How to Fix the Offense

[Sampson]

Originally Posted by Numbers921

Stop calling pass plays that take 18 years to develop.

[JonJon]

Originally Posted by stasheroo

I would change the 'pacing' of this offense, adding in more 'quick-hitting' plays.

What happened to the quick-slants we used so effectively against the Giants in week one?

Your offensive line is struggling in pass protection, shorten the routes and the drops to help compensate and let your big, physical receivers use their size and strengths to their advantage.

And get guys like Beasley more playing time to use their quickness and wiggle to quickly challenge opposing defenses.

Rebuild this offense from the ground up with more quick-hitters and then incorporate more down-the-field stuff when production allows it.

At this point, I think this offense has a very predicatable, deliberate, drawn-out pace.

I would starte by changing that pace.

I agree with this. We have some very good YAC receivers with Bryant and Austin. Even Harris has produced YAC in the few opportunities he has had. We don't seem to do that enough. It's like our team is allergic to 6-7 yard routes. But those are the easier to complete and don't take forever to develop, and also keeps the chains moving. I hope we see more of this.

[Hoofbite]

Dallas needs to move Tony around and get him outside the pocket. It's amazing how infrequently they roll him out considering what he has done when the play breaks down and he's outside the pocket.

[odog422]

Originally Posted by stasheroo

What happened to the quick-slants we used so effectively against the Giants in week one?

IMO we went into that game believing we would be hard pressed to block their DL, so the offense was structured to deliver exactly what you're calling for here - quick hits.

What we know now (and lots of us felt before the season started) is that if an opponent's DL has a pulse, it'll cause us fits. I think your recipe is precisely what this offense needs. Start with the small successes and then take your shots. But never completely get away from what got you started. Another trait of the Garrett play-calling era, IMO.

[CowboysFaninDC]

Originally Posted by JonJon

So we all should have figured out by now that the offensive line is the main thing holding the team back. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that anything is going to change with the offensive line anytime soon. The best we can do for the time being is find a way to help the offensive line out so that the offense can once again produce points at a satisfactory rate.

I want to hear from the great minds out there: What are some ways that the Cowboys can help improve the offense?

Here's my idea:

Spread offense. It seems like teams are stacking the line to stop the run and also get to Romo quickly when he drops back to pass. Also, opposing CB's are playing press on our receivers with safety help over top, so unless the receivers can beat the press and get into their route quickly enough, Romo usually doesn't stand a chance unless he performs a Houdini escape act.

[View Full Quote]The spread offense could force teams to take some of their players off the line which could give Romo a little more time to make reads and find open receivers. It might also create some match-up advantages. I would like to see Bryant, Austin, Ogletree, and Harris in the spread more often. Shotgun is another good formation. Maybe the team can even go 5-wide like the Packers and Saints do at times. Just trying to think of ideas... Any others?

Edit: I could also see that benefiting the running game. We have been successful with the draw play in the past but I don't recall seeing it as much this year.

its very simple. execute. not just the OL, but the rest of them as well. we have had too many drops. make some damn plays.

also, outside of a few new plays that can get added here and there, you can't change offisive philosophy in the middle of the season. it takes years for an offense to come together. QB and WRs getting on the same page. making the same reads, etc. we saw a great example this past week when Dez ran the wrong route because he didn't have the same read as Romo. now you want to go to a spread offense!!

that's not who we are.

we can probably go to a 3 or 4 WR set, but that means you lose blockers and with our OL sucking up the joint, that means less people back there blocking. Romo wouldn't get much more time. when the OL can hold the man in front of them, then it doesn't matter what offense you run. it will work.

and did I say execute. the plays have been there, but the players (witten, dez, austin, KO, felix, romo) aren't making the plays.

[rickjameschinaclub]

Originally Posted by Numbers921

Stop calling pass plays that take 18 years to develop.

but seriously... this works

[rickjameschinaclub]

Originally Posted by Hoofbite

Dallas needs to move Tony around and get him outside the pocket. It's amazing how infrequently they roll him out considering what he has done when the play breaks down and he's outside the pocket.

This too....

[CowboyGil]

No-Huddle. The TD drives at the end of the 1st half against Seattle and Chicago were both No-Huddle drives. The perpetual 2 minute offense. Sure, it doesn't eat up alot of clock, but it produces points. The Ravens will have to burn timeouts so Ngata won't have a heart attack.

[btcutter]

Originally Posted by JonJon

So we all should have figured out by now that the offensive line is the main thing holding the team back. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that anything is going to change with the offensive line anytime soon. The best we can do for the time being is find a way to help the offensive line out so that the offense can once again produce points at a satisfactory rate.

I want to hear from the great minds out there: What are some ways that the Cowboys can help improve the offense?

Here's my idea:

Spread offense. It seems like teams are stacking the line to stop the run and also get to Romo quickly when he drops back to pass. Also, opposing CB's are playing press on our receivers with safety help over top, so unless the receivers can beat the press and get into their route quickly enough, Romo usually doesn't stand a chance unless he performs a Houdini escape act.

[View Full Quote]The spread offense could force teams to take some of their players off the line which could give Romo a little more time to make reads and find open receivers. It might also create some match-up advantages. I would like to see Bryant, Austin, Ogletree, and Harris in the spread more often. Shotgun is another good formation. Maybe the team can even go 5-wide like the Packers and Saints do at times. Just trying to think of ideas... Any others?

Edit: I could also see that benefiting the running game. We have been successful with the draw play in the past but I don't recall seeing it as much this year.

Bring in Gruden or Cowher.

[btcutter]

Originally Posted by Hoofbite

Dallas needs to move Tony around and get him outside the pocket. It's amazing how infrequently they roll him out considering what he has done when the play breaks down and he's outside the pocket.

Actually I don't think Tony is a great roll out passer. He is great get getting out of trouble then improvise when plays break down. You can't really draw up a play that way.

[187beatdown]

I've said to my friends for awhile now that Tony would make a great west coast quarterback and on the whole this offense would flourish under such a system.

[ConstantReboot]

Frist of all, give the playcalling to Callahan. I don't care anymore about Garretts ability to make calls. He just doesn't have it.

Secondly, model our offense to one that is a pass oriented west coast type of offense. Focus on short throws to Dez and Miles and dump offs to Murray. Murray should be the focal point of the passing game.

Third, move Romo out of the pocket. Use more play action, bootlegs, and more pass oriented plays which allows for Romo to improvise out of the pocket. Green Bay's offense blows a horn when 2.8 secs expires on a pass play. Use that same method of teaching our receivers to get open when the horn blows. When we run we should use the draw quite a bit. I think thats the most effective run play that we have.

4th, take the top 10 best plays we have and create variations. Work on those top 10 plays over and over again until its embedded into everyone's memory. Then throw a little wrinkle here in there on those top 10 plays.

5th, speed up the pace a little. All the top offenses seem to work the best when they are in fast motion. Our offense should be focused on how many offense plays we have rather than how much time we chew up on the clock.

6th, create plays which are suited for our offense. Why are we asking the offense to do things that it can't do?

7th, and last of all, I'd like to see more go for the jugular early. Why do we wait till the 2nd half or the last quarter till our offense starts getting on a roll? Throw deep early and often. Open up the offense. Our mission on offense is to score and to score a lot. Not ball control.

[ConstantReboot]

Originally Posted by btcutter

Actually I don't think Tony is a great roll out passer. He is great get getting out of trouble then improvise when plays break down. You can't really draw up a play that way.

Well he was the most dangerous QB out of the pocket just a few years ago I believe. The problem is that our plays have him stay in the pocket and when it breaks down, he is still in the vicinity of the defense. Having roll out on play action or a bootleg allows him away from the defense and away from the pocket. It also gives him more time and to see everything.

This is what Garrett destroyed about Romo. He kinda of made Romo a pocket passer and ignored what he was good at. Romo's favorite plays should be play action and roll out away from the pocket which was our most dangerous play until Garrett became OC.

[Frozen700]

Originally Posted by Numbers921

Stop calling pass plays that take 18 years to develop.

This.....if we are going to do that, then only let 3 men go out...the rest block up!

If the 3 are covered have Murray Block block block...then slip out.

I see the Giants do this a lot, it an automatic 5+ yards

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Well it would help if we actually had a competent offensive line, but we don't so we're gonna have to be more creative. I would like to see us put a tight end in the pass blocking scheme. I wanna see some quick slants. We did that a lot in the Giants game and they couldn't stop us. Run more screen plays. Get our explosive weapons the ball in space. I'm talking about Dez, Miles, and Murray.

Also for the love of God stop running the ball inside so damn much. That clearly doesn't work. Our bigs aren't getting any push. We need to run inside more. Murray is very quick and deceptive. Give that boy the ball and let him show his speed and elusiveness. I wanna see not only some toss plays, but some stretch plays.

We've got to find a way to get the run game going again. We need that to take pressure off Romo because he is having to throw the ball too much. He has no time right now and can't the ball down the field to those explosive weapons like Austin and Bryant. This offensive line isn't very good obviously, but if the play calling can improve and just be more creative we can make up for some of the deficiencies on the offensive line.