Bad Playcalling or QB play?

SackMaster

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I don't know why it's either/or.

If you want to find clips of Dak and/or players missing plays, you can find them.

If you want to find clips of the offense looking like it was drawn up by a 5th Grader, you can find them.

Sometimes the players screw up decent playcalls:
  • Open receivers missed
  • Poor run or pass blocking
  • Terrible runner vision
  • Easily catchable balls dropped
  • Balls fumbled in the RZ
  • Receivers slipping and falling when the pass is thrown to them
  • Poor passing decisions when trying to force the ball to specific players
Sometimes the play designs do not allow for a high chance of success:
  • The old everyone run to the sticks and turn around
  • Multiple WRs in the same vicinity making it easy to cover both
  • Empty backfields against a clear blitz packages
  • Most of our best offensive series so far has been in the 2 minute warning which is typically with less OC/Coach input.
And that's just the offensive side. The defensive side is identical.

IMO, the coaches and players need to both look in the mirror because outside of Aubrey, no one has been blameless for this mess.

But of course, depending on your personal agenda, typically dealing with a certain player, you will probably attempt to put the blame on one side or the other.

So if you believe changing out one player or swapping out one coach fixes it, I got some ocean front property in Dallas TX I would like to sell you.

Just sayin'
 

thunderpimp91

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I'm not sure that play calling is really the issue, or at least not a major issue.....150+ snaps in we can certainly find issues somewhere if you look hard enough. Dak hasn't played well overall, he's looked great for periods of all three games this year, but the overall body of work has been very average. The issue I continue to go back to is simply a lack of overall talent/execution on that side of the football.

Both T positions have been liabilities this year which really limits how much of your playbook you have available. You simply can't run those longer developing routes often, and when you do you are typically forced to keep in 6-7 guys to protect. You lack a 2nd receiver for teams to account for, and your run game is among the worst in the league.

This is an uphill battle where both Dak and McCarthy are trying to make the best of bad situations. I feel bad for McCarthy because he is the one who is going to need to pull off a miracle to avoid being the scapegoat as Jerry tries to sell hope to the fans through signing a new HC instead of going out and actually adding veteran talent to the roster.
 

TequilaCowboy

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I would have to say the problem is both. And that’s why the solution is not gonna be simple. Vanilla game plans, awful play calling, bad QB play from a one read QB .

Like cooking a meal with rotten ingredients, you get crap no matter what.
 

DuncanIso

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I'm not sure that play calling is really the issue, or at least not a major issue.....150+ snaps in we can certainly find issues somewhere if you look hard enough. Dak hasn't played well overall, he's looked great for periods of all three games this year, but the overall body of work has been very average. The issue I continue to go back to is simply a lack of overall talent/execution on that side of the football.

Both T positions have been liabilities this year which really limits how much of your playbook you have available. You simply can't run those longer developing routes often, and when you do you are typically forced to keep in 6-7 guys to protect. You lack a 2nd receiver for teams to account for, and your run game is among the worst in the league.

This is an uphill battle where both Dak and McCarthy are trying to make the best of bad situations. I feel bad for McCarthy because he is the one who is going to need to pull off a miracle to avoid being the scapegoat as Jerry tries to sell hope to the fans through signing a new HC instead of going out and actually adding veteran talent to the roster.
Someday they will replace Dak with Trey Lance.
 

JW82

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Its not the play calling, its the plays. The scheme sucks. Dak isn't the reason they haven't had an average run game in years. Not defending him, I am done with him, but mike's O is a 2004 scheme in a 2024 league. Time for a good young mind.
 

CWR

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I don't know why it's either/or.

If you want to find clips of Dak and/or players missing plays, you can find them.

If you want to find clips of the offense looking like it was drawn up by a 5th Grader, you can find them.

Sometimes the players screw up decent playcalls:
  • Open receivers missed
  • Poor run or pass blocking
  • Terrible runner vision
  • Easily catchable balls dropped
  • Balls fumbled in the RZ
  • Receivers slipping and falling when the pass is thrown to them
  • Poor passing decisions when trying to force the ball to specific players
Sometimes the play designs do not allow for a high chance of success:
  • The old everyone run to the sticks and turn around
  • Multiple WRs in the same vicinity making it easy to cover both
  • Empty backfields against a clear blitz packages
  • Most of our best offensive series so far has been in the 2 minute warning which is typically with less OC/Coach input.
And that's just the offensive side. The defensive side is identical.

IMO, the coaches and players need to both look in the mirror because outside of Aubrey, no one has been blameless for this mess.

But of course, depending on your personal agenda, typically dealing with a certain player, you will probably attempt to put the blame on one side or the other.

So if you believe changing out one player or swapping out one coach fixes it, I got some ocean front property in Dallas TX I would like to sell you.

Just sayin'
It's almost always a comedy of errors. First and foremost though, I expect my coaches to put my players in a position to succeed. Then I'll focus on execution.

On defense we've seen a lot of evidence of free lancing so I'm having a harder time blaming coaching there.
 

Creeper

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It is impossible to judge without being in Dak's shoes to see what he is seeing. Guys who look open from a top view might not look that open from ground level where the QB is standing. But from this video of a few plays, it does not look like Cowboys receivers are getting a lot of separation early. Dak has to decide who will break open after he releases the ball.
 

TwentyOne

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I don't know why it's either/or.

If you want to find clips of Dak and/or players missing plays, you can find them.
This is a triviality.

It get meaningfull when you quantify it. And our bum at qb produces "missed" plays on a regular basis. What he should do as an nfl qb is to produce "complete" plays on a regular basis.
 

TwentyOne

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You decide.


This is not that easy. As a playcaller you have to adapt to the talent level of your qb. That gets very complicated when it is so low as with our qb. He can essentially throw only fly routes to the te over the middle on constant basis. Everything else is always pure luck with him.

But as an playcaller you want to call plays from which you know that in 90% of the time your qb is able to make them. So every playcaller will look one dimensional and not creative with this qb.

As an example look at how many sweeps we a running by wrs. Is that because our wrs are so great runners? No its because you need speed to turn the corner. Speed our rbs lack.

So you are handcuffed as a playcaller when your players lack certain skills. And with our qb the "list of lack" is so long you are quicker to note which ones he has: great leader, great talker, great businessman.
 
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zrinkill

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Dak has had success before ........ he does not look comfortable behind this rebuilt line or the pass plays.

He is not a great passer ....... but the scheme and oline are not helping him at all.
 
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