Rob Ryan has a bit of a reputation for having a high-risk, high-reward defense. There are many versions of the 3-4 defense and to compare and contrast Wade Phillips' 3-4 to Rob Ryan's 3-4 would take quite a while. They utilize the same personnel in the base defense, but there are an infinite number of ways to apply that defense. And make no mistake, Ryan does it differently than Phillips.

The object of the game for the defense is 2-fold. 1) don't allow points (this is rather obvious) and 2) to cause game-changing plays (takeaways, sacks, and the occasional big hit). Both are important and just about all championship caliber defenses can excel in both categories.

As we look at the first year under Rob Ryan (and maybe the only year), we see the Cowboys are allowing 20.2 points per game rather than the 27.3 they allowed in 2010. We also see that after years of not generating takeaways, the Cowboys already have 19 which rank them only 2 takeaways short of the league lead. In 2008 and 2009, the Cowboys had but 22 and 21 takeaways for the entire season.