So a few clarifications... It all depends on who you talk to, people have different philosophies when it comes to what a cover 4 is. A Cover 4 may sound like a type of prevent defense to someone, or to someone else it's a more aggressive formation that allows for heavy box coverages like a cover 0. When we look at the core nature of the Cover 4 its a match defense that has 4 defensive backs in deep zones. Some use a 3-1-7. Landry used a 4-0-7. Which is 4 defensive linemen and 7 DBs. Bill Belichick used a 0-4-7. The cover 4 can adjust to a type of prevent formation or a cover 0. In the 80s, coaches often used the term 'prevent defense' interchangeably with any formation that had 7 defensive backs on the field with 4-man deep zones. Before Landry's 40 defense in the 80s, teams did blitz from passing formations like the nickel defense, but it was done sparingly. Landry was the first to use passing formations for his main blitzing defense. He was the precursor to a lot of modern blitzing styles that we see today from teams like the Dolphins' pressure dime defense. He's also a forerunner to a concept called 'simulated pressures'. This concept shows the threat of a blitz by surrounding the line of scrimmage with 5 or more defenders and disguising the rush, even though only 4 players are rushing. By crowding the line of scrimmage, the offensive line can't pinpoint who's coming. As you can tell in the video, Landry was doing this back in the early 80s or even as far back to the late 70s. The guy was a football genius. Sorry for the nerdy info, just wanted to clarify some things in the video.

@majortom8513

Жыл бұрын

I loved and hated this prevent defense... lol

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

​@@majortom8513 I can understand! Lol

@thekid6378

6 ай бұрын

Your site is amazing and very informative! Very educational! I subscribed just a little while ago

@thelogicalcowboy

6 ай бұрын

@thekid6378 Thanks bro!! Welcome to the channel!

Tom Landry was a football genius! 🏈🤠🏈

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

He sure was!

A Genius of the game. Miss you Coach! DC4L!!

Im glad you are bringing this up for younger fans to see the evolution of the game.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate you bro!

Coming up next week, we will be evaluating the psychology of a football monster: Cliff Harris! Enjoy the video, guys!

@Longhorn.Rock_Roll61

Жыл бұрын

Captain Crash is what they called him lol . Landry and Lombard were coaching together way back in ,57 of Course Laundry himself played defense back for the Giants so Defense was in his blood no doubt about it when he first started coaching the Cowboys he was the head Coach and he Defensive coordinator so he pretty much was a defensive genius usually when they blew those early Super bowl s and playoff games it usually wasn't the defense except maybe the ice bowl but if your linebacker wins the MVP in the Super bowl and you loose the defense was ready to play

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

@@Longhorn.Rock_Roll61 Good post!

Michael Downs is the most underrated safety in league history

@busydem6161

Жыл бұрын

Yep! In the early eighties he was as good as any one, Deron Cherry for KC too! It wasn’t till Lott made the shift from corner to safety in 86 where we saw huge and more impactful safeties.

@riverbandit58

11 ай бұрын

Have his autograph

@oliverferreirajr4525

11 ай бұрын

I agree Michael downs was cheated he s awesome

@BrockBoone

4 ай бұрын

i agree

@greglahti5007

2 ай бұрын

we all know they had several quality dbs back then ... but Walls Thurman and Downs stand out to me... honorable mention to bates for his dual role on special teams... Bates was one of the best on kick/punt cov

I've been saying this over and over The Logical Cowboy Best Dallas Cowboys KZread channel The Knowledge and History of our Dallas Cowboys on this channel is Second to None Impeccable Phenomenal Job by The Logical Cowboy

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Always appreciate your support brother!

Landry didn't just create the defense to deal with the spread formation or the West Coast offense he also created it to cover up some of the inadequacies the Cowboys were increasingly facing on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive backfield had good football smarts but they were increasingly too slow to keep up with the best receivers. Additionally the linebacker squad of the 80s was a real weak spot for the team as a number of young linebackers had their careers cut short by injury or simply didn't pan out as starting caliber prospects. Some of the veterans were starting to get long in the tooth or even chose to retire at the same time and the one truly solid linebacker Eugene Lockhart lacked the footspeed needed to cover running backs and tight ends for any appreciable period of time. So the alternative was to keep the opposing offense guessing and overload them with more players than they could block. For a below average or young QB the system was great and even for some QBs that were only average or just above average it was still a good system but for a QB like Marino who had the quickest release in the NFL or a guy like Montana that could make smart decisions under pressure it was a bad combination for Dallas. And honestly that's pretty well reflected in the 84 final regular season game where Marino beat them in the 4th quarter and in a game like the Bengals game in 85 where a Pro Bowler level talent like Boomer Esiason just absolutely torched them. In the end it all came back to the lack of incoming talent and the difficulty of getting young guys to adapt to the system quickly enough to become impact players. It's significant that when Jimmy took the team over and was able to start bringing in new blood his emphasis became one based around speed and the ability to get helmets to the football as fast as possible. Football smarts became a secondary choice for defensive players (I mean look at Leon Lett LOL) and speed and power became the primary weapons. Jimmy also had the luxury of stacking so much talent into the defense that he could rotate his DL guys and always have fresh rushers to put pressure on the QB. Jeffcoat became probably one of the best non starting defensive linemen in the game at that point as did Chad Henning (significantly both legacy players/draft picks from the Landry Era).

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Your post are always informative.

@yeildo1492

Жыл бұрын

(I mean look at Leon Lett LOL) Funniest line I have read on the internet in a while 🤣🤣🤣

@ashleighelizabeth5916

Жыл бұрын

@@yeildo1492 I know it sounds disrespectful but that guy had so many boneheaded plays and despite that he was one of the most talented DTs of the JJ Era.

@yeildo1492

Жыл бұрын

@@ashleighelizabeth5916 I know who Leon was. So do Steve Tasker and the Dolphins.

@ashleighelizabeth5916

Жыл бұрын

@@yeildo1492 yeah I think none of us will ever forget THAT fiasco. I was watching some old game footage of Dallas in the playoffs during that era and OMG but just about every game I saw him in he pulled some boneheaded move that kept a drive alive or gave the other team a second chance to keep the drive alive. Don't get me wrong he killed plenty of drives too with his talent but man he must have driven Jimmy Johnson nuts with that stuff!

Tom Landry was more of a genius than I thought

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

He sure was!

@mikepalmer2219

Жыл бұрын

And he did both the offense and the defense.

Thanks to You The Logical Cowboy Learned Alot about Tom Landry s Defense s for our Dallas Cowboys Learned alot More

Great work, another banger. I am not even a Cowboys fan. You have given me a whole new respect for Landry. The flex then this, what an innovator.

@thelogicalcowboy

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching bro!!

I really enjoy your videos. I've been a Cowboys fan since the days of Dandy Don. This video was especially interesting, I didn't remember the 40 Defense at all. Landry was so creative, in every aspect of the game. I remember the '85 game against the Bears, he didn't have an answer for their defense, which told me he'd lost his touch.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching 🙏! Yeah that bears game was brutal!

Great video analysis! Awesome. They couldn't stop Riggins with the Flex either. Dallas would have to adjust and put 4 men on the line in that 79 game. Yes Landry was a defensive genius.

@thelogicalcowboy

7 ай бұрын

Thanks bro!!

I had no idea 24 years top 10 in sacks. Much respect for Landry's innovation after the flex.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching 🙏

Those safety and corner bliltzes has knocked out more quarterbacks than any other defensive rush.

Great analysis of an evolving defense! Well made video!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate you bro 🙏

As good as the defense was in the early 80's, eventually teams that the Cowboys would regularly beat figured it out and how to beat Dallas. For the 49ers, it was west coast offense with Joe Montana and after 1980, the Cowboys would not beat the 49ers until the 92 NFC Championship. The Rams got Eric Dickerson and the Cowboys wouldn't beat the Rams until the 1990 season. The Redskins had Joe Gibbs motion offense and running game. I can go on and on, but the teams involved and won like the 49ers, Redskins, and Giants while the Cowboys got old and didn't draft well to keep up.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunate!

@stewartmillen7708

Жыл бұрын

Some of that was due, I believe, to a talent gap. The linebacker corps and secondary, while certainly not awful nor without star players, wasn't as capable as in the Doomsday 1 and Doomsday 2 years. So Landry had to compensate by scheming. The Cowboys weren't alone in this. Buddy Ryan admitted that his similar '46' defense was created because 'our corners can't cover consistently'.

@yeildo1492

Жыл бұрын

A fair criticism.

@yeildo1492

9 ай бұрын

@@chatsworthosbornejr The West Coast offense was nothing. Hmmm..... It was not where those defenders lined up. It was the ass kickers Johnson lined up. Just about all the time the team with the best players wins. That was Johnsons real "secret."

Also in those 5 years you mentioned the 253 sacks, they had the severely shortened strike season of 1982 when there were only 9 games.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Good point!

Another Logical BANGER! 👏🏿

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate you bro 🙏

Quality material, very enjoyable!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Amazing Content The Logical Cowboy Learning More and More Landry s Philosophy on Defense

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Thanks bro 🙏

This is great content. I love the technical analysis

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Thanks bro!

Awesome video! Oh, Dean of Coaches. May He Rest in Peace.

@thelogicalcowboy

3 ай бұрын

Thanks brother! RIP Landry!

I LOVE WATCHIN STUFF LIKE THIS!! MR LANDRY HAD A BEAUTIFUL MIND, A GIFT and A CURSE

Another good one brother. Thanks

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate you bro!

Love this content. We need to make a push to get Harvey Martin and Ed Jones in the HOF. I don't remember them being in and its a travesty if both are not. Those Steelers teams, their D line was no better than ours and they got in. That needs to be addressed

@thelogicalcowboy

6 ай бұрын

I agree!!

Hey Logic! Your favorite former Skins fan here again. I swear, you keep knockin' it outta the park with your videos. I would imagine many people don't watch your videos because they don't like watching their rival teams. If you focus solely on the Cowboys, eventually you're going to run out of content. Your analysis of individual players and team strategies are superb. Have you ever thought about broadening your craft to players and teams other than the Cowboys? Doing so might translate into more $$$ for you. Just a thought.

@thelogicalcowboy

6 ай бұрын

That's a good thought and something to think about.

Another great video explaining things I thought I knew but didn’t. Michael Downs was an excellent safety.

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Thanks bro 🙏!

LC your a genius. Nuff said

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Thanks bro lol.

Thank you for all your great videos

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome bro! Thanks for watching 🙏

Great Video once again! It definitely was a high risk/high reward defense! Jerry Jones needs to be contacting you for some type of advisory position. Great job, once again!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate you bro 🙏 where do I sign the check Jerry 😆 🤣. Thanks again CJ.

Great video stuff. Thanks.

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching 🙏

Please keep it coming

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Sure will! Thanks for watching 🙏

Great video, even better clarifications. As consistency of behavior reveals character, consistency of results reveals talent. Landry's results tell the tale. There must first be a need. The need is created by the opponent. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. Second, there has to be vision. Landry was a visionary. From his vision, he created a plan. To implement his plan, he needed personnel. After acquiring the personnel, he needed time. He needed time to teach/coach his personnel to execute his plan. It is impossible for me to believe that Landry didn't have a plan that would, once again, put Dallas on top for another decade. He had already gotten to the level of acquiring the personnel. I suspect all he needed was time. Unfortunately, Jones didn't give him time. Speaking of Jones, did I mention that results reveal talent? Top 10 for how long? How many playoff games prior to Jones vs. how many since? Hmm Once again, great job!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Great post!!

Great video!

@thelogicalcowboy

10 ай бұрын

Thanks bro!!

After this video I knew what game on KZread I wanted to watch next! Poor Rafael Septien. But at least the defense looked awesome!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

What's up bro! Yeah that defense was awesome that day!

Very cool! Go Big D!

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching 🙏

I missed most of that time period. Downs was particularly impressive to me.

Please do a story of the Giants defense designed by Landry

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

You're talking about the 43 defense?

I prefer the constant use of 4 DL for the same reason I believe in running the ball at least 55% of the time and that's pressure, constant pressure.

Not a Fan of the Cowboy's but this Man was from Mission, TX and used his talents to make the cowboys 'mericas Team.

1978, they hamstrung great cornerbacks. The Mel Blount rule.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Wow!

@terrenceliburd8655

Жыл бұрын

​@@thelogicalcowboyCheck it out LC. You used to be able to harass WR in 1978 they implemented the 5yard rule to open up the game. Before you had to be a blazer or run super precise routes to honestly get open.

So this was Dallas version of the 46 defense if only they had the offense to counter

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Yep.

Landry's 4-0 defense is what led to Sam Wyche's no-huddle offense in 1985. When the Bengals got the personnel match-up they wanted, the center put his hand on the ball, preventing substitutions, while the rest of the offense huddled. When the Cowboys were stuck with 7 DBs on the field, the Bengals ran the ball at them. The coup-de-grace was calling a draw to James Brooks right into the Cowboys' safety blitz: kzread.info/dash/bejne/moKH1NpwaNjfgcY.htmlsi=qeR8jISWy75LaqPV&t=1729 Funny thing is, three years earlier when Brooks was with the Chargers, he burned the Bengals with the exact same play: kzread.info/dash/bejne/qaCilrafqLW5f9Y.htmlsi=0cx2OrwgqwPrxh9R&t=8666

A percuser to the 4 6!!!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

It sure was.

Hey my friend, another fantastic video! This video, and your video about the flex defense have actually inspired me to, hopefully inspire you again. I have a topic request. I’m gonna have to explain a bit. First I’m going to talk about arguing for who is the greatest of all time, in any sport, in any position. Occasionally, there are folks who seem to be recognized by acclamation as the greatest ever. In my mind, in North American team sports, the only person that can definitively say that is Wayne Gretzky. In any other sport, I can’t say I believe there is one solid greatest player ever. Babe Ruth? Solid argument, but it was an all white major league then so how can we really know? Still, the man has a solid argument. Michael Jordan? Sure, very solid argument there. But what about the counter argument for LeBron, among others? Tom Brady? Hard to argue against him? But what I said above is particularly true in football, where different positions are so very different from each other and the impact of each position has to be tracked separately. So what I’m saying is I won’t claim that Jerry Rice is the greatest football player of all time. But I can make a very solid argument that he is. I won’t claim that Larry Allen is the greatest football player of all time, but I can make a very solid argument that he is. Does that make sense? OK here’s the next part of this. I recently saw a video titled I think it’s time to question Bill Belichick’s legacy. The guy started out the video by saying something like “Bill Belichick seems to be considered, by acclamation, the greatest coach in NFL history. I’m not saying it’s not true, what he has accomplished is stunning. But I think it’s worth looking at his entire career and assessing where he really ranks in the greatest of all time debate.“ I agree with all of that. I think that the six Super Bowls, the millions of division titles the constant playoff appearances are pretty hard to overlook. But I think that there are arguments to be made for other guys as being the greatest coach in NFL history. So by now, I think you probably know where I’m going with this. I am formally requesting that you make a video arguing for Tom Landry as the greatest coach in NFL history. I am not saying that he is the greatest coach in NFL history, but I believe there is a strong argument to be made. And if I am right about that, it is beyond any reasonable doubt that YOU are the person to make that argument. And what a great way to get ready for this current NFL season and to look back on the greatness of Tom Landry’s career? I can’t think of any.

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

Great Great idea! You have some of the best ideas bro lol I'm definitely going to do this. Although it'll take me a while to formulate my argument and write it all up. But when I do I'll definitely be dropping it. I have some great documentaries about Hollywood Henderson and Duane Thomas coming up in a few weeks. Thanks for the idea bro!

It's almost like that defense forced the evolution of the spread offense or the offense that Detroit and Houston ran for years. (on a side note, Warren Moons son has a fishing channel on yt but quit posting a couple yrs ago. NP got me thinkin again.) Run and shoot.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Facts. Run and shoot was amazing! Wow! What's the name of his channel?

@BonnScott1980

Жыл бұрын

@@thelogicalcowboy I cant find it now, I switched accts since then. These are some nice deep dives your doing, keep it up.

I’ve always believed-despite his reticence to abandon the Flex-Landry’s biggest problem in the 80’s was the loss of talent. I think this may be seen in how he won his first 2 (of 3) games in the 1987 Season. When Dallas had the better talent the Cowboys looked dominant. As soon as that 3rd game came and the regulars began to return (though it was more the lack of continuity and facing one of the top 3 strike teams also spaced by the great Joe Gibbs that was most responsible) so did the mediocrity or worse.

Thurman's Thieves!

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Legends.

Good video but the Eagles didn’t use the 4-3 defense first. The Giants used it in the 50’s with Landry as their DC. It’s part of the reason why he was chosen to be the HC of Dallas.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

I never said the eagles used the 43 defense first. I said the Eagles used the nickel defense first. Eagles coach Jerry Williams invented it back in the early 60s. The 40 is not the 43. The 40 stands for a 4-man defensive line, which can be said of the 43, dime, nickel, and any other defense that allows for 4 down linemen. I'm well aware of the history of the Giants' 43 in the 50s under Landry. I have an entire video on the history of the 43 defense with the Giants. Here's the link if you're interested. I made this video when I first started my channel, so the audio is a bit off. Thanks again, bro. Again, here's the link... kzread.info/dash/bejne/hHxs3NmjgbeuYZM.html

Was the Bears ‘85 defense a direct descendant of this scheme?

@thelogicalcowboy

11 ай бұрын

It does seem like it.

@mrbake6933

11 ай бұрын

@@thelogicalcowboy If there is a connection that would be a fascinating video. Love your content, thank you

@KingReggie_2 Here's a good defensive breakdown for you for your next Madden breakdown

@thelogicalcowboy

9 ай бұрын

?....

@CraigSmithII

9 ай бұрын

@@thelogicalcowboy I was tagging a gentleman that I follow on KZread who does breakdowns of offenses & defenses(Old & New School) in his Madden breaksdowns

@thelogicalcowboy

9 ай бұрын

@@CraigSmithII 🤣 🤣

Unfortunately, 0 Super Bowls for the Cowboys in the 80's.

Not the 60's, though. 60's belonged to Lombardi. Any arguement?

wasn't it sadly the same season for the Oiler game we lost by 40+ top the Bears while scoring a big 0? We kind of sucked that year and for a few after.

Chuck Noll crushed this defense.

Man, I forgot Terry Bradshaw used to call games while high on cocaine.

@thelogicalcowboy

Жыл бұрын

Are you serious? I didn't know that!