18.7% on Third Down last 3 games. Worst in entire NFL. Something Is Wrong

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Either Dak has been figured out or has hit a wall or something, but there is no reason we should be last in the entire NFL in converting third downs.

When the freaking Cleveland Browns can convert 3rd downs better than we can, there is a problem. This is what needs to be figured out and fixed, not the fact that we lost a game. Three games is a trend and this is not the type of trend you want to be setting in December when you should be hitting on all cylinders for the playoffs.

Now some will say that we are 11-2 so shut up about it................well that is fine, but there is a significant distinction between wins and losses vs. offensive performance. The Chicago Bears proved that a team can win a lot of games even if their offense sucks (see Rex Grossman), but it finally catches up to you in the end.

If we want to make a deep playoff run, this third down issue has to be corrected immediately, whatever the problem is. Streamline the plays, no huddle, different formations, or maybe different personnel and yes this includes Romo discussion.

I am not surprised. this is shades of 92 team. they are young and they are learning. this last 4-6 games of the year when experienced veteran team pick up the sense of urgency and how they play, we are still in early regular season mode. That's due to inexperience of Dak and Zeke. They still have that college mentality.... the 92 team was similar. young, confident, inexperienced. cruised to a 12-4 regular season record and lost to Detroit in playoffs.

I had argued with another friend of mine about a month back, that we should put room back. no one would have faulted us. it was still a good experience for Dak, and he could learn. Romo has been through this. the level of play just goes up a couple of notches this time of the year. GB, Giants, all picking it up a notch. Detroit has been playing like that seemingly all year.

can they pick it up? can he go up another notch?

at this point, we can't switch. we have to ride this out. but in the playoffs, there has to be a very short leash. playoff is do or die, no time to worry about anything and that in itself is a growing pain and lesson for Dak.

 

[khiladi]

Dak was off and Dez had a horrible game...

Dez doesn't get as much separation
As other WRs like OBJ who have speed, so the window is tighter.. but he catches those.. you need a guy to thread the needle..

 

[StarWiz2]

I thought Dak's 3-5-7 step backs were way out of synch. I noticed that immediately. It's a problem he has admitted to, and was pointed out by Gruden at that camp. If you don't have that down, you're going to be uncomfortable in the pocket and your attention will be on that instead of where the receiver's are, or where the pass rush is coming from. The disappointing thing was he never recognized it and adjusted. Or if he did, his feet might have been too frozen. Frankly, I think they(except the defense) were all frozen on the sideline. Linehan had a brain freeze for sure with that abysmal play calling. And did you see Romo dressed up like a polar bear? I bet Marinelli and the defense had a good laugh at the offense the entire plane ride back.

It was just a perfect storm of a bad week for Dak. Bad footing, bad weather, too much partying, just bad, bad, bad. I bet Dak goes up north sometime and practices playing in the cold. That's the kind of guy he is. He'll figure it out.

He hasn't come undone guys. But I hope it's back to practicing the fundamentals this week, or the next few weeks are going to get dicey.

 

[mahoneybill]

I thought Dak's 3-5-7 step backs were way out of synch. I noticed that immediately. It's a problem he has admitted to, and was pointed out by Gruden at that camp. If you don't have that down, you're going to be uncomfortable in the pocket and your attention will be on that instead of where the receiver's are, or where the pass rush is coming from. The disappointing thing was he never recognized it and adjusted. Or if he did, his feet might have been too frozen. Frankly, I think they(except the defense) were all frozen on the sideline. Linehan had a brain freeze for sure with that abysmal play calling. And did you see Romo dressed up like a polar bear? I bet Marinelli and the defense had a good laugh at the offense the entire plane ride back.

It was just a perfect storm of a bad week for Dak. Bad footing, bad weather, too much partying, just bad, bad, bad. I bet Dak goes up north sometime and practices playing in the cold. That's the kind of guy he is. He'll figure it out.

He hasn't come undone guys. But I hope it's back to practicing the fundamentals this week, or the next few weeks are going to get dicey.

Nice analysis

 

[mahoneybill]

I am not surprised. this is shades of 92 team. they are young and they are learning. this last 4-6 games of the year when experienced veteran team pick up the sense of urgency and how they play, we are still in early regular season mode. That's due to inexperience of Dak and Zeke. They still have that college mentality.... the 92 team was similar. young, confident, inexperienced. cruised to a 12-4 regular season record and lost to Detroit in playoffs.

I had argued with another friend of mine about a month back, that we should put room back. no one would have faulted us. it was still a good experience for Dak, and he could learn. Romo has been through this. the level of play just goes up a couple of notches this time of the year. GB, Giants, all picking it up a notch. Detroit has been playing like that seemingly all year.

can they pick it up? can he go up another notch?

at this point, we can't switch. we have to ride this out. but in the playoffs, there has to be a very short leash. playoff is do or die, no time to worry about anything and that in itself is a growing pain and lesson for Dak.

Good memory. Us old timers remember that the great 90's teams struggled, and didn't get it together right away. I like you remember that drubbing in Detroit....

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Our quarterback does not see down the field well and our OC is not being creative, at all, on 1st and second down.

The "line up and beat them" works when you have a significant talent advantage, but when every team you play knows exactly what you're going to do, there will be weeks where you don't have success. That's particularly evident on third down, when defenses will force you into trying things you don't like to do.

This right there.

That's not to lessen how inaccurate Dak was or how bad Bryant was or the lack of separation by the wide receivers and the poor pass protection in general.

But the lack of imagination on 1st & 2nd now isn't helping matters.

 

[waving monkey]

And boy, if ever there was a situation that we all saw coming, this was it. Not the performance by the rookie QB where for a bit, Dak Prescott would finally look like every rookie QB in the history of the sport has looked. But, rather, the reaction this city would have if that performance ever happened. We could see that coming from a mile a way: Strume

 

[jwooten15]

Why are we pretending that this is not mostly because of Dakota playing like absolute garbage atm.

What would people be saying had Romo taken over in week 8, and he was the on converting 18% of third downs? Hmmmm

 

[gmoney112]

I would not say that there is nothing to be worried about...not after the last two games...going 2 for 24 on third down. Prescott looked like a fourth round rookie last night. Period...and he didn't look much better against Minnesota.

Numbers are great when they have no context. Kinda like saying Gurley is one of the worst RB's in the league because he's only averaging a little more than 3 yards a carry.

Last week, not even counting the plays called back, we were in 1st and 15 twice, 1st and 20+ twice, Lucky's fumble (which was on 3rd down), as well as another series that was 3rd and 18 (which he actually converted 3 and 8 but Zeke's penalty set them back 10), and another third down that was botched on the center/QB exchange. He actually converted a 3 and 13 on his TD drive, and didn't need any more 3rd downs that entire drive. His lone turnover was on 1st and 20 trying to make a play, after yet another penalty.

Out of 11 real drives:
1. Two 1st and 15's, one of those drives Zeke almost scored and got called back, then they converted but Lucky fumbled it
2. Two 1st and 20+,one of which he fumbled trying to make a play
3. A 3rd and 8 he converted, but Zeke's penalty set them back 10 yards for 3rd and 18
4. A short TD pass to Dez
5. 84 yards on 8 plays converting a 3 and 13. Also converting two 2nd downs and a first down.
6. A drive ending in a FG
7. A botched exchange on 3rd down

5 drives, or about half, where we shot ourselves in the foot, 3 scoring drives, and another where just a rare event happened. That's two drives where he failed to execute (and i haven't watched them, so i'm not even sure what happened). You can't go the house of one of the best pass defenses in the NFL and shoot yourself in the foot on half your drives, that's a team effort (even though we can all agree some of those calls were sketchy, at best)

Some people can put that all on Dak if they want, but they probably didn't even watch the game.

 

[kevm3]

What would people be saying had Romo taken over in week 8, and he was the on converting 18% of third downs? Hmmmm

If Romo went 11 and 1 this whole season and had a bad game, people would be saying it was a bad game, especially considering the amount of 3rd downs that were being converted earlier in the season.

 

[unionjack8]

Dallas is 2 for 26 on third down the last two weeks.

that is utterly pathetic

 

[Parche]

I thought Dak's 3-5-7 step backs were way out of synch. I noticed that immediately. It's a problem he has admitted to, and was pointed out by Gruden at that camp. If you don't have that down, you're going to be uncomfortable in the pocket and your attention will be on that instead of where the receiver's are, or where the pass rush is coming from. The disappointing thing was he never recognized it and adjusted. Or if he did, his feet might have been too frozen. Frankly, I think they(except the defense) were all frozen on the sideline. Linehan had a brain freeze for sure with that abysmal play calling. And did you see Romo dressed up like a polar bear? I bet Marinelli and the defense had a good laugh at the offense the entire plane ride back.

It was just a perfect storm of a bad week for Dak. Bad footing, bad weather, too much partying, just bad, bad, bad. I bet Dak goes up north sometime and practices playing in the cold. That's the kind of guy he is. He'll figure it out.

He hasn't come undone guys. But I hope it's back to practicing the fundamentals this week, or the next few weeks are going to get dicey.

Am I right or Dak used to run shotgun formation on college? (Im from Argentina and Im not that used to formations and how the players learn em and how much time they need to adapt to new ones). Maybe thats one of the reasons of why he struggles taking steps back.

 

[Romotil45]

Either Dak has been figured out or has hit a wall or something, but there is no reason we should be last in the entire NFL in converting third downs.

When the freaking Cleveland Browns can convert 3rd downs better than we can, there is a problem. This is what needs to be figured out and fixed, not the fact that we lost a game. Three games is a trend and this is not the type of trend you want to be setting in December when you should be hitting on all cylinders for the playoffs.

Now some will say that we are 11-2 so shut up about it................well that is fine, but there is a significant distinction between wins and losses vs. offensive performance. The Chicago Bears proved that a team can win a lot of games even if their offense sucks (see Rex Grossman), but it finally catches up to you in the end.

If we want to make a deep playoff run, this third down issue has to be corrected immediately, whatever the problem is. Streamline the plays, no huddle, different formations, or maybe different personnel and yes this includes Romo discussion.

Linehan and Garrett are not helping Dak these days. They are just looking for any excuse to get Romo in a game. Who can blame them for wanting to play the best player. Dak is going to have to struggle for the media tide to turn. Daks basically on his own.

 

[jwooten15]

If Romo went 11 and 1 this whole season and had a bad game, people would be saying it was a bad game, especially considering the amount of 3rd downs that were being converted earlier in the season.

That's because we wouldn't know any better. If Romo had been out there the whole time, we'd still be thinking that he is the end-all, be-all at the QB position. We would live or die with Tony.

This isn't the same. Dak has struggled the last 3 weeks. Wins have covered up his previous struggles. It's not just last night. And Tony is there, healthy, waiting. Nobody can deny that it's not a temptation.

Dak being a rookie cuts the legs out from your argument because Dak had no tape on him at the time when they were converting all the 3rd downs. They haven't been an efficient offense in a while. It's not like Dak has played great for years and years, and this is just a rough patch.

Sure, it may just be a rough patch. But it also might be that he is finally getting overwhelmed and overmatched. It's no fault of his own. He just doesn't have enough experience or football wisdom, yet.

 

[AdamJT13]

It's been a two-game problem, not a three-game problem. Three games ago, we converted 50 percent of our third downs for the fourth consecutive game.

 

[jrumann59]

We need to get back to more short and intermediate passes, so if we do encounter a 3rd down, it's 3rd and 1-3.

That way the defense has to respect the option of a run, instead of pinning their ears back knowing it'll be a pass.

Uh that is what they tried to do all night well except that "ifff it" throw into double coverage.