About the "soft zone" played in the 1st half...

[Cowboy from New York]

Does anyone have a good explanation on why we ran that soft zone throughout the first half even though the seahawks had success in attacking it right from the start and continued to do so until Seneca Wallace came in.
What bothers me about it was not that we tried it but that it was clearly a dud but yet we stuck with it and I'm unsure of what players learn from repeated failures. Such as not being able to cover the middle of the field for an entire game.
I want to eliminate the "Bill doesnt want to reveal his secret plan" arguement from this one.

Some things that I thought of:

1. Bill wanted to put emphasis on LBs pass coverage responsibilities, their roles and the newly taught 3-4 assignments.

2. Bill need more of a look at Keith Davis and how he handled pass coverages in the FS role and playing the zone that he did ensure that Davis would see a lot of traffic come his way as the seahawks reacted to the zone being played against them.

3. He wanted to see how his pass rush did against some quick five step drops and dump offs which the zone allowed. (if its this one, we have problems)



I'm sure there is one or two decent reasons, any thoughts?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Probably because Bill wanted to see the base defence and is set to show more in the third preseason game.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

With the pass interference rules, the days of the shut down corner are over. Every DB will get beaten now.

Quit worrying.

 

[Cowboy from New York]

Canadian,

Did you watch the same game I did? I think it was a bit more than worrying about a corner shutting down his man on every single play.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I must admit, I got home after the first quarter but still, you are worrying too much.

 

[bbgun]

In two years, I have yet to see Bradie James make one significant play.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Look at the schedule on week 7. You will notice a particular team with a funky looking bird on their helmet will be playing us that week.

I really really doubt that we showed them much of anything.

I really am glad that they showed Pettiti those blitzes and stunts tho. It matters week 7 not this one.

 

[Cowboy from New York]

Look at the schedule on week 7. You will notice a particular team with a funky looking bird on their helmet will be playing us that week.

I really really doubt that we showed them much of anything.

I really am glad that they showed Pettiti those blitzes and stunts tho. It matters week 7 not this one.

Totally agree with you on Pettiti, the more he sees in preseason and can get with the coaches and break down game film on it during the week to prepare for it the better.

 

[blindzebra]

We are evaluating a defense that has zip in terms of NFL experience at LB in a 3-4.

Singleton, James and Nguyen are taking on different roles.

We have 3 converted DEs, one is a rookie and one is in his second year.

We have a rookie and 3 more young guys in the mix as well.

They all seem to be struggling in recognition in pass coverage.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Does anyone have a good explanation on why we ran that soft zone throughout the first half even though the seahawks had success in attacking it right from the start and continued to do so until Seneca Wallace came in.
What bothers me about it was not that we tried it but that it was clearly a dud but yet we stuck with it and I'm unsure of what players learn from repeated failures. Such as not being able to cover the middle of the field for an entire game.

You don't think we would do that in a real game do you? Of course not. That is our new defense out there and they still need a lot of work.

 

[YN1SCOTT]

I hope we will not do this during the season!!!!

 

[Sarge]

I hope we will not do this during the season!!!!

This defense will have growing pains and will be scored on - period. They are young, inexperieinced and switching to the 3-4. All recipes for problems early in the season. It may take the better part of the year to sort through it all.

I expect some solid play from certain individuals (Ware) but as a unit, we are too young/inexperienced to have any real expectations.

The offense is going to have to put up some numbers early in the year for us to have a chance IMO.

 

[jterrell]

The Seahags scored a whole 10 points.
Granted they were shooting themselves in the foots to do so but the defense wasn't exactly getting torched.

With Roy Williams in the game we didn't play a ton of soft zone but did more so with the younger safeties in the game it seemed.

If you do go cover 2/cougar 2 then having Roy Williams and Keith Davis at safety will make it hard to take those shots because those guys will absolutely tee off. Beriault laid some big licks on guys but Davis is almost 15 pounds heavier and RW is 30 or so. NFL teams won't throw to the cushion under RW very often unless McNabb gets a chance to offer TO up for a whooping.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

You're going to end up seeing a lot of man-to-man defense before this season is out.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Yeah, the defense didn't look too impressive with the bland playcalling. Hasselbeck was picking them apart and they couldn't stop the run worth a damn. It's a miracle the Seahags first teamers only scored 7 points. If not for Ware and his playmaking, our first team defense would have looked pretty bad. Probably would have allowed at least 17 points. I hope it gets better as guys like Ferguson and Spears come back and Parcells shows more of his hand.

The good news is using a fairly similar philosophy with the offense, the Cowboys first team offense looked pretty good against the Seahags first team defense by the end of the second quarter.

 

[BlueStar22]

Roy missed on like 3 tackles. That was surprising.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Roy missed on like 3 tackles. That was surprising.

Yup. On one of the more aggressive plays, he blew that tackle on his blitz. I guess if it was someone like Davis, I might be worried, but I'm just gonna hope this was an aberration with ol' Roy.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think Dallas will run more man coverage than zone but we will run zone defense so may as well continue to work on it before we hit the reg season.

 

[Cowboy from New York]

Yup. On one of the more aggressive plays, he blew that tackle on his blitz. I guess if it was someone like Davis, I might be worried, but I'm just gonna hope this was an aberration with ol' Roy.

Yeah, I was just as shocked as everyone when I saw Roy miss that tackle. But I think we can all agree it was just a fluke that won't been seen too often. On the plus side tonight I saw Burnett, Nyguen and others time there blitzes much better than in any time under Zimmer and a lot of them were coming free into the back field. Previously only Roy seemed to have the talent to do that while the rest of the guys seemed to be magnetically attracted to run in to an o-lineman no matter what else happened. So seeing blitzers come free was beautiful.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Yeah, I was just as shocked as everyone when I saw Roy miss that tackle. But I think we can all agree it was just a fluke that won't been seen too often. On the plus side tonight I saw Burnett, Nyguen and others time there blitzes much better than in any time under Zimmer and a lot of them were coming free into the back field. Previously only Roy seemed to have the talent to do that while the rest of the guys seemed to be magnetically attracted to run in to an o-lineman no matter what else happened. So seeing blitzers come free was beautiful.

Yeah it was. Especially when guys like Dat were finding their way to the QB. I saw a few moments where someone likes Nors would be screaming "And that's why you got a 3-4!"