TLH: The Curious Case of Dez Bryant's Misuse

A win heals all. That statement could not be truer for Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver Dez Bryant. Bryant, who was consistently double covered and bracketed, finished the game with just four catches for 22 yards on eight targets. It was a frustrating start for a player who just last week was predicted to win the NFL MVP by Hall of Famer Michael lrvin. But it wasn't that Dez played a bad game Sunday night. It's just that he Giants seemed to have figured out a way to scheme Dez Bryant out of a game.

The Dallas Cowboys were perfectly content letting the Giants double Bryant and going elsewhere with the ball. They were taking what the defense gave them. That’s wrong. They are letting the defense dictate what the team does on offense. The Cowboys let the Giants take Dez Bryant out of the game with no resistance. With a player like Dez Bryant on the team, he needs to be fed the ball, regardless if he is covered by two players. He is a special player and has demonstrated that recently. Dez Bryant played 74 snaps on Sunday night and received just 8 official targets. Bryant ran a team high 51 pass routes during the game, yet three other Cowboys received more targets (Austin - 11, Murray - 9, Witten - 9) Here is a breakdown of Dez Bryant’s targets during Sunday night’s game. (Click on the image to enlarge.)



Read the rest at: http://thelandryhat.com/2013/09/10/curious-case-dez-bryants-misuse-sunday-night/

Can't really argue with that. If we're gonna run bubble screens we at least need to run them to our receiver who is best with the ball in his hands.

That said, if Romo hadn't taken what the defense gave him and chucked it up to Dez regardless a few times, And one time someone other than Dez came down with it, this article would be all about how Romo can't do exactly what the article is suggesting he do.

I call BS because if Romo were to force the issue to Dez and threw a pick he would get lambasted for trying to feed him the ball instead of giving what the defense gave him. TR is always in a catch-22

It's not Dez or Romo fault, it's Garrett/Callahan fault

NeonDeion21 said:

The Dallas Cowboys were perfectly content letting the Giants double Bryant and going elsewhere with the ball. They were taking what the defense gave them. That’s wrong. They are letting the defense dictate what the team does on offense. The Cowboys let the Giants take Dez Bryant out of the game with no resistance. With a player like Dez Bryant on the team, he needs to be fed the ball, regardless if he is covered by two players.

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Sorry, but I disagree with this statement. If teams want to continually double and triple team Dez and get burned by Austin, Witten, TWill, and Harris, then so be it. I love it when Dez has great stats, but I love winning more, and I'm sure Dez would agree. I personally think that we should wait a couple games before we say that Dez is being misused. Not every team is going to employ the Gnats strategy...heck I bet KC puts Flowers alone on Dez and then we'll really what he can do.

jrumann59 said:

I call BS because if Romo were to force the issue to Dez and threw a pick he would get lambasted for trying to feed him the ball instead of giving what the defense gave him. TR is always in a catch-22

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Would you rather feed it to Terrence Williams? 3 players other than Bryant had 9 or more targets.

The Giants didn't double Dez. They tripled him. And they paid dearly for it.

Dallas has to convert these opportunities into touchdowns, however, or teams will keep doing it. It really opens up the run game, so with Waters back, it's time to pound teams who want to drop linebacker to cover the slant and play a safety over the top of Dez.

Titleist said:

Sorry, but I disagree with this statement. If teams want to continually double and triple team Dez and get burned by Austin, Witten, TWill, and Harris, then so be it. I love it when Dez has great stats, but I love winning more, and I'm sure Dez would agree. I personally think that we should wait a couple games before we say that Dez is being misused. Not every team is going to employ the Gnats strategy...heck I bet KC puts Flowers alone on Dez and then we'll really what he can do.

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Wait a minute. Did Austin and Williams burn them? I remember Williams dropping two passes and was the reason for an INT. Austin had 10 catches for 72. I'll say that again. Austin had 10 catches for 72 yards. That isn't burning a defense. That is a pitiful average.

Titleist said:

Sorry, but I disagree with this statement. If teams want to continually double and triple team Dez and get burned by Austin, Witten, TWill, and Harris, then so be it. I love it when Dez has great stats, but I love winning more, and I'm sure Dez would agree. I personally think that we should wait a couple games before we say that Dez is being misused. Not every team is going to employ the Gnats strategy...heck I bet KC puts Flowers alone on Dez and then we'll really what he can do.

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Amen. And we led the whole game at times by multiple scores. Nor the time to force anything. I hate what fantasy football has done to the fans all they care about is individual stats and winning their fake league

I remember in 2008 when Romo targeted TO double digit times(18 times I think) despite him seeing blanket coverage against the Commanders. The results weren't pretty.

This is a team that has struggled mightily in the red zone the last few years. And Dez Bryant, is the best WR through his first 3 years in the red zone. I will find the stat to back it up and link it here. But when Terrence Williams, Gavin Escobar, and Dwayne Harris have more red zone targets than Dez Bryant, something is wrong.

blackbull said:

It's not Dez or Romo fault, it's Garrett/Callahan fault

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I hope they are at fault next weekend as well since we did win the game. I had to go back and check hearing people around here one would think we lost the game.

You have to move your best weapon in motion, to the slot, the back field. You don't let the defense decise what you are going to do.

NeonDeion21 said:

Wait a minute. Did Austin and Williams burn them? I remember Williams dropping two passes and was the reason for an INT. Austin had 10 catches for 72. I'll say that again. Austin had 10 catches for 72 yards. That isn't burning a defense. That is a pitiful average.

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The point I'm making is that double/triple teaming Dez opens the door for advantageous matchups on the other receivers. Also, I do think TWill will bounce back from his relatively poor performance. I mean, come on, it was his first real NFL game...

I actually thought it was one of the best games Romo has played in recent memory. His numbers were not overwhelming but he protected the football and he made sure we stayed in a very good position to win. To me, that's way more important then throwing for 400 but committing the critical TO, killing any chance you had to win. To me, he truly QBed against NY.

Mr Cowboy said:

You have to move your best weapon in motion, to the slot, the back field. You don't let the defense decise what you are going to do.

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That's easy to say, if you have a best weapon that understands the offense well enough to motion him to begin with.

This has been the knock on Dez from a lot of the really good football guys for awhile.

joseephuss said:

I remember in 2008 when Romo targeted TO double digit times(18 times I think) despite him seeing blanket coverage against the Commanders. The results weren't pretty.

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And it wouldn't be pretty now either. We know what happens when Romo forces throws so let be happy he didn't, take the win and hope someone plays Dez in single coverage so he can go all crazy on them.

joseephuss said:

I remember in 2008 when Romo targeted TO double digit times(18 times I think) despite him seeing blanket coverage against the Commanders. The results weren't pretty.

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I also remember TO motioning to the slot and running up the seam for 3 TDs against the Commanders. I was actually there.

ABQCOWBOY said:

I actually thought it was one of the best games Romo has played in recent memory. His numbers were not overwhelming but he protected the football and he made sure we stayed in a very good position to win. To me, that's way more important then throwing for 400 but committing the critical TO, killing any chance you had to win. To me, he truly QBed against NY.

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True, Romo has put up big numbers just as Eli did, that tends to be the case when you are behind in the game and you just start gunning the ball in and taking risk. You can put up some big yards and big numbers. I give Eli credit he put some balls in there with good coverage on the WR but at that point he had nothing to lose, he had to take the chance. But in the end he lost just as happened with Tony when we have been in these situations. His numbers werenot great they were good

ABQCOWBOY said:

That's easy to say, if you have a best weapon that understands the offense well enough to motion him to begin with.

This has been the knock on Dez from a lot of the really good football guys for awhile.

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So you are still saying that Dez does not understand the offense?

Sorry but this is still the same boring, predictable offense that will cause issues later. I don't think it's a case of some not knowing the offense. They pass it off as that for their incompetence on designing a game plan.