Improve this and our offense will be dangerous again

Future said:

8 in the box leaves 1 guy unblocked when there are 7 blockers. You never have to beat 4, it is always about beating one man.

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If you're worried about missed blocks, that's directly opposed to what you just said about "at some point, your players have to be better." If you aren't blocking a guy, then you don't care about spread vs. tight anyways.

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No. Saying that without a player who can command a double team, spread doesn't matter.

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Here, I'll do it for you.


https://cowboyszone.com/threads/teams-are-calling-cowboys-to-trade.433464/page-2#post-9203239

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Diehardblues said:

Yep

Our play calling is limited because of our QB skill sets and or lack of confidence. And why we play it safe as 3 points is better than a turnover.

We must also credit losing his best receivers and biggest threat in Redzone with Dez and Witten. Hopefully return of Witten will help.

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stasheroo said:

If all 7 blockers do their jobs perfectly. If not, your own flawed design has another defender inside to make the play. You helped the defense.



You don't have to worry about blocking a guy who's too far away to make the play. How does this countinue to escape you?



And wrong, yet again. But points for consistency.



Thanks, still good for a laugh.

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kskboys said:

Not convinced it's the QB's skillset at all. W/ the obvious truth coming out about how Linehan had his WR's run toward the defenders and turn around, how are you convinced it was the QB? It appears to be a really really strange conclusion.

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Future said:

There is always a defender unblocked if you don't have a double team. I don't know why that's confusing. Whether there are 5 or 7 blockers, they still all need to execute.

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Why would a guy be too far away to make a play? If you're leaving a backside defender unblocked, the entire DL is just going to shift into gaps on the right, forcing a cutback into the unblocked defender.

Nope. You just don't understand that an unblocked box defender doesn't depend on the offense's personnel.

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Right, your insistence that Karl Joseph is a solution and inability to name another safety this team could trade for, is hilarious. Way to move the goalposts, though.

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stasheroo said:

Where is there a bigger margin for error? Requiring 5 linemen whose primary job is blocking to carry out their assignments or requiring 7 or 8 players to do so, many of which are part-time blockers at best?

I'll let you try to answer that.



And you clearly don't understand math and specifically distance.



Absolutely nothing has been moved. Nice try. You were wrong when you first said it, and it's still wrong now. Joseph is a better option and would improve this team. You just don't like the player, or you like Jeff Heath much more than he deserves. Wrong in either case.

I'll go with the first round talent over a guy who wasn't drafted at all. And so would every team in this league.

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Diehardblues said:

How do you explain with the loss of Dez and Witten , Dak not throwing it more into the end zone in Redzone?

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kskboys said:

Scheme and possible people not getting open.

Consistently throwing to tightly covered WR's leads to not having a job. I know, I know, they do it on the highlights. However, no Qb is going to succeed if his WR's are tightly covered on every play.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not convinced on Dak either way. I was just surprised to see that you are, when we just dumped an obviously horrific OC who has clearly been exposed as doing his O players no favors, especially the QB.

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Future said:

Right, but your point was that "guys just have to be good."

Wut?

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You said I was claiming no safety would improve this defense. I said, there's no safety we would trade for that could. The Raiders don't like Joseph...they've done everything they can this offseason to replace him.

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Diehardblues said:

Isn't hesitating to throw into tight coverage part of Daks weakness? This is the NFL.

Part of the issue was obviously losing two key threats ( Dez and Witten)for him in end zone which we can also directly connect to less production in Redzone.

But blaming on play calling appears lazy evaluation as it wasn’t as much of a problem with Romo or even Daks first season and much of his second season where we ranked about 5th and 14th respectively in Redzone.

Instead I’d be more suspect that the play calling was limited due to our QB skill sets and concerns with the loss of those targets.

Maybe they were instructed not to place Daks job in jeopardy by not allowing his weaknesses to be more exposed?

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kskboys said:

And not considering play calling is even more lazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It could be, but I don't see the reasoning behind taking and idea and convincing yourself it's the only one.

You want your QB to hesitate throwing into tight coverage. It's only on this board where I see this idea that QB's should always throw into tight coverage. There is a time for that, but if your scheme forces a QB to do so all the time, there is something wrong w/ either the scheme or the players. Since the O took off when Coop came around, it appears to be at least partially a lack of players. And when it came out that Coop was tired of simply running toward the DB and turning around, that showed it was at least partially on the scheme.

C'mon, Greg, putting it all on Dak is extreme laziness. I'm not claiming he's the best QB ever, but don't you think it might be prudent to see what he can do in a different scheme before buying into the "Dak just sucks" idea?

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• Compares Dak to elite QBs that he will never be. (Like Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes)
• That finding a QB better than Dak would be relatively easy. Either in the draft or through some unrealistic trade scenario where we trade Taco or some other backup for a potential starting QB. It’s an absolute fantasy.

• Divisional titles in 2 of his 3 seasons.
• His durability. Has started 51 straight games including his 3 playoff games.
• His 3 yr record as a starter including playoffs: 33-18
• TD to Int ratio- including playoffs-72 TDs, 27 INTs.
• Has 18 rushing TDs in 3 years.
• He’s 25

Bobhaze said:

Scoring TDs in the red zone is a critical success component of teams who win. Last year, the Cowboys scored a TD only 48% of the time it was in the red zone. That was 29th in the league in 2018. The league average for red zone TD scoring in 2018 was about 62%. Even after the Cooper trade, our offense finished 22nd in scoring last year.

That MUST improve if we are going to compete for a championship.

What’s even more amazing is even with the best RB in football, and the best running NFL QB in the red zone (yes Dak haters, the last 3 yrs Dak has been the best red zone running QB- even better than Cam Newton) the Cowboys have not been good in the red zone since 2016. And its even more startling when you consider, we finished 32nd- dead last in the league- in scoring TDs from a first and goal situation.

Here’s some interesting notes about WHAT was happening in the red zone and why most problems are mostly on Scott Linehan and Garrett:

• On first, second or third and goal situations inside the ten last year, Zeke had 11 carries for 5 yards.
• Dak averages 4.4 yards a carry inside the ten. That’s the best avg per carry of any player who ran the ball last yr inside the ten yl and yet, Linehan rarely called his number.
• Pass plays inside the ten were run mostly from Jumbo TE packages, and the best route runners were on the sideline.

So how can this be fixed?

• Spread out. Occasionally run a 5 Wide empty backfield using Zeke as a wide out which forces the defense to respect that you have passing options, or run a 4 WR set with Zeke in back field. Again forcing the defense to have multiple things to worry about. Dak was deadly as a runner from the empty back set.
• Just a side note on the empty backfield sets- Dak has scored 5 TDs and 3 two point conversions from this set. It’s almost unstoppable for defenses yet Linehan almost never used it in the red zone.
• Stop always going into the “Jumbo” TE package, which makes it easier for defenses to stop the run game inside the ten because they can sell out against the run and have very little area to cover receivers.
• The best offenses in the NFL last year- Rams, Chiefs, Saints, etc, ran spread formations more than half the time inside the ten.

The bottom line is this: If we want to take the next step in being relevant in January, we must improve our red zone offense performance. That’s going to fall mostly on the young shoulders of Kellen Moore. Hopefully he’s learned some things about what NOT to do in the red zone from Scott Linehan. And let’s hope Head Coach Vanilla doesn’t hinder the creativity of his OC.

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stasheroo said:

True, but doesn't the fact that we had a backup center and rookie left guard factor into 2018 numbers?

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Bobhaze said:

Like you Kevin, I’m not 100% sold on Dak but too much of the criticism I read on these boards seems to assume one of two things:

• Compares Dak to elite QBs that he will never be. (Like Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes)
• That finding a QB better than Dak would be relatively easy. Either in the draft or through some unrealistic trade scenario where we trade Taco or some other backup for a potential starting QB. It’s an absolute fantasy.

Whatever the critics say about Dak’s accuracy or not throwing at covered receivers (I don’t see that as a liability anyway) or his “stats”....here’s what I like about Dak:

• Divisional titles in 2 of his 3 seasons.
• His durability. Has started 51 straight games including his 3 playoff games.
• His 3 yr record as a starter including playoffs: 33-18
• TD to Int ratio- including playoffs-72 TDs, 27 INTs.
• Has 18 rushing TDs in 3 years.
• He’s 25

People thinking that finding someone who can easily do better than the above at a below market price in FA, trade or in the draft are smoking something or delusional. Dak isn’t great. But he’s not bad either. If the Cowboys didn’t sign him, the line would quickly form for teams who would sign him at market value.

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ThemDangMartians said:

...Oh Lord ...Please let Moore actually be an offensive genius. May he scourge the opposing defenses with a indefensible rath of cleverness and power. May he score upon them at will. I beseech thee. Amen.

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