80 yards rushing (and 131 yards receiving) by the RBs

[plasticman]

The Giants were ramming the ball up the Cowboys booty in the 4th quarter gashing them with their running game and it took a huge mistake by the Giants late in the game for the Cowboys to have a decent chance to pull it out. Had the Giants ran the ball or Eli taken a sack they could have run off around 40 more seconds leaving the Cowboys with very little time to do anything. None of the receivers the Cowboys have will prevent defenses from stacking the box to stop the run they don't scare anyone. I said prior to the season if Romo has to air it out this year his int's will go up whether they're on him or his receivers. He's not going to last the season putting the ball up 40-plus times a game. He averaged 29 attempts last season and last night his 45 attempts were more than in any game he played last season. This team doesn't remind me of the 70's teams because this team is currently minus an elite runner and an elite receiver.

This defense is no Doomsday Defense it looked similar to last seasons unit last night. All this talk about a pass rush and we didn't see much of it and with Gregory out for who knows how long things don't look very promising on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. The Cowboys are going to have to gut it out the next few weeks having to win dogfights if they're going to have a chance heading into December. I give the team credit for pulling the game out but they had some ugly wins during their 8-8 seasons where they pulled some rabbits out of the hat including a great comeback win vs SF in week 2 of the 2011 season. Last nights game shouldn't have been close the Giants don't look like a very good team but the Cowboys kept them in the game and that's concerning.

Its true that this running game won't suffice throughout the season.

I point to the fact that the cowboys only win about 40% of the time when Romo throws more than 35 passes, 75% of the time when he throws less.

I agree that the Cowboys should never have to rely on flukey plays or coaching decisions.

And I didn't see any "burst" or "vision" from Randle as described in some circles. I didn't sense any physicallity or stamina, no ability to punish a defense in the 4th quarter.

McFadden looks like one of those big backs that play small when getting tackled. In all, they got whatever the blockers gave them, nothing more.

Again, this is jus the first game, Randle's first start, McFaddens first game with this squad. We will know more in a few weeks but the last thing we need is the Cowboys in a close game in the 4th quarter and Romo has to pass on 2nd or 3rd and short.

I'm curious to see what Michaels can do.

 

[big dog cowboy]

We used the short pass game as our run game last night...worked out well, I'd say.

Post of the day.

 

[big dog cowboy]

We should have taken a RB in the 3rd round.

Why?

 

[windjc]

How wrong you are! You must not have watched the game at all because like I mentioned he got hit several times after throws. He was reaching for his back after this hit.

http://t.co/OOXtZ1W8Qi

Nice job in cherry picking the one play where Romo was hit late. Should have been a penalty and probably will be a fine from the league.

You are a worry wort that tries to cherry pick examples to fit his narrative.

Name ONE other team in the league whos QB got ZERO sacks, rushes, or legal hits in Week #1.

You can't. There isn't one. With that type of protection, Romo could throw 70 times a game with no rushes and we would win.

 

[windjc]

Its true that this running game won't suffice throughout the season.

I point to the fact that the cowboys only win about 40% of the time when Romo throws more than 35 passes, 75% of the time when he throws less.

I agree that the Cowboys should never have to rely on flukey plays or coaching decisions.

And I didn't see any "burst" or "vision" from Randle as described in some circles. I didn't sense any physicallity or stamina, no ability to punish a defense in the 4th quarter.

McFadden looks like one of those big backs that play small when getting tackled. In all, they got whatever the blockers gave them, nothing more.

Again, this is jus the first game, Randle's first start, McFaddens first game with this squad. We will know more in a few weeks but the last thing we need is the Cowboys in a close game in the 4th quarter and Romo has to pass on 2nd or 3rd and short.

I'm curious to see what Michaels can do.

The ONLY reason the game was close was the 3-0 Turnover Differential. Stop spinning the narrative about Pass vs. Rush plays. We dominated on offense other than 3 turnovers and a penalty at the 1 yard line.

 

[KJJ]

Nice job in cherry picking the one play where Romo was hit late. Should have been a penalty and probably will be a fine from the league.

You are a worry wort that tries to cherry pick examples to fit his narrative.

Name ONE other team in the league whos QB got ZERO sacks, rushes, or legal hits in Week #1.

You can't. There isn't one. With that type of protection, Romo could throw 70 times a game with no rushes and we would win.

No cherry picking if you watched the game and saw the highlights Romo got hit a number of times but according to you he was hardly touched because he didn't get sacked. Instead of entering discussions with just your imagination try bringing some facts to the table. According to you Romo was "tapped" on the int to Street but the replay showed he was leveled by a block on that play that caused him to hit the turf like a sack of potatoes. It took several seconds for him to get up while he was grimacing but you blew it off like the hit was just a tap. By the way Romo was credited with a rush and a -1. As for your claim that he could throw 70 times a game with great protection with no rushes and we would win is foolish thinking because it's already been pointed out that he's only won 40% of the time when throwing more than 35 passes. Romo has had only 2 winning seasons when having more than 500 attempts. The last 3 seasons he had more than 500 attempts it led to 8-8 seasons. With Dez possibly gone up to 8 weeks and having to depend on receivers that were letting Romo down most of last night it's going to be a tough for the Cowboys to hang in in until he gets back.

Part of the reason he wasn't sacked last night was great protection and the Giants being without JPP. Their DL isn't the same without him. Against the Giants in the final minutes the Cowboys defense looked like they did against Green Bay in the final minutes. The Giants gashed the Cowboys with the run and had the game virtually in the bag had they run the ball instead of thrown it on 3rd down. They could have burned up 40 more seconds giving the Cowboys nothing but a few prayers down the field to try and pull the game out. With Gregory gone 4-6 weeks and Hardy gone for another 3 games it's going to be tough generating any type of pass rush. Mark my words the Cowboys won't sniff 12 wins this season if Romo has several games of 40-plus attempts and he may not last the season. You can tell the way he gimps around sometimes after being hit that his back isn't right and it will never be right.

 

[rpntex]

Going to be tough to improve the running game the next few weeks with Dez out having to face a lot of 8 men in the box trying to stop the run. Romo attempted 45 passes which was more than he attempted in any game last season. He took some hits tonight and appeared to be a little shaken up on a couple of them.

It's going to be a rough season if he has to carry the team like he did tonight. Without Dez and Murray this isn't going to be the same team we saw last season. Fortunately Dez will be back but who knows where the Cowboys will be when he does.

I agree that it's going to be tougher to run without Dez, but let's not go overboard here. The "Romo attempted 45 passes" angle is a tad misleading.

Did he attempt 45 passes? Yes, of course...literally. BUT - 10 of the 12 passes caught by running backs were barely more than extended handoffs. They had the same effect as a running play, and served the same purpose.

If he can continue to get the ball to our backs on those types of plays, it's just like an extension of the running game.

 

[Beast_from_East]

.. and Dunbar had 70 yards receiving ..
.. and Randle had 42 yards receiving ..
.. and McFadden had 19 yards receiving ..

There is more than one way to get the ball to a running back ..

Exactly.............this team is not going to be a power running team this year because we really don't have any power backs. So what you do is adjust to what you got and what we got is RBs that are really good receivers so you naturally go more to a WCO.

The WCO uses short passes to the RBs as an extension of the running game..............that is what we are going to do this season.

 

[Zman5]

Short passes may get us similar results as far as yards are concerned but they are not the same as a run.
Any passing will get harder when playing in inclement weather.

When you run, the OLInemen attack the defenders. When passing, OLimen get attacked and have to absorb the attack. The advantage yo get from running is that the opposing defenses will get tired late in the game from being the punching bag instead of the puncher. Ask any OLinemen what they prefer to do. Run block or pass block. Most will choose run blocking.

Also when you are winning and want to run out the clock, you risk stopping the clock by passing. Even short ones. You need to be able to run well enough to control the clock.

We have the best run blocking Oline. We should take advantage of it as much as we can.

 

[ConstantReboot]

You mean 3 turnovers that led to 17 points? Relax, we ran fine for the first half, it was the turnovers that got us out of the running game. We would have broke some big runs in the second half to get the yards per carry up, that's how it works and worked for Murray too. His average was always skewed up by a few big runs...As we will see going forward with our other backs,

We were still running the ball even though we were behind. Murray's did not have many big runs to skew his average. On the other hand, Randle numbers are a bit skewed because of his big runs.

Lets face it. Randle needs to do better than that. He criticized Murray for leaving some yards out there. He did the same thing also against the Giants.

 

[AzorAhai]

Romo was literally never touched. In fact the only tap he received was on his first TD throw. Maybe you should watch the game next

You're assuming because Romo didn't get sacked he didn't get hit but he got hit several times after the throw including after his TD throw to Escobar. You first claimed Romo got "tapped" on the interception return now you're saying he got "bumped" well go back and watch again because he got the crap knocked out of him as he was blocked attempting to make another tackle. He was knocked on his face and laid there for several seconds grimacing as he got up but according to you he was "tapped." LOL You're claiming we had a balanced attack when Romo attempted 45 passes compared to 23 rushing attempts and one of those rushes were by Romo where he took another hit. The Cowboys backs averaged about 3.5 a carry so much for this RB by committee making up for Murray's production. McFadden who some were gushing over all summer produced only 2.7 a carry. With Dez gone 4-6 weeks defenses will now be able to stack the box to stop the run and put more games on Romo's shoulders.

The Cowboys will be right back to where they were prior to last season with Romo having to carry the team with the passing game if we don't get a running game he can lean on. The defense had issues stopping the run last night which was a problem during preseason. Murray will gash them next week if they don't clean that up. As for the Cowboys vaunted pass rush everyone was excited about they only sacked Eli once. With Gregory having a high ankle sprain he'll likely be out awhile and DLaw didn't show up at all last night except for getting his name called for a penalty. With Philly, Seahawks, Pats and Giants again in the first 8 games the Cowboys better improve a lot from what we saw last night or this is going to be a long season. They were very fortunate to beat what appeared to be a bad Giants team that game shouldn't have been close.

He threw the ball 45 times because they were behind 2 scores with 7 minutes to play. 12 passes came in those last 2 must pass drives. If they are ahead they milk the clock and that ratio is a lot different than what it ended up with. If they are up by 3 TDs like they should have been you're looking at 33-36 passes and and probably 30 runs.

 

[kramskoi]

He threw the ball 45 times because they were behind 2 scores with 7 minutes to play. 12 passes came in those last 2 must pass drives. If they are ahead they milk the clock and that ratio is a lot different than what it ended up with. If they are up by 3 TDs like they should have been you're looking at 33-36 passes and and probably 30 runs.

Still, that said...he threw 24 passes in a first half that saw a deficit of just 7 points. I'm willing to wait and see how this goes but I am in agreement with a few others that throwing 45 - 50 times per game is not a recipe for long-term success, especially without Bryant. The RB receptions should not totally supplant the contributions of the receiving corp, otherwise you are not pushing the ball down the field. In that case, you are relying on RAC, which good defense can mitigate. Moreover, it puts a premium on conducting long drives with minimal penalties, while increasing the likelihood that deflections in the short-range, high-traffic, middle of the field become targets for interceptions.

I will give Romo his due however. He is reading defenses better than he ever has, and an 80% completion percentage is pretty stellar, but the Giants safety tandem of Meriweather and Collins is hardly the best that they will face over the coming weeks. They could get a break against New Orleans (without Jairus Byrd "and" Raphael Bush) and Seattle (without Kam Chancellor), but the Eagles will present a gut-check, in a game they would dearly love to win.

 

[AzorAhai]

Still, that said...he threw 24 passes in a first half that saw a deficit of just 7 points. I'm willing to wait and see how this goes but I am in agreement with a few others that throwing 45 - 50 times per game is not a recipe for long-term success, especially without Bryant. The RB receptions should not totally supplant the contributions of the receiving corp, otherwise you are not pushing the ball down the field. In that case, you are relying on RAC, which good defense can mitigate. Moreover, it puts a premium on conducting long drives with minimal penalties, while increasing the likelihood that deflections in the short-range, high-traffic, middle of the field become targets for interceptions.

I will give Romo his due however. He is reading defenses better than he ever has, and an 80% completion percentage is pretty stellar, but the Giants safety tandem of Meriweather and Collins is hardly the best that they will face over the coming weeks. They could get a break against New Orleans (without Jairus Byrd "and" Raphael Bush) and Seattle (without Kam Chancellor), but the Eagles will present a gut-check, in a game they would dearly love to win.

I'm not advocating throwing the ball 45 times a game and don't think that is a weekly way to win. It became necessity to do so at the end of this game. I'm not going to worry about the formula just yet, but I do think we could see the average number of passes pick up a decent amount since it's apparent they want to utilize the short passes to RBs to take some pressure off the run game.


Also, to others worried about how "ineffective" Randle was, he's the 12th leading rusher in the NFL after week 1. Higher than AP, Charles, Murray, J. Hill, Mccoy and Chris Johnson(only mentioned because so many wanted him). He also had a higher YPC than all of them. Let's wait to judge the guy until a few games from now. RBs were ineffective all around the league.

 

[KJJ]

He threw the ball 45 times because they were behind 2 scores with 7 minutes to play. 12 passes came in those last 2 must pass drives. If they are ahead they milk the clock and that ratio is a lot different than what it ended up with. If they are up by 3 TDs like they should have been you're looking at 33-36 passes and and probably 30 runs.

Romo attempted 10 passes on the Cowboys first series he was throwing a lot before they ever got behind by 2 scores. Had they been ahead it would have been hard to milk the clock with a committee of backs that only averaged 3.5 a carry. It was the lack of running success that had Romo throwing so much using short passes as extended handoffs. The run blocking that most here predicted would open up huge holes all night didn't. There wasn't much room for the backs to run so Romo attempted a lot of short passes to the backs out in space to give them some room to roam

 

[KJJ]

I agree that it's going to be tougher to run without Dez, but let's not go overboard here. The "Romo attempted 45 passes" angle is a tad misleading.

Did he attempt 45 passes? Yes, of course...literally. BUT - 10 of the 12 passes caught by running backs were barely more than extended handoffs. They had the same effect as a running play, and served the same purpose.

If he can continue to get the ball to our backs on those types of plays, it's just like an extension of the running game.

The problem the Cowboys will face without Dez is TWill will now be covered by the opponents top corner and Witten is likely to get doubled up a lot. This may be a good opportunity for the Cowboys to continue to get Escobar involved especially in the redzone where he can use his size/height to win battles. With no Dez to throw the ball up to Escobar could be the alternative. Short passes as extended handoffs are effective but they have to be well executed to work efficiently. If the Cowboys continue that approach opponents will game plan for it.

Romo is going to have to get a lot more help from his receivers than he did Sunday night and the running game has to improve or Romo will be back to carrying the team every week. The defense has got to step up we saw little pass rush even with Gregory in there. DLaw was a no show he has to pick it up. The Cowboys are going to be faced with some real challenges the next few weeks with the players they've lost. The next man up has to step up.

 

[JoeBoBBY]

You're assuming because Romo didn't get sacked he didn't get hit but he got hit several times after the throw including after his TD throw to Escobar. You first claimed Romo got "tapped" on the interception return now you're saying he got "bumped" well go back and watch again because he got the crap knocked out of him as he was blocked attempting to make another tackle. He was knocked on his face and laid there for several seconds grimacing as he got up but according to you he was "tapped." LOL You're claiming we had a balanced attack when Romo attempted 45 passes compared to 23 rushing attempts and one of those rushes were by Romo where he took another hit. The Cowboys backs averaged about 3.5 a carry so much for this RB by committee making up for Murray's production. McFadden who some were gushing over all summer produced only 2.7 a carry. With Dez gone 4-6 weeks defenses will now be able to stack the box to stop the run and put more games on Romo's shoulders.

The Cowboys will be right back to where they were prior to last season with Romo having to carry the team with the passing game if we don't get a running game he can lean on. The defense had issues stopping the run last night which was a problem during preseason. Murray will gash them next week if they don't clean that up. As for the Cowboys vaunted pass rush everyone was excited about they only sacked Eli once. With Gregory having a high ankle sprain he'll likely be out awhile and DLaw didn't show up at all last night except for getting his name called for a penalty. With Philly, Seahawks, Pats and Giants again in the first 8 games the Cowboys better improve a lot from what we saw last night or this is going to be a long season. They were very fortunate to beat what appeared to be a bad Giants team that game shouldn't have been close.

I agree, with pretty much all of it.

Some things that give me hope.

1. We were probably rusty.
2. I am hoping those turnovers stop.If not, were probably done.
3. We havent seen Hardy yet.....
4. The NFCE doesnt look all that tough this year. Its only week one, but these teams dont look like anything much....
5. Coaching is better then it was a few years ago.

Having said all that. I hate the gameplan and RBBC for many reasons. But the most important reason to me, is it exposes Romo to more chances of getting hit.

And, we had the formula last year. If not Murray, then someone else..............But this RBBC is erratic. Doesnt let the Oline and RB get into a rhythm. The RBBC and Romo-centric offensive gives us an entriely different feel and identity. It looked exactly like 2013!!!

I am not saying we dont win with the RBBC and new offesnive strategy. I am saying it would of been more effecient, prudent and would have yielded a stronger team, if we stayed with last years formula and identity.

Which I think we will eventaulyl get back to later in the season;

Come December. Were going to be running the football!!!

 

[Derinyar]

The running game was alright. It should be better, and probably will be for some games. The RBs as a group were very important to the win and produced enough as a group to make you say this can work. Maybe if we're up in the 4th we switch passes to runs and get more rushing yards.

I find correlating play % to win/loss is very specious. We had more throws then runs yesterday because we were losing and had to throw our way into it, because the passing game tends to generate more chunk yardage then the running game does. When we have a 4th quarter lead i wonder what we will do. I don't think throwing for the end zone or a first down is a sign of weakness, but you shouldn't throw for all of them. I still think being at least somewhat unpredictable is very valuable to success. Also for throwing inside the 10 we had two excellent weapons, Escobar and Dez. Both present many matchup issues.

 

[plasticman]

It would be blatantly unfair to judge the effectiveness of the running game or any player involved after one game, particularly if it is his fist start , first game with a new team, or a significant difference in the role of that player.

However, if we did, then it would favor Randle.

After one week Randle is the #11 ranked RB in yards, surpassing 6 of the 8 Pro Bowl RB's from last season.

His yards per carry was the exact same as Marshawn Lynch, better than Frank Gore, Chris Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Adrian Peterson, Justin Forsett, Mark Ingram, LeSean McCoy, and DeMarco Murray.

By The way, all Randle has to do is duplicate his first game results all season long and he is a thousand yard rusher.

65 x 16 = 1040

A player that runs the ball for 1200 yards averages only 10 yards more than Randle had Sunday night.