Bob's Blog: Shotgun to the Head: Ignoring the Stats Leads to Failure

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I challenge anybody on this board to refute the bolded points. Spin away Garrett apologists.

And yes I realize the ST's and the Defense caved in, along with 2 missed fg's and Barbers fumble changing the momentum of the game...

I totally agree with it as well. we use the shut gun too much. which then also telegraphs our run plays when Romo is under center, which means we probably going to run the ball.

 

[khiladi]

Tom Brady and New England run shotgun on almost 3/4ths of their passing plays. And they run effectively out of it an average of 6 or 7 times/game. It's possible to run effectively out of the formation, most teams just don't because they're in shotgun in specific game situations most often that preclude running.


Also note, at the time this article was written, we were in shotgun, scored once, misfired on what would have been another long passing touchdown, and very well would have scored had we recovered the onsides kick at the end of the game. That's pretty effective offense considering the game situation.

Because Topm Brady and the NE Patriots have one of the best short passing games in the league with one of the best short passing game WRs in the league, i.e. Wes Welker... It is effectively running... This also counteracts the pressure... Call me when Garrett develops a short passing game and has Wes Welker...Brady hardly gets touched and the formations that NE uses are hardly as predictable as Garrett's...

 

[Chocolate Lab]

And what's more, I would argue that the Patriots won three Superbowls with a much more conventional offense including guys like Corey Dillon as a power runner. In 2007 when they went pass-happy, they set all kinds of records, went undefeated in the regular season... And lost the Super Bowl. And to a much more conventional power-type, play-action offense, I might add.

Is it all a coincidence? I'm sure some will say it is.

 

[MONT17]

Jason Garrett may be the 3rd best play caller in Cowboys History! Anyone care to bring Bruce Coslett back?

 

[khiladi]

So what, it's Garrett's fault that the defense kept making them have to get into a shootout? Did Garrett make Bennett drop the ball? Did Garrett make Barber fumble the ball?

Romo had 3 touchdowns with ZERO interceptions and by losing the game even despite that, it is somehow related to the offense? As far as I'm concerned, the way they ran blitz all game, why not pass as much as he did?


You aren't an NFL coach, and I doubt this blog writer is either.

Romo is not Garrett... And our defense gave the Cowboys seven points on a Ratliff fumble in Giants territory and the Offense gave the Giants 7 points because of a Barber fumble.. And our offense scored 7 points when the game was eventually decided...And our OC had Barber running consistently into 2 or 3 men... and didn't even go with Choice...

 

[Temo]

And what's more, I would argue that the Patriots won three Superbowls with a much more conventional offense including guys like Corey Dillon as a power runner. In 2007 when they went pass-happy, they set all kinds of records, went undefeated in the regular season... And lost the Super Bowl. And to a much more conventional power-type, play-action offense, I might add.

Is it all a coincidence? I'm sure some will say it is.

How is it not a coincidence? They won 18 games playing a certain way, but then game #19 is somehow the undoing of all that success?

 

[Temo]

Romo is not Garrett... And our defense gave the Cowboys seven points on a Ratliff fumble in Giants territory and the Offense gave the Giants 7 points because of a Barber fumble.. And our offense scored 7 points when the game was eventually decided...And our OC had Barber running consistently into 2 or 3 men... and didn't even go with Choice...

Yea, it was 17-14 Cowboys lead late in the 3rd quarter when the Defense allowed 70 yards of YAC to a 260 lbs RB.

 

[khiladi]

Yea, it was 17-14 Cowboys lead late in the 3rd quarter when the Defense allowed 70 yards of YAC to a 260 lbs RB.

And 7 of those points came from a ratliff forced fumble in Giants territory... And 7 of the Giants points came from a Barber fumble in Giants territory..

 

[NextGenBoys]

I'd like to know our stats running out of shotgun. Everyone talks about how shotgun is so bad, yet no one has displayed any stats as far as how many runs we've called, what the average is, and what not.

And we run shotgun so much because our line is so poor at blocking. You run shotgun to give your QB an extra split second to read the defense and avoid the rush.

If we were blocking well up front I doubt we'd run as much shotgun.

How much shotgun did we run in the first...three games or so?

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Those stats are in one of Bob's blogs. He had it all broken down by number of run and pass plays from shotgun and from under center, along with average yards per play from each.

 

[Kilyin]

Also interesting to note that Romo has been sacked 27 times so far this season. Which is a career high for him, with 4 games left.

 

[Hoofbite]

Also interesting to note that Romo has been sacked 27 times so far this season. Which is a career high for him, with 4 games left.

I think some of that is a lack of running on his part. He just doesn't seem to take those few yards up the middle as much as he used to.

 

[BAT]

Actually to me its starting to look like more of a shame that wade and stewart wouldnt allow capers to be hired.

Knowing what is coming in 5 weeks or hopefully later, we will be left searching for a defensive coordinator when we could have already had one in house.

But...but...but all the Capers' haters swear that he is a hack and all his success was due to smoke and mirrors. They have the esoteric stats to back it up too.

 

[jay cee]

I missed the part where he explains why the Cowboys are the #3 offense in the league.

Someone help me out here.

IMO, he's not as concerned about their offensive stats as much as he is explaining why he does not believe they will be a championship contender, with this type of playcalling.

I must admit, I agree with his theory.

 

[CF74]

I'll try:

I'm not gonna argue the validity of the shotgun issue because I honestly have no clue whether the guy's opinion holds water or not. But I do think that rationalizing poor pass protection by citing the offense's rank is off-base. In my opinion, the only reason Romo hasn't been sacked a heck of a lot more than he has is his ability to avoid it. Maybe if Romo had a clean pocket to throw from, as Brees seems to, the Cowboys offense would be #1. There may be something to the idea that Tony is holding the ball more this year, but I think there's more to the difference in the number of sacks taken by Romo and Brees than that.

I also think there's a reason that Romo is the most blitzed QB in the League that doesn't have to do with his ability to make reads and get rid of the ball. The first thing that comes to my mind is offensive design. Of course, there's a whole bunch of other stuff that could be causing this phenomenon, but I don't think it's dumb at all to examine the offense itself, formations, playcalling, whatever.

But that's just me.

That entire post was spot on. Please post more often.

 

[CF74]

Tom Brady and New England run shotgun on almost 3/4ths of their passing plays.

If you're gonna drop a big name QB to substantiate your claims then why not use the best right now?

Looky Here:

And the statistics bare this out: Pat Yasinkas' Oct. 15 post on how Drew Brees has a 127.1 passer rating in the shotgun formation is no fluke. Yasinkas notes that at the time the Saints were only using shotgun 24.72 percent of the time, or 6th lowest in the league.

Wow if my math is right that's 50% less!!!

 

[NextGenBoys]

I'll try:

I'm not gonna argue the validity of the shotgun issue because I honestly have no clue whether the guy's opinion holds water or not. But I do think that rationalizing poor pass protection by citing the offense's rank is off-base. In my opinion, the only reason Romo hasn't been sacked a heck of a lot more than he has is his ability to avoid it. Maybe if Romo had a clean pocket to throw from, as Brees seems to, the Cowboys offense would be #1. There may be something to the idea that Tony is holding the ball more this year, but I think there's more to the difference in the number of sacks taken by Romo and Brees than that.

I also think there's a reason that Romo is the most blitzed QB in the League that doesn't have to do with his ability to make reads and get rid of the ball. The first thing that comes to my mind is offensive design. Of course, there's a whole bunch of other stuff that could be causing this phenomenon, but I don't think it's dumb at all to examine the offense itself, formations, playcalling, whatever.

But that's just me.

There's no doubt that Garrett likes his intermediate routes, which force the QB to hold the ball longer, which in turn is more sacks.

I'd like more shorter routes as well, but when we do that, people just complain on here that we dont throw the ball downfield, blah blah blah.

 

[CF74]

If we were blocking well up front I doubt we'd run as much shotgun.

If we played to this O-lines strength we wouldn't be forced to play desperate football either, we'd be playing our game instead.

 

[NextGenBoys]

If we played to this O-lines strength we wouldn't be forced to play desperate football either, we'd be playing our game instead.

Desperate football? Desperate football? Passing the ball from shotgun is desperate football? This has got to be the most "old-school" crowd I've ever discussed football with.

Please, inform me, besides the GB game, and the very end of this NY game, when have we played desperate football?

And our strength is not the "power" running game. Our oline is not disciplined enough, nor are they consistent enough.

And "our game" is the passing attack. See 2007 when everyone on this board thought we were going to win the Super Bowl thanks to the passing game.

 

[jay cee]

Desperate football? Desperate football? Passing the ball from shotgun is desperate football? This has got to be the most "old-school" crowd I've ever discussed football with.

Please, inform me, besides the GB game, and the very end of this NY game, when have we played desperate football?

And our strength is not the "power" running game. Our oline is not disciplined enough, nor are they consistent enough.

And "our game" is the passing attack. See 2007 when everyone on this board thought we were going to win the Super Bowl thanks to the passing game.

I did not think that even then. But I hoped they could, I saw so much potential in Romo.

I had my doubts about Garrett after the Patriots game when he totally went away from the run in the close game.

At the time I thought he was just young and would grow with experience, but that does not seem to be the case.

He is who he is, and the Cowboys will have to win it all as a passing team with him as the OC.