Bob's Blog - Football 301: Decoding Garrett - Week 11 *Merge*

[BBQ101]

Taken From: http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2009/11/football-301-decoding-garrett-week-11.html

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Football 301: Decoding Garrett - Week 11

Here are the numbers for you to see on Sunday's game versus the Commanders. As a review, one week after 43 Shotgun snaps on 58 plays , the Cowboys ran only 23 Shotgun snaps in 61 plays. Again, the object of the game is not to have a run/pass balance, but rather a majority of 1st and 2nd Down needs to be "under center".

35 plays with multiple Tight Ends showed a conviction for running the ball, and again, let's remember that they ran for 5 yards per carry, which is slightly lower than their season total of 5.14 yards per carry, 2nd in the NFL behind Tennessee.

Don't let anyone tell you this team is not a power running team. They are ignoring hard evidence.

Totals by Personnel Groups:
[FONT=verdana,arial,sans-serif]Table Tutorial[/FONT]
http://i699.***BLOCKED***/albums/vv351/bigbriquaker/BBWeek11/Totals.jpg

Definition of the Personnel Groups, click here .



The trouble, of course, with Sunday's game is that this team did not make the most of its passing game. 19 pass plays out of the shotgun yielded slightly over 100 yards, so there is something that is not very effective right now.

Check out the video breakdowns, where we highlight good things the offense accomplished. Again, I don't have a ton to choose from, so here is what we found:

Video Breakdowns:

Thanks, Brian at DC Fanatic.com . He is the man, and deserves your occasional visit to his site.

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The Play:1Q 2nd - "21" 1/10/47 - Barber for 8
[youtube]oNSaZSggfZM[/youtube]



What Happened:Of the first 18 plays on 1st and 2nd down, the Cowboys ran 14 times. Here is one example of this, as they start their 2nd drive with good field position, and roll out simple "21" personnel, which allows Deon Anderson on the Field. I thought this was a good play to demonstrate Deon's ability to blow open a path for Marion Barber with a good lead block on 52 McIntosh, and then watch Andre Gurode get to the 2nd level and eat up the middle LB 59 Fletcher.
All Barber has to do is fall forward and he gets an easy 8 or 9 yards. This of course accomplishes plenty, including breaking into Washington Territory, setting up 2nd and very short, and getting the OL going in the right direction. I may keep saying this, but there is nothing wrong with the way the Cowboys run the football when they choose to run the football. The "21" package for the season has run the ball 44 times for 218 yards (4.95 yards per carry).

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The Play:1Q - "13" - 1/10/40 Jones for 7
[youtube]LWEQKYPhK_k[/youtube]


What Happened: Out of the "13" package, they run a play that they used out of the "22" in the Giants home game quite a bit, and then have come back to it time and time again. This is based on having Bennett and Witten both split to the right as possible receivers in presnap. The defense must honor this, because it can present real mismatch issues unless they counter the "13" with some sort of nickel. This is the chess match. You put out your personnel group, wait for the defense to counter, and then call your play based on who they put on the field.

Anyway, here they bring Bennett in motion to get the Defensive end, and then the RT Doug Free pulls behind Bennett to go get the OLB. This, obviously, must be timed right. When it does, it leaves 54 Blades to outflank 89 Phillips who is playing FB here, and if he cannot, then Felix has a seam. Also, notice 70 Davis getting his steamroller going. Powerful run. Again, this team can run the ball out of power sets.

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The Play: "S12" 3Q - 1/15/19 - To Austin for 23 yards
[youtube]o5FzxuR9AIc[/youtube]



What Happened: Last play of the 3rd Quarter, and we see the Cowboys starting a drive with a 1st and 15 situation. Shotgun "12" with Bennett and Witten. Witten flares to the left and Roy Williams on the right sideline runs a simple "go". Austin, starts with a very easy curl after going in motion, but we see one of Miles better characteristics - which is staying alive when a play breaks down. Crayton does this well, too, as we will see in a bit.

Romo shows a little of young Favre here, as there is nothing to see in the designed portion of the play. But, when protection breaks down, he begins to get out on the run to the right and figure something out on the fly. 99 Carter is against 68 Free at RT, and a spin move almost allows Carter to get a sack. He does not get there, and Romo running to his right finds Austin staying alive, and it turns into a big gainer and the very 1st time the Cowboys found a WR for a completion, 44:52 into the game!

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The Play: 4Q 2/15/37 shotgun run for Barber +15
[youtube]2ly-GwCvYJM[/youtube]


What Happened: This is two plays later. 2nd and 15, and the Cowboys cross midfield with a shotgun run. I generally am not a huge proponent of running out of the shotgun, but this demonstrates when it makes an immense amount of sense. Romo seems to see that the LBs are blitzing in his presnap reads. He diagnoses, and checks off into a run which will use a gap that the blitzers will not utilize, and this is a classic case of catching a blitz perfectly. What this does, of course, is Barber running free into the defensive backfield. Then the replay shows you that the safeties are so deep stopping the pass, that Barber gets an easy big gainer. This was the biggest run of the game for 16 yards.


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The Play: 3/1/O38 - Barber dropped behind line by Carter
[youtube]XlI9Yxscuoc[/youtube]


What Happened: Now, here is an example of a shotgun run that did not work so well. This is a crucial 3rd down and 1, and again, there is a real chess match between Romo and Fletcher. It looks like Romo checks into a run that makes sense, but exectution dooms this play as 68 Free gets a poor leverage angle on 99 Carter, and Carter gets inside and chases down Barber from behind.

You can make all sorts of plans, but if one guy misses his block, the play is doomed. This set up the 4th and 2, which turned into Romo's 1 interception of the day.

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The Play: S11 2:41 4Q - 2/G/10 Touchdown to Crayton
[youtube]LooqG7yVyvQ[/youtube]



What Happened: Ok, the play of the game. S11, 2nd and Goal, Romo eludes another sack - (have you ever wondered how many sacks the Cowboys would have given up if Drew Bledsoe was still the QB?) - as Adams is beaten by 98 Orakpo on the play, but Romo gets away. This time, he demonstrates he can run to his left and make a play. Now, the fair question is this: Were 63 Kosier and 65 Gurode downfield?

Illegal Man Downfield Rule: it is a foul when an ineligible offensive player, including a T-formation quarterback, prior to a legal forward pass advances beyond the line of scrimmage after losing contact with an opponent at the line of scrimmage. The guideline for officials to use is the offending player must be more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage prior to the pass.​

By that definition, it would seem that the Cowboys got away with one here, no? Unless you can determine that both 63 and 65 were engaged with 64 Golston, which seems like a bit of a stretch. Both players are at the 7 when the ball is thrown.

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Target Distribution and Sack studies will be in another entry today. Stay tuned for that.
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[ZeroClub]

I always enjoy these posts.

Don't let anyone tell you this team is not a power running team. They are ignoring hard evidence.

Well, yes and no.

Can they run well and with power? Yes. Certainly.

Are they a quality power running team? Not really.

Despite having the capacity to run well and with power, the Cowboys offense simply isn't consistent (disciplined, focused) enough to reel off several long scoring drives on the ground. Why? Because in between those powerful bursts of 3 to 7 yards, Flozell or somebody is going to jump early, or hold, and draw a flag. Through penalties and miscues, the team loses enough hard fought yardage to take itself out of its power running game. This offense shoots itself in the foot too often to be able to rely on its power running game. So in that sense, they aren't a good power running team.

Because they have such difficulty executing several consecutive plays without mistakes or penalties, it seems like this offense is better off trying to score quicker, using fewer plays, by hitting big plays.

It is frustrating, but I think it is true.

 

[tunahelper]

I always enjoy these posts.



Well, yes and no.

Can they run well and with power? Yes. Certainly.

Are they a quality power running team? Not really.

Despite having the capacity to run well and with power, the Cowboys offense simply isn't consistent (disciplined, focused) enough to reel off several long scoring drives on the ground. Why? Because in between those powerful bursts of 3 to 7 yards, Flozell or somebody is going to jump early, or hold, and draw a flag. Through penalties and miscues, the team loses enough hard fought yardage to take itself out of its power running game. This offense shoots itself in the foot too often to be able to rely on its power running game. So in that sense, they aren't a good power running team.

Because they have such difficulty executing several consecutive plays without mistakes or penalties, it seems like this offense is better off trying to score quicker, using fewer plays, by hitting big plays.

It is frustrating, but I think it is true.

They are the dumbest, most talented team in the NFL.

 

[CCBoy]

Garrett ‘08 vs Garrett ‘09
Posted on September 9th, 2009 8:21am by Bob Sturm
Filed under Dallas Cowboys, Football, Sturm



There is more than plenty of talk about what Jason Garrett should do with the offense this season. I happen to agree that the number #1 factor for the Cowboys is health this season; but #2 is how well Jason Garrett coordinates his offense.

Honestly, I thought he was poor last season. I thought his play calls were often to appease some; for instance Terrell Owens gets 18 targets (Washington, Week 4) which led to Felix Jones not getting a touch. I also thought he relied on the shotgun and the pass too much when a game began to develop. When you are down 14, sling the ball without regard for caution or care, but when you are down 3 in the 3rd Quarter, there is no reason to abandon your game plan. But, the facts indicate that the Cowboys were too willing to throw the ball early and often and that gets everyone in trouble.

It gets your QB hit too often, it puts too much pressure on your OL, it allows the defense to “pin their ears back” and disregard the running game. And if you review the games in December, you will see the disregard grew.

The Cowboys threw the ball 59.1% of the time in 2008 (579 passes/400 runs) – only 4 teams in football threw more often. Playoff teams in 2008 threw the ball 52.7% of the time. The difference? 64 run plays. 4 a week. The Cowboys averaged 61.1 offensive snaps in 2008, and the average split was 36 passes and 25 runs.


But, in December? The Cowboys passed 65.5% of the time! (252 plays, 85 runs) I realize they were behind at Philadelphia, but they were never behind in Pittsburgh until the end, they led the Giants the entire way, and were in a dog fight with the Ravens most of the way. Did they abandon it because all they had was Tashard Choice healthy? Quite possibly, but regardless of their rationale, the opponents did not worry about the run at all and blitzed Tony Romo with reckless abandon. This caused all sorts of chaos for the Cowboys and made the OL look like it was no longer interested in doing its job.

As we look to 2009, we all agree the ratio must be better. Last season, the Cowboys ran the ball in the 1st half of games just 39% of the time (ranks 28th). They ranked 22nd on running the ball on 1st down – playoff teams ran the ball on 1st down 56.2% and the Cowboys ran the ball on 1st down 47.8%.

If they have the ball for 61 snaps, they need to target 32 passes/29 runs to get the ratio right and keep defenses honest. This starts with personnel groups. Too often, Garrett was too happy to throw caution to the wind, the running game out the window, and go strictly shotgun. There were games where the Cowboys played Shotgun/3 WRs for the entire 2nd half – of games they didn’t trail! In that Commanders home game in week 4, they ran 58 plays and 47 were passes (81%) – and all 3 RBs were healthy!! In the blowout win over the 49ers, the Cowboys still insisted on passing 41 times! Why? And in the Ravens game, the run/pass split was 21/47 – despite this being a game that was 9-7 at halftime. Basically, it appeared the Cowboys thought they were playing Madden on their XBox (For people that don’t play video games: Nobody “establishes the run” in Madden – it is pass, pass, pass).

And, remember: You aren’t running the ball to appease people with calculators. You are doing it to control the clock, rest your defense, and make passing easier. You are doing it to help your QB, your OL, and move field position.

With that in mind, we must go back to personnel groups. Below, please find the Cowboys offense broken down by personnel groups.

For any of this to make sense, you have to know what all of the different packages mean. Basically, it is very simple. Every Offense in the world has 1 QB and 5 Offensive Linemen. Therefore, if 11 players are on the field, then that leaves 5 players who can join the QB in skill positions and the Offensive Coordinator has to choose how to deploy those 5. So, the groups are simple. “11″ means 1 RB and 1 TE, so you add those 2 numbers together (1+1 = 2) and subtract that number from 5 to get how many WRs are on the field at the time. (11 will mean 3 WRs, of course).

Personnel Package Description
11 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR
12 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR
13 1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR
21 2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR
22 2 RB, 2 TE, 1 WR
23 2 RB, 3 TE
S11 Shotgun, 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR
S12 Shotgun, 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR

Table Tutorial

Do you get it? In all of the packages, the first number is the number of RBs, the second number is the total number of TEs. And “S” means Shotgun. And when you watch the game on tv, you can easily identify the package before the snap to see what Garrett is doing.



Now, let’s break down the pie chart above. I broke down all 979 plays the Cowboys ran last year into Personnel groupings. I found 8 looks that accounted for at least 1% of the plays (if they ran it at least 10 times, you will see it here). There are several other looks they showed fewer than 10 times, but to try to fight against making your head spin, let’s try to keep it simple.

So, here they are:

Package Plays Run Yards Percentage
11 27 115 2.7%
12 170 856 17.3%
13 44 310 4.4%
21 173 958 17.6%
22 92 375 10%
23 9 6 1%
S11 385 2594 39.3%
S12 30 141 3.1%
Other 41 188 5%

Table Tutorial

So, as you can see, the majority of the Cowboys Offense was in 3 Personnel Groups:

“21″ – This was generally a package that included a FB (Deon Anderson) blocking for Marion Barber and just 1 Tight End. They ran 173 plays with this set, with 108 runs/65 passes. The troubling result is that despite this being a “power run” set, they ran for only 3.52 runs a carry. 380 yards on 108 runs was not good enough.

“12″ – This is my package of choice. To me, this should be the base look for their offense in 2009. With Martellus Bennett on the field, they can balance the offense. They ran 170 plays with 2 TEs and the QB under center. 77 runs/93 passes with the 77 runs reaping 5.14 yards per carry. The defense doesn’t know what is coming, so if I have to choose between Martellus on the field or Deon Anderson, I am going with a dual threat. And don’t forget, you can always have 2 TEs on the field and still deploy Witten or Bennett as a “F” or “H” back where Anderson would normally stand.

“S11″ – And here is the love of Jason Garrett’s offense. Every time the Cowboys are in 3rd down, unless it is 3rd and very short, you can guarantee your friends the Cowboys will be in Shotgun, with 3 WRs and 1 RB. They ran this 385 times in 2008! Of the 385 snaps, 320 were pass plays (83%) so you know the defenses were not worried about the occasional delay or draw play. Romo is pretty effective in this set, but it also gets him hit plenty. Usually in shotgun, the Cowboys send Witten out in a pattern, so it is the 5 OL + Barber/Choice to pass block. And it gets your QB killed. In 2009, they have to depend on this look much, much less than nearly 40%.

So there you have it. Enough data to make your head spin, but on Tuesdays during the season, we will visit that week’s game plan. Before long, you will be on your couch calling out the personnel group in pre-snap and driving your wife even more crazy.

 

[dboyz]

I am not a big bash Garrett guy. I think he's done all right and particularly the criticism after the Packer game was a little unfair.

However, one thing that irks me is the failure to utilize Felix Jones in the passing game. He has been targeted 6 times with 5 connections for 56 yards. He is a gamebreaker and we should try to get it to him a lot more than that.

 

[NextGenBoys]

I always enjoy these posts.



Well, yes and no.

Can they run well and with power? Yes. Certainly.

Are they a quality power running team? Not really.

Despite having the capacity to run well and with power, the Cowboys offense simply isn't consistent (disciplined, focused) enough to reel off several long scoring drives on the ground. Why? Because in between those powerful bursts of 3 to 7 yards, Flozell or somebody is going to jump early, or hold, and draw a flag. Through penalties and miscues, the team loses enough hard fought yardage to take itself out of its power running game. This offense shoots itself in the foot too often to be able to rely on its power running game. So in that sense, they aren't a good power running team.

Because they have such difficulty executing several consecutive plays without mistakes or penalties, it seems like this offense is better off trying to score quicker, using fewer plays, by hitting big plays.

It is frustrating, but I think it is true.

You nailed it on the head.

 

[CF74]

How 'bout we just pull the plug on Garrett instead?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Free is freakin' fast