News: BTB - Twitter Q&A: Why was the 2018 Cowboys offense so lame?

Brax

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An article detailing the problems with Linehan and a number of testimonials of Moore as an offensive wizard.

https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/201...an-kellen-moore-jason-garrett-ezekiel-elliott
The funny thing about this whole KM is a genius is he was on the staff all last season, so he's such a genius that not the HC or OC listened to him or gave him any input and now JJ says he will be calling plays. Wasn't JG a genius when JJ hired him also? Only time will tell but I am not expecting a great change since KM learned under SL.
 

Crown Royal

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The narrative grew near the end of last season that Garrett was pushing Linehan to open things up and dig deeper into the playbook, but as Fisher said, Linehan mostly resisted. His default was to plow ahead and defy anyone to stop him. The problem was that he was being stopped by the other teams on a too-regular basis.

In a way, it is puzzling, because Linehan has run much more pass-centered offenses before 2016. He was able to shift one way. We may never understand why it apparently became impossible for him to go back the other direction.

It oversimplifies things to lay it all at Linehan’s feet, but it is also reasonable to say that he had become the single biggest hindrance to the offense. So he had to go.

One thing we have to remember - BtB is high end fan reporting, not insider knowledge for the most part.

That said, this blurb really sums up how I feel. I think if you had a 30 minute session to confront Linehan about the system in 2018, he would AGREE with just about every observation you made (predictability, limiting risk via high probability, simple plays, etc.). I think he would say that everything we saw was absolutely what he was trying to do, and would then say that look - I had limited access to WR talent, limited TE talent, an OL without the premier center in the league that was banged up at both guard positions and, often, the tackle position, and a QB who is still developing and, in some ways, always going to be a slightly limited passer. So the strategy was to eliminate virtually ALL risk, hold on to the ball, win TOP, use the best running back in the game and let the defense help out. It was a low risk strategic decision not to lose games, but also meant that points were going to be sparse. Changing significantly mid-year was going to be terribly difficult because you're talking about changing the entire offensive concepts we had been installing since March.

I think he would say that opening up the offense COULD have scored more points, but turnovers would have increased precipitously and in several of the wins, the a single added turnover could have cost the game. He was working with the toolset he had and while Dak has limitations, he can do enough to win with that formula.


Note - this is what I THINK he would say, not a defense or agreement. I think that, much like Garrett had to catch flak for the 4th down aggression, that you HAVE to be willing to take calculated risk in order to score points. I thought eh Offense, while not perfect, actually did admirably in teh second half of the Rams game when they scrapped the original plan. Hopefully next year you see a little more trust in the players (although every coach knows that's a double edged sword - you can trust and get let down).
 

Hennessy_King

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Linehan's predictable route combos with average wr talent before amari cooper. And offensive line
 

conner01

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The oline not be healthy was some of it
The predictable scheme some
The good news is if we can just fix the redzone problems you’ve fixed the majority of the scoring problems
 

Eanwen

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Simply put, the performance changed, but the utilization didn’t. Faced with a team that could no longer do what was so successful two years ago, Linehan did pretty much exactly what he did back then. He kept going back to the same things, calling plays inside a comfort zone that no longer really existed. Despite growing evidence that this approach was just not working, he fought change. Toward the end of last season, there were reports that Jason Garrett, Moore, Doug Nussmeier, and Prescott were all getting more involved in the game plan, which seemed to show some positive effects. But, for whatever reason, Linehan kept the play-calling duties, and once the team got beyond the “scripted” portion of the first half, he kept reverting to things that just weren’t working.

Well I guess it wasn't just my imagination.
 
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Kellen Moore knows exactly why Linehan was fired. Moore knows what he did wrong. Moore was there and he saw it all. And Moore knows what changes need to be made and he will use his creativity to produce those changes. And he knows the players on offense and if they are capable of performing what Moore will be asking of them given their skillsets.

Do I really believe all this? Not really. Just trying to throw some positive spin out there.

It is the offseason after all.
 

Stash

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Welcome back to 2016 when the rest of us were saying these same things.
 

Kaiser

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The oline not be healthy was some of it
The predictable scheme some
The good news is if we can just fix the redzone problems you’ve fixed the majority of the scoring problems

The biggest issue was the OL health, Fred was a huge loss and it just added to the plan for run blitzing all the time to stop Zeke.

Linehan was a big part of the problem.

But you also have to look at the two halfs of the season seperately. In the first half the team had Hurns and TWill disappear and got nothing from the TE position. In the second half Dak had the normal weapons an NFL offense has once Amari came on board and the other TEs developed.
 

CowboyRoy

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The biggest issue was the OL health, Fred was a huge loss and it just added to the plan for run blitzing all the time to stop Zeke.

Linehan was a big part of the problem.

But you also have to look at the two halfs of the season seperately. In the first half the team had Hurns and TWill disappear and got nothing from the TE position. In the second half Dak had the normal weapons an NFL offense has once Amari came on board and the other TEs developed.

But it was more than that with the Oline. Health was #1 but also:

-Alexander changing the technique and his coaching
-Lack of continuity not only because of injuries, but very little preseason time together as Garrett wouldn't play anyone.
 

Stash

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The biggest issue was the OL health, Fred was a huge loss and it just added to the plan for run blitzing all the time to stop Zeke.

Linehan was a big part of the problem.

But you also have to look at the two halfs of the season seperately. In the first half the team had Hurns and TWill disappear and got nothing from the TE position. In the second half Dak had the normal weapons an NFL offense has once Amari came on board and the other TEs developed.

You're right about O-line, but it wasn't just "health". Even guys who were "healthy" weren't playing well. It was a combination of a whole bunch of bad on that offensive line. Injuries, coaching, poor performance, you name it. But the group that we invested in to be the engine, sputtered in 2018.
 
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