BtheB Cowboys Draft: What It Reveals About Long-Term Offensive Strategy

[RS12]

Thursday night, in the wake of the first round, a large segment of Cowboys Nation was seemingly disgruntled--not so much by the selection of Tyron Smith (although a couple of outliers stated their preference for Wisconsin's J.J. Watt), but by Dallas' decision not to trade down and acquire more picks. Indeed, they had Jacksonville on the phone, with essentially the deal on the table that the Jags made with Washington at the next pick: a nice, fat second-rounder. But the Cowboys turned the deal down because of their love for Smith; apparently, he was the fifth-rated player on their board. I think they love the player and what he brings to the table, especially in terms of his competitiveness and "finish" (Garrett spoke glowingly of his play; go here to read O.C.C.s meticulous translation of RHG's post-draft comments).

More importantly is the fact that Smith is the best OT candidate for the style of offense that Garrett seemingly wants to run. By drafting Smith, and then two other terrific foot-athletes (who also show some nasty) in David Arkin and Bill Nagy, the Cowboys have introduced an OL profile that, in some ways, they have already stumbled into with the emergence of Doug Free. Gone are the dancing 350 lb. elephants who can be beat to the hole by quickness; the Garrett Cowboys offensive line will look a lot more like Green Bay circa 2010: smart, aware foot athletes, like Daryn Colledge, who can get to the second level and play on the edge, out in space.

Since Free took over for Marc Colombo during 2009's playoff run, the Cowboys O-line has been schizophrenic, made up of nimble edge guys (Kosier, Free) and lumberers (Flozell Adams, Leonard Davis). A look at the running plays Garrett called in '09 and '10 substantiates this: they ran tosses and sweeps to the right, where Kosier (and then Free) were positioned, and power runs to the right, where Davis and Colombo plied their trade. The problem with this division was that other teams soon caught on to the Cowboys limitations; they lined up wide on the left and tight on the right--especially so last season. And, as we saw, such predictability more often than not curtailed the Dallas running game.

More on the draft and the Cowboys' offense after the jump...

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2011/5/1/2147670/2011-nfl-draft-cowboys-strategy-grade

 

[Eddie]

I like the development of this new "nimble and nasty" OL. No more immovable trees. We now have guys who can move. I really like this. Jerry Jones was too stuck in his early 90's OL's who dominated based on their sheer size ... but the NFL has caught on and moved on, and the lumberers are no longer as effective.

I'm excited about our new OL. Get BIGG out of there, and we're ready to roll ...

 

[Deep_Freeze]

Pretty good article, and it outlines what I was trying to say yesterday in another post. Murray is the type of player that just fits what JG wants to do with this team, with the mode of RB like a Marshall Faulk.

Its not like we ignored guard, we took one in the very next round and one later too. We took an OL in the first round. Murray just had a skill set that JG could really use, and thats why he was so happy when we got him. Great blocker and receiver, a willingness to take a hit plus a homerun threat. He drafted players that fit his system.

This ain't the 90s anymore, and I don't believe JG wants to be a 3 yards and cloud of dust team like some ol schoolers want. He has always been a pass oriented coordinator, and a good one at that til things started falling down around him starting with Wade.

It will take more than one offseason to implement his system, just give him a chance to run it.

 

[big dog cowboy]

After Murray was drafted, many of us in Cowboys Nation were wringing our hands, wondering: why so high? I think the answer lies in this: without him (or a player like him) Jason Garrett can't run the offense he wants to run in 2010.

Wow what a great article. This is a must read.

 

[Eddie]

Wow what a great article. This is a must read.

Yes, I was not too thrilled with the Murray pick until I had to chance to sit back and contemplate WHY he was drafted.

 

[perrykemp]

Interesting article indeed.

The basic gist of it is that the Cowboy's offense is going to look a lot like the Packer's offense of the past few years.

What I take that to mean is:

• Lots of 3 WR sets
• Lots of 4 WR sets
• Lots of 5 WR sets
• Very quick passes ("an offense resembling Green Bay's, where Tony Romo can be more like Aaron Rodgers, quickly distributing the ball to a stable of guys capable of making plays")
• Pass heavy
• Running the ball mainly just to keep the defense honest
• Strong focus on getting the ball to WRs in space and YAC

Article indicates Jimmy Robinson is here to help us implement exactly that.

I like it because it represents a very specific offensive philosophy. I'm not sure we had an particular offensive philosophy over the past 3-4 other than to let our superior athletes win one-on-one battles.

 

[Picksix]

I also think it was interesting that he mentioned Darryn Colledge, who I believe is a FA this year (depending on the FA rules), and that it was unlikely that the Pack would resign him. Could be a target.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

A must read. A must read and then ignore for the "our draft sucks" crowd who find the article hurts their position.

 

[Hoofbite]

I like the direction in moving away from big, slow, fat lineman.

I've been saying for a while that Dallas needs to ditch the huge line because they absolutely have no mobility.

I think that's a large part of the reason why Dallas has been a poor screening team for such a long time.

My only question regarding this is, what is Houck gonna be doing or teaching to Wade's kid? Dallas is moving away form his staple philosophy so what do you do with him or his apprentice?

 

[dreghorn2]

I like it because it represents a very specific offensive philosophy. I'm not sure we had an particular offensive philosophy over the past 3-4 other than to let our superior athletes win one-on-one battles.[/QUOTE]

This was my greatest concern regarding the hiring of Jason Garrett prior to his actual selection as head coach.

Not knowing too much about his personality, one only had his offense to judge him by, and that offense seemed to be as you describe above.

We seldom seemed to scheme anyone, it appeared to be as mentioned, our athletes trying to beat theirs, straight up, nothing fancy, very vanilla and predictable.

Perhaps it was personnel and i hope it was, all i know is a change was necessary and perhaps its coming.

I loved the Robinson hire, may have been the biggest of the offseason.

 

[ThreeandOut]

Definitely agree with the premise of this article that we are developing a faster more athletic offensive. These picks should allow us to run our full playbook or either side of the line with either Felix or Murray.

However, the comparisons to the Green Bay offense are overblown. This Cowboys offense has it's own identity. Although pass oriented, it should continue to be a more balanced offense. They will use more two TE's and/or two RB formations compared to Green Bay which uses more single back and multiple WR's.

Our personnel are also different. The Cowboys TE's are bigger, more all around players that are adept at both blocking and receiving. Green Bay's TE's are primarily pass catchers. With the addition of Tyron, I also think our OT's will be much more athletic than Green Bay's.

This draft is not an indication that we are trying to copy the Green Bay offense. Instead it should allow the offense to evolve into what it was intended to be.

 

[percyhoward]

That was very well-written, and it sums up what a lot of us have been trying to say for the last couple of days, and what I personally have been hoping for ever since Garrett first started to shift away from power running and toward speed and deception. And hopefully last year was just that--a start.

A must indeed.

 

[birdwells1]

A must read. A must read and then ignore for the "our draft sucks" crowd who find the article hurts their position.

I'm a so called "realist" who wasn't enamored with the 2nd and 3rd round picks but this article has given better insight to what their thinking may have been.

Thanks BTB.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

With Tyron Smith and Doug Free you have two very mobile bookends who will plow over some people!!!! Let's get some guards and this line will be just fine...