A word about the coaching

[Chocolate Lab]

I think it's pretty clear the problem with the team was Chris Jones.

 

[RonnieT24]

Ok but it's 2020.

So you think good teams no longer run inside the 10 yard line? Really? That's odd because when I look at the rushing leaderboard I find that Henry has 38 red zone carries this year, 24 inside the 10 and 11 inside the 5.. Josh Jacobs has 33, 17 inside the 10 and 8 inside the 5, Connor has 24 inside the 20, 13 inside the 10, and 8 inside the 5.. .. Kamara has 22 inside the 20, 15 inside the 10, and 6 inside the 5. Even KC's 5'6" 190 pound rookie has 22 red zone carries, 12 inside the 10 and 7 inside the 5.. All of those guys play on teams currently in the playoffs. But since they are running down by the goal line they're not good teams. Right?

 

[Runwildboys]

Maybe Kellen's just calling the plays they were best at in practice.

 

[Future]

So you think good teams no longer run inside the 10 yard line?

No. I think good teams run when and where they have a numbers advantage, regardless of where they are on the field.

There's also a huge difference between running at the 9 yardline and the 1. You can't just lump all plays inside the 10 together.

 

[blueblood70]

Like I said.. Gilbert was in his first start and they were asking him to throw the ball into the most highly leveraged situation possible. Why do that?

because run game was being stifled most of the day and compressed area would have been far worse and they trusted Gilbert to eat the sack or throw it away if it wasn't there..it happens we move on its bad year and well moral victories is all we have left

 

[RonnieT24]

No. I think good teams run when and where they have a numbers advantage, regardless of where they are on the field.

There's also a huge difference between running at the 9 yardline and the 1. You can't just lump all plays inside the 10 together.

Agreed but now you're shifting the argument.. The fact of the matter is all teams run inside the 10.. and inside the 5 and inside the 1.. Good teams, bad teams, mediocre teams, all of them.. In fact if you have a good offensive line it's far less risky to run down close than to throw it. Unless you have "that guy" at QB. Henry has 5 TDs inside the 5 on 11 carries, Cook has 5 on 11 carries as well. Gurley has 5 on 10 carries. So these guys are getting it into the end zone on nearly 50% of their carries. Wonder how many QBs are scoring a TD on 50% of his passes in that area. They only provide the numbers for QBs inside the 10 not the 5. Tannehill has the best TD rate with 12 TDs on 18 attempts.. but he has one pick down there. Rodgers has 15 TDs on 27 attempts. Mahomes and Brady are both tied with 15 TDs on 28 attempts. Russ has 14 TDs on 31 attempts but has thrown 3 picks. So if you have one of those QBs you have a better than 50% chance of success down close. Otherwise in the compressed area it's safer to run it. Of course these don't take into account sacks .. but I don't have time to go run all those down.

I do find it interesting that Kamara has the same number of rushes inside the 10 as Brees has pass attempts. Edwards-Helare has 22 carries inside the 10 .. only 6 fewer than Mahomes has passes. Henry has 24 rushes inside the 10 to Tannehill's 18 pass attempts. Henderson has 18 runs to Goff's 11 pass attempts.. Connor has 13 carries to Ben's 11 attempts. Seems like a number of good teams still think it's a good idea to run down close. Including the last unbeaten team.

 

[RonnieT24]

because run game was being stifled most of the day and compressed area would have been far worse and they trusted Gilbert to eat the sack or throw it away if it wasn't there..it happens we move on its bad year and well moral victories is all we have left

I'm not so sure that this is true. The running game produced 4 plays of at least 10 yards and ended up at 144 yards on 31 carries. In the NFL that's a solid running performance. Yes they stuffed it as they recorded 6 TFLs but there were also a goodly number of positive plays from it as well. The series where Gilbert threw the pick we had just run for 5, 10 and 2 and were sitting at 2nd and goal from the 5. Then we decided to throw it two straight and blow a chance to at least get 3 points. If we kick that FG then at the end there we would have been playing for winning FG range instead of needing a TD. We got to FG range .. the INT had already screwed us. And trusting Gilbert in that situation is why I question the coaching..

 

[dsturgeon]

So you think good teams no longer run inside the 10 yard line? Really? That's odd because when I look at the rushing leaderboard I find that Henry has 38 red zone carries this year, 24 inside the 10 and 11 inside the 5.. Josh Jacobs has 33, 17 inside the 10 and 8 inside the 5, Connor has 24 inside the 20, 13 inside the 10, and 8 inside the 5.. .. Kamara has 22 inside the 20, 15 inside the 10, and 6 inside the 5. Even KC's 5'6" 190 pound rookie has 22 red zone carries, 12 inside the 10 and 7 inside the 5.. All of those guys play on teams currently in the playoffs. But since they are running down by the goal line they're not good teams. Right?

All those teams have established passing threats. KC is a really bad example because they have kelce and wr's. It is easier to run, when the defense is worrying about the pass.

Even with the cowboys receivers, teams are not threatened by the passing game, so they play to stop the run. Not to mention we are playing with 2 back up tackles and looney. The oline is not consistently getting push like it used too.

I want them to run more too, and use more play action, but with the current personal, no matter what the play call is, they have the capability to fail

Moore is improving too. Being on your 4th qb and makeshift oline hamstrings him as well

 

[RonnieT24]

All those teams have established passing threats. KC is a really bad example because they have kelce and wr's. It is easier to run, when the defense is worrying about the pass.

Even with the cowboys receivers, teams are not threatened by the passing game, so they play to stop the run. Not to mention we are playing with 2 back up tackles and looney. The oline is not consistently getting push like it used too.

I want them to run more too, and use more play action, but with the current personal, no matter what the play call is, they have the capability to fail

Moore is improving too. Being on your 4th qb and makeshift oline hamstrings him as well

One factor in this that may not be getting talked about enough is that the new coaching staff has brought in more of the zone blocking scheme than the "knock 'em the hell off the ball" blocking scheme we favored in the past. You may recall that Paul Alexander tried this with our guys a couple of years ago and it got him fired. Even though this group is not equipped to maul defenders the way the 90's team did, they are better equipped to do that than they are to dance around with defenders who are firing off into them. And these backups are even less suited for that style. They are bigger, sloppier and decidely unathletic as compared to Tyron, La'el and Fredbeard. I predicted Williams was going to struggle this year after he rushed back after knee surgery. His base is even weaker than before and he wasn't strong enough to begin with.

 

[kskboys]

So you think good teams no longer run inside the 10 yard line? Really? That's odd because when I look at the rushing leaderboard I find that Henry has 38 red zone carries this year, 24 inside the 10 and 11 inside the 5.. Josh Jacobs has 33, 17 inside the 10 and 8 inside the 5, Connor has 24 inside the 20, 13 inside the 10, and 8 inside the 5.. .. Kamara has 22 inside the 20, 15 inside the 10, and 6 inside the 5. Even KC's 5'6" 190 pound rookie has 22 red zone carries, 12 inside the 10 and 7 inside the 5.. All of those guys play on teams currently in the playoffs. But since they are running down by the goal line they're not good teams. Right?

I never understood the importance of running the ball until I started reading your stuff, just FYI. Most don't.

Good stuff as usual.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

Passing the ball is not really the issue. It's the type of passes that are called that are the issue. We have a banged up line going against one of the best D in the league with a QB making his first NFL start. Run the ball or use formations to get a 1 on 1 with either Gallup or Lamb and do the jump ball fate routes.. snap, one step lob it up. Expecting a QB with zero NFL playing experience to drop back and find an open guy on the goal line was not smart. The OC needs to help in that situation with the play calling.

 

[aikemirv]

You have to abandon it in the red zone because the run game has no chance with the way defenses stack against it. I mean look at the INT - you can't run into that front.

That's why you spread them out and run. Just like Romo said.

Dallas trying to man up in the run game is a net loss with our current Oline

 

[aikemirv]

Had that guy dropped the lateral, we would be throwing Special Teams under the bus today.

Well we do expect professional football players to catch a floated pass to them.

 

[fivetwos]

My problems with Moore, especially in this game, was the Garrett influence. He would bring in 2 and 3 tight ends at times, inviting the defense to pack the box. And they did and stopped the run. We already have a severely injured OL, but he did it several times. Our most running success, and Romo kept eluding to it, was when they spread the defense out, creating creases for the RB. Spreading the defense out and running works in the red zone as well, but it seems the Garrett, makes him pack in the scrimmage, giving the DL an advantage.

Well, it goes back to the old....you're supposed to execute, beat your man.

But fully agree with running out of a more spread formation.

It's no longer the mid 90s, and Garrett doesnt realize that yet.

 

[quickccc]

People run into goal line defenses all the time. Parcells always said there are times when you have to stubborn with the run. You cannot allow alignment to automatically stop you from doing what you want to do. At first and goal at the 7 yard line I have more faith that Zeke can push the pile for 2 yards a pop and eventually get it into the end zone than I do any of these QBs throwing it. I didn't even like it when they pulled that crap with Dak but now it's just asking to get beat. There is just so little room to operate down there and we don't have a Dez to go up and take it from a defender or a Witten to step across the goal line and post up on the roster. I'm taking my chances running it down there..

I blame McCarthy more for not having the kudos guts for going for it on ….4th and " inches" ...inches ! That's a mere QB sneak for a team that's 2-6.
(sigh) But MM would much more be comfortable settling for a FG.

- if we were around the goal line - i'm sure Kellen would have been pounding zeke in there, but much further out from the goal line these 2-3 yrd runs would not have
been sufficient.

- For Kellen more to have Gilbert Grapes prepared and playing well enuff to actual compete and give the massively favored Steelers a pretty damn scare down to the final drive of the
game to decide it all, ..I can't see or point any blame towards K-Moore.

 

[DuncanIso]

Nolan did a terrible job in the 4th QTR.

Ben had a busted knee too.

was anyone shocked that the defense folded?

just saying...

 

[SlammedZero]

This Kellen Moore criticism keeps making me laugh. Every game it's something new. 1-2 games ago in the game thread he was trying to run the ball and people were hammering on him why we weren't throwing it more. Now, he tries calling in throwing plays and people are hammering on him for not running the ball.



Damn if he do, damn if he don't.

 

[DuncanIso]

Like I said.. Gilbert was in his first start and they were asking him to throw the ball into the most highly leveraged situation possible. Why do that?

I think that QB has a future with us....

 

[Williamsboys]

When we were still ahead late 3rd quarter was anyone else thinking..."OK, So how are the boys gonna lose This one"???

 

[DuncanIso]

When we were still ahead late 3rd quarter was anyone else thinking..."OK, So how are the boys gonna lose This one"???

The three 75 yard drives by Pitt in the 4th QTR were fun to watch.