Football Outsiders has some interesting rankings early on

Sydla

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- According to them, the OL has done real well in passing blocking (ranked #2) but not so good in run blocking (where they are ranked 18th).

- The defensive line is getting woeful grades. 31st against the run and 28th in adjusted sack rate.

NOTE: This seems to line up with what our "eyes" have shown us. Dak has typically had a pretty clean pocket. The running game has been "ehhh" at times. Defensively, we clearly have struggled at getting consistent pressure and making consistent run stops.

- In terms of total defense (their DVOA ranking) we are 20th, down from 17th the week before. Pass D was 20th and run D was 22nd.

- In terms of offense, we are #1 in DVOA (both weeks), with the Pass O at #1 and the Run O at #8.

- Dak is #1 almost across the board (DVOA, DYAR, QBR).

- Gallup was #1 in DYAR and #4 in DVOA. Cooper was in low teens and Cobb gave the Cowboys 3 WRs in the Top 30 of both DYAR and DVOA.

- Jarwin was #1 in DVOA and #7 in DYAR, but that's kind of suspect as he's ranked based on just 4 catches.
 
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PA Cowboy Fan

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Sydla said:
According to them, the OL has done real well in passing blocking (ranked #2) but not so good in run blocking (where they are ranked 18th).

The defensive line is getting woeful grades. 31st against the run and 28th in adjusted sack rate.

This seems to line up with what our "eyes" have shown us. Dak has typically had a pretty clean pocket. The running game has been "ehhh" at times.

Defensively, we clearly have struggled at getting consistent pressure and making consistent run stops.
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It seems like the OL is the complete opposite from last year. Not surprised about the Dl. It just hasn't looked that great against 2 bad offenses.
 
Outlaw Heroes

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Almost looks like the ranking is based only on the Giants game. Washington didn't exactly run all over us. And we did run all over them.
 

Sydla

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Outlaw Heroes said:
Almost looks like the ranking is based only on the Giants game. Washington didn't exactly run all over us. And we did run all over them.
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No, it's through 2 weeks.

I think the problem is that they were so woeful in the Giants game in the Football Outsiders run measures, that a good performance against the Skins only made them average through two weeks. If they shut down Miami cold, you'll obviously see them jump in their run D ratings.
 

Sydla

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Outlaw Heroes said:
Strange.

Rushing offense #8 in DVOA but the OL 18th in run blocking?

DL is 31st (out of 32 teams) against the run? We held the 'Skins to 47 yards on the ground, 2.8 yds per attempt.

Just doesn't square.
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It does square based on the fact that the measures often take into account different factors.

For example, the rushing offense is based upon ALL rushes, including Dak's runs. The OL run blocking grade is a regression just based on running backs carries, not QBs. And clearly our rushing stats have been impacted by a few big runs by Dak.

And that makes sense if you think about.......... in terms of pure TB rushing, we've been OK (which is measured by the run blocking ranking). But in terms of just total rushing effectiveness (which would include some great runs by Dak), the rushing offense measured by DVOA is higher.

Further in terms of DL, the DL rating of 31 is based solely on TB runs and we had a dreadful regression rating after Week 1 when Barkley kind of tore us up. And again, it makes some sense. Dallas is actually giving up 6 ypc to TBs right now (largely due to the Barkley game) because they have up a whopping 9.3 ypc to Giants TBs in Week 1.
 
Hennessy_King

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Sydla said:
- According to them, the OL has done real well in passing blocking (ranked #2) but not so good in run blocking (where they are ranked 18th).

- The defensive line is getting woeful grades. 31st against the run and 28th in adjusted sack rate.

NOTE: This seems to line up with what our "eyes" have shown us. Dak has typically had a pretty clean pocket. The running game has been "ehhh" at times. Defensively, we clearly have struggled at getting consistent pressure and making consistent run stops.

- In terms of total defense (their DVOA ranking) we are 20th, down from 17th the week before. Pass D was 20th and run D was 22nd.

- In terms of offense, we are #1 in DVOA (both weeks), with the Pass O at #1 and the Run O at #8.

- Dak is #1 almost across the board (DVOA, DYAR, QBR).

- Gallup was #1 in DYAR and #4 in DVOA. Cooper was in low teens and Cobb gave the Cowboys 3 WRs in the Top 30 of both DYAR and DVOA.

- Jarwin was #1 in DVOA and #7 in DYAR, but that's kind of suspect as he's ranked based on just 4 catches.
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Spot on. This defense really needs to pick it up or it will be another early january exit.
 

Sydla

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Also, in terms of the FO run blocking grade being 18th, it's again based on just RB carries. The Cowboys RBs are actually only averaging around 3.9 ypc through the first two games. Hence why the OL has gotten a mediocre run blocking grade from FO.
 
JD_KaPow

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Outlaw Heroes said:
Strange.

Rushing offense #8 in DVOA but the OL 18th in run blocking?

DL is 31st (out of 32 teams) against the run? We held the 'Skins to 47 yards on the ground, 2.8 yds per attempt.

Just doesn't square.
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On offense, it's about the distribution of runs. The OL gets credit (and blame) for shorter runs, and diminishing credit for longer runs (the idea being that when you run for 40 yards, those last 30 don't tell you anything about the OL). The Cowboys rushers have been stuffed for losses or minimal gains a lot, relatively speaking, which holds down the OL ranking. The long runs (Dak's 42-yarder, Zeke's 27-yarder) help the rushing DVOA but are credited more to the runners than the OL.

Edit: as Sydia points out, this only accounts for RB carries. Which won't get the Cowboys quite right because of the several very effective designed runs we've had with Dak. Our rushing DVOA is helped a lot by Dak's running, but it doesn't show up in the OL grade.

On defense, we've given up a lot of runs in the 4-15 yard range (mostly against the Giants) and not had a lot of stuffs. So while the opponents have only broken one big one, they've made consistent steady gains--that's on the DL. Plus, overall our opponents are still averaging almost 6 yards per attempt, despite what happened with Washington.
 

Fredbeard

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Outlaw Heroes said:
Strange.

Rushing offense #8 in DVOA but the OL 18th in run blocking?

DL is 31st (out of 32 teams) against the run? We held the 'Skins to 47 yards on the ground, 2.8 yds per attempt.

Just doesn't square.
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It’s probably due to the stats from the giants game
 
Direwolf63

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I think the running game will start getting better as Zeke continues to round into form and defenses start worrying about the passing game more.

As for the defense, it has definitely been below my expectations. We have dodged Drew Brees, but we do have some very good QB's upcoming. This side of the ball needs to tighten up significantly.
 
texbumthelife

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Another year of coaches complaining and not understanding our lack of pass rush while ignoring the middle of the line and refusing to blitz. It's not rocket science yall. Unless you have elite talent up front, you have to manufacture pressure. I sincerely think this goes back to a risk averse Garrett not wanting to blitz.
 
JD_KaPow

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texbumthelife said:
Another year of coaches complaining and not understanding our lack of pass rush while ignoring the middle of the line and refusing to blitz. It's not rocket science yall. Unless you have elite talent up front, you have to manufacture pressure. I sincerely think this goes back to a risk averse Garrett not wanting to blitz.
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Not blitzing is one of the main hallmarks of a Marinelli defense. I don't think Garrett has anything to do with that.
 

Sydla

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JD_KaPow said:
Not blitzing is one of the main hallmarks of a Marinelli defense. I don't think Garrett has anything to do with that.
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He's the HC though. So he has ultimate control over everything. In other words, if he wants to blitz more, he can walk down to Marinelli's and Richard's offices and tell them they have to dial up some blitzes until our front four starts getting to the QB.
 
JD_KaPow

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Sydla said:
He's the HC though. So he has ultimate control over everything. In other words, if he wants to blitz more, he can walk down to Marinelli's and Richard's offices and tell them they have to dial up some blitzes until our front four starts getting to the QB.
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Sure, he could. The person I was responding to was suggesting that Garrett was holding Marinelli/Richard back from blitzing, which is almost certainly not the case.
 
Future

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The DL being 31st against the run is preposterous. Way more than half of Saquon's yards were the fault of DBs.
 
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