Monte Kiffin is the father of the Tampa-2 defense, but demoting Kiffin may be the path for the Cowboys’ defense to get better running the Tampa-2.
That’s the word from Brian Urlacher, the former Bears linebacker who says that the Cowboys made the right call by promoting Rod Marinelli ahead of Kiffin as the top defensive coach on the staff. Urlacher played for Marinelli for three years in Chicago and says that Marinelli is the coach who will get the defense running the way it’s supposed to run.
“They’re going to be better because last year they were so bad,” Urlacher said on FOX Sports. “They didn’t run any Cover-2 last year. Monte Kiffin was calling the defense, it wasn’t my man Rod Marinelli, who is going to be calling the defense this year, so it will be a lot of Cover-2.”
The Cowboys’ defense should get better this year if for no other reason than regression to the mean: Last year the Cowboys gave up more yards and more first downs than any other team in the NFL. A defense as bad as Dallas’s almost has to get better.
But with DeMarcus Ware gone in free agency and Sean Lee out for the year with a knee injury, it won’t be easy for the Cowboys to improve significantly. Dallas fans have to hope Urlacher is right, and Marinelli is a much better coach than Kiffin.