Sturm: Decoding Garrett - Week 9 - Philadelphia

[WoodysGirl]

The Cowboys accomplished plenty of rare things on Sunday. One that jumps off the page is the fact that they scored a special teams TD, an interception TD, and a fumble TD all in the same quarter. According to Elias, that is the first time since San Francisco did it in 1966, so any stat that gives you over 40 years to consider you can understand how rare a feat it was.

Of course, none of that mentioned the offense, because, well, the offense didn't have too much to puff out its chest about. The fact is, that if the special teams or defense would not have pitched in and assisted the effort on Sunday, we are a bit cynical in our belief that Dallas would have been able to stick that game in the win column.

Regardless, they certainly did get a win, and that will be just the 5th time under the Garrett/Romo regime (2007-present) that they have won a game in which the offense did not generate 300 yards of offense.

300 yards is a poor amount of yardage production in the NFL. Offenses in the NFL average 351 yards per game this season, which continues to demonstrate that this league is becoming more and more offensive. Yards are easier to accumulate than ever before, but the benchmark of 400 being a fantastic day of offense and 300 being extremely poor remains the same as it has for quite a while.

Also, let's recall the idea that Bill Parcells used to spread during his press conferences when he was in Dallas. He often spoke of testing your offensive efficiency against the simple test of points per 100 yards. In his mind, every 100 yards should equate to 7 points on the scoreboard. If you get a Touchdown for each 100, then the target of a 400 yard day gets you 28 points. Primitive analysis, for sure, but you get the idea.

There have been 4 different occasions this season where the offense never got out of its own way. At Seattle (296), vs Tampa Bay (297), at Carolina (312), and at Philadelphia (294). That is a season's worth of offensive stinkers in just 9 games. And that doesn't even account for the 2 games that were not sabotaged by yardage, but turnovers against the Giants and Bears.

The offense is just not getting much done from any perspective, and it continues to fall at the feet of the offensive line. Without much ability to demonstrate decent run blocking aside from the Baltimore game and without much ability to hold up against a pass rush, you can certainly see how the play-calling is not a simple exercise these days.

Read the rest: http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2012...ladelphia.html

[Little Jr]

It still amazes me when looking at the passing chart that we don't. Attack the middle of the field. I have never heard an explanation for it. I'm sure there has been one but I've never seen it.

[Doomsday101]

I really do not care about the yards, Turnover not less than 300 yard days have cost us games. On the season Dallas is 9th in the NFL with 372 yards a game moving the ball is not an issue turnover have been. If Garrett needs to pull in the reigns some to get these turnovers under control then fine by me, no one wins game based on how many yards you pick up but games can and often are determined by the turnover you commit

[Little Jr]

I agree yds don't matter but points do and we don't score much either.

[Joe Realist]

This is still an 8-8 team at best

[Doomsday101]

Originally Posted by Joe Realist

This is still an 8-8 team at best

Guess we will play the rest of the games on the schedule and find out.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Joe Realist

This is still an 8-8 team at best

Now I'm praying for 9-7, just so you end up being wrong.

[Dodger]

I would like you to pay special attention to the top grouping: 11 personnel. This is the base personnel for many of the big offenses around the NFL, but it has never been a favorite of the Cowboys. But, this year, they are trying it more and more. 11 personnel is 1RB, 1TE, and 3 WR. This is the exact personnel of the Cowboys 2-minute drill and 3rd Down offense, but that is always shotgun. This is different. They are using it in 50/50 spots like 1st and 10 and having Romo under center. It should mean nickel personnel and it allows you to run the ball with fewer players in the box.

As you can see, they ran the ball 7 times from 11 under center, and found 51 yards or over 7 yards per carry.

Okay...I found this to be very, very encouraging, and it's going to cause me to back off a bit on my criticism of Garrett.

I've been wanting him to try something different to get the offense moving, paticularly the running game, and running the ball with Romo under center from 11 personnel is EXACTLY the kind of change this offense needed. And, of course, it looks like it's producing good results...for now anyway.

Thank you, Jason. Keep it up.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by Little Jr

It still amazes me when looking at the passing chart that we don't. Attack the middle of the field. I have never heard an explanation for it. I'm sure there has been one but I've never seen it.

More defenders over the middle and when you have receivers that have a history of not running precise routes and blowing sight adjustments it leads to more INT.

[jimnabby]

Originally Posted by WoodysGirl

Regardless, they certainly did get a win, and that will be just the 5th time under the Garrett/Romo regime (2007-present) that they have won a game in which the offense did not generate 300 yards of offense.

300 yards is a poor amount of yardage production in the NFL. Offenses in the NFL average 351 yards per game this season, which continues to demonstrate that this league is becoming more and more offensive. Yards are easier to accumulate than ever before, but the benchmark of 400 being a fantastic day of offense and 300 being extremely poor remains the same as it has for quite a while.

This completely ignores the context of the game. Dallas accumulated 275 yards of offense in the first 3 quarters, a pace that would give 367 over a full game. But in the 4th quarter, the punt return TD and INT TD happened before they ever touched the ball. As a result, they didn't attempt any offense in the 4th quarter - Romo didn't throw a single pass and they just ran up the middle (for 19 total yards) and punted. I'm not suggesting they were the Greatest Show on Turf out there, but the yardage totals were perfectly respectable during the 3 quarters that the offense actually played.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by Dodger

Okay...I found this to be very, very encouraging, and it's going to cause me to back off a bit on my criticism of Garrett.

I've been wanting him to try something different to get the offense moving, paticularly the running game, and running the ball with Romo under center from 11 personnel is EXACTLY the kind of change this offense needed. And, of course, it looks like it's producing good results...for now anyway.

Thank you, Jason. Keep it up.

Agreed.

I've always like the 11 personnel set after watching the Bills run it for years as the "K-gun".

The Cowboy's fullback hasn't been effective as a lead blocker, so get him off the field, spread out the defense with 3 WR's and you can still run the ball.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by jimnabby

This completely ignores the context of the game. Dallas accumulated 275 yards of offense in the first 3 quarters, a pace that would give 367 over a full game. But in the 4th quarter, the punt return TD and INT TD happened before they ever touched the ball. As a result, they didn't attempt any offense in the 4th quarter - Romo didn't throw a single pass and they just ran up the middle (for 19 total yards) and punted. I'm not suggesting they were the Greatest Show on Turf out there, but the yardage totals were perfectly respectable during the 3 quarters that the offense actually played.

Very good point.

[rickjameschinaclub]

Originally Posted by jimnabby

This completely ignores the context of the game. Dallas accumulated 275 yards of offense in the first 3 quarters, a pace that would give 367 over a full game.

This also completely ignored the context of the game.

This argument is predicated on the fact that they would have kept averaging the same amount of yardage per quarter. The first drive in the 3rd quarter they went backwards 4 yards and the next drive they netted 6 yards, for a whopping 2 yards of total offense until 4 minutes to go.

And it was during this period of totally stagnant offense, a defining feature of Garrett, that Philadelphia actually took the lead and went up 17 pts.

Then Romo had that miraculous drive like he normally does bailing out the pathetic play calling, where he essentially side-stepped potential sacks on that pass to Miles Austin, which ultimately ended in the TD to Dez Bryant i.e. once again Romo had to bail out this offense with his miraculous play. Let's not forget to mention that the play to Miles Austin was a 3rd and 5 and, meaning if it weren't for Romo, that would have been a 19 yard drive.

What this essentially means is that in the 4th, your argument thinks they would have continued to 'net' yardage if they never got those TOs. And there is only one real indication which you assume they would and that is, Romo would once again do something miraculous.

[Bigdog24]

Nothing new in this report....These Jason Garrett Cowboys are just chasing the dogs tail....going round and round in a circle..boring...It would be nice for Jason Garrett to be on the cutting edge..inventive and setting the standards instead of struggling to follow and keep up with latest trend......

It would be nice to see the change instead the same Ol' Crap from 16 years of Jerry Jones Cowboy Koolaide.

Maybe dye RED's hair BLUE and put a Silver star on the back of his head....Just give this team some HOPE, Confidence, MOTIVATION and PaZaaZ... Jimmy Johnson had Character....I think the HC needs Character for the team to follow and believe.......GO RED... dye your HEAD blue and learn to have some FUN maybe this team will respond.....