10 Paths to Pressure Opponents…Cowboys Achieve None

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Football is all about imposing pressure...exerting your will...achieving an advantage...beating the other man, the opposing coach, the clock...and of course ultimately the game.

I would like to elaborate 10 methods to apply pressure to opposing teams...and demonstrate that of those 10...this Cowboy team is able to apply NONE. 0 for 10.

1. Press corner coverage with extreme physicality
I watched two superior defenses today: Kansas City and Seattle. What I saw was over-the-top in your grill aggressiveness. These top corners playing in these schemes are grabbing, chipping, bumping...risking a penalty on almost every play. Kiffin's defense? A passive "bend-but-don't-break" zone where receivers are in their comfort zone, running free and too often...running wild.

2. Hurry-up-offense and Hurry-Up-and-wait offenses
Denver features the master template for this. Manning gets his team to the huddle immediately, pressuring defensive coordinators who might want to insert custom personnel for down and distance. But the hurry-up also presses tiring defensive players. (Fatigue makes cowards of us all, goes the Lombardi bromide)

The latest wrinkle is the hurry-up-and-wait. Manning will get his team to line, prepared to run the play and will force the defense to expose it's scheme, after which Manning will then call out adjustments or audibalize. Whereas I don't get as much heartburn as some fans around here at the way Romo perpetually runs the clock down to zero, it is clear that we aren't applying much pressure in the method we come in and out of the huddle.

3. Speed to Burn
This simply isn't a fast team in terms of it's playmakers. For comparison consider tight end Vernon Davis who ran a 4.38 at the combine. Our Jason Witten at this point in his career would be lucky to run a 4.8. Gavin Escobar is a veritable snail running a 4.9.

Wide receivers? Dwayne Harris 4.55, Cole Beasley 4.49, Dez Bryant, 4.52, T-Wil 4.52. These guys aren't slow, but none provide elite game-breaking speed. For comparison, Megatron: 4.32, Santana Moss: 4.32. Heck, before his career-ending injuries A&M's Ryan Swope ran a 4.32.

At running back Demarco has decent speed (4.41) but he ain't no Chris Johnson (4.21). Murray isn't an over-the-top threat to break loose and take it to the house.

To summarize, we can't bring pressure with pure speed. We aren't burning anyone with our foot speed.

Coming in my next post...4-7 ways to pressure...and where the Cowboys...don't bring it.

 

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Make the opposing team UnCOmFOrtABLE. Unnerve them. Unsettle them. Pound on them. Run faster, hit harder, jump higher. Hurt them, bruise them. Stop them.

This thread is about 10 methods to bring PRESSURE and how the Cowboys aren't bringing any. Now is time for Installment II.

4. Overwhelming size and strength
When I think about the advantage of size and strength I can't help but have regard for Seattle's smothering cornerbacks, I think of o-lineman Bryant McKinnie. 6'8" and 360 pounds. I think of what we once had with Larry Allen and Erik Williams: players of extraordinary size and strength. For a brief window we had such a player this season in Brian Waters. His absence will be sorely missed. Who do we have on our roster who is the Goliath who will tear you down because he is simply more man--bigger, stronger?

5. Deceptive Blitzing
We certainly enjoyed this advantage last year with my main man, Rob Ryan. His defense is crazy deceptive, making offenses feel entirely defensive at times, at a loss of who to block and how. The Amoeba defense is pure brilliance. Rob Ryan is such an unmitigated genius that his boss...a man of very pedestrian intellect--Jerry Jones--was helpless to apprehend his many concoctions. You can make opposing teams look silly when you get defenders running free up the middle or use a defender's instincts and athleticism against him. MIND GAMES are wonderful at creating pressure. Alas, these Cowboy coaches aren't fooling anyone in 2013. I can't think of anytime this year we dramatically fooled the opposition. Meanwhile Romo had that deer-in-the-headlights look when trying to decipher Ryan's defense last Sunday night.

Ah...I got to stretch...I promise 5 more. Maybe more.

 

[T-RO]

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming, "Let me out!"
Tomorrow gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets

Chippin' around, kick my brains 'round the floor
These are the days - it never rains but it pours
People on streets - people on streets

Part 3 after a word from our sponsors...

 

[T-RO]

6. 12th man
Pittsburg. Kansas City. Seattle. Denver. These are venues you simply don't want to visit. Whether it's high altitude, frozen fields or best-of-all frenzied fan-bases they all apply tremendous pressure to visiting football teams. I watched today as the Seahawks were up 3 TDs over the hapless Vikings and the Seattle fans were still en masse on their feet and yelling their lungs out when Christian Ponder was trying to bark his signals.

Dallas simply doesn't provide the same pressure with it's sit-on-their-hands fans and cocktail sipping lets-watch-Jerry's-big-TV mentality. With an occasional big-game exception, the Cowboy home field advantage is certainly one of the weakest in the league.

7. Pre-snap motion/Odd formations
Another poster adeptly spoke to this topic recently so I won't try to rewrite what he eloquently and observantly pointed out.

8. Mobile/Running Quarterbacking
A few years ago Romo could generate tremendous pressure and adversity on the defense because he could almost always make 1 (often 2 or 3) rushing lineman miss him. He could extend a play from 3 seconds to 6 or 7 seconds. This creates tired, grumpy and frustrated defenders....and with a guy like Romo he was going to hurt you when he could scan a field that long. The NFL is now being swamped with Read//Run quarterbacks who give offenses one more way to win. At Tony's age we pretty much got a stiff, stationary quarterback who cannot or will not threaten opposing teams with his legs.

To be continued...

 

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9. Intimidating Personna
I suspect most teams when viewing Dallas on the schedule like their chances. Our reputation is driven by our owner: The Cowboys are seen as a half-serious, half side-show, dysfunctional find-a-way-to-lose opponent more than a tough-as-nails find-a-way-to-win team. Nearly 20 years of mediocre play sends a message that opposing players and coaches have caught onto. Some teams apply pressure even as the team jet is taxing into the terminal. We aren't one of those teams.

10. Vertical Passing Threat
You can break a defense with a single bomb. Go right over the top. And it can really in turn open up the running game as well as shorter routes.

The 2013 Cowboys have shown no proclivity nor ability to beat teams with persistent vertical passing. Defenses have learned they can blitz Romo enough to get his internal clock geared to accept quick short passes. I can't help but wonder if Romo's health is at issue here, in his interest/willingness to launch the long ball and absorb the inevitable hit to unprotected ribs/mid section.

Whatever the reason...we aren't pressuring teams vertically and teams are able to compress the field against us.

Ah...heck. I think I've got more.

 

[T-RO]

11. Bruisers
There are certain players who understand leverage, contact and have no fear at bringing the lumber. Consider the wide receiver who gets his bell rung when going over the middle early in the game. He might be feeling some pressure later in the game if called upon to stretch out and snag one. Sean Lee is perhaps as good a tackler as there is in the game of football. But he's no bruiser. And who on this team is?

12. Well-developed play action
When a defense is uncertain they are less effective. And play action toys with a defenders certainties. A well conceived and well performed play action often creates wide-open receivers. How often have the Cowboys enjoyed wide open receivers? This team has little threat of run and even less threat with play action.

13. Innovation
When was the last time this team started a trend by breaking out anything innovative?

OK. I'm done. 0-13. I needed to get this off my chest. It's little wonder this team is mediocre and fading fast.