Hostile
The Duke
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More than any other season that I can remember, Dallas' opening drives this year have been about applying instant pressure to our opponents. This thread is spurred by this comment in "Trolling the Nation."
That was the Cowboys rehearsed drive. They won’t move the ball like that all game. First drive is usually the easiest of the night.
I am not 100% sure of what Mr. Lions fan was talking about. Dallas does not script their first 15 plays. Nevertheless, it got me to thinking about something. I have noticed that most teams that win the coin flip defer to the 2nd half, wanting to get the ball first then rather than first overall. Dallas has not followed this schematic. I do not know how many coin flips we have won or lost, but I do know that in 13 of our 15 games we have had the ball first.
I figure that there are 5 ways any drive can end. You can turn the ball over. I would include taking a Safety in that, and turning the ball over on downs. You can punt. You can miss a FG. You can make a FG. And you can score a TD.
Now, back to the Lions fan's assertion. Have our opening drives been easy? At times this OL and these rookies make it look pretty easy. Trust me, it is never easy. You know that. I don't have to tell you that, even though I have to post it or someone will remind me of it.
Whether we get the ball first or not, we have had success early and it has kept the pressure on. So as I said earlier, we have had the ball first 13 of 15 games. Here is a breakdown on how our first drives have gone. Our first 2 games we scored Field Goals. I mention this because the rookies didn't have their feet wet yet. We did not end our first drive with made FGs ever again after the first 2. We did have 2 games where we missed FGs on the first drive. 2 of Bailey's 5 misses on the year were on opening drives. We punted 4 times. Against the Steelers we turned the ball over on a strip sack.
If you did the math in your head while reading along you now know that means that 6 times, Including the Lions games, we have opened our first drive with a Touchdown. I find this to be a remarkable stat. I think the most likely conclusion to most drives are Punts. Let's take a look at this year for example.
Now, before I begin this I must make sure of one thing. This does not include game concluding drives where we do the Landry shift, nor drives ot end the half where we simply let the clock run out. I am talking only about drives where you are still trying to win, not drives where the win is set in stone.
With that caveat out of the way, Dallas has had 149 drives this season. There were 13 turnovers, and 4 failed 4th down conversion attempts that resulted in turnovers on downs. There were 25 Field Goals and 5 Missed Field Goals. There were 48 TDs. We punted 54 times.
Doing the math that means 36% of the time we punted. 32% of the time we scored TDs. 17% of the time we converted a FG. 3% of the time we missed a FG. 9% of the time we turned the ball over. 3% of the time we turned it over on downs.
Simply looking at that, the most likely conclusion to all drives is going to be a Punt. Yet on opening drives, we have punted only 4 times while we have scored TDs 6 times. Plus we added FGs twice. That means that an incredible 53% of the time this year we have started our first drive with points on the board applying instant pressure on the opponent. If you look at all drives, 49% of our drives we score. That Lions fan was way off diagnosing us.
I am not sure how many games ended with the Landry shift, but I think that is the only thing better than a score.
That was the Cowboys rehearsed drive. They won’t move the ball like that all game. First drive is usually the easiest of the night.
I am not 100% sure of what Mr. Lions fan was talking about. Dallas does not script their first 15 plays. Nevertheless, it got me to thinking about something. I have noticed that most teams that win the coin flip defer to the 2nd half, wanting to get the ball first then rather than first overall. Dallas has not followed this schematic. I do not know how many coin flips we have won or lost, but I do know that in 13 of our 15 games we have had the ball first.
I figure that there are 5 ways any drive can end. You can turn the ball over. I would include taking a Safety in that, and turning the ball over on downs. You can punt. You can miss a FG. You can make a FG. And you can score a TD.
Now, back to the Lions fan's assertion. Have our opening drives been easy? At times this OL and these rookies make it look pretty easy. Trust me, it is never easy. You know that. I don't have to tell you that, even though I have to post it or someone will remind me of it.
Whether we get the ball first or not, we have had success early and it has kept the pressure on. So as I said earlier, we have had the ball first 13 of 15 games. Here is a breakdown on how our first drives have gone. Our first 2 games we scored Field Goals. I mention this because the rookies didn't have their feet wet yet. We did not end our first drive with made FGs ever again after the first 2. We did have 2 games where we missed FGs on the first drive. 2 of Bailey's 5 misses on the year were on opening drives. We punted 4 times. Against the Steelers we turned the ball over on a strip sack.
If you did the math in your head while reading along you now know that means that 6 times, Including the Lions games, we have opened our first drive with a Touchdown. I find this to be a remarkable stat. I think the most likely conclusion to most drives are Punts. Let's take a look at this year for example.
Now, before I begin this I must make sure of one thing. This does not include game concluding drives where we do the Landry shift, nor drives ot end the half where we simply let the clock run out. I am talking only about drives where you are still trying to win, not drives where the win is set in stone.
With that caveat out of the way, Dallas has had 149 drives this season. There were 13 turnovers, and 4 failed 4th down conversion attempts that resulted in turnovers on downs. There were 25 Field Goals and 5 Missed Field Goals. There were 48 TDs. We punted 54 times.
Doing the math that means 36% of the time we punted. 32% of the time we scored TDs. 17% of the time we converted a FG. 3% of the time we missed a FG. 9% of the time we turned the ball over. 3% of the time we turned it over on downs.
Simply looking at that, the most likely conclusion to all drives is going to be a Punt. Yet on opening drives, we have punted only 4 times while we have scored TDs 6 times. Plus we added FGs twice. That means that an incredible 53% of the time this year we have started our first drive with points on the board applying instant pressure on the opponent. If you look at all drives, 49% of our drives we score. That Lions fan was way off diagnosing us.
I am not sure how many games ended with the Landry shift, but I think that is the only thing better than a score.
