Changes on offense going unnoticed

[Galian Beast]

With all the talk about Kiffin and the Tampa 2, I think the offensive overhaul has really been overlooked.

New Coaches
Gary Brown - New Running backs coach
Derek Dooley - New Wide Receiver coach
Wes Phillips* - New Tight Ends coach (fmr assistant offensive line coach)
Frank Pollack - New Assistant offensive line coach

New Players
Travis Frederick - Center
Gavin Escobar - Tight End
Terrance Williams - Wide Receiver
Joseph Randle - Running Back

All of this combined with the reports of Tony Romo being more involved with play calling and game planning, the possibility of Bill Callahan being the play caller, the enhanced emphasis on the 12 personnel group, the addition of Terrance Williams and what that means for Austin as a slot receiver. And also the ability to lighten DeMarco Murray's load by using Joseph Randle.

Perhaps not as dramatic as our shift on defense, but certainly expect more emphasis to be placed on TE2. Expect more production (not necessarily in yards, but in the role) for WR3. Terrance Williams should be a huge upgrade over Dwayne Harris (and that's isn't a slight on him). I don't think we've ever been so loaded with talent on offense since the Romo era began.

A lot of comparisons are drawn with the Patriots, perhaps to some cynics dismay, but I definitely think we're planning to do a lot of similar things. They have tried to put together a specific set in their wide receiver group that allowed Welker to excel in the slot. I think we'll use Austin similarly. That being said I think we want to have more production out of our outside receivers, and we're certainly more talented than New England in that respect. Our tight ends don't need to match up with New England's in order for us to match up with their offensive production.

The biggest question people probably have in the comparison is the offensive line. And I'll be the first to admit that I think even with the addition of Frederick that I think the offensive line may still be somewhat suspect. That being said I think with the weapons we have it'll certainly take some pressure off the line in terms of the blitzes we faced. Getting the ball out quicker helps the line.

 

[Beast_from_East]

With all the talk about Kiffin and the Tampa 2, I think the offensive overhaul has really been overlooked.

New Coaches
Gary Brown - New Running backs coach
Derek Dooley - New Wide Receiver coach
Wes Phillips* - New Tight Ends coach (fmr assistant offensive line coach)
Frank Pollack - New Assistant offensive line coach

New Players
Travis Frederick - Center
Gavin Escobar - Tight End
Terrance Williams - Wide Receiver
Joseph Randle - Running Back

All of this combined with the reports of Tony Romo being more involved with play calling and game planning, the possibility of Bill Callahan being the play caller, the enhanced emphasis on the 12 personnel group, the addition of Terrance Williams and what that means for Austin as a slot receiver. And also the ability to lighten DeMarco Murray's load by using Joseph Randle.

Perhaps not as dramatic as our shift on defense, but certainly expect more emphasis to be placed on TE2. Expect more production (not necessarily in yards, but in the role) for WR3. Terrance Williams should be a huge upgrade over Dwayne Harris (and that's isn't a slight on him). I don't think we've ever been so loaded with talent on offense since the Romo era began.

A lot of comparisons are drawn with the Patriots, perhaps to some cynics dismay, but I definitely think we're planning to do a lot of similar things. They have tried to put together a specific set in their wide receiver group that allowed Welker to excel in the slot. I think we'll use Austin similarly. That being said I think we want to have more production out of our outside receivers, and we're certainly more talented than New England in that respect. Our tight ends don't need to match up with New England's in order for us to match up with their offensive production.

The biggest question people probably have in the comparison is the offensive line. And I'll be the first to admit that I think even with the addition of Frederick that I think the offensive line may still be somewhat suspect. That being said I think with the weapons we have it'll certainly take some pressure off the line in terms of the blitzes we faced. Getting the ball out quicker helps the line.

Yep, we are going to try and clone the Pat's offense and we are going to start letting our QB help design the gameplan and call some plays on Sunday from the LOS.

Heck of an endorsement of our Ivy League playcaller and his playbook we have been using for the past 6 yrs.

 

[Galian Beast]

Yep, we are going to try and clone the Pat's offense and we are going to start letting our QB help design the gameplan and call some plays on Sunday from the LOS.

Heck of an endorsement of our Ivy League playcaller and his playbook we have been using for the past 6 yrs.

I think clone goes a bit far. Like I said, we've been running 12 for years. We just weren't able to get the 2nd tight end as involved in the passing game. I think it is much more important that the 2nd tight end be a great catcher rather than a great blocker. Generally Escobar is going to have the blocking advantage against corners. Where he losing the advantage is against more stout linebackers, and this is where you generally ask him to catch rather than block.

I think being less involved in the offense will really help Jason Garret's career. He is more qualified to be a manager than a coach or a coordinator.

 

[Beast_from_East]

I think clone goes a bit far. Like I said, we've been running 12 for years. We just weren't able to get the 2nd tight end as involved in the passing game. I think it is much more important that the 2nd tight end be a great catcher rather than a great blocker. Generally Escobar is going to have the blocking advantage against corners. Where he losing the advantage is against more stout linebackers, and this is where you generally ask him to catch rather than block.

I think being less involved in the offense will really help Jason Garret's career. He is more qualified to be a manager than a coach or a coordinator.

“They're a good role model for us,” owner Jerry Jones said of the Patriots, whose two tight-end sets featuring Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have sizzled the last three years.


I think cloning is exactly what Jerry is thinking.

 

[Primetime42]

“They're a good role model for us,” owner Jerry Jones said of the Patriots, whose two tight-end sets featuring Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have sizzled the last three years.


I think cloning is exactly what Jerry is thinking.

Only it's not "clone". Dallas has been running the 12 formations for years.

Not only that, but it took Belichick years of drafting (and missing on) numerous tight ends before he found a combination that worked in Gronk and Hernandez.

Just sayin'.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

If the offense is faster paced and utilizes plays from a very successful offense then heck yeah I like it.

 

[Eskimo]

I think the bigger thing that is about to happen is that two OL who we have developed will start to flourish and this will help out the offense more than anyone can conceive right now. The two players I'm talking about are Tyron Smith and Jeremy Parnell.

Tyron is still only 22 years old which is a fairly typical age for an NFL rookie. We already saw him put up a Pro Bowl quality year at RT as a 20 year old rookie which is pretty remarkable. I think the move to LT has taken him longer to make than anyone anticipated partly because of how green/inexperienced he was and partly because of how long he had been a RT. I thought the second half of the year was considerably better than the first half and look for him to put up a better year at LT than he did at RT as a rookie. He has the entire tool kit to the extreme that you want at LT but just needs to get his footwork better and he will dominate with his length, strength and athleticism. We already know he is an elite run blocker which we have had trouble captializing on because of how weak OL play has been in general.

The other guy is now entering only his 3rd year as an OL. He played only one year of college ball mostly as a DE and then spent most of his rookie year ater being an UDFA as a TE on the Saints PS before we grabbed him late in the year in 2010 when we were not contending and tried to figure out how we could use him. We had him at OT in 2011. This was a guy who weighed only 245 pounds in his Junior year at college spent playing PF in basketball. He was extremely raw going through 3 different positions in his first 2 years of football experience before finally coming to the OL after he had bulked up considerably (245 in college, 290 when we grabbed him from the Saints, probably about 320 pounds right now). He can move his feet well from years playing basketball but had to learn football footwork and then OL footwork and that has taken time learning those things which most OL come into the league already knowing. He has elite arm length and apparenlty the strongest punch that Woicik has ever seen from an OL so that presumably includes guys like Erik Williams, Larry Allen, Flo and Logan Mankins. He looked pretty strong on the field and don't remember many people being able to bullrush him much and he's going to be much better this year. Last year he looked like a good 2nd year developmental OT when he saw snaps at LT for a couple of games when Tyron was hurt and then for 3 games splitting snaps with Free. The fact that he was not looking lost out there against top NFL competition speaks volumes about his future potential. I really think he can solidify us at RT next year and give us two athletic bookends.

Now you can add back in a vastly improved Phil Costa who is going into his fourth year who showed major improvement in the second half of his first starting year in 2011 and who looked very good when he saw the field in 2012. Now we aren't sure where he is going to play but I have a suspicion he is going to play Center for us next year and hopefully pick up right where he left off.

Now we can again Travis Frederick who will probably play at around 6-4 320 pounds for us. I suspect they may stick him at LG in his rookie year before moving him to Center later. He gives us something we have lacked for awhile although Costa showed some hints of it in the second half of 2011 and 2012. He gives us an interior OL who can get push in the running game at the point of attack. You can clearly see his immense power at the point of attack as he not only engages the DL so they can only attempt an arm tackle. He actually drives the DL off the line and turns him so he can seal him off to create the hole repeatedly. You can see Wisconsin running behind him over and over again in 2011 and 2012 even when they had both Konz and Zeitler in there as well. The part that I'm less convinced about is how well he can pull and that is why I'm unsure if they'll start him at RG or LG before eventually sticking him at Center.

I think if those 3 chips hit the ground running this year then the averagish OGs that we stick out there with them, assuming they are healthy this year, should be passable. This will hopefully give us an above average OL who can allow us to be balanced offensively between passing and running. This way we can protect Romo better, control the clock, use play action pass to better effect and open up the deep passing game. I think we may be getting close to where we were in 2006 when Romo came up as a rookie and made the Pro Bowl in a partial year starting. I think we'll be better in 2014 hopefully after adding in another cog from a high pick or a developmental OG but right now I think we could have at least league average play all the way across the OL this year and maybe even above average in 2-3 spots. This will be world's better when only Livings played well and only for part of the year.

Of course, this could all fall apart and that is what we're used to. I think this year will be far better than last year, though. I do think most of the parts are there now and the fanbase will have to accept that very few OL are ever elite across the board. Most make do with a couple of premium players and maybe a solid vet and a young developmental type or two. With two first round picks we probably have more there right now than most of the league, it is just that they are both young and still in their developmental phases right now so we haven't yet gotten the fruits from the investment - heck TFred hasn't even yet seen a snap.

I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by what the group does this year.

 

[JakeCamp12]

Eskimo, I share your view on this. The only worry I have is how Costa's back holds up. I would like to see Travis at center as he seems to have a really good anchor in the YouTube videos I have seen. If he can give Romo the space to step up into the pocket, we could be deadly throwing the ball. Nice write-up though.

 

[burmafrd]

I think the bigger thing that is about to happen is that two OL who we have developed will start to flourish and this will help out the offense more than anyone can conceive right now. The two players I'm talking about are Tyron Smith and Jeremy Parnell.

Tyron is still only 22 years old which is a fairly typical age for an NFL rookie. We already saw him put up a Pro Bowl quality year at RT as a 20 year old rookie which is pretty remarkable. I think the move to LT has taken him longer to make than anyone anticipated partly because of how green/inexperienced he was and partly because of how long he had been a RT. I thought the second half of the year was considerably better than the first half and look for him to put up a better year at LT than he did at RT as a rookie. He has the entire tool kit to the extreme that you want at LT but just needs to get his footwork better and he will dominate with his length, strength and athleticism. We already know he is an elite run blocker which we have had trouble captializing on because of how weak OL play has been in general.

The other guy is now entering only his 3rd year as an OL. He played only one year of college ball mostly as a DE and then spent most of his rookie year ater being an UDFA as a TE on the Saints PS before we grabbed him late in the year in 2010 when we were not contending and tried to figure out how we could use him. We had him at OT in 2011. This was a guy who weighed only 245 pounds in his Junior year at college spent playing PF in basketball. He was extremely raw going through 3 different positions in his first 2 years of football experience before finally coming to the OL after he had bulked up considerably (245 in college, 290 when we grabbed him from the Saints, probably about 320 pounds right now). He can move his feet well from years playing basketball but had to learn football footwork and then OL footwork and that has taken time learning those things which most OL come into the league already knowing. He has elite arm length and apparenlty the strongest punch that Woicik has ever seen from an OL so that presumably includes guys like Erik Williams, Larry Allen, Flo and Logan Mankins. He looked pretty strong on the field and don't remember many people being able to bullrush him much and he's going to be much better this year. Last year he looked like a good 2nd year developmental OT when he saw snaps at LT for a couple of games when Tyron was hurt and then for 3 games splitting snaps with Free. The fact that he was not looking lost out there against top NFL competition speaks volumes about his future potential. I really think he can solidify us at RT next year and give us two athletic bookends.

Now you can add back in a vastly improved Phil Costa who is going into his fourth year who showed major improvement in the second half of his first starting year in 2011 and who looked very good when he saw the field in 2012. Now we aren't sure where he is going to play but I have a suspicion he is going to play Center for us next year and hopefully pick up right where he left off.

Now we can again Travis Frederick who will probably play at around 6-4 320 pounds for us. I suspect they may stick him at LG in his rookie year before moving him to Center later. He gives us something we have lacked for awhile although Costa showed some hints of it in the second half of 2011 and 2012. He gives us an interior OL who can get push in the running game at the point of attack. You can clearly see his immense power at the point of attack as he not only engages the DL so they can only attempt an arm tackle. He actually drives the DL off the line and turns him so he can seal him off to create the hole repeatedly. You can see Wisconsin running behind him over and over again in 2011 and 2012 even when they had both Konz and Zeitler in there as well. The part that I'm less convinced about is how well he can pull and that is why I'm unsure if they'll start him at RG or LG before eventually sticking him at Center.

I think if those 3 chips hit the ground running this year then the averagish OGs that we stick out there with them, assuming they are healthy this year, should be passable. This will hopefully give us an above average OL who can allow us to be balanced offensively between passing and running. This way we can protect Romo better, control the clock, use play action pass to better effect and open up the deep passing game. I think we may be getting close to where we were in 2006 when Romo came up as a rookie and made the Pro Bowl in a partial year starting. I think we'll be better in 2014 hopefully after adding in another cog from a high pick or a developmental OG but right now I think we could have at least league average play all the way across the OL this year and maybe even above average in 2-3 spots. This will be world's better when only Livings played well and only for part of the year.

Of course, this could all fall apart and that is what we're used to. I think this year will be far better than last year, though. I do think most of the parts are there now and the fanbase will have to accept that very few OL are ever elite across the board. Most make do with a couple of premium players and maybe a solid vet and a young developmental type or two. With two first round picks we probably have more there right now than most of the league, it is just that they are both young and still in their developmental phases right now so we haven't yet gotten the fruits from the investment - heck TFred hasn't even yet seen a snap.

I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by what the group does this year.

roll my eyes at the Costa part but the other bits sound right. Fredrick will start at Center. He is just so much better and Costa just does not have it.

There has been a LOT of talk about Leary; we will see. Bernie and cook will be the primary backups; between them we have coverage across the line. We can get away with 7 O line active on Game Day which will help elsewhere.
I think Livings probably holds on for one more year at Guard.

parnell is so green; but the fact that he held his own with Free for the last part of the season speaks volumes and is probably why the boys have not pushed hard to get a FA tackle. Cook can fill in adequately on game day at tackle and Parnell could be the starter. Dumping Free to me seems more and more likely.

 

[Vinnie2u]

We can copy the game plan. But we missing three vital parts. Gronk, Brady and Belicheat..

 

[ShiningStar]

“They're a good role model for us,” owner Jerry Jones said of the Patriots, whose two tight-end sets featuring Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have sizzled the last three years.


I think cloning is exactly what Jerry is thinking.

and by the word clone, you mean what any other team that runs the same system?

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Nice post, in general I'm dissatisfied with Jerry's OL management but the emergence of Parnell and Fredericks as quality players really would go a long way in turning this thing around. Parnell certainly has all the physical attributes and I'm very hopeful he can become "that guy".

 

[CashMan]

With all the talk about Kiffin and the Tampa 2, I think the offensive overhaul has really been overlooked.

New Coaches
Gary Brown - New Running backs coach
Derek Dooley - New Wide Receiver coach
Wes Phillips* - New Tight Ends coach (fmr assistant offensive line coach)
Frank Pollack - New Assistant offensive line coach

Out of curiosity, can you name 1 position coach in football, and say that guy makes the team soo much better?

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Only it's not "clone". Dallas has been running the 12 formations for years.

Not only that, but it took Belichick years of drafting (and missing on) numerous tight ends before he found a combination that worked in Gronk and Hernandez.

Just sayin'.

Exactly! They were counting on Bennett to come around to bring them that 2-TE threat. They even passed up on a 2nd round pick from the Bengals for Bennett, in hopes he would blossom in year 3. Now they drafted a TE again in hopes they can get the base 2-TE offense going.

It's a good plan because this is how you create mismatches against today's defenses. It also takes the pressure off the OL because with 2 TEs you can disguise where the strong side is - which helps the running game - or use one of the TEs to chip block on whatever side the defense stacks the pressure.

 

[CATCH17]

“They're a good role model for us,” owner Jerry Jones said of the Patriots, whose two tight-end sets featuring Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have sizzled the last three years.


I think cloning is exactly what Jerry is thinking.

I'd like to clone what they do. It's working and i'd like to see our offense put the foot on the gas pedal.

We have guys that are more suited for a fast break / street ball style attack.

We are way to coventional on offense for the type of players we have.

 

[Hawkeye19]

Romo getting more control is a good thing, adding Randle and Williams is a good thing, and Frederick is going to help-- particularly in the running game (we shouldn't finish 31st in the league at least).

That said-- I am indifferent to the 2TE set. It works in theory but in practice it hasn't happened for us. If Escobar was a better in line blocker-- I'd be a bit more excited to add another dimension to the running game--

But as it stands-- he's a pass catcher-- and there simply aren't enough balls to go around to get him enough catches to make a big enough difference in the offense to justify a second round pick.

 

[DFWJC]

Lot's of changes going on.

"Only" the offensive line is the issue...as you know, the Oline, personnel wise, comprises nearly 50% of the entire starting offense.

Nevertheless, after down week following the draft, I'm back to being at least somewhat excited about this season.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I agree that things are changing. I hope the biggest difference is that Dallas will attack on offense and defense rather than react.

My biggest concern, besides injuries, is the reliability and stability of the offensive and defensive lines.

 

[Galian Beast]

Out of curiosity, can you name 1 position coach in football, and say that guy makes the team soo much better?

It depends on your definition of so much better. That being said, the point is we have a nearly entirely different offensive coaching staff this year. The only people who have stayed and stayed in the same position are Bill Callahan and Wade Wilson.

 

[CashMan]

It depends on your definition of so much better. That being said, the point is we have a nearly entirely different offensive coaching staff this year. The only people who have stayed and stayed in the same position are Bill Callahan and Wade Wilson.

What I am saying, is that it doesn't really matter who your position coaches are, it is what is being taught. You still have a coach, who doesn't know how to make adjustments, so unless someone is calling the plays, I can't say the Offense is going to be soo much different.