Bluestang's Quick Takes - Week 2

[Bluestang]

First and foremost I know I am way late on this post, but I could not watch the game until a few days ago due to reasons beyond my control. I did listen to the radio broadcast with Brad Sham and Babe Laufenberg when the game was live but I just finished watching the TV broadcast.

On to my notes:

- The 1st qtr was pretty good for both teams. The Chiefs defense singled Bryant to start out and Romo made them pay big time with two big throws. From then on the Chiefs had to pretty much double Bryant for the rest of the game. Frederick got a rude awakening by Poe as he couldn't handle his lateral agility and speed. The defense could have had an interception if Will Allen would have finished the play. It was "close, but no cigar."

- The game really changed here in the 2nd qtr. Bob Sutton really threw alot of different blitzes to confuse Romo. He rushed from the right/left, overloaded sides, and in general made Romo unload the ball faster than he wanted to. He also used some old 46 fronts from Buddy Ryan to mix it up...the Chiefs threw alot of different looks at Romo at different situations and you could tell Romo looked uncomfortable. The defense played great and shut them out for the qtr, but Bruce Carter could have had a pick six if he would have finished the play as well. We had a 3 pt lead to end the half.

- The 3rd qtr opening drive was a combination of mental/physical mistakes. Murray missed a huge hole partly because he didn't read Bernadeau's combination/scrape block. Frederick also gave up a sack again to Poe right up the gut which began the red zone problem on that drive. Don't forget that Leary had a false start that prompted the super conservative screen pass. I believe Romo saw the overload blitz coming from his left side but at the last second the S Lewis went to the other side to provide help. It's easy to second guess after the play but it appears Romo played right into Sutton's hand on that play. The defense came up flat this qtr, and Bruce Carter got juked out of his socks by Alex Smith's shoulder fake and got moved out of position trying to follow the QB's eyes. That's the downside of playing zone coverage and not staying disciplined. The next ensuing drive Lance Dunbar fumbles the ball and they take into Cowboys territory. 14-13 to end the 3rd qtr.

- The next offensive drive was another fumble and that one is on Romo for holding the ball on a corner blitz. The next drive featured a wide open Bryant drop on a Romo deep ball. See the pattern yet? Luckily for us the defense came up with a few stops and held them to a FG. The final offensive drive was a bit puzzling because we had plenty of time but Romo/Callahan used an up tempo pace to get downfield. I believed Romo felt the rush prematurely and some of his footwork was poor on his throws. I'm not sure why we went away from running the ball but that surely would have helped stymie the rush some and take time off the clock. We didn't help the defense either as they looked worn down on that final drive.


The takeaway for me watching this game is that we made alot of mistakes that cost us the ball game. 2 fumbles, missed assignments, undisciplined zone coverages, questionable play calling, and pre-snap penalties did this team in. I can see why some people were ready to jump off the ledge considering these are the same problems that have plagued the Cowboys for years.

You have to credit the KC defense for playing a good game. Sutton had Romo going to checkdowns and throwing the ball short when they needed stops. At the same time though we need to be able to grind out yards running the ball even if that means it's 3-4 yds at a time. We had 5 carries for 32 yds in the second half, and they were all in the 3rd qtr. No carries in the 4th qtr at all, which tells me that Romo/Callahan were pressing to get points on the board and it led to more mistakes and to a predictable offense for Sutton.

One last thing...with Bill Callahan calling the plays now and we've seen some of the same old "Jason Garrett tendencies" of pass, pass, pass, punt/FG - can we finally put the onus on Romo now since he's the common denominator?

 

[jobberone]

Nice and on the spot as usual. Nice to see you around.

 

[visionary]

Good post overall and nice observations

I know you as a big Garrett defender so I find it funny that the blame has gone from jerry to wade to callahan/tony

when will Garrett (you know the OC/HC in-waiting for 3 years and the HC of the team for 2.5 years) take the blame/responsibility?

if callahan was calling plays or romo was audibling to plays garrett did not like, why not step in and change things during the game? why wait until later to throw tony/callahan under the bus?

 

[ShiningStar]

at least you took the time and posted and i appreciated the read. Most of it i disagree with, but some you are not to far off of. PS Romo sees more of the field than the coaches, so sometimes he sees things the coaches or viewers cant, and hes going to make mistakes

 

[Bluestang]

Good post overall and nice observations

I know you as a big Garrett defender so I find it funny that the blame has gone from jerry to wade to callahan/tony

when will Garrett (you know the OC/HC in-waiting for 3 years and the HC of the team for 2.5 years) take the blame/responsibility?

if callahan was calling plays or romo was audibling to plays garrett did not like, why not step in and change things during the game? why wait until later to throw tony/callahan under the bus?

The only person I'm critical of is Romo, who has complete control of the offense and has had complete control since T.O. left. The only thing I'm saying is that even under a different playcaller the offense got real pass happy in the 4th qtr for no reason and this is the same stuff that you guys criticized Garrett about and went on about how Romo doesn't fit this offense, etc.

Garrett is more than happy to live with those decisions by Romo because he does more good than bad and Garrett will continue to do so until Romo hangs it up.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

The only person I'm critical of is Romo, who has complete control of the offense and has had complete control since T.O. left.

LOL, what?

 

[Corso]

LOL, what?

That opened my eyes too.
But upon consideration- he does audible A LOT.
Thus giving him more control of the offense.

Maybe that's what he is saying?

 

[Bluestang]

That opened my eyes too.
But upon consideration- he does audible A LOT.
Thus giving him more control of the offense.

Maybe that's what he is saying?

Exactly. I'm not saying that he's putting gameplans together but the fact that he has had "check w/ me calls" and hand signals to WRs (He hand signaled a pass play to Roy Williams vs Hou in 2010 from a designed run play) IMO is complete control of the offense.

The evidence has been there all along, it's in the details.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

That's pretty ridiculous, actually.

Checking into a second call based on coverage certainly isn't "total control of the offense". If he has had control, it's because the OC gave it to him. And if that were the case, why was Garrett so uncomfortable about giving up playcalling if Tony was doing it all anyway?

Also, why did you pick "since TO left" as the point where this began?

Makes no sense. I guess this is your way of blaming someone other than Garrett for the offense underperforming in years past.

 

[Bluestang]

That's pretty ridiculous, actually.

Checking into a second call based on coverage certainly isn't "total control of the offense". If he has had control, it's because the OC gave it to him. And if that were the case, why was Garrett so uncomfortable about giving up playcalling if Tony was doing it all anyway?

Can you explain why we didn't attempt to run the ball in the 4th qtr and only had 5 carries in the 3rd in the second half of the game? Did Garrett all of sudden just cut off Callahan's mic and Wilson's and took over?

Also, why did you pick "since TO left" as the point where this began?

Makes no sense. I guess this is your way of blaming someone other than Garrett for the offense underperforming in years past.

Romo friendly.

 

[khiladi]

Can you explain why we didn't attempt to run the ball in the 4th qtr and only had 5 carries in the 3rd in the second half of the game? Did Garrett all of sudden just cut off Callahan's mic and Wilson's and took over?

How does that in any way answer the question about Garrett bein so uncomfortable giving up playcalling?

Romo friendly.

Huh? Jerry said at the end of last year, that Romo is now going to be more involved in the offense, including the game-planning. If he already had total control, why is he now involved in game-planning?

 

[khiladi]

That opened my eyes too.
But upon consideration- he does audible A LOT.
Thus giving him more control of the offense.

Maybe that's what he is saying?

What necessitates that an audible is a pass to a run? One can audible from one passing situation to another...

 

[Corso]

What necessitates that an audible is a pass to a run? One can audible from one passing situation to another...

True. It was merely a guess.
And all I was really referring to was Bluestang's assumption that Romo controlled the offense.

 

[khiladi]

Just to provide some insight into who was calling plays prior and who abandoned the run:

http://www.***BANNED-URL***/newslet...d-not-abandon-demarco-murray-and-run-game.ece

But with the Cowboys still in the game, Garrett shied away from the run in the second quarter Monday and then couldn’t get back to it because the score got out of hand in the second half as Romo threw interception after interception.

“You want to attack the defense in a lot of different ways,” Garrett said Tuesday. “Patience is important. But also the ability to attack a defense based on where they’re vulnerable and what you can do well. We’ve got to keep attacking these guys different ways … and do it with things we can execute well.”
What’s concerning about this Garrett quote is when he says the Cowboys must attack defenses by what they “can do well” and “can execute well.”
That said, shying away from the running game for Garrett can’t be a good sign for the Cowboys.

I’ve thought all along that the Cowboys will go as far as Murray takes them this season. They have to lean on the running game because Romo can’t do it alone.

We all saw what happens Monday night when the Cowboys have to lean on Romo too much. As Romo said after the loss, he “tried to do too much” and that led to a career-high (low?) tying five interceptions.

So, has the Cowboys’ limited running game impacted Garrett’s play-calling abilities?

“Well, you like to have things that are a given in your offense when you’re calling plays,” Garrett said. “You like to be able to say, ‘Hey, I can run the ball off tackle here and we’re going to make four yards and then I’ll keep this manageable rather than have some of the negative runs that we’ve had. Similarly, you like to do that in the passing game. You like to be able to go, ‘Hey, we can throw that ball for eight yards and here we go, it’s second-and-2. We can convert that for a first down.’ You’re looking for as many givens as you can get to keep that ball moving, give yourself a chance to make some bigger plays.”

On Monday, those bigger plays weren’t there for the Cowboys because they shied away from Murray.

“What you have to do is keep banging away at it,” Garrett said. “There have been situations where we’ve been behind and we’ve had to score more quickly, so we’ve had to throw the ball more than we would probably like to. Balance helps everybody. You have to persist through some of those things. Hopefully, we can get into some game situations where we can do that and maintain that balance for four quarters. I think that helps.”

 

[khiladi]

True. It was merely a guess.
And all I was really referring to was Bluestang's assumption that Romo controlled the offense.

Yeah, it's just a ridiculous assumption. Audible doesn't necessitate going from pass to run. His assumption is rooted in a gross misunderstanding of what an audible can do.

Additionally, the comments of Garrett were clear, i.e. "Well, you like to have things that are a given in your offense when you're calling plays" meaning, what dictated the play-calling for Romo was a set of plays the offense was given to work with that they practiced.

 

[dallasdave]

First and foremost I know I am way late on this post, but I could not watch the game until a few days ago due to reasons beyond my control. I did listen to the radio broadcast with Brad Sham and Babe Laufenberg when the game was live but I just finished watching the TV broadcast.

On to my notes:

- The 1st qtr was pretty good for both teams. The Chiefs defense singled Bryant to start out and Romo made them pay big time with two big throws. From then on the Chiefs had to pretty much double Bryant for the rest of the game. Frederick got a rude awakening by Poe as he couldn't handle his lateral agility and speed. The defense could have had an interception if Will Allen would have finished the play. It was "close, but no cigar."

- The game really changed here in the 2nd qtr. Bob Sutton really threw alot of different blitzes to confuse Romo. He rushed from the right/left, overloaded sides, and in general made Romo unload the ball faster than he wanted to. He also used some old 46 fronts from Buddy Ryan to mix it up...the Chiefs threw alot of different looks at Romo at different situations and you could tell Romo looked uncomfortable. The defense played great and shut them out for the qtr, but Bruce Carter could have had a pick six if he would have finished the play as well. We had a 3 pt lead to end the half.

- The 3rd qtr opening drive was a combination of mental/physical mistakes. Murray missed a huge hole partly because he didn't read Bernadeau's combination/scrape block. Frederick also gave up a sack again to Poe right up the gut which began the red zone problem on that drive. Don't forget that Leary had a false start that prompted the super conservative screen pass. I believe Romo saw the overload blitz coming from his left side but at the last second the S Lewis went to the other side to provide help. It's easy to second guess after the play but it appears Romo played right into Sutton's hand on that play. The defense came up flat this qtr, and Bruce Carter got juked out of his socks by Alex Smith's shoulder fake and got moved out of position trying to follow the QB's eyes. That's the downside of playing zone coverage and not staying disciplined. The next ensuing drive Lance Dunbar fumbles the ball and they take into Cowboys territory. 14-13 to end the 3rd qtr.

- The next offensive drive was another fumble and that one is on Romo for holding the ball on a corner blitz. The next drive featured a wide open Bryant drop on a Romo deep ball. See the pattern yet? Luckily for us the defense came up with a few stops and held them to a FG. The final offensive drive was a bit puzzling because we had plenty of time but Romo/Callahan used an up tempo pace to get downfield. I believed Romo felt the rush prematurely and some of his footwork was poor on his throws. I'm not sure why we went away from running the ball but that surely would have helped stymie the rush some and take time off the clock. We didn't help the defense either as they looked worn down on that final drive.


The takeaway for me watching this game is that we made alot of mistakes that cost us the ball game. 2 fumbles, missed assignments, undisciplined zone coverages, questionable play calling, and pre-snap penalties did this team in. I can see why some people were ready to jump off the ledge considering these are the same problems that have plagued the Cowboys for years.

You have to credit the KC defense for playing a good game. Sutton had Romo going to checkdowns and throwing the ball short when they needed stops. At the same time though we need to be able to grind out yards running the ball even if that means it's 3-4 yds at a time. We had 5 carries for 32 yds in the second half, and they were all in the 3rd qtr. No carries in the 4th qtr at all, which tells me that Romo/Callahan were pressing to get points on the board and it led to more mistakes and to a predictable offense for Sutton.

One last thing...with Bill Callahan calling the plays now and we've seen some of the same old "Jason Garrett tendencies" of pass, pass, pass, punt/FG - can we finally put the onus on Romo now since he's the common denominator?

Very good report, thank you.

 

[Corso]

Yeah, it's just a ridiculous assumption. Audible doesn't necessitate going from pass to run. His assumption is rooted in a gross misunderstanding of what an audible can do.

Additionally, the comments of Garrett were clear, i.e. "Well, you like to have things that are a given in your offense when you're calling plays" meaning, what dictated the play-calling for Romo was a set of plays the offense was given to work with that they practiced.

Your point is well taken.

 

[Bluestang]

IMO having "complete control of the offense" is being able to audible on the fly at any point in the game. There are quite are alot of QBs that don't have the freedom Romo has had for awhile. It's only the elite ones that have that type of command of their respective offenses.

Romo even said it himself that he's not doing anything different from what he used to. It's unfortunate what Jerry publicly said because he meant well but it made it seem liek Romo wasn't doing those things already. The snake oils salesman got you again...


Acutal game planning is figuring out what plays you want to run under the down/distance/situation and those situations/plays are practiced throughout the week.

 

[visionary]

IMO having "complete control of the offense" is being able to audible on the fly at any point in the game. There are quite are alot of QBs that don't have the freedom Romo has had for awhile. It's only the elite ones that have that type of command of their respective offenses.

Romo even said it himself that he's not doing anything different from what he used to. It's unfortunate what Jerry publicly said because he meant well but it made it seem liek Romo wasn't doing those things already. The snake oils salesman got you again...


Acutal game planning is figuring out what plays you want to run under the down/distance/situation and those situations/plays are practiced throughout the week.

As CL said, audibling to a second play based on what he sees at the line (both of which were called in by the OC) is not "complete control of the offense"

If the coaching staff has a problem with what romo is doing at the line, why don't they call 2 plays they actually want to run?

Also, you conveniently ignored my previous question, if Garrett had a problem with some of the plays why did he not change them in game or over-ride the calls in- game? Why wait until after the KC game to throw done/Callahan under the bus?

I guess they don't call him 'Teflon Garrett' for no reason

 

[Bluestang]

As CL said, audibling to a second play based on what he sees at the line (both of which were called in by the OC) is not "complete control of the offense"

If the coaching staff has a problem with what romo is doing at the line, why don't they call 2 plays they actually want to run?

That is CL's opinion and whoever else's that agrees with him. I believe the media hyped up Jerry's words into something that it isn't. I honestly do see much of a difference in the offense from before other than using different formations to run the same offense that Aikman ran. The 2 TE base stuff is being run a lot from basic spread sets which is creating multiple 1 vs 1 match ups and Romo is picking his poison. The difference most people are noticing is the tempo of the offense which is a nice subtle change. The zone scheme is mostly being used on stretch plays to the edges.

I believe the staff has never had a problem with what Romo is doing at the line, but rather made the decision to live or die with those choices Romo makes. There is far more good than bad in the years he's been doing it.

Also, you conveniently ignored my previous question, if Garrett had a problem with some of the plays why did he not change them in game or over-ride the calls in- game? Why wait until after the KC game to throw done/Callahan under the bus?

I guess they don't call him 'Teflon Garrett' for no reason

Again Garrett is living with those choices and is left to answer those questions when things don't go their way. In a loss the fans/media expect answers as to why they lost but this forum also went off the deep end trying to figure out why the offense looked the same as it did in previous years. My main takeaway in the final drive was how we didn't run the ball at all in the 4th qtr only being down by 4 points with 6:43 to go. We passed the whole way to that final FG and only used up 2:53 of the clock.

All I'm pointing out is the fact that we didn't rush the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarter enough, which is the same thing that Garrett was criticized for plenty of times when he was the playcaller. Now that Callahan is the guy why did we fall into the same habits again?