Mazi Smith round out his brothers in the trenches.
It’s still up in the air if Mazi will be a starter.
If you want to throw in Jonathan Hankins, please feel free. For that matter, Sam Williams may be the starter over Armstrong.
The combination of Mazi and Hankins will make them better against the run. We still have to see it.
Last season, the rush yards given up were still plentiful.
Sprinkle in Viliami Fehoko, Dante Fowler, and either Quinton Bohanna or Neville Gallimore, and you have some talent.
However, it is still going to come down to one thing.
Stopping the run is necessary to make a deep playoff run.
All the credit should not go to the defensive line alone, but it’s hard to do that without the big fellas.
MICAH’S POSITION as a pass rusher changes the linebacker dynamics
Micah Parsons is the difference maker.
Should I have considered him a defensive end in this story? Maybe, but he is still classified as a pass-rushing linebacker, according to Quinn.
There are about three linebackers that should be here. The other two projected starters are Leighton Vander Esch and Damone Clark.
Micah against any of the linebackers in 1992 is a non-starter.
He’s entirely too talented for either era. Parsons has accumulated 26.5 sacks and six forced fumbles in his first two seasons.
He has been a candidate for the top defensive player for both of the seasons he has been in the league.
I don’t envision him having any drop-off in his production in year 3.
LVE and Clark are in a different hemisphere from Micah. Vander Esch will remind you that he was a defensive rookie of the year on his resume.
He’s a solid middle linebacker, and it’s noticeable when he is out of the lineup. Clark has some immense talent, but the jury is still out.
The combination of Robert Jones, Vinson Smith, and Ken Norton, Jr. was rock solid in 1992.
While Norton is a familiar name, let’s not sleep on Jones.
Man, this was a dude—another rookie of the year on the defensive side of the ball for Dallas and a tackling machine.
I mentioned this team led the league in run defense.
One hundred eight tackles from Jones, 120 from Norton, Jr, and another 69 from Smith will get the job done.
The aggressive style allowed in the NFL was a sight for fans, and it was hard to erase.
Parsons is a tremendous singular talent, but the combination of Jones, Vinson, and Norton leaves me no choice.
I’m going with the linebacker group of 1992 as my choice.
The 2023 Dallas secondary may be the best since Primetime
If this was the 1995 team with Deion Sanders, we might be having a different conversation.
It is not, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the current defensive backfield players may get the nod.
Stephon Gilmore, Trevon Diggs, and DaRon Bland are the starters.
Between those three players, they have 15 combined seasons with 51 total interceptions.
Dinner is on me if you can name three better players at one position.
Eric Scott, Jr., Kelvin Joseph, Nahshon Wright, and Myles Brooks are all battling for the right to be a part of the active roster.
It’s still to be determined what will happen with Jourdan Lewis.
If you had asked me about the safety group three years ago, the edge would have gone to any other team in the league.
Today, Malik Hooker, Jayron Kearse, and Donovan Wilson make a three-headed monster.
Israel Mukuamu may have something to say after training camp and preseason has concluded.
Fortunately for Dave Campo’s defensive backfield, a great blend of veterans and rookies made up the unit. Darren Woodson, Kevin Smith, Larry Brown, Ray Horton, Issiac Holt, Thomas Everett, and James Washington.
Billy Bates and Kenneth Gant were the special teams’ aces that rounded out the group.
Statistically, they were not the most efficient defensive backfield. They didn’t have to be with that front seven roaming the field.
In either case, Woodson should be a hall-of-fame player.
Gilmore will likely get there. They’re a wash.
I’ll take Trevon and DaRon over anyone else from the 92 group.
Only time will tell how the 2023 Dallas Cowboys secondary mesh together, but on talent alone, they are one of the best in any era.
