Kellen Moore can fix the Cowboys offense - if Jason Garrett lets him

[kskboys]

Some quality food for thought from Tom Ryle at bloggingtheboys.com. One of their better, more realistic writers in my opinion. It details some of the tendencies, issues, and failing of last year's offense under Linehan's direction (as if we needed more proof).

Just about all who come here to read about the Dallas Cowboys are aware of the frustration that grew out of the predictable, conservative play-calling that hampered the team in 2018, and played a large part in the dismissal of Scott Linehan. What you may not be aware of is just where that conservatism caused the most problems. Jeff Cavanaugh of 105.3 The Fan did some research, and shared it with us.



It’s worth the watch, but in case you are in tl;dr (or watch, in this case) mode or just miss the main points, allow me to summarize. Using the Warren Sharp 2019 NFL preview(gotta give credit to all who deserve it), Cavanaugh found that Dallas was really not all that predictable with their first down play calls in the first half. They had a nice mix, leading to better drives and more points. But once they got to the third quarter, especially with a lead, they went all Vince Lombardi, taking the ball out of the hands of Dak Prescott and handing it off at well above the league average rate to Ezekiel Elliotton first down. Other teams, not being either oblivious or stupid, adjusted their defense. And so the Cowboys, who had a nice plus differential in first halves, was usually outscored in the second - and it wasn’t close.

I agree, and I admittedly have a ton of hope for Moore. Linny simply seemed to lack a feel for the flow of the game. I don't think he has any comprehension of how one play call affects the next and what you call in one quarter affects the next quarter and so on.

 

[kskboys]

I've said this on numerous posts on this site. As a matter of fact, l mentioned the year people were complaining about how the Pat's were pounding teams into submission and saying if was bad sportsmanship. I called it BS then and l call it BS now. If there's anything we (as Cowboys fans) should have learned over the years, it's that playing not to lose will get you beat. I don't care if you are 3 TDs ahead at half, you start the 2nd half like it's 0-0...

No, that's not what teams were complaining about concerning the Pats. The Pats were ahead of WASH w/ a couple minutes left in the game w/ a 40+ point lead. Brady was still in the game and threw a TD pass to Moss. That is pure chickenpoop.

You don't let up at the half, you only let up when the game physically cannot be lost. And at that point, you run the ball w/ your backups and chew up clock. If your backups score, so be it.

 

[kskboys]

That was Linehan problem.......taking his foot off the pedal and playing second halves NOT TO LOSE. Other words, he had ZERO killer instinct. Can't remember the last game ( if any ) where we led by couple scores and pound the team into submission. This honestly where I think Moore will be different.......

I think it's a lot worse than that. I think he lacks both understanding of the big pic as well as lacking the ability to make adjustments. If anything, he tried to keep his foot on the pedal and didnt' know how.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Can or will someone list out the accomplishments of Moore which indicate he has a skill set to be an OC and can get the job done?

I keep thinking of the Shula kid Jimmy made into a play caller Jimmy's first year and that was a complete disaster.

 

[kskboys]

Can or will someone list out the accomplishments of Moore which indicate he has a skill set to be an OC and can get the job done?

I keep thinking of the Shula kid Jimmy made into a play caller Jimmy's first year and that was a complete disaster.

There are none. This is clearly giving a new kid w/ a great head for the game a shot. Is he ready? No idea. I'm hoping, however, that this org has done their homework and they have a clear idea that he is.

 

[TwoDeep3]

There are none. This is clearly giving a new kid w/ a great head for the game a shot. Is he ready? No idea. I'm hoping, however, that this org has done their homework and they have a clear idea that he is.

What or who says he has a great head for the game other than the guys who gave him the keys to the Cowboy's offensive car?

 

[kskboys]

What or who says he has a great head for the game other than the guys who gave him the keys to the Cowboy's offensive car?

The coaches and players at Boise, and the players on the Cowboys.

I'm not saying he's ready, I have no idea. I'm just hoping the Cowboys have a clue and aren't just blindly putting him in position(See Jason Garrett!!!)

From his scouting report, predraft: "Very smart and plays like an offensive coordinator on the field." And: "Words hard to prepare and lives in the film room. Student of the game and works hard at what he does. All the intangibles: intelligence, coach's son, gym rat, winning resume." And: "There is a place at the next level for such a sharp offensive mind."

Will it transfer? All we can do at his point is hope the Cowboys know what they're doing. Surety, I give you none. Only great potential.

 

[Sammy]

The coaches and players at Boise, and the players on the Cowboys.

I'm not saying he's ready, I have no idea. I'm just hoping the Cowboys have a clue and aren't just blindly putting him in position(See Jason Garrett!!!)

From his scouting report, predraft: "Very smart and plays like an offensive coordinator on the field." And: "Words hard to prepare and lives in the film room. Student of the game and works hard at what he does. All the intangibles: intelligence, coach's son, gym rat, winning resume." And: "There is a place at the next level for such a sharp offensive mind."

Will it transfer? All we can do at his point is hope the Cowboys know what they're doing. Surety, I give you none. Only great potential.

Players on the Lions too, and an NFL OC and at least one HC.

 

[ksadler1]

No, that's not what teams were complaining about concerning the Pats. The Pats were ahead of WASH w/ a couple minutes left in the game w/ a 40+ point lead. Brady was still in the game and threw a TD pass to Moss. That is pure chickenpoop.

You don't let up at the half, you only let up when the game physically cannot be lost. And at that point, you run the ball w/ your backups and chew up clock. If your backups score, so be it.

Yes, that was said too. But I remember people complaining about them not taking their foot off the pedal when they had big leads. And yes, I remember the Washington game. But it was Washington, no harm, no foul. That would be like complaining that someone was running the score up on Pittsburg...

 

[xwalker]

Some quality food for thought from Tom Ryle at bloggingtheboys.com. One of their better, more realistic writers in my opinion. It details some of the tendencies, issues, and failing of last year's offense under Linehan's direction (as if we needed more proof).

Just about all who come here to read about the Dallas Cowboys are aware of the frustration that grew out of the predictable, conservative play-calling that hampered the team in 2018, and played a large part in the dismissal of Scott Linehan. What you may not be aware of is just where that conservatism caused the most problems. Jeff Cavanaugh of 105.3 The Fan did some research, and shared it with us.



It’s worth the watch, but in case you are in tl;dr (or watch, in this case) mode or just miss the main points, allow me to summarize. Using the Warren Sharp 2019 NFL preview(gotta give credit to all who deserve it), Cavanaugh found that Dallas was really not all that predictable with their first down play calls in the first half. They had a nice mix, leading to better drives and more points. But once they got to the third quarter, especially with a lead, they went all Vince Lombardi, taking the ball out of the hands of Dak Prescott and handing it off at well above the league average rate to Ezekiel Elliotton first down. Other teams, not being either oblivious or stupid, adjusted their defense. And so the Cowboys, who had a nice plus differential in first halves, was usually outscored in the second - and it wasn’t close.

There will be a ton of speculation by fans and media on the Kellen Moore offense.

Most of the speculation will likely involved being less predicable.

It appears most fans/media will focus on formation tendencies, motion, etc.

The Cowboys Offense definitely has been predictable in some obvious areas.
High Probably: QB under center = run, QB shotgun = pass.

In my opinion, the changes will be more focused on details that are less obvious.

The less obvious details will be difficult to attach to available stats like formation tendencies.

The media made a big deal about the Rams focus on 11 personnel and their usage of formations/motion.

The real brilliance of the Rams offense was more about the details.

The Rams didn't dominate the Cowboys with the run because they always used 11 personnel or because they used motion.

The Rams running game dominated the Cowboys because of very specific details of their blocking scheme.

The Pats saw what the Rams implemented against the Cowboys. The Pats made a simple defensive alignment change that screwed up the Rams offensive scheme.

The change made by the Pats won't show up in which defensive personnel packages they used.

The change made by the Pats might not work against the Rams in the future because the Rams will practice against it now.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Can or will someone list out the accomplishments of Moore which indicate he has a skill set to be an OC and can get the job done?

None.

But, NFL insiders and those who really know the kid say he has "it".

 

[xwalker]

Well here's my thought process: I knew really nothing about Moore before he became qb coach. I thought it was a stupid move to have a rookie coach when you had a young talent that really needed to work on his fundamentals. Since then I've read articles where he's already made plays and they were successful in game, I saw the tape with Gruden, and basically everyone who's ever met the guy talk about how football smart he is, and apparently he's closer to "nerd" than "jock" in his personality. With all that in mind I think Moore is better suited as a coach when it comes to X's and O's as opposed to trying to teach a position in terms of physicality. I don't know that to be true, but that's the picture I get from all this disparate data.

All I'm really hoping for more is to integrate some rub route, change things up a bit to be less predictable, and be better in the red zone (I figure the last one is the hardest). I'm not really expecting "The Greatest Show on Turf 2."

Moore will have as much rope as he needs to get this offense back on track, especially scoring. Jerry's on record telling Moore if anyone ( Garrett included ) gets in the way of him implementing his offense, come see him. So yea, I honestly think they wanna see what he can do. Remember Linehan was fired for a reason........Moore has the advantage of knowing that reason. Be pretty dumb to make the same mistakes.....LOL.

Kellen Moore's challenge likely won't be play design or play calling.

His biggest challenge is to make certain the players can execute his plays correctly.

He'll be dependent on the position coaches to teach and extract great execution from the players.

As a young coach with limited experience, he can't just ream out players for making mistakes the way older veteran coaches do it.

Obviously the other challenge is that Garrett the HC was once the OC.

The Joneses apparently have mandated some amount of autonomy for the OC; however, it's still a challenge they wouldn't have if the HC had been defensive coach.

The Joneses have to stick with Moore when the offense has a game where it struggles.


The NFL is trending towards coaches and GMs/scouts with higher levels of intelligence than the old mentality of "just hit em in the mouth".

I expect to see more people involved in football operations in upcoming years that don't have a history of playing football.

Currently the vast majority of coaches, scouts and GMs played at least college level football.

The problem with that is that the talent pool of innovation is limited to people that had the physical ability to play college football.

When Apple or Google or EA Sports hire people for product/service design, they're not going to limit it to only hiring people that had the physical ability to play college football.

The designers and developers of the Madden video game likely had very few with the ability to play college football.

 

[TwoDeep3]

The coaches and players at Boise, and the players on the Cowboys.

I'm not saying he's ready, I have no idea. I'm just hoping the Cowboys have a clue and aren't just blindly putting him in position(See Jason Garrett!!!)

From his scouting report, predraft: "Very smart and plays like an offensive coordinator on the field." And: "Words hard to prepare and lives in the film room. Student of the game and works hard at what he does. All the intangibles: intelligence, coach's son, gym rat, winning resume." And: "There is a place at the next level for such a sharp offensive mind."

Will it transfer? All we can do at his point is hope the Cowboys know what they're doing. Surety, I give you none. Only great potential.

I have yet to see a quote from any team like this.

"We hired this jackwagon, but frankly, we don't believe he could find his butt with a road map and a tour guide in regard to running an offense."

With this regime in charge, my continued decade or more long position remains the same.

Show me. Don't tell me a sugarcoated comment meant to peak my interest.

That was not directed at you, kskboys.

 

[TwoDeep3]

None.

But, NFL insiders and those who really know the kid say he has "it".

Are these insiders in the Cowboy's camp, are in the Cowboy's employ, or benefit from a healthy relationship with the Cowboys in regard to their ability to gather content for their individual editorials?

Jason Garrett may be a shining example and definition of the "he's got it" coming from the Cowboy's hierarchy, but the it might just be the last two letters of a word we all know and use which is a descriptor for something akin to bull nuggets.

 

[quickccc]

I do know one thing. If Moore does fix this offense other teams will be calling on him next year.

yes, I believe that too,. and not just fix the offense, but if he manages to make it look as impressive and explosive on the playing field, as it is sounding right now on paper, then the only 1st year OC will have teams lining up in the hire now line, thinking he's the next Sean McVay 2.0.
If you have an hot assistant coach that has had a major impact year, teams will be wanting to hire him away from your team.

i'm still elated that we were able to keep Kris Richard from departing for a HC job this last offseason.

 

[quickccc]

sorry, as much as I want to trust this wunderkid that's supposed to be Jesus of the cowboys and the savior, he is a rookie coach with one year of QB coaching experience.....no other experience. he is going to get schooled during the year. all schemes and game plans are great on paper, until you run them during the game....no one designs plays that fail!!!!! .its stupid to think its just about the scheme...its GAME DAY PLAY CALLING that's important. and Moore has to take his lumps to learn in the NFL. even the best of the coaches has had to go through a learning curve. as much as everyone hates it, I think Garrett needs to remain part of the equation with Moore. our offense may come out of the gates hot, because it will be new, but give DCs in the league 5 or 6 game tapes and they will start to pick you apart.....on game day he has to learn to play the cat and mouse and that his schemes won't just automatically work. DCs will set him up in the first quarter, giving up a play, only to negate him in the 4th when Moore goes back to it...… that's the NFL. Moore is not the genius everyone is hoping or making him out to be....he may become a good one, but he has to earn his stripes...its the way of the NFL

yeh, I cannot think of any OC with similar or less coaching experience that has had that immediate, hit the ground running that early and inexperienced in his coaching.
even the Sean Paytons , McVay's and Doug Pedersons types have had to put considerable skins on the wall time in before they were handed the premium top of the ladder moves up.
maybe what may help make it an easier transition is supposedly assistant coaches Doug Musseheimer and Jon Kitna will help add some fine tuning details and suggestions into aiding the new OC.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

yeh, I cannot think of any OC with similar or less coaching experience that has had that immediate, hit the ground running that early and inexperienced in his coaching.
even the Sean Paytons , McVay's and Doug Pedersons types have had to put considerable skins on the wall time in before they were handed the premium top of the ladder moves up.
maybe what may help make it an easier transition is supposedly assistant coaches Doug Musseheimer and Jon Kitna will help add some fine tuning details and suggestions into aiding the new OC.

I assume as much that Kitna and other coaches will help. Probably why as much as some hate Garrett, that he needs to be involved.

 

[Johnny23]

No, that's not what teams were complaining about concerning the Pats. The Pats were ahead of WASH w/ a couple minutes left in the game w/ a 40+ point lead. Brady was still in the game and threw a TD pass to Moss. That is pure chickenpoop.

You don't let up at the half, you only let up when the game physically cannot be lost. And at that point, you run the ball w/ your backups and chew up clock. If your backups score, so be it.

They ran up scores that year in 2007. The game against Tennessee was similar Brady was bombing it out in the 4th in a game that was long over.

 

[kskboys]

Yes, that was said too. But I remember people complaining about them not taking their foot off the pedal when they had big leads. And yes, I remember the Washington game. But it was Washington, no harm, no foul. That would be like complaining that someone was running the score up on Pittsburg...

Well, those people are morons. You don't ever stop and put in the scrubs until there's 2 minutes or so left in the game.

 

[kskboys]

They ran up scores that year in 2007. The game against Tennessee was similar Brady was bombing it out in the 4th in a game that was long over.

I lost any respect for both Brady and Belly after that season. There is a point where you're just being a classless POS. Kicking a guy when he's unconscious is a coward's act.