Biggest Offensive problem?

[Chuck 54]

Fans want to blame the coaches for not winning without Romo.
Jerry blames the coaches for not coaching them up.
Fans want to blame Jerry for not having better backup QBs.
Jerry has to wonder why a bum like Weedon could win two games for Houston without even knowing their offense.
I wonder why the offense under Romo, even in victories, struggled.

The answer seems simple to me. We have a serious lack of playmakers on offense.

• Witten, possible hall of fame player, is not a playmaker any more...just a roll player
• McFadden exceeds all expectations, but despite his speed, doesn't make guys in the secondary miss, so while there are big plays, no long TDs
• Terence Williams is unreliable...at best, he can surprise for big plays and TDs IF Dez draws double teams
• Cole Beasley and others....not playmakers--one can only hope that Lucky Whitehead becomes a playmaker from the slot and on screens/reverses
• Dez missed games and was never himself this season...not a playmaker in 2015...we can only hope he makes a full recovery and becomes a playmaker again in 2016.

Weedon is a nobody, captain check down, a bum....but Cassell (the savior) who will throw downfield becomes a check down bum and looks like he's never played in the NFL through 8 starts, looking like he has no idea what to do with the ball. Moore comes in and appears to read the defense, know the system, and despite a weak arm, gets the ball out quickly and to the right guys--maybe he's the answer, but in his first start, like Weeden w/o a healthy Dez, suddenly can't generate a TD.

Weeden suddenly has playmakers in Houston, guys who win in match ups, guys like Hopkins, and he performs better without even knowing the offense...still was only 3rd string in Houston, but a serviceable backup in two critical and/or competitive games.

Maybe it's not just the system, the coaches, or the GM; maybe Romo does better just by getting us into the right plays at the line (okay, no maybe on that one), but the bottom line is there wasn't a single playmaker on offense without a healthy Dez drawing full attention of the defense.

This offense, even with Romo, needs playmakers....it cannot live on 10-15 play drives of 80 yards. Even if Dez returns healthy next season, we would be foolish not to add another playmaker on offense at RB, TE, or WR, a playmaker who can score.

The reason Emmitt Smith was there for us at pick 17 is because the NFL, despite his college career, labeled him too small and too slow. Jimmy Johnson said, "he doesn't run fast, but he sure had a lot of long TD runs of 60-70 yards at Florida." He was a playmaker.

Those long drives without a playmaker were difficult for Romo this year...impossible for even a decent backup. A backup QB needs a playmaker if not two...he needs a go-to guy. Sadly, in 2015, from Romo to Moore, all four QBs had only Witten as a go-to guy.

 

[Alexander]

Design.

It wouldn't matter if we added Pro Bowlers across the board.

 

[cml750]

Design.

It wouldn't matter if we added Pro Bowlers across the board.

Agreed but I would also add predictability to that.

 

[visionary]

Design.

It wouldn't matter if we added Pro Bowlers across the board.

This
It is coaching and coaching and coaching

 

[Clove]

I don't like this ball-control offense anymore . Makes us look old, slow, boring, and it's not very successful. This is a passing league now with runs sprinkled in.

 

[Sydla]

At the risk of getting a delete and ban, I think the first problem is the coaching. Look around the league and you see back ups winning a few games here or there and keeping their teams in contention. Why couldn't that happen here? Before the season, there were many fans thinking this was one of the most talented teams we've seen in years in Dallas and if that was the case, then a backup QB like Weeden or Cassel should have been able to steal a few games here or there but didn't.

I think that's primarily a coaching issue.

That doesn't mean that the offense doesn't have some talent shortcomings going forward. Witten, while effective, isn't the same player he was 5 years ago. Escobar has been a disappointment so TE needs an upgrade soon. And yes, we could use a #2 WR. Williams just isn't that guy it appears.

How many long TD runs did Murray rip off? Not a lot. Honestly, I don't think the drop off to McFadden is that great in terms of "playmaking" skills. Murray wasn't a gamebreaker himself. He was just a very tough, effective runner running behind arguably the best OL in football last year. Watch him this year and it's clear he's not an elite game breaker at TB. McCoy ran for over 1300 yards last year in that Philly offense with a mediocre OL and Murray can't manage even 700 yards this year.

I think the problems will continue to manifest themselves if Romo gets hurt. People can pound their fists on the table about drafting Lynch or Goff which would give us a legit backup QB but I don't think either of those guys would have won any more games than Cassel or Weeden did this year. And I think that ties back to the coaching, which I believe is just barely adequate.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

So its not Jerry.

Its not Red.

Its not our QB's.

Its lack of talent?

Did I get it right or did I miss something?

Im confused. I thot that 5 yrs into this marvelous process we had built a talent laden roster to win for years to come. But its still not Jerry or Red thats the probem?

 

[Risen Star]

Design.

It wouldn't matter if we added Pro Bowlers across the board.

Ridiculous.

Did we design a new offense from last year's highly productive one?

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

The problem seems to be that they can't score touchdowns anymore. Thank god for Bailey.

 

[kevm3]

It's coaching. If I and many others can sit and predict what we're going to do next, I can already imagine defensive coordinators know what's coming. We just had a lucky year last year with everyone healthy and Demarco Murray playing out of his mind, Dez playing well and Romo playing excellent... combined with the best O line in football. We need exceptional talent to field a decent offense and that tells me it's a coaching problem.

 

[percyhoward]

I don't like this ball-control offense anymore.

Ball control loses its effectiveness when you don't score touchdowns at the end of those drives.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

The problem seems to be that they can't score touchdowns anymore. Thank god for Bailey.

Yea nothing like stacking 3 pts on top of 3 pts while the other team is racking up 7 spots on top of 7's.

At least we arent getting shut out

 

[Floatyworm]

Some of it is design.....We just don't run crossing routes nor do we overload a side and make teams adjust.

WRs dropping balls are killing us......

WRs not getting seperation is killing us.

Not having a play making scatback like Dunbar is killing us

 

[cml750]

Maybe Jerry can petition the league to make 50 + yard field goals worth seven points to help out our offense.

 

[Junglist]

Ridiculous.

Did we design a new offense from last year's highly productive one?

No, but last year was just as predictable and vanilla as this year. We just got away with it because of Murray. Now that we don't have Romo, or Murray, we still run an offense as if we do.

 

[Chuck 54]

Design.

It wouldn't matter if we added Pro Bowlers across the board.

So you think different coaches with a different system could win with the offensive players we ran out there this season...if that's true, then we must hire coaches who can make chicken salad from chicken crap because I think McFadden has been our offensive MVP, and that's sad.

 

[Bullet22]

It is about time to stop the DMC stuff..the problem is coaching..yes we have been snake bit this season...but coaching is awful.....

 

[Bullet22]

So you think different coaches with a different system could win with the offensive players we ran out there this season...if that's true, then we must hire coaches who can make chicken salad from chicken crap because I think McFadden has been our offensive MVP, and that's sad.

Why is it sad...Murray was a benefactor of having a great line, Romo and Dez being healthy...

 

[Chuck 54]

At the risk of getting a delete and ban, I think the first problem is the coaching. Look around the league and you see back ups winning a few games here or there and keeping their teams in contention. Why couldn't that happen here? Before the season, there were many fans thinking this was one of the most talented teams we've seen in years in Dallas and if that was the case, then a backup QB like Weeden or Cassel should have been able to steal a few games here or there but didn't.

I think that's primarily a coaching issue.

That doesn't mean that the offense doesn't have some talent shortcomings going forward. Witten, while effective, isn't the same player he was 5 years ago. Escobar has been a disappointment so TE needs an upgrade soon. And yes, we could use a #2 WR. Williams just isn't that guy it appears.

How many long TD runs did Murray rip off? Not a lot. Honestly, I don't think the drop off to McFadden is that great in terms of "playmaking" skills. Murray wasn't a gamebreaker himself. He was just a very tough, effective runner running behind arguably the best OL in football last year. Watch him this year and it's clear he's not an elite game breaker at TB. McCoy ran for over 1300 yards last year in that Philly offense with a mediocre OL and Murray can't manage even 700 yards this year.

I think the problems will continue to manifest themselves if Romo gets hurt. People can pound their fists on the table about drafting Lynch or Goff which would give us a legit backup QB but I don't think either of those guys would have won any more games than Cassel or Weeden did this year. And I think that ties back to the coaching, which I believe is just barely adequate.

I agree completely about Murray...my argument wasn't that he was a playmaker...he wasn't. My point was that our backup QB never had a single playmaker on the field the entire season.

 

[Derinyar]

So you think different coaches with a different system could win with the offensive players we ran out there this season...if that's true, then we must hire coaches who can make chicken salad from chicken crap because I think McFadden has been our offensive MVP, and that's sad.

The problem is our offensive MVP is probably our center this year.