Ball Control vs. High Octane

[CyberB0b]

Bill Parcells was the king of ball control. I think it ended up biting him in the rear in 2006, because the Seahawks secondary was decimated, and they were signing guys off the street. I think Pete Hunter was selling cars or something.

We keep hearing how they play on controlling the clock, which will help Romo, but I am curious how that will stack up against the high paced, high powered Eagles offense.

How do you guys think it will stack up? How far on the ball control side of the spectrum do you think we will go?

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

It all depends on how much input the pass happy Red has.

 

[Alexander]

It all depends on how much input the pass happy Red has.

Gosh, I hope he does not clash with the run happy conservative play caller that Linehan is. That could cause problems.

 

[50cent]

If you are referring to ball control as running more, who's to say that part can't produce high octane results like we expect the pass to provide? If I can score via the run, demoralize opposing defense in the process by out-physicalling them and keeping their opposing high octane off the field, I'm all for it.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Gosh, I hope he does not clash with the run happy conservative play caller that Linehan is. That could cause problems.

By comparison, Linehan prob would look somewhat run happy and conservative. How many guys have you seen abandon the run as much as Red?

 

[CCBoy]

As long as the team runs the ball in the Red Zone, effectively, I'm a happy camper.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

As long as they score more points than the other team I could care less how they get there.

BUT that being said, there are ways that have historically been more successful at achieving that goal than other ways.

 

[perrykemp]

By comparison, Linehan prob would look somewhat run happy and conservative. How many guys have you seen abandon the run as much as Red?

Matthews Stafford broke the NFL record in passing attempts (727) in 2012 -- a record he still holds. In 2011 a threw it 663 times -- the 5th most in NFL history. In 2013 Stafford threw it 634 times -- the 17th most in NFL history.

In other words Scott Linehan was the OC for one of the top 2 pass heavy, unbalanced offenses in history of the NFL. Only the Saints for 2011-2013 threw it more over that time period.

My point is, despite however Linehan might have ran the ball back in his days in St. Louis, I'm just not sure why everyone is so confident that Linehan is going to be the savior of balanced offenses.

 

[xwalker]

Bill Parcells was the king of ball control. I think it ended up biting him in the rear in 2006, because the Seahawks secondary was decimated, and they were signing guys off the street. I think Pete Hunter was selling cars or something.

We keep hearing how they play on controlling the clock, which will help Romo, but I am curious how that will stack up against the high paced, high powered Eagles offense.

How do you guys think it will stack up? How far on the ball control side of the spectrum do you think we will go?

My understand is that the difference that Linehan brings, especially with this OLine, is that they will dictate to the defense instead of taking what the defense gives them like they did in the past.

In an interview Linehan was saying they have to run when they want to run. I think he was saying that in the past they would only run when the defense showed specific looks.

Last year I remember Callahan saying basically the opposite. He talked about needing to only run when the defense showed certain looks.

I didn't hear Linehan, Garrett or the Joneses say anything specific about time of possession or ball control, just that they would run more. I realize it seems similar, but I think there's a difference. I think they want to run to be less predictable and to have shorter distances on 3rd down. The reason they were bad on 3rd down last year, is because they were one of if not the worst in terms of how many yards (on average) they had to gain on third down.

 

[xwalker]

Matthews Stafford broke the NFL record in passing attempts (727) in 2012 -- a record he still holds. In 2011 a threw it 663 times -- the 5th most in NFL history. In 2013 Stafford threw it 634 times -- the 17th most in NFL history.

In other words Scott Linehan was the OC for one of the top 2 pass heavy, unbalanced offenses in history of the NFL. Only the Saints for 2011-2013 threw it more over that time period.

My point is, despite however Linehan might have ran the ball back in his days in St. Louis, I'm just not sure why everyone is so confident that Linehan is going to be the savior of balanced offenses.

I might just throw it to Megatron on every down until teams consistently stopped him. When he had Steven Jackson he ran a lot and when he had Megatron he passed a lot.

 

[Corso]

Bill Parcells was the king of ball control. I think it ended up biting him in the rear in 2006, because the Seahawks secondary was decimated, and they were signing guys off the street. I think Pete Hunter was selling cars or something.

We keep hearing how they play on controlling the clock, which will help Romo, but I am curious how that will stack up against the high paced, high powered Eagles offense.

How do you guys think it will stack up? How far on the ball control side of the spectrum do you think we will go?

This is a very good question that demands attention instead of one-liners.
We can make a safe assumption that this team is heavy at one end of the spectrum and light at the other.

The game-plan will be of utmost importance for each team they play to minimize the weaknesses and maximize the strengths, but certain teams pose some real challenges which require some truly creative strategies.
I don't claim to have any answers- there are many posters here who can do a much better job than I could.
One thing is certain.
This season will not be a simple one for this coaching staff.

 

[Brooksey]

Bill Parcells was the king of ball control. I think it ended up biting him in the rear in 2006, because the Seahawks secondary was decimated, and they were signing guys off the street. I think Pete Hunter was selling cars or something.

We keep hearing how they play on controlling the clock, which will help Romo, but I am curious how that will stack up against the high paced, high powered Eagles offense.

How do you guys think it will stack up? How far on the ball control side of the spectrum do you think we will go?

Kiffen owns Chip Kelly in the NFL, kind of odd considering how we played defense against the rest of the league.

I think we hold up just fine. If we sustain long drives and they go hurry up three and out, their defense is in trouble.

We can always pick up our pace and go pass happy shotgun.

 

[xwalker]

This is a very good question that demands attention instead of one-liners.
We can make a safe assumption that this team is heavy at one end of the spectrum and light at the other.

The game-plan will be of utmost importance for each team they play to minimize the weaknesses and maximize the strengths, but certain teams pose some real challenges which require some truly creative strategies.
I don't claim to have any answers- there are many posters here who can do a much better job than I could.
One thing is certain.
This season will not be a simple one for this coaching staff.

I have a good feeling about this coaching staff. There's things I notice that show some really good coaching from the assistants. The coordination in the blocking scheme between the OLine, TEs, RBs and even WRs has been good. The OL has added a lot of talent, but they also demonstrate really good fundamentals which indicate quality coaching.

I don't always understand Marinelli's defensive principles as well as what I see on offense, but I think he's a well proven DC. They seem to coach the DB on better fundamental than when Campo was the DB coach. Issues like looking for the ball in the air and that type of thing seem much better than it was a few years ago.

 

[Hoofbite]

What if other teams play ball control to keep Dallas' offense off the field?

 

[percyhoward]

We need to run better when the defense is expecting run.

Dallas Rushing, 2013
The good
1st-3rd Quarter
1st Down %: 28.3 (2nd)
Yards/Rush: 4.9 (4th)

The bad
4th Quarter, with lead
1st Down %: 19.0 (15th)
Yards/Rush: 2.8 (22nd)

The good
1st or 2nd Down
1st Down %: 24.7 (1st)
Yards/Rush: 4.6 (6th)

The ugly
3rd or 4th Down, 3 Yards or Less to Go
1st Down %: 62.5% (22nd)
Yards/Rush: 1.4 (32nd)

 

[perrykemp]

I might just throw it to Megatron on every down until teams consistently stopped him. When he had Steven Jackson he ran a lot and when he had Megatron he passed a lot.

With Linehan running offenses since he has been HC and then after that OC he ran it as follows:

2006: 39% of the time
2007: 39% of the time
2008: 42% of the time
2009: 39% of the time
2010: 38% of the time
2011: 34% of the time
2012: 34% of the time
2013: 40% of the time

Looks like it got better last year with Detroit at they made a concerted effort to run it more.

 

[Alexander]

What if other teams play ball control to keep Dallas' offense off the field?

Minds are being blown.

To me, the inability to stop the run is just as bad as the inability to stop the pass with this defense.

There is nothing to rely on as a strength.

 

[CATCH17]

I say you play to your talent.


This Cowboys offense should be pretty dynamic and capable of doing both.

I'd like to see more ball control later in games because of how bad I'm expecting our defense to be.

 

[Hoofbite]

With Linehan running offenses since he has been HC and then after that OC he ran it as follows:

2006: 39% of the time
2007: 39% of the time
2008: 42% of the time
2009: 39% of the time
2010: 38% of the time
2011: 34% of the time
2012: 34% of the time
2013: 40% of the time

Looks like it got better last year with Detroit at they made a concerted effort to run it more.

I've looked at this as well.

Nobody ran less %-wise than Linehan did over his years in Detroit.

If Dallas runs more it'll be for any reason other than Linehans history.

 

[Alexander]

With Linehan running offenses since he has been HC and then after that OC he ran it as follows:

2006: 39% of the time
2007: 39% of the time
2008: 42% of the time
2009: 39% of the time
2010: 38% of the time
2011: 34% of the time
2012: 34% of the time
2013: 40% of the time

Looks like it got better last year with Detroit at they made a concerted effort to run it more.

I would bet at 34% more than 40%.