Ball Control vs. High Octane

[pgreptom]

I think we will attempt ball control every game from the start to setup play action and easy 2nd/3rd down completions for first down(screens, short routes). Unfortunately I think after halftime in a lot of games we will be forced to go high octane mode..

 

[Hoov]

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

lol funny

 

[CCBoy]

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)

The usual, quality posting that reveals yet another relationship well researched. Thanks as usual, Percy.

 

[Doomsday101]

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?

I hope to see a bit of both over the course of the season. An offense that is capable of striking quick as well as an offense who can run the ball and control the clock. Defensive play will also factor into it. If Dallas falls behind they will have to start airing it out.

 

[CATCH17]

For me personally I love how New England runs their offense.

They can spread you out or they can use 2 tight ends and run it right at you.

That is the exact model that I would like to see the Cowboys try to follow.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

With a defense that is going to be as bad as our is going to be they're going to have to do everything they can to control the clock and simply keep the other offense off the field.

 

[morasp]

It's exactly what we should do against the Eagles. Hurry up offense is great as long as you get first downs but when you don't the defense doesn't get much rest. Add to that getting pounded by a lot running plays and by the third quarter you could probably run every play and get first downs. Two of the better games we had defensively were against the Eagles and I think it was Kiffin's experience from playing Oregon in college. On a lot of plays it seemed like we were in their huddle and Foles just threw the ball away.

 

[LOBO7]

The problem with ball control game plans, you eventually end up with 3rd downs.
With 3rd downs you will eventually have a dropped pass, deflections, penalties or
plays that come up short. With our current defense the next thing you
know is that you no longer have a choice because you are behind.

I say attack their weakness and never stop. If they cant stop Dez
then shove Dez down their throat until it kills them.

The only time I would consider ball control is if I had at least a 7 pt lead. How many times has Romo given this team the lead in the 4th qtr to watch our D get rolled?
It doesnt matter how much time is left the other team will score.
Thats been our recent history.

If we had a good reliable D then a ball control game plan could be an option.
As it stands we should try to stay away from 3rd downs all together.
Even if you are successful 50% of the time on 3rd downs that means
you kicked half your possessions away or settled for a FG.
As it stands we will need more points than that. That means attack on 2nd down.
Routes that are beyond the the needed yardage.

Attack Attack Attack. Once you establish a 7 or more point lead then
ball control becomes a choice.

This comes from having no faith that our D can stop anyone.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

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?

tough o answer. do you try to go toe to toe like we did against Denver last year? or do you try to keep their offense on the sideline so they don't score. ability to have ball control I critical specially at the end of the games. mot gams go into he 4th qurter still undecided and that's when you need an edge to kill the clock and control the last few minutes

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

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

linehan? conservative? run happy? hmmm interesting take

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

The problem with ball control game plans, you eventually end up with 3rd downs.
With 3rd downs you will eventually have a dropped pass, deflections, penalties or
plays that come up short. With our current defense the next thing you
know is that you no longer have a choice because you are behind.

I say attack their weakness and never stop. If they cant stop Dez
then shove Dez down their throat until it kills them.

The only time I would consider ball control is if I had at least a 7 pt lead. How many times has Romo given this team the lead in the 4th qtr to watch our D get rolled?
It doesnt matter how much time is left the other team will score.
Thats been our recent history.

If we had a good reliable D then a ball control game plan could be an option.
As it stands we should try to stay away from 3rd downs all together.
Even if you are successful 50% of the time on 3rd downs that means
you kicked half your possessions away or settled for a FG.
As it stands we will need more points than that. That means attack on 2nd down.
Routes that are beyond the the needed yardage.

Attack Attack Attack. Once you establish a 7 or more point lead then
ball control becomes a choice.

This comes from having no faith that our D can stop anyone.

this is somewhat flawed logic. if you end up with dropped pass, deflection, penalties. won't you have that on first n second down, which leads to the same thing? the ultimate goal I to keep the defense guessing is it pass or is it run. ability to run n fist and second downs to shorten he down and distance will go a ong way to help the pssin games.

 

[xwalker]

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.

2006 is interesting

Steven Jackson had a career high in number of carries that year with 346. His career average is 255.

 

[perrykemp]

2006 is interesting

Steven Jackson had a career high in number of carries that year with 346. His career average is 255.

Jackson basically had almost all (81%) the carries that year -- he ran it 346 times out of 424 total rushes for the Rams that year.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

There's no reason why you can't be a high octane offense that runs the ball and keeps the pass:run ratio close to 50/50.

For all of the talk of the Eagles high octane offense, they ran the ball nearly 50% of the time. As Chip Kelly has said you can score a lot of points without having to throw the ball all of the time.

This is what Denver did in the Shanahan era. They were a high octane offense that ran the ball a ton. So they could score a lot of points and eat up time off the clock. Now the opponent has to score fairly quickly to catch up and the only way they know how is to throw the ball.

Absolutely no reason why we can't give Murray 18 carries a game and split 12 carries between Dunbar, Randle and Williams.

That will cut down the amount of throws Romo has to make, keep our defense off the field which helps them stay healthy and well...not suck.

Sure beats the plan of throwing it 50 times in a game and running it 10 times and wondering why the defense can't stay healthy and gives up a ton of points.





YR

 

[Red Dragon]

High octane.

Ball control lost us the 2007 Giants playoff game.

 

[TrailBlazer]

I think Dallas will stick to whatever is working best. If the pass is working, then pass. I think it will be at least 60/40 in favor of the pass.

 

[LandryFan]

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

Great point! I have a feeling that will happen...a lot!

 

[DFWJC]

I want to run more than we have. It'll be huge in short yardage situations as well.

However...
A run game can only protect a defense so much.
Can anyone name the last time a team with a terrible defense won anything without throwing it a lot?
I can't.
The great run teams usually are accompanied by a stout defense.
Last year it was Seattle, San Francisco, and Carolina. Best run games and best defenses.
The Giants, Bears, and Ravens teams that had great defenses were ground and pound too.

Just give me some degree of balance and a run game that at times can close a game out or get that third and short when needed and I'm fine.
This team is loaded in the passing game, so it'd be a waste to take advantage of that.