YR's My Meaningless Thoughts On The Offense...

[Kilyin]

Originally Posted by Bluestang

Rollout plays usually leave the backside defender to chase the QB, do you really want that down after down, snap after snap?

No, but once in awhile a designed bootleg works wonders for a QB that can move and 'can't see over the linemen'.

Romo friendly should also include running the ball but we flat out suck at that. Romo is not learning any new scheme anytime soon, he's fine in this one and just needs better blockers upfront.

I'm not really talking about a new scheme or a new offense, just one that adopts some more plays to take advantage of Romo's strengths. By the numbers you've posted here he's a better QB outside of the pocket. Why is it unfathomable that we could design some plays around that?

Shanahan has actually tailored his scheme to RG3's Baylor offense. He's slowly inserted his WCO plays to bring him along. But now you are talking about a rookie who is being developed into the scheme, which is entirely different than trying to teach-up a veteran.

Coaches just don't switch up their scheme entirely, they find the personnel to make it work.

Shannahan has definitely designed his offense around RG3. He never ran all these college option plays prior to this season. I've watched a lot of Redskins games and he has most definitely switched up (modified) his scheme. Whether you want to credit him or Kyle, there's really no denying that.

[Bluestang]

2012 Romo:

Outside the Numbers Left:

minus yds - 9 att, 8 cmp, 31 yds, 1 TD

0-9 yds - 54 att, 40 cmp, 327 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

10-19 yds - 34 att, 19 cmp, 290 yds, 3 TDs, 1 INT

20+ yds - 13 att, 7 cmp, 260 yds, 2 TDs

Outside the Numbers Right:

minus yds - 6 att, 5 cmp, 43 yds

0-9 yds - 44 att, 35 cmp, 287 yds, 1 INT

10-19 yds - 45 att, 27 cmp, 510 yds, 1 TD, 5 INT

20+ yds - 17 att, 3 cmp, 95 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

Middle:

minus yds - 17 att, 13 cmp, 51 yds, 1 INT

0-9 yds - 159 att, 130 cmp, 1054 yds 3 TDs/3 INTs

10-19 yds - 45 att, 27 cmp, 510 yds 1 TD/5 INTs

20+ yds - 17 att, 3 cmp, 95 yds 1 TD/ 1 INT

2011 Romo:

Outside the Numbers Left:

minus yds - 26 att, 22 cmp, 194 yds

0-9 yds - 51 att, 36 cmp, 221 yds, 3 TD

10-19 yds - 29 att, 16 cmp, 239 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT

20+ yds - 16 att, 4 cmp, 114 yds, 2 TDs

Middle Inside the Numbers:

minus yds - 34 att, 30 cmp, 163 yds, 2 TDs

0-9 yds - 136 att, 106 cmp, 1029 yds, 4 TDs, 3 INT

10-19 yds - 48 att, 28 cmp, 462 yds, 4 TDs

20+ yds - 18 att, 13 cmp, 559 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs

Outside the Numbers Right:

minus yds - 18 att, 18 cmp, 106 yds

0-9 yds - 62 att, 43 cmp, 396 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT

10-19 yds - 31 att, 15 cmp, 227 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT

20+ yds - 27 att, 15 cmp, 493 yds, 9 TD

[Bluestang]

Originally Posted by Kilyin

Shannahan has definitely designed his offense around RG3. He never ran all these college option plays prior to this season. I've watched a lot of Redskins games and he has most definitely switched up (modified) his scheme. Whether you want to credit him or Kyle, there's really no denying that.

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

Your first paragraph contradicts your second one. When has Shanahan ever run that read option before this year? Never. Why do you think he suddenly did that?

Good coaches may not "switch up their schemes entirely", but they absolutely adjust their play calls to fit their personnel. That's coaching 101.

Shanahan is still running his WCO plays but in order to help his 1st year rookie he took pages out of the Baylor playbook and used them in his own. That is good coaching, to get your QB comfortable in the new scheme. You run some bread and butter plays he ran at Baylor.

I guess I said it wrong, but in the long term Shanahan will use that option read less and less when defenses start to counter it and RG3 takes some serious blows.

Look at how Cam Newton has faired in year 2 of that type of offense.

[proline]

So would Orton's skillset do well in our current offense and with our current players?

[Zman5]

Originally Posted by Bluestang

Shanahan is still running his WCO plays but in order to help his 1st year rookie he took pages out of the Baylor playbook and used them in his own. That is good coaching, to get your QB comfortable in the new scheme. You run some bread and butter plays he ran at Baylor.

I guess I said it wrong, but in the long term Shanahan will use that option read less and less when defenses start to counter it and RG3 takes some serious blows.

Look at how Cam Newton has faired in year 2 of that type of offense.

What you just wrote is that Shanny has adjusted his offense to help out the rookie get his feet wet in the NFL by incorporating plays that RG3 is comfortable with and good at now. Once the defenses start to counter, Shanny will make adjustments and use the option read less and less.

What you described is called adjusting your offense to the personnel. Something that JG refuses to do.

[Bluestang]

Originally Posted by Zman5

What you just wrote is that Shanny has adjusted his offense to help out the rookie get his feet wet in the NFL by incorporating plays that RG3 is comfortable with and good at now. Once the defenses start to counter, Shanny will make adjustments and use the option read less and less.

What you described is called adjusting your offense to the personnel. Something that JG refuses to do.

So what exactly would you switch to with a crappy OL?

We can't run block worth a damn and we are pretty average at pass blocking.

Please show me an offense that can function under those circumstances.

[Bluestang]

Percyhoward - There is your information that validates your point in post #107.

The player, whoever that is, that is lining up in the traditonal "Z" spot of the formation has had very, very poor production.

Note: Dallas will flip the X and Z, so the Z receiver is always on side where Witten is lined up.

2012: Romo - 20+ yds - 17 att, 3 cmp, 95 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

2011: Romo - 20+ yds - 27 att, 15 cmp, 493 yds, 9 TD

That would be Austin and Bryant in your 12 and 21 sets and KO in your posse sets.

[Zman5]

Originally Posted by Bluestang

So what exactly would you switch to with a crappy OL?

We can't run block worth a damn and we are pretty average at pass blocking.

Please show me an offense that can function under those circumstances.

As many has mentioned (me included), stop using long slow developing WR routes. How about if a play works, sticking with it until the defense stop it?

On Talking Cowboys today, Broaddus talks about this. He mentions all week Cowboys practiced a stretch run play. They ran it with Dunbar and he got 8 yards. They never ran it again. Broaddus wants to know why JG doesn't stick to plays that works.

[Bluestang]

Originally Posted by Zman5

As many has mentioned (me included), stop using long slow developing WR routes. How about if a play works, sticking with it until the defense stop it?

On Talking Cowboys today, Broaddus talks about this. He mentions all week Cowboys practiced a stretch run play. They ran it with Dunbar and he got 8 yards. They never ran it again. Broaddus wants to know why JG doesn't stick to plays that works.

Running the ball sort of went out of the window in the 2nd qtr don't you think trailing 25 pts?

I counted 19 passing plays of 31 total plays (minus kickoffs and punts) in the 1st half of the WAS game that had a receiver that ran a route that was 5 yds or less and they were stick routes, smokes, drags, in/outs, or slants. Austin, Bryant, Witten, Beasley, and Harris all ran those routes.

Romo didn't always go to the short route guy.

Sending everybody on a route that is 5 yds or less is flat out retarded. No offense in the NFL or NCAA operates like that.

[Zman5]

Originally Posted by Bluestang

Running the ball sort of went out of the window in the 2nd qtr don't you think trailing 25 pts?

I counted 19 passing plays of 31 total plays (minus kickoffs and punts) in the 1st half of the WAS game that had a receiver that ran a route that was 5 yds or less and they were stick routes, smokes, drags, in/outs, or slants. Austin, Bryant, Witten, Beasley, and Harris all ran those routes.

Romo didn't always go to the short route guy.

Sending everybody on a route that is 5 yds or less is flat out retarded. No offense in the NFL or NCAA operates like that.

Sending 2 WRS on a 30 yard routes on 3 and 10 is even more retarded. Shorting the routes doesn't mean sending everyone out to 5 yard routes.

Dunbar's run came when the score was 14-3. It was a play right before Dez's fumble. Far from game being out of reach.

Did you even read what I wrote? Stop making crap up to support your boy JG.

[Beast_from_East]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

If there is one good thing about Goodell’s tenure as commissioner it’s that we have finally seen the All-22 film being made available to the public. It provides such an interesting view to watch football. I think I always understood that, but when you get to watch play-after-play on All-22, you really get to appreciate the angles even more.

Anyway, I have been watching a few different teams on offense and trying to compare them to the Cowboys offense. Is Garrett’s play calling the problem? How about Romo? Are our WR’s as good as they are supposed to be? Is the O-Line as bad as it is supposed to be?

[View Full Quote]From what I have watched, the problem with our offense is the same issue that has gone throughout our team for a while. As an organization, we DO find talent. But, we struggle to mesh the right skill sets together. That causes players to play out of position or do things that they are not good at. And what happens is when 1 starter gets injured, now more players start to play out of position or have to do things that they are not good at. That is why I believe the team continually struggles down the stretch each year. It has nothing to do with ‘choking’ or even a ‘lack of talent’ or a ‘country club atmosphere.’ We don’t mesh player’s skills together and players look bad because they are doing things that are not their strength. It has also convinced me that this is of utter importance and that if a player like Joe Montana had played in an Oakland Raiders deep ball system, we would have never heard of Joe Montana.

That doesn’t let Romo completely off the hook. He’s making more bad plays and bad throws than he should make. And yes, I do believe that there are QB’s in the game that could play better with this O-Line and coaching and surrounding talent.

But, it’s all for not until the organization figures out how to get the pieces to properly fit into their system. All of the Tom Brady’s and RG3’s in the world would not help the Cowboys if they continue to try and put square pegs into round holes.

From watching All-22, I actually think the pass protection has been pretty decent for the most part. In fact, only a few weeks ago the Cowboys were ranked 2nd in Adjusted Sacks Allowed by FootballOutsiders.com. But from what I’ve seen on film, outside of Doug Free and now Derrick Dockery, the pass protection has been fairly good.

The run blocking is pathetic. And as couchscout mentioned, Felix is actually better at making guys miss when he cuts going full speed. And that encapsulates a big part of the problem….the offense’s design does not fit the talent. The running plays for Felix tend to be slow developing plays, which are not his strength. Instead, he should be running more pitch outs and for the love of all that is holy, sprint draws. But, we don’t have enough talent on the O-Line to run pitch plays and for whatever reason, we don’t call the sprint draw very often. Don’t get me wrong, the O-Line doesn’t run block well outside of Tyron (who is now injured). But, we are not doing Felix any favors by using him in a way that does not suit his strengths.

And this is where the problem with the passing offense resides. The pass protection is actually good enough. But, the pass routes take a long time to develop because of their design. Defenses know this, so they send blitzes or have the 4- down linemen go full bore at Romo. By the time the WR’s routes start to develop, the rush is getting right on Romo.

Now, for a tall QB who throws overhand like Tom Brady. He could still find the WR’s. The other way is to have a QB like Matthew Stafford. His O-Line is no better than Romo’s. But, he simply can back up further from the rush and with his super strong arm, fire the ball at the WR with good velocity. Romo can’t do either, so he ends up doing one of the following:
1) Missing an open receiver
2) Hitting his check down too early
3) Getting sacked
4) Scrambling away from the pressure and making a play
Is that all Romo’s fault? No. But, there are other QB’s that would play better on this team. That’s because they are better suited for this offense. In order for Romo to play well in this offense, the O-Line’s pass protection would have to be elite and I’m not so sure that would quite work as well as we think because we would probably have to have more players in to block and less WR’s running routes.

Lastly, the other issue is that we are utilizing Jason Witten very poorly. He’s becoming a 6-yard hot read receiver. He’s most effective running 10-15 yard patterns, owning LB’s in pass routes and finding holes in the zone. I think Garrett recognizes that and that is why he’s using Beasley more. But it’s clear that Witten is the only player that Romo trusts and we end up using him poorly because of that.

The potential good news is that there is some hope in the future, even though Romo is starting to get a little long in the tooth.

I believe that Romo is better suited for a West Coast style of offense. I also think it’s something that both Dez and Miles can work in and Witten as well. We already run a zone blocking scheme and I think Romo has the footwork, the release and smarts to pick up the system. Generally, I would be a little leery of going to the new system since it would probably take about 2 years to run well, but I think with the rate the offense is going, it would still be better to switch now. And we have a very good WCO coach in Callahan.

Secondly, I think the other offense that Romo would operate well under is the Sean Payton style of offense. I assume that even though he’s not coaching this year, the Saints are still using the same offense. Payton’s offense is a bit of a hybrid between a WCO and a Ernie Zampese style of offense. In fact, I think the Saints struggles this year have more to do with Brees trying to gamble too much and throw it deep along with not enough running of the football (sound familiar?).

If we stick with Garrett, the offense has to change from a schematic standpoint. Otherwise, we are going to see the continued downward decline of Romo and the entire offense. The only way we can have success in Garrett’s system is to somehow turn the O-Line into the best in the league in roughly a year or to find a different QB. To me, it would be much easier to change the offense than to try and find a new franchise QB.






YR

So its either get a new HC or get a new QB?

Bye Opie.

[Beast_from_East]

Originally Posted by CATCH17

So basically we need a perfect roster for Jason Garrett to be able to do his thing.

Sounds like an offense built for the 90's Cowboys and not an offense built for 2012 NFL Parity Football.

Garrett is trying to run this team like its a freaking Madden franchise with 90+ starters in every position.


Its never going to work, you cant operate an NFL team this way.

[Beast_from_East]

Originally Posted by proline

So would Orton's skillset do well in our current offense and with our current players?

Orton?

Seriously?


Wow.

[CowboyMcCoy]

Originally Posted by DBOY3141

Good points, problem is Garrett isn't changing. He hasn't since 07, the same offense you see this year you will see next Nov. Hopefully different results.

Nostalgia.

[Bluestang]

Originally Posted by Zman5

Sending 2 WRS on a 30 yard routes on 3 and 10 is even more retarded. Shorting the routes doesn't mean sending everyone out to 5 yard routes.

Dunbar's run came when the score was 14-3. It was a play right before Dez's fumble. Far from game being out of reach.

Did you even read what I wrote? Stop making crap up to support your boy JG.

Do you even know what you wrote? 30 yds? LOL...OK.

So if Dez doesn't fumble the ball and we score what then? You just listed one of the problems this team has had all year - turnovers.

And what happens when someone is tackled 3 yds short of the 3rd and 10...is that successful play calling too?

The real problem is why are you facing a 3rd and 10 in the first place.