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Skip Bayless tweeted on Wednesday:
The Cowboys would win more games letting Romo call his own plays than letting Callahan or Garrett call them.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 28, 2013
He argued this point on ESPN’s First Take as well, stating that he had witnessed Callahan calling plays with the 2002 Oakland Raiders and “that was a dink and dunk offense.”
Now, bear in mind, Bayless recently tweeted that the Seattle Seahawks would give the New England Patriots a serious challenge in the AFC this year:
Must admit, Seahawks looking like more of a threat to New England in the AFC than Denver is right now.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 18, 2013
The Seahawks, of course, actually reside in the NFC, something that my son understood about the NFL when he was 10 years old.
But putting that aside, let’s focus on this claim that the Raiders of 2002 were a "dink and dunk offense." Callahan’s Raiders led the entire NFL that year in passing yards. Furthermore, they did so with the second highest yards-per-reception average. And they scored the second-most points in the league as well.
OK, enough with Bayless. That wasn’t really much of a challenge anyway. Let’s take this opportunity to make a real football observation that is relevant to the Cowboys offense this year.
The 2002 Oakland Raiders led the league in passing yards and had the second-highest average completion during a season in which they threw to their running back, Charlie Garner, 91 times. In fact, Garner had more receptions that year than Tim Brown. Furthermore, Garner averaged 10.3 yards a reception to Jerry Rice’s 13.2 yds per reception and Browns 11.5 yds per reception.
Why is this relevant to the Cowboys? Because there is this absurd notion out there that if you throw passes to your running backs, you are running a dink and dunk offense, when obviously the statistics show just the opposite.
What Callahan understands is that throwing to the backs takes pressure off his QB, gets him into favorable downs and distances and causes the safeties to creep up, which sets them up for big passes over the top. And throwing to talented, speedy backs often enough means that it’s only a matter of time before they break one and turn a four-yard dump-off into a 60-yard TD play.
Here is all you need to know about the potential for this offense with Bill Callahan calling plays. In 2002, his offense led the NFL with these three individuals as his top three receivers:
Tim Brown should be in the Hall of Fame. Jerry Rice is in the Hall of Fame. Charlie Garner was an excellent all-purpose back with great speed and toughness. But look at those ages. Rice ran a 4.7 as a young man. He was anything but young by NFL standards during the 2002 season. Brown was also old by NFL standards. Now look at what Dallas has in these positions:
Callahan took Rich Gannon, a QB who had been a journeyman with stops in New England, Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City and helped him raise his game to the level of the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2002.
With Callahan working with Tony Romo together with Bryant, Austin and Murray, he can go beyond what he did in Oakland. He also has Jason Witten, Lance Dunbar, Dwayne Harris and Terrance Williams to work with.
There were a number of people who were certain they knew Gannon’s limitations before he arrived in Oakland. They were wrong. He just needed the right system. At age 37, in the right system, he threw for 4,689 yards and was voted the league MVP.
Tony Romo is 33. He has more talent than Rich Gannon ever had. He has a younger stable of offensive weapons, and he has a coach who knows how to call the plays that will take this team to the next level.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
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The Cowboys would win more games letting Romo call his own plays than letting Callahan or Garrett call them.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 28, 2013
He argued this point on ESPN’s First Take as well, stating that he had witnessed Callahan calling plays with the 2002 Oakland Raiders and “that was a dink and dunk offense.”
Now, bear in mind, Bayless recently tweeted that the Seattle Seahawks would give the New England Patriots a serious challenge in the AFC this year:
Must admit, Seahawks looking like more of a threat to New England in the AFC than Denver is right now.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 18, 2013
The Seahawks, of course, actually reside in the NFC, something that my son understood about the NFL when he was 10 years old.
But putting that aside, let’s focus on this claim that the Raiders of 2002 were a "dink and dunk offense." Callahan’s Raiders led the entire NFL that year in passing yards. Furthermore, they did so with the second highest yards-per-reception average. And they scored the second-most points in the league as well.
OK, enough with Bayless. That wasn’t really much of a challenge anyway. Let’s take this opportunity to make a real football observation that is relevant to the Cowboys offense this year.
The 2002 Oakland Raiders led the league in passing yards and had the second-highest average completion during a season in which they threw to their running back, Charlie Garner, 91 times. In fact, Garner had more receptions that year than Tim Brown. Furthermore, Garner averaged 10.3 yards a reception to Jerry Rice’s 13.2 yds per reception and Browns 11.5 yds per reception.
Why is this relevant to the Cowboys? Because there is this absurd notion out there that if you throw passes to your running backs, you are running a dink and dunk offense, when obviously the statistics show just the opposite.
What Callahan understands is that throwing to the backs takes pressure off his QB, gets him into favorable downs and distances and causes the safeties to creep up, which sets them up for big passes over the top. And throwing to talented, speedy backs often enough means that it’s only a matter of time before they break one and turn a four-yard dump-off into a 60-yard TD play.
Here is all you need to know about the potential for this offense with Bill Callahan calling plays. In 2002, his offense led the NFL with these three individuals as his top three receivers:
- Tim Brown was 36 years old
- Jerry Rice was 39 years old
- Charlie Garner was 30 years old
Tim Brown should be in the Hall of Fame. Jerry Rice is in the Hall of Fame. Charlie Garner was an excellent all-purpose back with great speed and toughness. But look at those ages. Rice ran a 4.7 as a young man. He was anything but young by NFL standards during the 2002 season. Brown was also old by NFL standards. Now look at what Dallas has in these positions:
- Dez Bryant is 24
- Miles Austin is 29
- DeMarco Murray is 25
Callahan took Rich Gannon, a QB who had been a journeyman with stops in New England, Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City and helped him raise his game to the level of the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2002.
With Callahan working with Tony Romo together with Bryant, Austin and Murray, he can go beyond what he did in Oakland. He also has Jason Witten, Lance Dunbar, Dwayne Harris and Terrance Williams to work with.
There were a number of people who were certain they knew Gannon’s limitations before he arrived in Oakland. They were wrong. He just needed the right system. At age 37, in the right system, he threw for 4,689 yards and was voted the league MVP.
Tony Romo is 33. He has more talent than Rich Gannon ever had. He has a younger stable of offensive weapons, and he has a coach who knows how to call the plays that will take this team to the next level.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...