If the first few plays of the game are vanilla.. Hand offs up the middle.. play actin bootleg rollout pass to TE and other such then who SHOULD get the blame if not the coaches? Specifically the OC?
Check out this list of first offensive snaps for the Cowboys last season:
Game 1:
1 13:18 1 10 DAL 2 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete deep left to
Amari Cooper for 28 yards (tackle by
Antoine Winfield)
This got me excited.. Like maybe Moore had seen the light.. Backed up on our own 2 yard line and we come out firing!!
It didn't last
Game 2.
1 14:54 1 10 DAL 22 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 1 yard (tackle by
Christian Covington)
Game 3:
1 15:00 1 10 DAL 25 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to
Dalton Schultz for 8 yards (tackle by
T.J. Edwar
Empty backfield.. throw to Schultz over the middle? What are we attacking here?
Game 4:
1 15:00 1 10 DAL 25 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott left end for 2 yards (tackle by
Brian Burns)
Dak lateraled to Zeke as he was being sacked. Was meant to be a dropback pass out of three tight end set with only one receiver in. What are we trying to accomplish here? Went unbalanced right and ignored the inside backer coming up the middle. Either terrible play design or poor execution.
Game 5:
1 15:00 1 10 DAL 25 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to
CeeDee Lamb for 6 yards (tackle by
Xavier McKinney)
Flanker screen...Oh the humanity!
followed by
1 14:27 2 4 DAL 31 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott right tackle for 2 yards (tackle by
Leonard Williams)
Handoff up the middle. Line loses, Zeke has to cut right and fight to get two.
Game 6:
1 14:55 1 10 DAL 12 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 2 yards (tackle by
Lawrence Guy and
Davon Godchaux)
A return to normalcy..
Game 7:
1 11:49 1 10 DAL 25 0 7
Ezekiel Elliott left tackle for 8 yards (tackle by
Danielle Hunter)
Kick out block by LG, Zeke cuts inside of it. But again.. not attacking at all. But with a backup QB I guess I see it.
Game 8:
1 14:51 1 10 DEN 47 0 0
Dak Prescott pass incomplete short left intended for
Amari Cooper 2.460 1.910
1 14:45 2 10 DEN 47 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by
Shelby Harris)
This one is infuriating. We get the ball at the Denver 38 after TP turns in a nice return.. We follow that up with an incomplete slant and a delay handoff up the middle. Really?
Game 9:
1 14:53 1 10 DAL 27 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott right guard for 3 yards (tackle by
Erik Harris and
Grady Jarrett)
Delay handoff up the middle. Geez.
Game 10:
1 14:55 1 10 DAL 26 0 0
Dak Prescott pass incomplete deep right intended for
Michael Gallup 0.670 0.130
1 14:49 2 10 DAL 26 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to
CeeDee Lamb for 8 yards (tackle by
Charvarius Ward and
Juan Thornhill) 0.130 0.500
1 14:06 3 2 DAL 34 0 0
Dak Prescott pass incomplete short middle intend
It's like they knew they were playing a quality opponent so they came out at least trying to attack. Problem was.. there was a 20 mph wind.. so opening up trying to go deep was dumb. Gallup was even open but the wind grabbed the ball and caused it to sail over his head. Did the coaches not walk the field or read the weather report?
Game 11:
1 15:00 1 10 DAL 25 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by
Brandon Facyson and
K.J. Wright) 0.610 0.600
1 14:31 2 6 DAL 29 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott right guard for 2 yards (tackle by
Yannick Ngakoue)
Back to monumental creativity.
Game 12:
1 11:44 1 10 DAL 23 0 0
Dak Prescott pass incomplete deep left intended for
CeeDee Lamb (defended by
Marcus Williams) 0.480 -0.070
1 11:36 2 10 DAL 23 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott right tackle for no gain (tackle by
Malcolm Jenkins) -0.070 -0.760
1 10:57 3 10 DAL 23 0 0
Dak Prescott pass incomplete short middle intended for
Noah Brown (def
Game 13:
1 14:56 1 10 DAL 29 0 0 Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by Daron Payne) 0.870 0.870
1 14:24 2 6 DAL 33 0 0 Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Dalton Schultz for 4 yards (tackle by Jamin Da
Game 14
1 14:55 1 10 DAL 14 0 0 Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Michael Gallup for 9 yards (tackle by Jarren Williams) -0.280 0.550
1 14:25 2 1 DAL 23 0 0 Ezekiel Elliott right tackle for 3 yards (tackle by Leonard Williams)
Game 15
1 15:00 1 10 DAL 25 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to
Amari Cooper for 7 yards (tackle by
Darryl Roberts) 0.610 1.010
1 14:42 2 3 DAL 32 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott right tackle for 2 yards (tackle by
Daron Payne and
Montez Swe
Game 16
1 14:55 1 10 DAL 20 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to
Michael Gallup for 9 yards (tackle by
Isaiah Simmons) 0.280 0.950
1 14:32 2 1 DAL 29 0 0
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to
Michael Gallup for 6 yards (tackle by
Byron Murphy) 0.950 1.270
1 14:01 1 10 DAL 35 0 0
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by
Jalen Thompson and
Zach Allen)
Came out throwing to Gallup.. got a quick first down then immediately stopped attacking..
Game 17:
1 9:41 1 10 DAL 25 0 7
Ezekiel Elliott left end for 5 yards (tackle by
Andre Chachere)
I'd have to go watch this one .. I don't recall it being an outside run..
But the pattern is clear. The delay handoff up the middle is scripted into our first 3-4 play calls nearly every game as are the short passes to the TE or the WR screen. We only went down the field early in three games and one of those was in a 20 mph wind.
If you want to put some of this on the players then okay.. but if the players are not capable of executing a more sophisticated game plan than hand off up the middle or short passes then we need new players. I'm more inclined to believe we need new coaches.