Back To The Same Predictable Offense

[Blackspider214]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

the saints game plan was to pressure dak and not give him time to throw. they attacked the line and they had a bunch of run blitzes that worked. our OL struggled all night. to your point, we could have adjusted and kept extra man in to help block, but that would mean less recievers in routes.....what the issue was we couldnt' handle their pressure up front....do that and the game is different.

and in a low scoring game, every mistake becomes that much bigger. Dak missed Cobb in the end zone and instead of 7, we got 3 points...Witten fumbled, where it could have led to another 3 points, Zeke fumbled (agree or not), he should have protected the ball better on a 4th and 1 to leave no doubt....convert the 4th down and it could have been different, Cobb missed a catch (I think that was bad throw by Dak) and we miss another opportunity.....

any one of those things could have changed the outcome of the game.....and we all sit here and throw accolades at the team on how they showed guts and pulled out a close one

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

pretty spot on

 

[ScipioCowboy]

I don’t think so. I think the offense was just unsuccessful.

 

[Ranching]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

I agree, it was weird!!!

 

[32BellyOption]

The biggest disappointment is not using Pollard. He has more wiggle than Zeke and might have made some plays for us. It was almost as if Linehan was calling the plays last night.

 

[DenCWBY]

The biggest disappointment is not using Pollard. He has more wiggle than Zeke and might have made some plays for us. It was almost as if Linehan was calling the plays last night.

I appreciate this but I seriously doubt Pollard would have made a difference. I didn't see any gapping holes for anyone to run through. It was like they knew whether we were going to run or not before the ball was snapped.

 

[cowboygo]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

Agree.

I had enjoyed our offense where we passed to set up the run. I can't believe we continued to "establish the run" in the 4th quarter. Take what the defense is giving you, just like TeddyB did. Regardless, the 2 fumbles, Cobb's misfire and his drop did us in. Our conservative game-plan only works if we don't make mistakes. There were at least 4 mistakes in the game.

 

[cowboygo]

the saints game plan was to pressure dak and not give him time to throw. they attacked the line and they had a bunch of run blitzes that worked. our OL struggled all night. to your point, we could have adjusted and kept extra man in to help block, but that would mean less recievers in routes.....what the issue was we couldnt' handle their pressure up front....do that and the game is different.

and in a low scoring game, every mistake becomes that much bigger. Dak missed Cobb in the end zone and instead of 7, we got 3 points...Witten fumbled, where it could have led to another 3 points, Zeke fumbled (agree or not), he should have protected the ball better on a 4th and 1 to leave no doubt....convert the 4th down and it could have been different, Cobb missed a catch (I think that was bad throw by Dak) and we miss another opportunity.....

any one of those things could have changed the outcome of the game.....and we all sit here and throw accolades at the team on how they showed guts and pulled out a close one

Yup, these were the 2018 Cowboys. This is why Dak has had so many 4th qtr GWDs. We were on the right side on so many 50/50 games last year. If we continue to gameplan like this, it will continue to be 50/50 win or loss.

Limit mistakes, and the conservative gameplan works.

 

[Mr_437]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

 

[TexasBoys2288]

Our offensive genius was not too smart last night, very vanilla. It did look like Linehan play calls of old and it did not help the refs screwing us over.

 

[32BellyOption]

I appreciate this but I seriously doubt Pollard would have made a difference. I didn't see any gapping holes for anyone to run through. It was like they knew whether we were going to run or not before the ball was snapped.

I think Pollard is more decisive and hits the hole faster and is more elusive. All we needed was one more big play to win and a guy like Pollard is quite capable. I’d like to see him get 8-10 touches a game at least.

 

[Blue&Silver]

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. And it had nothing to do with playing a better team. Our gameplan was back to the same Garrett/Linehan junk. So many runs on 1st down. Hardly ever attacking and getting the Saints on their heels. Back to the same stale comebacks and slow developing out routes. Hardly anything getting our receivers up the field with chances for YAC. Having zero desire to move the ball. Playing so close to the vest and getting into so many 3rd downs. How many times do we need to run the ball on 1st down when it was clearly tough sledding? Open it up and soften them up by attacking the defense.

I would have zero issues with losing a game playing the style we played the first 3 weeks and it didn't go out way. But that gameplan and approach was the same ol same ol we are used to around here. Now I have very little confidence in what we will even see week to week. I have no idea if something happened behind the scenes or something we don't know but that was the total opposite gameplan and approach we had the first 3 weeks. Did they get scared of NO on the road and go into a shell?

I'm not buying into all this. We didn't change anything from week 1 to week 4 it was the Saints defense that dictated how we played. Let's give credit where credit is due the Saints had a better game plan, and where the better team.

 

[Cowfan75]

I'm terrified to see what the game plan will be for next week. Surely it can't continue.

 

[Bullflop]

Sunday night's game struck me like JG pulled rank on Moore and talked him into going with the same old offensive game plan from the past. Of course, it's just a guess on my part but what we saw in games 1 and 2 had all the fingerprints of Moore, while what happened last night was totally Garrett's old trash, beyond any reasonable doubt.

It seems like what Jerry told Moore went right out the window, about letting him know if Garrett tries to force him to go back to the old ways. It's my hope that what happened vs. the Saints doesn't become an ongoing problem. On a fairly more positive note, if it does continue, like it or not, it could easily mark the end of JG's reign as HC and quite possibly, a more up to date offensive system.

 

[Denim Chicken]

I'm not buying into all this. We didn't change anything from week 1 to week 4 it was the Saints defense that dictated how we played. Let's give credit where credit is due the Saints had a better game plan, and where the better team.

Not true. We turned away from what was making this offense work.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

My take- it was just one bad game. Let's be glad it's out of the way.

The Cowboys had some chances for big plays last night, but the offensive line was a bit off and everything else just went awry from there. And while I'm not singling this out as the reason for the loss, I have no idea how Marshon Lattimore got away with mugging Amari Cooper all night. And Cooper is the one that got two offfensive PI calls.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

Interesting Point. I will throw out an alternate theory. We did see a different game plan last night than in the first 3 games. Why is the question so I have been thinking about it and no sure even I agree with my own theory here but want to discuss it anyway. I am trying to think as a Head Coach, not a Fan with this. So here goes:

With Teddy B as the QB, you have to feel they won't score a lot of points. So how many points do I need to win. I would feel comfortable saying 17-20 points and we will win this game. Also figure in I think my team is good and we will make the playoffs and that they will make the playoffs as well, especially in that division. So how much do I really want to show them tonight? Just enough to get to 17 points vs, going full steam ahead and let them see what we have for them?

I think they game planned to be a low scoring game and doing just enough to win this. I don't agree with it but I can't help but think that is what they did. After all, we know Eli Apple. We know he can be exploited. Yet I don't think we challenged him one time last night. That had to be on purpose.

Now what you don't count on is your HOF TE fumbling the ball on a play that would have led to Points. OR your RB fumbling the ball on a play that extends the drive. Or your QB missing an important throw that would have given you 4 more points. Or your WR dropping passes. Or the Refs calling a roughing the passer penalty that led to points or the time keeper only running 2 seconds off the clock on a play, allowing another play and leading to 3 points.

But it didn't work out. On to next week. I expect another conservative plan next week on Offense but it may work better if we can get the run game going. I bet we do because our OL should be embarrassed about last night and out to prove something.

 

[Brooksey]

Zeke never cut back one of those zone runs just ran into the teeth of it. He had a bad night IMO, he's lacking vision right now and possibly stamina. It was obvious they were using last years game plan, it almost worked again if Witten/Zeke don't fumble

 

[Bullflop]

My take- it was just one bad game. Let's be glad it's out of the way.

The Cowboys had some chances for big plays last night, but the offensive line was a bit off and everything else just went awry from there. And while I'm not singling this out as the reason for the loss, I have no idea how Marshon Lattimore got away with mugging Amari Cooper all night. And Cooper is the one that got two offfensive PI calls.

I'm definitely looking forward to better times when Michael Gallup returns to the offensive lineup. Most of us had a good idea that it would impede our offensive success but I suspect that it was more of a negative factor than what some of us originally realized. He's, without a doubt, become a very integral part of our passing offense. His return will be a serious boost.