Brian Baldinger breaks down Rico Dowdle, improved Oline and good coaching from Mike Solari

[America's Cowboy]

 

[gimmesix]

It's weird that Solari has looked so much better since we lost Zack. It seems to me that it was mentioned that we reduced the line calls/responsibilities to make it simpler. Maybe we should stick with that if we keep McCarthy and Solari.

 

[gimmesix]

Where does Baldinger get the shaky cam footage? Is he up in the nosebleed section filming it himself?

 

[Captain43Crash]

The run blocking looked so bad early in the season. Now with dink and dunk Rush at QB the run blocking is much better.

What is the biggest difference? Hoffman and Bass? Solari, the O line coach designing better run plays?

Do you keep Solari next season? The blocking schemes have seemed basic and mediocre for a long time.

 

[plasticman]

I think teams were disrespecting the Cowboys running game and they caught some teams napping.

They certainly know about Dowdle now and it will be interesting to see how he and the O-line respond to more attention.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Where does Baldinger get the shaky cam footage? Is he up in the nosebleed section filming it himself?

Lol

Seems to me like Baldinger is using his own cellphone to record off of his own computer screen which he has likely used an All-22 edited plays clip for his presentation.

 

[Blackrain]

You got guys in there now being given an opportunity that have sat on the bench while players that are playing only because of their draft status and reputation are playing ahead of them.

Hoffman and bass are taking advantage of their opportunities to try and show that they are the better players now that they're being a given a chance.

They know Jerry's trying to look like the genius by playing his draft picks and of course Martin isn't getting benched no matter how much his play has eroded.

So with the injuries they know it's now or never to prove themselves on national television and they're doing a great job.

It's just a very sad thing that the truly best players weren't allowed to start the season because we would have had a shot at the playoffs.
But that's the Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones and US fans having to suffer while Jerry tries to prove the validity of his decisions.
Truly a sacrilege that we have to wait for injuries to see good fundamental football being played.

 

[noshame]

Yes
The good coach was forced to abandoned his outdated scheme and zone block.
If he had been teaching this scheme for 2 years we'd be the most dominate running team in football,.
Ok a different play caller wouldn't hurt either, along with a dose of discipline.
Rico does run to daylight very well.

 

[Hawkeye19]

Lol… the last 4 games we have played Wash, NYG, Cincy, and Carolina. Not exactly a “murderer’s row” of defenses lol

I think Dallas is doing what we always do: beat up on the weak sauce teams.

I am not taking anything away from Dowdle or the run game, I am simply saying the quality of competition also has something to do with it lol

If he goes for over 100 vs TB, Wash, and Philly — we can get a bit more excited

 

[America's Cowboy]

You got guys in there now being given an opportunity that have sat on the bench while players that are playing only because of their draft status and reputation are playing ahead of them.

Hoffman and bass are taking advantage of their opportunities to try and show that they are the better players now that they're being a given a chance.

They know Jerry's trying to look like the genius by playing his draft picks and of course Martin isn't getting benched no matter how much his play has eroded.

So with the injuries they know it's now or never to prove themselves on national television and they're doing a great job.

It's just a very sad thing that the truly best players weren't allowed to start the season because we would have had a shot at the playoffs.
But that's the Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones and US fans having to suffer while Jerry tries to prove the validity of his decisions.
Truly a sacrilege that we have to wait for injuries to see good fundamental football being played.

100% spot on brother @Blackrain !

 

[DuncanIso]

The run blocking looked so bad early in the season. Now with dink and dunk Rush at QB the run blocking is much better.

What is the biggest difference? Hoffman and Bass? Solari, the O line coach designing better run plays?

Do you keep Solari next season? The blocking schemes have seemed basic and mediocre for a long time.

I’d expect all the offensive coaches to leave.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Lol… the last 4 games we have played Wash, NYG, Cincy, and Carolina. Not exactly a “murderer’s row” of defenses lol

I think Dallas is doing what we always do: beat up on the weak sauce teams.

I am not taking anything away from Dowdle or the run game, I am simply saying the quality of competition also has something to do with it lol

If he goes for over 100 vs TB, Wash, and Philly — we can get a bit more excited

Yeah, those teams' D-lines suck, eh???

Let's see...

Commanders: Dorance Armstrong, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Clelin Ferrell

Giants: Elijah Chatman, Armon Watts, Dexter Lawrence and Rakeem Nuñez-Roches

Bengals: Trey Hendrickson, BJ Hill, Sheldon Rankins and Sam Hubbard

All 3 teams have very solid D-line starting fronts. The only team that has a weak front is the Panthers, but the previous 3 are very solid.

Try again...

 

[charron]

Seems one of the biggest issues is coaches propensity to play guys based on draft status or contract over the less experienced but physically better at this point players. Makes me wonder if Rico has really been that injured the last 4-5 years or were they just icing him because they had their penciled in starters Zeke and Pollard. The other part is this offense once again looks better vs losers than it has vs the better teams with the lone exception being Washington which is a division rival so that may be more exception than rule anyway. It will be interesting to see how they close out the season vs some winning teams, 2 of which are div rivals.

 

[shabazz]

Lol… the last 4 games we have played Wash, NYG, Cincy, and Carolina. Not exactly a “murderer’s row” of defenses lol

Critical thinking employed

 

[thunderpimp91]

A few things are getting downplayed over the last few weeks simply due to the thoughts that the OL is playing so much better. While that is true I dont think we can overlook:

1) Rico isnt just the product of a OL playing well, Rico has some of the best tape in the entire league the last several weeks. He is playing at a very high level, and we probably need to have realistic conversations about if we want to pay a RB $10M per year. This coming from someone who has downplayed Rico as a backup all offseason and a good chunk of this season.

2) Play design has been terrific recently. This may have been an area where Zach Martin has hurt the offense as he just doesnt move as well as the younger OL these days. We are seeing a ton of movement from the OL and getting better blocking on the outside zone plays because of it. It's really creating more creativity in some of the run designs.

3) Pre snap adjustments are simply working, especially the OL calls. I'm not sure who to give credit to here. It could be that the Cowboys have overhauled their reads in season. It could be just getting over issues of having a rookie at Center to start the year. It could be the QB is more involved in getting the offense in the right calls. The pre snap success was really interesting to watch during the Carolina tape, and it seems the Cowboys made some nice adjustments as the game went on to counter the stunts and especially the slants Carolinas DL was throwing at them.

 

[88sAndHeartbreak]

Lol… the last 4 games we have played Wash, NYG, Cincy, and Carolina. Not exactly a “murderer’s row” of defenses lol

I think Dallas is doing what we always do: beat up on the weak sauce teams.

I am not taking anything away from Dowdle or the run game, I am simply saying the quality of competition also has something to do with it lol

If he goes for over 100 vs TB, Wash, and Philly — we can get a bit more excited

Those teams aren't scrubs either.

They were on getting on the right track when they played the Steelers (top 5 rush def.), then injuries happened. Coaching did a good job with adjusting quickly, they can't help the schedule.

 

[America's Cowboy]

A few things are getting downplayed over the last few weeks simply due to the thoughts that the OL is playing so much better. While that is true I dont think we can overlook:

1) Rico isnt just the product of a OL playing well, Rico has some of the best tape in the entire league the last several weeks. He is playing at a very high level, and we probably need to have realistic conversations about if we want to pay a RB $10M per year. This coming from someone who has downplayed Rico as a backup all offseason and a good chunk of this season.

2) Play design has been terrific recently. This may have been an area where Zach Martin has hurt the offense as he just doesnt move as well as the younger OL these days. We are seeing a ton of movement from the OL and getting better blocking on the outside zone plays because of it. It's really creating more creativity in some of the run designs.

3) Pre snap adjustments are simply working, especially the OL calls. I'm not sure who to give credit to here. It could be that the Cowboys have overhauled their reads in season. It could be just getting over issues of having a rookie at Center to start the year. It could be the QB is more involved in getting the offense in the right calls. The pre snap success was really interesting to watch during the Carolina tape, and it seems the Cowboys made some nice adjustments as the game went on to counter the stunts and especially the slants Carolinas DL was throwing at them.

TP, Brock Hoffman happened... or made a difference. From making quicker/better Oline presnap alignment reads ... to making more athletic execution ... to making more accurate shotgun snaps ... to being more fired up in the huddle and firing up the rest of the group. Brock Hoffman has made a big difference.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Where does Baldinger get the shaky cam footage? Is he up in the nosebleed section filming it himself?

People offer to help him edit all the time and he's like Nah, y'all gone look at this bad screen grab and love it. lol

 

[75boyz]

Whatever.
Solari's still garbage and as Blackrain pointed out it don't take rocket science or injuries to play your best 5.Guys like Hoffman and Bass had already shown ability last year and you can't tell me they looked sucky in all the practices leading up to these injuries.
I chalk it up to winning in spite of the oline coaching and a run game based more off necessity due to Rush's arm limitations more than anything else.
Otherwise McFraud would still be forcing 40 plus throws a game.
Its still a random scattershot selection of run plays with no real cohesive gameplan or strategy behind it.
And as Hawkeye19 mentioned also, the opponent quality matters.

jmo

 

[75boyz]

The OP'S post #17 on the Buffalo Bills powerhouse offense centered on this ex Cowboy thread still remains true.
Regardless of this running game improvement over the last 4 games.