- Messages
- 79,281
- Reaction score
- 45,652
Posted on October 14th, 2009 10:27am by Bob Sturm
Filed under Dallas Cowboys, Football, Sturm
This morning, I wanted to show you a few numbers about this question about the 2-TE results. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the receiving portion of Martellus Bennett has been shockingly disappointing. You can ask a dozen people as to why, and you will get different responses about why Marty B has 4 catches in 5 weeks (not quite the 50 or so that I had thought possible!) for 40 yards. Surely, Tony Curtis could have done that.
But, does that mean the “12″ and the “22″ personnel packages are failing? Not even close.
Is the object of the game to get Martellus Bennett stats, or for this offense to prove it can be elite? Originally, I thought one would lead to another, but now we see something different so far.
The Cowboys are destroying the opposition out of 2 TE sets. Understand, that traditionally, Jason Garrett’s offense makes its real dent with Shotgun formations and an aerial attack that had Tony Romo setting team records in nearly every passing category.
But, we are seeing a greater focus put on the running game. We knew it should be a focus, but knowing you need to run the ball, and actually running the ball can often be two different things.
With 2 TEs, and even occasionally 3 TEs, the Cowboys are showing that they can “Show Run”, you can counter (as KC did with 9 in the box!) and still run it down your throat.
But, it isn’t quite as I thought it would be. Here is the “12″ personnel. 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR – this package has the defense thinking both pass and run as a legit possibility:
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/12personnel.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
But, now check this out. “22″ personnel. 2 RB, 2 TE, and just 1 WR. Basically, you are telling the defense you are about to run the ball because off comes a Wide Out like Patrick Crayton, and on comes a FB, Deon Anderson. With 5 OL, a FB, and 2 big TEs, you are not kidding around about your intentions.
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/22personnel.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
Look at that! “22″ which should just be a power “3-yards-and-cloud-of-dust” is getting 7.47 yards per? That is crazy production. And they already have more yards than in all of 2008.
So, how do we look at those 51 snaps?
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/51snaps.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
They are running 67% out of this look. The defense knows it. And yet they are getting steamrolled. And, to me, that is where Witten/Bennett are dominating linebackers at the point of attack. To show run, and to still get 8.44 yards per carry is something that the coaches realize, and the rest of the NFL does, too. In 2008, the Cowboys ran this look 5.75 times per game, now they are running it over 10 times.
And this is why I would suggest that 2 TEs is working, despite the weak receiving year for Marty B so far. In preseason, I thought Martellus would replace Deon Anderson. In reality, the combination has made the offense a bulldozing machine. Some might call it, “Romo Friendly”.
————————————-
Let’s update our turnover battles, 100-yard rushers, and 300-yard passer numbers through 5 weeks:
In the turnover battle, 3 teams beat the odds. And again, Dallas found a way to win despite losing the turnover battle. If it seems like I talk about this everyday, it is because I do. They won despite a -2, which is rare, and are now a -4 for the season.
The Wade Phillips era is known for many things, and the fact that the Cowboys have soundly lost the turnover battle since the start of 2008 is certainly one of these things. The Cowboys give the ball away more than 29 other NFL teams, and the defense has Intercepted the 31st most passes in the NFL since the start of last season. Only Detroit does a worse job of picking off a pass. Shocking.
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/turnovers.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif][/FONT]TC’s DRIVE OF THE WEEK:
(Each week, my trusty intern, TC Fleming breaks down a Cowboys drive that was important to the outcome of the game and trys to deconstruct it with all of his might.)
The drive opens with two wide receivers to the left, then Witten on the line and Crayton split wide, both to the right. FOX does a terrible job showing what’s going on to the left, but to the right, Witten runs a drag across the play. That pulls the underneath defender to the right with him. Crayton does a nice job of selling the deep route, so when he turns back to Romo, there’s a very nice window to throw to, on account of Witten pulling away the underneath defender. Romo throws a little high, but when Crayton drops this, it’s on Crayton. For someone who’s sole alleged asset is his hands, he should absolutely catch this.
The next play has a bunch to the right featuring Witten and Bennett inside of Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin split wide to the other side. The play is a run to the right. Colombo and Davis double team the defensive end to that side long enough to get him moving, then Davis left Colombo by himself so Davis could get to the second level, where he blocks the linebacker to that side. That sets up a nice little path for Barber, which is totally screwed up by the inside linebacker to that side knifing in to take down Barber. This play troubles me. Colombo is blocking the defensive end, Davis is blocking the OLB to that side, and Gurode is battling the defensive tackle. That’s all the blockers to that side, so who is supposed to be handling that inside linebacker? On the other side of the play, Kosier, Bennett and Adams are triple-teaming a defensive end, so one of them should definitely peel off that waste of resources and try to block that ILB, but they’re coming from pretty far away, so I don’t feel confident that it would work (though they definitely should be trying rather than standing around by the defensive end who is away from the play). It seems to me that any running play that makes no attempt to block a linebacker reasonably within the path of the play is a poorly designed play. That makes me think that someone is not executing their full assignment, but I am not advanced enough to understand who and how. But hey, it does pick up 4 yards, so maybe I’m being picky. I just think that there were a lot more yards to be had here if they could find someone could block the inside linebacker.
By now, reader, I think you can pick up that some plays strike me as ordinary. I try to explain them best I can, but I’m not fascinated the way I am with others. This is one of the fascinating plays. It’s just so chess-matchey. The Cowboys leave the huddle with 12 personnel, as they have all of this drive. Bennett is on the line to the right with Miles Austin outside him. Then Witten is in the slot to the left with Crayton outside of him. Romo is in shotgun standing next to Tashard Choice. It’s third down, and on the third down, the Cowboys like to go max protect, keeping in extra blockers. They do so here, leaving Bennett and Choice in to block. The Chiefs seem to be familiar with this plan, so they rush their normal “three defensive linemen and one of the linebackers” as is standard for 3-4 defenses, but they also send the cornerback covering Austin. Because the Cowboys are in max protect, Austin is the only receiving threat to that side with a safety and linebacker to cover him, and this blitzing cornerback is coming from an odd angle that kind of defeats the max protect. It’s the linebacker to that side that’s blitzing, so Choice has to pick him up. The nose tackle stunts over, and Bennett picks him up. Colombo has to block the defensive end. That leaves Leonard Davis as the closest free defender, so it’s a race between a guard and a cornerback. If Davis can get in position and set up, he’s going to maul that corner, but with all the blocking going on between him and the cornerback combined with his lack of speed relative to a defensive back, he doesn’t have a good shot at all. That’s what you want with a blitz against max protect: you know there are going to be a lot of pass protectors, just make sure they aren’t near your blitzers.
Austin responds by basically standing up and looking back at Romo. After first scanning the left side, Romo sees him but also sees the safety between Austin and the first down and chooses not to throw it, knowing they won’t be able to pick up the first. By the time he’s done with this decision, he has to deal with the blitzing corner. He manages to get the corner to dive at his feet, but by the time he’s done this, the linebacker has come free and is bearing down on him. Meanwhile, Austin has gotten moving, breaking across the formation waving his hands to catch Romo’s attention. With Austin not so much running a route as trying to get open and be useful, the safety has a tough time following him.
From the replay angle, you can really tell that Austin waving his hands gets Romo to recognize him right after he’s evaded the corner and right before he has to really deal with the linebacker. Romo throws the ball, Austin makes a very nice catch, and they pick up the first. The Chiefs here had noticed a trend (max protect on third down), dialed up a very intelligent defense (corner blitz), but the Cowboys make the play anyways thanks to Romo’s eluding of the blitz and ability to improvise with Austin. Without commenting on a whether or not Romo is a Jedi, this is a Jedi play. One last thing: this is the second corner blitz in as many weeks. This makes me think back to Tampa Bay, when Romo was sacked on such a blitz. About the only consistent way to beat the corner blitz is for the quarterback to see it and get rid of the ball. Romo got burned on that week one, so defenses are testing him on it now. These coordinators are so smart! It’s neat.
For the ensuing first down, the Cowboys bring in Deon Anderson for Bennett and go with your standard I-formation with the tight end on the right side. They run a counter play with Barber taking his first step towards the right before cutting back left before he even gets the ball. Anderson is going to the left the whole time, sprinting out to get his block on OLB Tamba Hali. With the fullback taking on a converted defensive end (though not a particularly strong or tough one from what I saw), he doesn’t have time to mess around with selling the counter. Kosier is blocking the defensive end on that side so that Adams can go and lay blocks on the second level, and Kosier does a fine job initially, but by the time Barber gets to the line of scrimmage, the defensive end has fought past the block and makes the tackle for no gain. Barber looks really funny on the run, kind of ducking and hunching over as he’s running when there aren’t really any defenders around. The upshot is that it gives the end time to beat Kosier’s block. With the way Anderson is manhandling Hali and the blocks Adams is laying in the secondary, this should be a gain of at least five yards with a competent running back. Barber averaged 3.5 yards per rush in a game where Choice averaged 11 yards a rush against the same defense running behind the same line. On this play, it’s not hard to see why. Barber has never been very fast, so with this injury slowing him down even further, he forces the line to hold their blocks longer than they should have to. He’s disrupting the timing of these runs and making lineman look bad because by the time he gets to the holes they’ve opened up, those holes have already closed. Barber had 15 carries in this game while Choice had 8. Those number should at least be flipped, if not skewed even more in favor of Choice. It’s not that Choice is awesome, it’s just that this offensive line was mauling the Kansas City defense to the point that all a runner needed was the ability to get through the holes before they closed, and Barber didn’t have that.
Anderson checks out of the game as Bennett checks back in. Romo is in the shotgun with Barber on his left and both tight ends on/near the line to the right. Romo has forever to throw. When he eventually checks down to Barber, it’s probably because his clock is going off. It’s definitely not because he’s feeling pressure. He does check down to Barber, and with everyone else having run their routes, there looks to be room underneath. However, Brandon Flowers takes it away with alacrity. I was pretty impressed by how quickly he closed on this play. It wasn’t as far as Polamalu closed on that play in the opener, but it reminded me of that. I did wonder why he wasn’t farther away from Barber at the time. It seems like Crayton should have drawn him deeper to make that play work, but from the camera angles, it’s impossible to tell what route he was running or what he was doing. So it’s all inconclusive. Either way, Kansas City commits a penalty, and it’s 5 yards for Dallas.
One of the wide receivers trades places with tight end John Curtis, who lines up on the line to the left with Witten and Bennett on the right. Curtis motions out wide to the right, which is an odd wrinkle. We don’t really get a chance to see what they’re doing with it. Romo is sacked on this play, so the cameras never go downfield, and the replays aren’t particularly helpful either. FOX does go to a replay showing Bennett’s route and Troy seems to think Romo is trying to throw to him, since he’s gotten behind the safety but finds he doesn’t have time. As far as the protection goes, the Cowboys keep Choice in to block, so they’re defending five rushers with six blockers. All three of the Chiefs defensive lineman rush, as does the right (the offense’s right) outside linebacker. The left inside linebacker rushes as well, but he’s coming from the middle of the field and going at the right side of the line. Colombo picks up the OLB, leaving Leonard Davis on the defensive end. That DE beats Davis, though after Davis has fanned him out a little, so rather than immediately taking on Romo, he just forces him up in the pocket. Meanwhile, the ILB is attacking the right side of the protection where Davis and Colombo are already occupied. Gurode is blocking the defensive tackle, so that leaves Choice to pick up that linebacker. Choice does not do so great a job. There’s an initial collision between Choice and the ILB, but after recoiling from that, the ILB paws Choice aside, taking away Romo’s room to step up to avoid that DE. So the DE and ILB both get to him at roughly the same time, and he goes down. So blame here goes to Choice and Davis for getting beat. If one of them holds their block, Romo might well have space to avoid one rusher and still fnd someone downfield. Also, with the defense rushing five and the Cowboys blocking six, there was one man standing around as Romo was being sacked. I believe this man is Kosier. He initially helps Gurode with the DT, then slides over and kind of swats at the blitzing ILB before that ILB blows up Choice. Had Kosier been more decisive, he probably could have done more to slow the blitzer down. It’s not like Kosier blew his responsibility per se, but he could have done more to help.
The Cowboys stay in shotgun on second down and keep the same personnel. This time, Bennett lines up on the line to the left while Witten is standing just off the line to the right. Choice is standing on Romo’s left. Romo takes the snap, gives the slightest indication that he’s scanning the field, then hands off to Choice. Adams Blocks the defensive end while Gurode blocks the defensive tackle. Kosier hesitates at the snap, and when both of those defensive lineman are engaged, he goes out to get the inside linebacker to that side. Following Kosier, Choice has a nice little lane. He is also aided by the defensive playcall, which has the other inside linebacker dropping deep into coverage at the snap. I do not know why the linebacker would need to do this. My instinct would be it’s because he needs to cover for a blitzing defensive back, but there are none on this play. Either way, he takes himself out of the play by dropping back so far, and Choice isn’t challenged until he get to the safety, who makes the tackle. This is another easy run created by good blocking (and poor defense) that I don’t think Marion Barber could have executed. Assuming everyone can hold their one-on-one blocks long enough for him to get past them, the safety surely would have had more time to run up and tackle him sooner.
For this final third down of the drive, the Cowboys employ an odd formation I had not seen before. They keep both tight ends and substitute Choice for Hurd, going with an empty backfield on third and one. This is always a questionable call. With only one yard needed, the run is a real threat. Even if you would like to pass, it will be easier to do so if you have the threat of a run. By going empty backfield, you take away that threat and allow the defense to focus on the pass. That said, it’s a very nice pass play. Hurd is split left with Bennett on the line to the left. Witten is lined up about where an offset fullback would line up, just behind the right guard and right tackle. Austin is in the slot to the right with Crayton split wide to that side. Crayton motions pre-snap to a stack behind Austin, where he is standing just about directly behind Austin. The Cobwoys employ max protect and a rolling pocket from left to right. Bennett and his unique abilities are pretty crucial, as there’s a lot of space for him to cover in order to block Tamba Hali as they’re on the move, and he still has to have the size and strength to match up with the pas rusher. Not a lot of guys have that skillset, but Bennett does. Austin and Crayton both start off selling a deep route. Austin continues while Crayton breaks it off towards the sideline. Austin takes the safety with him, and the corner is playing really soft (I want to say that it’s because he’s afraid of the stack formation, but he was lined up that way before Crayton motioned. Personally, I’ve got no clue why he would want to play so soft on third and one. I think it’s stupid of him.) so when Crayton cuts to the outside, there’s plenty of space to throw it to him. There is a linebacker underneath, but he is playing very close to the line in order to take away the threat of Romo scrambling (so I guess they haven’t totally lost the threat of the run). That makes him a non-factor on the pass to Crayton. It’s a nifty little play and a smart reaction to the corner blitz: if the corner blitz is coming from the left, Romo is rolling away from it and it’s neutralized. If the corner blitz is coming from the right, it’s not a good thing necessarily that Romo is rolling towards a blitzer necessarily, but he has a lot of blockers who are now oriented in that direction and in better position to pick it up. Further, the defense could be scared to blitz from the right, since the receiving threats are concentrated in that area. So for this play, it is an intelligent response to thwart KC’s attempts to thwart Dallas’s tendency to go max protect on third down. My one long-term problem is this: I haven’t seen this formation from them before, and it seems like a formation especially suited for something like a rolling pocket. So if they don’t put some other nice, effective plays from this formation on film, then whenever they roll out this formation, they are announcing “We are not going to run, and we are going to have a rolling pocket.” With a rolling pocket, the field is cut in half, since the quarterback shouldn’t be throwing across his body and against his momentum like that. So before the snap, you’re telling the defense that they only have to defend the pass to one side of the field. Even the worst NFL defense can have success if they know all that’s coming. So the Cowboys need to be careful about going back to this well unless they have some nice ideas worked out to counter the counters defenses will no doubt employ when they see this formation in this situation.
The final play of the drive, the touchdown run by Choice, is a play Bob has already made much ado of in his work yesterday. They ran this same play three times in the last 20 minutes and had big yards each time. The play consists of two tight ends together to the left and a fullback offset to the right with a wide receiver in that direction. Before the snap, the fullback motions to being offset to the left. Everyone on the line mauls the defense to the right (go look at the video Bob posted, they really demolish the defense) while the fullback and a pulling left guard handle any defenders that pose a threat to the right. I’ve probably said more than I need to about the design of the play since Bob described it so well. One thing I would add is to point out how poorly the Kansas City defends the play. Davis can only block both the safety and the corner at the same time because they take terrible angles. Also the free safety stumbles on his way to tackling Choice. Those aren’t things the Cowboys are doing. The Cowboys are earning about 7 yards, and the Chiefs are giving them the rest.
My one concern about the play going forward is the burden it places on Anderson. Against the 3-4, he is blocking the outside linebacker on that side. Were he running this play against the Cowboys, to give an example, he would be blocking DeMarcus Ware one-on-one. Leonard Davis really can’t pull around fast enough to be of much help in this battle, Davis is used more to block on the second level. In this case, Hali was moved around all day, and it’s not a problem. However, most 3-4 teams put a real premium on that outside linebacker, and he’s a guy that would give Deon Anderson problems. I would also be interested to see what they would do against a 4-3 team. Looking at the design of the play, it’s conceivable that Anderson would be taking on a defensive end. It is not conceivable, however, that he would win that battle often. Deon Anderson against, say, Justin Tuck or Trent Cole is not a favorable matchup for the Cowboys. Again, it’s a position teams put a premium on. I would be very interested to see what adjustments the Cowboys would make to account for this. The other storyline that strikes my curiosity is what they’re setting up with this play. All three times they motioned the fullback from a sort-of uncommon formation (they use 22 more than once each game for sure, but not that much). When they play a team from now on and motion the fullback in their 22 package, teams will be well aware of this run. Surely the Cowboys know this and have plays prepared to take advantage of this. Once they get those on film, it becomes a guessing game: are you going to gear up to stop their big run or are you going to be getting into position to defend whatever play-action pass they throw at you. That’s what’s great about a play like this that garners such success: it creates more headaches for a defense than just that one play.
I was not that surprised to learn that the Cowboys rank first in yards per game. This is an efficient offense that has a number of weapons. The tight ends especially cause all sorts of problems. It might not be translating into the plays for them we anticipated (Even Witten’s number haven’t been that awesome), but it creates an unpredictability that defenses are having a hard time with. Even if these tight ends aren’t racking up catches, defenses are respecting them, and that creates opportunities elsewhere on the field. Then factor in that they’re both top=notch blockers. When the Cowboys break the huddle with their 12 personnel, they could be attacking a defense in a million different ways.
http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/2009/10/14/we-like-the-football-musings/#more-17551
Filed under Dallas Cowboys, Football, Sturm
This morning, I wanted to show you a few numbers about this question about the 2-TE results. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the receiving portion of Martellus Bennett has been shockingly disappointing. You can ask a dozen people as to why, and you will get different responses about why Marty B has 4 catches in 5 weeks (not quite the 50 or so that I had thought possible!) for 40 yards. Surely, Tony Curtis could have done that.
But, does that mean the “12″ and the “22″ personnel packages are failing? Not even close.
Is the object of the game to get Martellus Bennett stats, or for this offense to prove it can be elite? Originally, I thought one would lead to another, but now we see something different so far.
The Cowboys are destroying the opposition out of 2 TE sets. Understand, that traditionally, Jason Garrett’s offense makes its real dent with Shotgun formations and an aerial attack that had Tony Romo setting team records in nearly every passing category.
But, we are seeing a greater focus put on the running game. We knew it should be a focus, but knowing you need to run the ball, and actually running the ball can often be two different things.
With 2 TEs, and even occasionally 3 TEs, the Cowboys are showing that they can “Show Run”, you can counter (as KC did with 9 in the box!) and still run it down your throat.
But, it isn’t quite as I thought it would be. Here is the “12″ personnel. 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR – this package has the defense thinking both pass and run as a legit possibility:
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/12personnel.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
But, now check this out. “22″ personnel. 2 RB, 2 TE, and just 1 WR. Basically, you are telling the defense you are about to run the ball because off comes a Wide Out like Patrick Crayton, and on comes a FB, Deon Anderson. With 5 OL, a FB, and 2 big TEs, you are not kidding around about your intentions.
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/22personnel.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
Look at that! “22″ which should just be a power “3-yards-and-cloud-of-dust” is getting 7.47 yards per? That is crazy production. And they already have more yards than in all of 2008.
So, how do we look at those 51 snaps?
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/51snaps.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
They are running 67% out of this look. The defense knows it. And yet they are getting steamrolled. And, to me, that is where Witten/Bennett are dominating linebackers at the point of attack. To show run, and to still get 8.44 yards per carry is something that the coaches realize, and the rest of the NFL does, too. In 2008, the Cowboys ran this look 5.75 times per game, now they are running it over 10 times.
And this is why I would suggest that 2 TEs is working, despite the weak receiving year for Marty B so far. In preseason, I thought Martellus would replace Deon Anderson. In reality, the combination has made the offense a bulldozing machine. Some might call it, “Romo Friendly”.
————————————-
Let’s update our turnover battles, 100-yard rushers, and 300-yard passer numbers through 5 weeks:
In the turnover battle, 3 teams beat the odds. And again, Dallas found a way to win despite losing the turnover battle. If it seems like I talk about this everyday, it is because I do. They won despite a -2, which is rare, and are now a -4 for the season.
The Wade Phillips era is known for many things, and the fact that the Cowboys have soundly lost the turnover battle since the start of 2008 is certainly one of these things. The Cowboys give the ball away more than 29 other NFL teams, and the defense has Intercepted the 31st most passes in the NFL since the start of last season. Only Detroit does a worse job of picking off a pass. Shocking.
http://i5.***BLOCKED***/albums/y164/nbr1diva/Cowboys/turnovers.gif
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans-serif][/FONT]TC’s DRIVE OF THE WEEK:
(Each week, my trusty intern, TC Fleming breaks down a Cowboys drive that was important to the outcome of the game and trys to deconstruct it with all of his might.)
The drive opens with two wide receivers to the left, then Witten on the line and Crayton split wide, both to the right. FOX does a terrible job showing what’s going on to the left, but to the right, Witten runs a drag across the play. That pulls the underneath defender to the right with him. Crayton does a nice job of selling the deep route, so when he turns back to Romo, there’s a very nice window to throw to, on account of Witten pulling away the underneath defender. Romo throws a little high, but when Crayton drops this, it’s on Crayton. For someone who’s sole alleged asset is his hands, he should absolutely catch this.
The next play has a bunch to the right featuring Witten and Bennett inside of Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin split wide to the other side. The play is a run to the right. Colombo and Davis double team the defensive end to that side long enough to get him moving, then Davis left Colombo by himself so Davis could get to the second level, where he blocks the linebacker to that side. That sets up a nice little path for Barber, which is totally screwed up by the inside linebacker to that side knifing in to take down Barber. This play troubles me. Colombo is blocking the defensive end, Davis is blocking the OLB to that side, and Gurode is battling the defensive tackle. That’s all the blockers to that side, so who is supposed to be handling that inside linebacker? On the other side of the play, Kosier, Bennett and Adams are triple-teaming a defensive end, so one of them should definitely peel off that waste of resources and try to block that ILB, but they’re coming from pretty far away, so I don’t feel confident that it would work (though they definitely should be trying rather than standing around by the defensive end who is away from the play). It seems to me that any running play that makes no attempt to block a linebacker reasonably within the path of the play is a poorly designed play. That makes me think that someone is not executing their full assignment, but I am not advanced enough to understand who and how. But hey, it does pick up 4 yards, so maybe I’m being picky. I just think that there were a lot more yards to be had here if they could find someone could block the inside linebacker.
By now, reader, I think you can pick up that some plays strike me as ordinary. I try to explain them best I can, but I’m not fascinated the way I am with others. This is one of the fascinating plays. It’s just so chess-matchey. The Cowboys leave the huddle with 12 personnel, as they have all of this drive. Bennett is on the line to the right with Miles Austin outside him. Then Witten is in the slot to the left with Crayton outside of him. Romo is in shotgun standing next to Tashard Choice. It’s third down, and on the third down, the Cowboys like to go max protect, keeping in extra blockers. They do so here, leaving Bennett and Choice in to block. The Chiefs seem to be familiar with this plan, so they rush their normal “three defensive linemen and one of the linebackers” as is standard for 3-4 defenses, but they also send the cornerback covering Austin. Because the Cowboys are in max protect, Austin is the only receiving threat to that side with a safety and linebacker to cover him, and this blitzing cornerback is coming from an odd angle that kind of defeats the max protect. It’s the linebacker to that side that’s blitzing, so Choice has to pick him up. The nose tackle stunts over, and Bennett picks him up. Colombo has to block the defensive end. That leaves Leonard Davis as the closest free defender, so it’s a race between a guard and a cornerback. If Davis can get in position and set up, he’s going to maul that corner, but with all the blocking going on between him and the cornerback combined with his lack of speed relative to a defensive back, he doesn’t have a good shot at all. That’s what you want with a blitz against max protect: you know there are going to be a lot of pass protectors, just make sure they aren’t near your blitzers.
Austin responds by basically standing up and looking back at Romo. After first scanning the left side, Romo sees him but also sees the safety between Austin and the first down and chooses not to throw it, knowing they won’t be able to pick up the first. By the time he’s done with this decision, he has to deal with the blitzing corner. He manages to get the corner to dive at his feet, but by the time he’s done this, the linebacker has come free and is bearing down on him. Meanwhile, Austin has gotten moving, breaking across the formation waving his hands to catch Romo’s attention. With Austin not so much running a route as trying to get open and be useful, the safety has a tough time following him.
From the replay angle, you can really tell that Austin waving his hands gets Romo to recognize him right after he’s evaded the corner and right before he has to really deal with the linebacker. Romo throws the ball, Austin makes a very nice catch, and they pick up the first. The Chiefs here had noticed a trend (max protect on third down), dialed up a very intelligent defense (corner blitz), but the Cowboys make the play anyways thanks to Romo’s eluding of the blitz and ability to improvise with Austin. Without commenting on a whether or not Romo is a Jedi, this is a Jedi play. One last thing: this is the second corner blitz in as many weeks. This makes me think back to Tampa Bay, when Romo was sacked on such a blitz. About the only consistent way to beat the corner blitz is for the quarterback to see it and get rid of the ball. Romo got burned on that week one, so defenses are testing him on it now. These coordinators are so smart! It’s neat.
For the ensuing first down, the Cowboys bring in Deon Anderson for Bennett and go with your standard I-formation with the tight end on the right side. They run a counter play with Barber taking his first step towards the right before cutting back left before he even gets the ball. Anderson is going to the left the whole time, sprinting out to get his block on OLB Tamba Hali. With the fullback taking on a converted defensive end (though not a particularly strong or tough one from what I saw), he doesn’t have time to mess around with selling the counter. Kosier is blocking the defensive end on that side so that Adams can go and lay blocks on the second level, and Kosier does a fine job initially, but by the time Barber gets to the line of scrimmage, the defensive end has fought past the block and makes the tackle for no gain. Barber looks really funny on the run, kind of ducking and hunching over as he’s running when there aren’t really any defenders around. The upshot is that it gives the end time to beat Kosier’s block. With the way Anderson is manhandling Hali and the blocks Adams is laying in the secondary, this should be a gain of at least five yards with a competent running back. Barber averaged 3.5 yards per rush in a game where Choice averaged 11 yards a rush against the same defense running behind the same line. On this play, it’s not hard to see why. Barber has never been very fast, so with this injury slowing him down even further, he forces the line to hold their blocks longer than they should have to. He’s disrupting the timing of these runs and making lineman look bad because by the time he gets to the holes they’ve opened up, those holes have already closed. Barber had 15 carries in this game while Choice had 8. Those number should at least be flipped, if not skewed even more in favor of Choice. It’s not that Choice is awesome, it’s just that this offensive line was mauling the Kansas City defense to the point that all a runner needed was the ability to get through the holes before they closed, and Barber didn’t have that.
Anderson checks out of the game as Bennett checks back in. Romo is in the shotgun with Barber on his left and both tight ends on/near the line to the right. Romo has forever to throw. When he eventually checks down to Barber, it’s probably because his clock is going off. It’s definitely not because he’s feeling pressure. He does check down to Barber, and with everyone else having run their routes, there looks to be room underneath. However, Brandon Flowers takes it away with alacrity. I was pretty impressed by how quickly he closed on this play. It wasn’t as far as Polamalu closed on that play in the opener, but it reminded me of that. I did wonder why he wasn’t farther away from Barber at the time. It seems like Crayton should have drawn him deeper to make that play work, but from the camera angles, it’s impossible to tell what route he was running or what he was doing. So it’s all inconclusive. Either way, Kansas City commits a penalty, and it’s 5 yards for Dallas.
One of the wide receivers trades places with tight end John Curtis, who lines up on the line to the left with Witten and Bennett on the right. Curtis motions out wide to the right, which is an odd wrinkle. We don’t really get a chance to see what they’re doing with it. Romo is sacked on this play, so the cameras never go downfield, and the replays aren’t particularly helpful either. FOX does go to a replay showing Bennett’s route and Troy seems to think Romo is trying to throw to him, since he’s gotten behind the safety but finds he doesn’t have time. As far as the protection goes, the Cowboys keep Choice in to block, so they’re defending five rushers with six blockers. All three of the Chiefs defensive lineman rush, as does the right (the offense’s right) outside linebacker. The left inside linebacker rushes as well, but he’s coming from the middle of the field and going at the right side of the line. Colombo picks up the OLB, leaving Leonard Davis on the defensive end. That DE beats Davis, though after Davis has fanned him out a little, so rather than immediately taking on Romo, he just forces him up in the pocket. Meanwhile, the ILB is attacking the right side of the protection where Davis and Colombo are already occupied. Gurode is blocking the defensive tackle, so that leaves Choice to pick up that linebacker. Choice does not do so great a job. There’s an initial collision between Choice and the ILB, but after recoiling from that, the ILB paws Choice aside, taking away Romo’s room to step up to avoid that DE. So the DE and ILB both get to him at roughly the same time, and he goes down. So blame here goes to Choice and Davis for getting beat. If one of them holds their block, Romo might well have space to avoid one rusher and still fnd someone downfield. Also, with the defense rushing five and the Cowboys blocking six, there was one man standing around as Romo was being sacked. I believe this man is Kosier. He initially helps Gurode with the DT, then slides over and kind of swats at the blitzing ILB before that ILB blows up Choice. Had Kosier been more decisive, he probably could have done more to slow the blitzer down. It’s not like Kosier blew his responsibility per se, but he could have done more to help.
The Cowboys stay in shotgun on second down and keep the same personnel. This time, Bennett lines up on the line to the left while Witten is standing just off the line to the right. Choice is standing on Romo’s left. Romo takes the snap, gives the slightest indication that he’s scanning the field, then hands off to Choice. Adams Blocks the defensive end while Gurode blocks the defensive tackle. Kosier hesitates at the snap, and when both of those defensive lineman are engaged, he goes out to get the inside linebacker to that side. Following Kosier, Choice has a nice little lane. He is also aided by the defensive playcall, which has the other inside linebacker dropping deep into coverage at the snap. I do not know why the linebacker would need to do this. My instinct would be it’s because he needs to cover for a blitzing defensive back, but there are none on this play. Either way, he takes himself out of the play by dropping back so far, and Choice isn’t challenged until he get to the safety, who makes the tackle. This is another easy run created by good blocking (and poor defense) that I don’t think Marion Barber could have executed. Assuming everyone can hold their one-on-one blocks long enough for him to get past them, the safety surely would have had more time to run up and tackle him sooner.
For this final third down of the drive, the Cowboys employ an odd formation I had not seen before. They keep both tight ends and substitute Choice for Hurd, going with an empty backfield on third and one. This is always a questionable call. With only one yard needed, the run is a real threat. Even if you would like to pass, it will be easier to do so if you have the threat of a run. By going empty backfield, you take away that threat and allow the defense to focus on the pass. That said, it’s a very nice pass play. Hurd is split left with Bennett on the line to the left. Witten is lined up about where an offset fullback would line up, just behind the right guard and right tackle. Austin is in the slot to the right with Crayton split wide to that side. Crayton motions pre-snap to a stack behind Austin, where he is standing just about directly behind Austin. The Cobwoys employ max protect and a rolling pocket from left to right. Bennett and his unique abilities are pretty crucial, as there’s a lot of space for him to cover in order to block Tamba Hali as they’re on the move, and he still has to have the size and strength to match up with the pas rusher. Not a lot of guys have that skillset, but Bennett does. Austin and Crayton both start off selling a deep route. Austin continues while Crayton breaks it off towards the sideline. Austin takes the safety with him, and the corner is playing really soft (I want to say that it’s because he’s afraid of the stack formation, but he was lined up that way before Crayton motioned. Personally, I’ve got no clue why he would want to play so soft on third and one. I think it’s stupid of him.) so when Crayton cuts to the outside, there’s plenty of space to throw it to him. There is a linebacker underneath, but he is playing very close to the line in order to take away the threat of Romo scrambling (so I guess they haven’t totally lost the threat of the run). That makes him a non-factor on the pass to Crayton. It’s a nifty little play and a smart reaction to the corner blitz: if the corner blitz is coming from the left, Romo is rolling away from it and it’s neutralized. If the corner blitz is coming from the right, it’s not a good thing necessarily that Romo is rolling towards a blitzer necessarily, but he has a lot of blockers who are now oriented in that direction and in better position to pick it up. Further, the defense could be scared to blitz from the right, since the receiving threats are concentrated in that area. So for this play, it is an intelligent response to thwart KC’s attempts to thwart Dallas’s tendency to go max protect on third down. My one long-term problem is this: I haven’t seen this formation from them before, and it seems like a formation especially suited for something like a rolling pocket. So if they don’t put some other nice, effective plays from this formation on film, then whenever they roll out this formation, they are announcing “We are not going to run, and we are going to have a rolling pocket.” With a rolling pocket, the field is cut in half, since the quarterback shouldn’t be throwing across his body and against his momentum like that. So before the snap, you’re telling the defense that they only have to defend the pass to one side of the field. Even the worst NFL defense can have success if they know all that’s coming. So the Cowboys need to be careful about going back to this well unless they have some nice ideas worked out to counter the counters defenses will no doubt employ when they see this formation in this situation.
The final play of the drive, the touchdown run by Choice, is a play Bob has already made much ado of in his work yesterday. They ran this same play three times in the last 20 minutes and had big yards each time. The play consists of two tight ends together to the left and a fullback offset to the right with a wide receiver in that direction. Before the snap, the fullback motions to being offset to the left. Everyone on the line mauls the defense to the right (go look at the video Bob posted, they really demolish the defense) while the fullback and a pulling left guard handle any defenders that pose a threat to the right. I’ve probably said more than I need to about the design of the play since Bob described it so well. One thing I would add is to point out how poorly the Kansas City defends the play. Davis can only block both the safety and the corner at the same time because they take terrible angles. Also the free safety stumbles on his way to tackling Choice. Those aren’t things the Cowboys are doing. The Cowboys are earning about 7 yards, and the Chiefs are giving them the rest.
My one concern about the play going forward is the burden it places on Anderson. Against the 3-4, he is blocking the outside linebacker on that side. Were he running this play against the Cowboys, to give an example, he would be blocking DeMarcus Ware one-on-one. Leonard Davis really can’t pull around fast enough to be of much help in this battle, Davis is used more to block on the second level. In this case, Hali was moved around all day, and it’s not a problem. However, most 3-4 teams put a real premium on that outside linebacker, and he’s a guy that would give Deon Anderson problems. I would also be interested to see what they would do against a 4-3 team. Looking at the design of the play, it’s conceivable that Anderson would be taking on a defensive end. It is not conceivable, however, that he would win that battle often. Deon Anderson against, say, Justin Tuck or Trent Cole is not a favorable matchup for the Cowboys. Again, it’s a position teams put a premium on. I would be very interested to see what adjustments the Cowboys would make to account for this. The other storyline that strikes my curiosity is what they’re setting up with this play. All three times they motioned the fullback from a sort-of uncommon formation (they use 22 more than once each game for sure, but not that much). When they play a team from now on and motion the fullback in their 22 package, teams will be well aware of this run. Surely the Cowboys know this and have plays prepared to take advantage of this. Once they get those on film, it becomes a guessing game: are you going to gear up to stop their big run or are you going to be getting into position to defend whatever play-action pass they throw at you. That’s what’s great about a play like this that garners such success: it creates more headaches for a defense than just that one play.
I was not that surprised to learn that the Cowboys rank first in yards per game. This is an efficient offense that has a number of weapons. The tight ends especially cause all sorts of problems. It might not be translating into the plays for them we anticipated (Even Witten’s number haven’t been that awesome), but it creates an unpredictability that defenses are having a hard time with. Even if these tight ends aren’t racking up catches, defenses are respecting them, and that creates opportunities elsewhere on the field. Then factor in that they’re both top=notch blockers. When the Cowboys break the huddle with their 12 personnel, they could be attacking a defense in a million different ways.
http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/2009/10/14/we-like-the-football-musings/#more-17551
