Breaking Down the ‘Boys: Is Jason Garrett inhibiting the Cowboys’ success?

[Mr Cowboy]

Prior to his disastrous end-game clock management in Week 6 against the Ravens, I noticed that Jason Garrett was heaping a lot of praise from Cowboys fans (on Twitter, where else?) for his play-calling. Dallas was able to rack up 227 yards on the ground, primarily because Garrett stuck with the run. Through the game’s first three quarters, Garrett called 33 runs and only 19 passes.

The problem with rushing the football so often is that, even if you do it extremely well, it’s difficult to acquire a big lead. Rushing the ball drains the clock and shortens games, necessarily keeping the score closer than what the on-field play might dictate. That’s a major reason why poor teams tend to run the football so often—it shortens the game and allows them to “stay in it.”

Well, coaching in the NFL shouldn’t be about “staying in” games; it should be about winning them. On Sunday, I thought Garrett was more concerned about making a statement—that his offense could run and that he would stick with it—than coaching to win the game.

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/breaking-down-the-boys-is-jason-garrett-inhibiting-the-cowboys-success.html/

[Future]

The problem with rushing the football so often is that, even if you do it extremely well, it’s difficult to acquire a big lead. Rushing the ball drains the clock and shortens games, necessarily keeping the score closer than what the on-field play might dictate. That’s a major reason why poor teams tend to run the football so often—it shortens the game and allows them to “stay in it.”
This is a really flawed take imo. You score 4 touchdowns and run for over 200 yards, your defense and special teams blew it. There's no two ways around it.

While I agree with the thread title that JG "inhibits" what the Cowboys can do, other than the last :30, this is not a good example of that. His decision to stick with the run game was absolutely right.

[Hoofbite]

This is a really flawed take imo. You score 4 touchdowns and run for over 200 yards, your defense and special teams blew it. There's no two ways around it.

While I agree with the thread title that JG "inhibits" what the Cowboys can do, other than the last :30, this is not a good example of that. His decision to stick with the run game was absolutely right.

Yeah, pretty weak article.

Dallas scored as many points as the top offenses average and did so by running.

If you can run and score high points, shouldn't that be more of a recipe for a blowout?

You're both eating the hell out of the clock and scoring, thereby putting the opponent in a hole and giving them less opportunities in the game to score themselves.

[rickjameschinaclub]

And what about playaction? If there was ever a game that the Cowboys could use the run to draw defenders toward the line and get them out of position to defend the pass, it was this one. But Garrett called only three playaction passes on the entire day, and none after the early second quarter. Keep in mind that I’ve tracked Romo as completing 13 of his 16 playaction passes for 212 yards and a touchdown this season—good for a passer rating of 139.6.


As the author states in the previous passage, he was not against the emphasis on the run, but the fact that even in such a scenarion he never took shots predicated on the running game, when now was definitely the time to do it.

[DallasDW00ds0n]

As the author states in the previous passage, he was not against the emphasis on the run, but the fact that even in such a scenarion he never took shots predicated on the running game, when now was definitely the time to do it.
^^ yeah this...

Hes not against the idea of killing clock and scoring with the run, but when youre doing it so well and the other team is keeping up/even leading on the scoreboard, thats when you take advantage and use playaction etc. to take shots.

Works for Houston and works for Atlanta and imo I like Romo compared to Ryan and Schaub, I think he could do it

[Yakuza Rich]

Yeah, pretty weak article.

Dallas scored as many points as the top offenses average and did so by running.

If you can run and score high points, shouldn't that be more of a recipe for a blowout?

You're both eating the hell out of the clock and scoring, thereby putting the opponent in a hole and giving them less opportunities in the game to score themselves.

While I'm for running the ball more to balance out the playcalling and to help preserve the defense and make Romo's job easier, and I thought running the ball against the Ravens as a smart move...I see the point being made.

Typically, you're not going to run the ball as well as the Cowboys did, even if you are the best rushing offense in the NFL. And typically running the ball a lot makes it more difficult to score a lot of points.

To me, the ideal is to have a great rushing offense that can put up a good amount of points and if needed, can score quickly by passing the ball. It puts more pressure on the opponent to score in order to keep up. And in the meantime, it makes the QB's job easier and gives the defense more rest as defensive players are twice as likely to get injured as offensive player. But in today's game, we usually don't see that very often. If the QB is good, the coach wants to throw the ball. If the QB isn't good, they want to run the ball.




YR