A Look at our new OL coach Joe Philibin

[DuncanIso]

I opened this thread hoping for some pics

It was Bill Callahan that built the OLine that became dominant in 2014.
- A big part of the OL's success was Callahan's scheme, especially his run blocking scheme.
- Callahan's Zone Run Blocking scheme was as good as any and better than most.
- The Zone Run Blocking scheme has become a huge factor in the success of several teams in recent years.
- The ZBS got the Rams to the Super Bowl for the 2018 season.
- The ZBS got the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2019.
- Lack of ability to defend the ZBS was the Cowboys #1 problem in 2019 and in the Ram playoff game.
- Teams like the Packers and Vikings had a resurgence in 2019 due to the ZBS.

Pollack was able to keep it going with another quality season from the OL in 2016.
- The OL started to have issues in 2017. With Leary and Free gone, their replacements were not executing well.
- The replacement players didn't appear to understand the Zone Run Blocking scheme in 2017.

Columbo was good at individual coaching but the OL struggled with scheme issues with him as the OL coach. They often struggled to execute Zone Run Blocking plays.
- He had played in a Man blocking scheme but the Cowboys success in the Martin/Frederick era was in Callahan's Zone/Man scheme.

Philbin
- Uses Zone Run Blocking.
- Some RBs that had decent success in Green Bay, rarely seemed to have success with other NFL teams. That's a sign the blocking and running scheme is good.
- Ryan Grant had a couple of great years in Green Bay before injuries took their toll. He was with the Giants 2 years prior to GB and didn't play a snap.


Coaches:

• Callahan:
  • Cowboys OL coach from 2012 to 2014. Called plays in 2013.
  • Implemented a combination Zone and Man blocking scheme for the Cowboys.
  • Both the Ravens and Browns wanted to hire him as OL coach for 2014 but Jerry would not let him make the lateral move.
  • Wanted out of Dallas because he "hated" working with Garrett (It started with Garrett's refusal to allow Callahan to bench Free in 2012).
  • Hired by Skins as their OL coach in 2015.
  • Skins added Assistant Head Coach to his title in 2017.
  • Skins promoted him to interim head coach in 2019.
  • Hired as Browns OL coach in 2020.
• Pollack:
  • Cowboys Assistant OL coach 2013 to 2014
  • Cowboys OL coach 2015 to 2017
  • Bengals OL coach for 1 year (2018)
  • Jets OL coach in 2019.
• Paul Alexander:
  • Cowboys OL coach to start the 2018 season.
  • Fired after 7 games.
• Marc Columbo
  • Cowboys Assistant OL coach 2016 to mid 2018.
  • Cowboys OL coach 2nd half 2018 and 2019.
• Joe Philbin
  • Cowboys OL coach 2020

Players:

• Frederick: drafted 2013
• Martin: drafted 2014
• Ron Leary: udfa 2012. Signed 36M contract with Broncos in 2017.
• Tyron: drafted 2011 (moved to LT 2012)
• Jermey Parnell:
  • udfa 2010 (originally signed by Miami, signed by Cowboys during the 2010 season)
  • Became the full time Swing Tackle in 2012
  • Started 7 games in 2014 including 2 playoff games. Had 1 sack allowed in those 7 games.
  • Signed a 32 million contract in 2015 with Jax.
• La'el Collins
  • 2015 udfa (would have been a 1st round pick if not for the death of his ex-girlfriend before the draft)
  • 11 starts at LG in 2015. Struggled.
  • 3 starts at LG in 2016.
  • Became starting RT in 2017. Struggled.
  • Really struggled to start 2018 with new OL coach Alexander.
  • Best season was 2019; although, still made far more mistakes than 2nd year OLineman Connor Williams.
  • Still not as good as Parnell was in the 7 starts in 2014.

Cowboys Offensive Line:

• 2014: Best overall season since the Nineties.
• 2016: 2nd best OL season of the Garrett era; although, Free allowed 9 sacks.

I have watched Colombo coach the OL at camp many times.

he was an excellent coach for us.

 

[jnday]

You mean Bill Callahan. The OL was never the same the moment he left.

Callahan didn’t pull off any miracles. The OL was not good at all with the free agents that he hand picked. Callahan really started looking good when Dallas started focusing on using high draft picks to fill the OL and just about any competent pro coach would look good with that much talent to work with. Callahan hasn’t been that impressive without the first round talent like he has in Dallas.

 

[jnday]

It was Bill Callahan that built the OLine that became dominant in 2014.
- A big part of the OL's success was Callahan's scheme, especially his run blocking scheme.
- Callahan's Zone Run Blocking scheme was as good as any and better than most.
- The Zone Run Blocking scheme has become a huge factor in the success of several teams in recent years.
- The ZBS got the Rams to the Super Bowl for the 2018 season.
- The ZBS got the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2019.
- Lack of ability to defend the ZBS was the Cowboys #1 problem in 2019 and in the Ram playoff game.
- Teams like the Packers and Vikings had a resurgence in 2019 due to the ZBS.

Pollack was able to keep it going with another quality season from the OL in 2016.
- The OL started to have issues in 2017. With Leary and Free gone, their replacements were not executing well.
- The replacement players didn't appear to understand the Zone Run Blocking scheme in 2017.

Columbo was good at individual coaching but the OL struggled with scheme issues with him as the OL coach. They often struggled to execute Zone Run Blocking plays.
- He had played in a Man blocking scheme but the Cowboys success in the Martin/Frederick era was in Callahan's Zone/Man scheme.

Philbin
- Uses Zone Run Blocking.
- Some RBs that had decent success in Green Bay, rarely seemed to have success with other NFL teams. That's a sign the blocking and running scheme is good.
- Ryan Grant had a couple of great years in Green Bay before injuries took their toll. He was with the Giants 2 years prior to GB and didn't play a snap.


Coaches:

• Callahan:
  • Cowboys OL coach from 2012 to 2014. Called plays in 2013.
  • Implemented a combination Zone and Man blocking scheme for the Cowboys.
  • Both the Ravens and Browns wanted to hire him as OL coach for 2014 but Jerry would not let him make the lateral move.
  • Wanted out of Dallas because he "hated" working with Garrett (It started with Garrett's refusal to allow Callahan to bench Free in 2012).
  • Hired by Skins as their OL coach in 2015.
  • Skins added Assistant Head Coach to his title in 2017.
  • Skins promoted him to interim head coach in 2019.
  • Hired as Browns OL coach in 2020.
• Pollack:
  • Cowboys Assistant OL coach 2013 to 2014
  • Cowboys OL coach 2015 to 2017
  • Bengals OL coach for 1 year (2018)
  • Jets OL coach in 2019.
• Paul Alexander:
  • Cowboys OL coach to start the 2018 season.
  • Fired after 7 games.
• Marc Columbo
  • Cowboys Assistant OL coach 2016 to mid 2018.
  • Cowboys OL coach 2nd half 2018 and 2019.
• Joe Philbin
  • Cowboys OL coach 2020

Players:

• Frederick: drafted 2013
• Martin: drafted 2014
• Ron Leary: udfa 2012. Signed 36M contract with Broncos in 2017.
• Tyron: drafted 2011 (moved to LT 2012)
• Jermey Parnell:
  • udfa 2010 (originally signed by Miami, signed by Cowboys during the 2010 season)
  • Became the full time Swing Tackle in 2012
  • Started 7 games in 2014 including 2 playoff games. Had 1 sack allowed in those 7 games.
  • Signed a 32 million contract in 2015 with Jax.
• La'el Collins
  • 2015 udfa (would have been a 1st round pick if not for the death of his ex-girlfriend before the draft)
  • 11 starts at LG in 2015. Struggled.
  • 3 starts at LG in 2016.
  • Became starting RT in 2017. Struggled.
  • Really struggled to start 2018 with new OL coach Alexander.
  • Best season was 2019; although, still made far more mistakes than 2nd year OLineman Connor Williams.
  • Still not as good as Parnell was in the 7 starts in 2014.

Cowboys Offensive Line:

• 2014: Best overall season since the Nineties.
• 2016: 2nd best OL season of the Garrett era; although, Free allowed 9 sacks.

Callahan didn’t do squat with the free agents that he picked out. When it comes to the first round draft picks, he stumbled into some good luck when the drafts fell just right for Jerry to draft the OL. I liked his scheme, but it took a OL full of first round talent for Callahan to have any success. Most coaches would look just as good with all things being equal.

 

[speedkilz88]

It was surprising how quickly he seemed to drop off and vanish from the league. I thought for sure he would have latched on somewhere after the Jags released him, but he essentially disappeared and hasn't been heard from since.

He and Free both retired at about the same age, 32.

 

[Stash]

Callahan didn’t pull off any miracles. The OL was not good at all with the free agents that he hand picked. Callahan really started looking good when Dallas started focusing on using high draft picks to fill the OL and just about any competent pro coach would look good with that much talent to work with. Callahan hasn’t been that impressive without the first round talent like he has in Dallas.

What free agents do you feel that Callahan "hand picked"?

 

[xwalker]

Callahan didn’t do squat with the free agents that he picked out. When it comes to the first round draft picks, he stumbled into some good luck when the drafts fell just right for Jerry to draft the OL. I liked his scheme, but it took a OL full of first round talent for Callahan to have any success. Most coaches would look just as good with all things being equal.

Ron Leary: UDFA
Jermey Parnell: UDFA (College Basketball Player. Was 270 when the Cowboys signed him).

The best OL line since the Nineties was in 2014 with:
LT: Tyron
LG: Ron Leary (36M contract when he departed)
OC: Frederick
RG: Martin
RT: Jermey Parnell (1 sack allowed in 7 games including 2 playoff games. 32M contract when he departed).

Callahan made Free into a usable player. Callahan had Martin align shift towards Free (i.e. Small gap between Martin/Free bigger gap between Martin/Frederick).
- They had actually started doing it when Brian Waters was on the team in 2013.
- This move that was not noticeable to most people, allowed Free to over-set to the outside which gave him advantage.
- Callahan wanted to replace Free with Parnell but Garrett refused. Callahan made Lemonade out of the Lemon that was Doug Free.

The scheme made DeMarco Murray into an 1845 yard rusher in 2014. He never came close to repeating that performance.

The scheme held up into 2016 while Callahan coached players remained in place (Free and Leary were gone after 2016).

They started to struggle in 2017 despite La'el being infinitely more physically talented than Doug Free.

The turn-around started in 2013 (Callahan's 2nd season) despite having to rely on 2012 udfa Leary for 16 starts and Bernadeau for 11 starts.
- DeMarco Murray had almost as many yards as his 2 previous seasons combined.
- It takes a year to implement a new OL scheme. We saw what happened in 2018 with OL coach Paul Alexander trying to implement new scheme.

Bill Callahan was the best coaching hire by the Cowboys between Parcells departing and Mike McCarthy being hired.

Callahan's biggest contribution was convincing the Cowboys to draft Frederick and Martin. Callahan went to Wisconsin for a 1 on 1 session with Frederick and "stood on the table" for the Cowboys to draft him.

 

[Stash]

He and Free both retired at about the same age, 32.

Where did you ever see that Parnell officially "retired"?

I know that Free did while I think he was still under contract. The decision was his. The Jaguars decided to cut Parnell.

 

[DuncanIso]

Where did you ever see that Parnell officially "retired"?

I know that Free did while I think he was still under contract. The decision was his. The Jaguars decided to cut Parnell.

I think being 32+ had something to do with both players ending their careers.

Didn't Free have injuries? I think it was foot problems.

 

[Stash]

I think being 32+ had something to do with both players ending their careers.

One retired while under contract - his decision, the other was cut, not his decision.