Off-Season Priority #1: Find A Running Game

[UncFelix28]

Originally Posted by CaptainMorgan

Perhaps Garrett just needs to call a more balanced game.

What would help the most is making your defense strong on the other side, so you can continue to stick to the offensive gameplan without worrying about playing in catch up mode. You have your CB's/LB core, now it's time to find some gems at the DE/NT position & plug in a serviceable safety for now

[17yearsandcounting]

Originally Posted by zack

Actually it was Julius Jones in 2006. But this is what the team needs to be successful on offense. Romo is more than capable and he would excel if he had the Seahawks, Redskins, 49ers, Vikings running games. Can you imagine if we had a good running game?

But is Garrett really committed to doing this? Even in the game against the Skins, Romo threw it 40 times.

Exactly, Demarco was averaging over 4 yards a pop and Tecmo was still playing videogames out there. As long as Garretts here we will be a bottom 1/3rd running team. Deal with it.

[AdamJT13]

Originally Posted by Venger

Adam - can you toss some red zone short yardage stats at us? I need to see why your stat doesn't jive with general observation, and perhaps we are keying heavily on red zone situations... or is it 4th down? I want to make sure we haven't done a little specification searching with those numbers...

We finished sixth in TD/first down percentage on all rushing plays in the red zone. If you go only by runs inside the 10, we finished ninth in first down/TD percentage. Inside the 3, we tied for 17th -- but keep reading.

One reason why people might think we struggled on short yardage was a few times when we were near the goal line and failed to punch it in on first or second down -- we were 2 of 7 on runs inside the 3 on first or second down. But we went 2-for-2 on third-down runs and 1-for-1 on fourth-down runs, so we eventually did punch it in each time. We scored a TD every time we got inside the 3 this season, because our only third-down incomplete pass was followed by a TD run on fourth down.

[Zman5]

1 Seattle Seahawks
2 New England Patriots
3 Washington Redskins
4 Houston Texans
5 Kansas City Chiefs
6 New York Jets
7 San Francisco 49ers
8 Minnesota Vikings
9 Denver Broncos
10 Chicago Bears
11 Carolina Panthers
12 Baltimore Ravens
13 Buffalo Bills
14 Indianapolis Colts
14 Miami Dolphins
16 Green Bay Packers
17 Cincinnati Bengals


This is the ranking for run attempts. Most of the playoff teams are on that list. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Not all the teams on that list run well yardage wise but they still attempt to run.

[AdamJT13]

Originally Posted by Zman5

1 Seattle Seahawks
2 New England Patriots
3 Washington Redskins
4 Houston Texans
5 Kansas City Chiefs
6 New York Jets
7 San Francisco 49ers
8 Minnesota Vikings
9 Denver Broncos
10 Chicago Bears
11 Carolina Panthers
12 Baltimore Ravens
13 Buffalo Bills
14 Indianapolis Colts
14 Miami Dolphins
16 Green Bay Packers
17 Cincinnati Bengals


This is the ranking for run attempts. Most of the playoff teams are on that list. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Not all the teams on that list run well yardage wise but they still attempt to run.

Congratulations, you just proved that teams run the ball more when they're ahead in the fourth quarter and trying to run out the clock instead of having to pass to catch up.

[percyhoward]

Originally Posted by TheFinisher

Unfortunately, we are not one of those teams that can be a contender relying heavily on the pass. Romo is a capable QB, but if we continue to put too much on his shoulders we're going to continue watching the playoffs from home.

Where are all these teams who are relying heavily on the pass and winning?

These were the only QB who had as many as 5 different games with over 40 attempts. None of them had a winning record in those games.

Games of >40 att/Rating
13 Stafford 82.3 W3 L10
10 Brees 86.4 W2 L8
7 Romo 84.6 W3 L4
7 Luck 72.0 W3 L4
6 Palmer 84.9 W1 L5
6 Brady 82.2 W2 L4
5 Ryan 81.6 W2 L3

[ghst187]

Originally Posted by TheFinisher

Unfortunately, we are not one of those teams that can be a contender relying heavily on the pass. Romo is a capable QB, but if we continue to put too much on his shoulders we're going to continue watching the playoffs from home. All is not lost and we do not have to blow things up, but we absolutely MUST develop a good running game to give ourselves a chance. It's going to help the QB by slowing down the pass rush AND the defense by keeping them off the field. The running game is the foundation of every good balanced offense, and its what we've been missing during the Romo/Garrett era.

Even if all we do this off-season is bring in some road graders up front and a complementary bell-cow to Murray, we'll still see a much improved team come September. Get back to basics, pound the rock.

ummm for sure. In addition we need a pounding RB. Murray is awesome but can we count on him for 16+ games in a season? We need either a FA or higher draft pick that is starting caliber.

[Omegasupreme]

Originally Posted by AdamJT13

Congratulations, you just proved that teams run the ball more when they're ahead in the fourth quarter and trying to run out the clock instead of having to pass to catch up.

Congratulations, you now have to sort through a great deal of play by play stats to back up that claim. You just jumped the shark.

[DWhite Fan]

Dallas has the running back in Murray. Just need to fix the O-Line he is running behind

[RastaRocket]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

It's definitely the blocking. We haven't had a real quality OL in nearly two decades. Our short yardage and red zone offense has always been a joke because of it. Just putting a hat on a hat situations aren't winnable for the Cowboys.

I don't care what back you have, he's not going to excel with that many stiffs blocking. No offensive coordinator and/or play caller is going to overcome that either.

Guarantee Murray and Felix get the job done with a better OL.

[zack]

Originally Posted by RastaRocket

Guarantee Murray and Felix get the job done with a better OL.

And I guarantee Romo will benefit too...

[percyhoward]

Originally Posted by Zman5

1 Seattle Seahawks
2 New England Patriots
3 Washington Redskins
4 Houston Texans
7 San Francisco 49ers
8 Minnesota Vikings
9 Denver Broncos
12 Baltimore Ravens
14 Indianapolis Colts
16 Green Bay Packers
17 Cincinnati Bengals

This is the ranking for run attempts. Most of the playoff teams are on that list. Coincidence? I don't think so.

The Patriots, Broncos, and Packers don't run that much in the first half of games. They're only on your list because they run late after they build leads. You can confirm this by looking at the number of pass attempts by their QB in the first half of games. Brady, Manning, and Rodgers are among the leaders in 1st half attempts.

The Falcons are also a playoff team, and they aren't on your list. Ryan is second only to Brees in first half attempts.

None of these teams is among the top 10 in yards per rush. They are able to have a high number of rushing attempts because they build leads by outpassing their opponents. The Falcons, Packers, Patriots, and Broncos are all top 7 in passer rating differential, however. There's your important stat.

[Lazyking]

Hmm seems to me like Garrett needs to be a better playcaller. The second the Cowboys fall behind, he's calling pass plays of some form every down. Part of it is the defense not making stops but our offense doesn't click early.. Garrett wants the running backs to get 8 yards per carry to keep running the ball, if they don't he goes away from it.

Honestly, I thought the run game against the Skins was fine, a few losses but Murray was getting about 4 and half yards other times.

[Pessimist_cowboy]

Originally Posted by zack

Actually it was Julius Jones in 2006. But this is what the team needs to be successful on offense. Romo is more than capable and he would excel if he had the Seahawks, Redskins, 49ers, Vikings running games. Can you imagine if we had a good running game?

But is Garrett really committed to doing this? Even in the game against the Skins, Romo threw it 40 times.

Stephan Taylor enough said .

[alohawg]

Best instant upgrade to the offense in general- leave Garrett completely out of any involvement with it. Put him in a booth with a couple of those pole dancers to keep him occupied.