Coaching disaster in 2019

[kskboys]

As I rewatched the Minnesota game...man that coaching staff disgusted me. They had to go. Coaching not to lose doesn't cut it and that is what Garrett and his coaches did regularly.

IMO, they didn't even coach well enough to play not to lose. They were a simple clusterfudge.

 

[Dre11]

The Minnesota game was a game of two team battling,but whats remembered is the last series is the 4th quarter.​

Bob Strum has a great breakdown of the series in the Athletic with video, film don't lie. plays were there in that series they didn't make them in the run or pass.

On the first play after the 2:00 warning, Prescott hit Amari Cooper for eight quick yards. This set up a 2nd-and-2 with the clock ticking. We believe they were trying to run the clock down, as they are to the 11-yard line, but we also make note that they snap this play with over 20 seconds on the play clock, which is a bit puzzling. The priority, though, is rightfully the play itself.

4Q – 1:33 – 2nd-and-2

This 2nd-and-2 is a zone read with Prescott and Elliott, which we have seen a hundred times. The Vikings defend it a bit differently, but that read defender is going to remain 99-Hunter and the right tackle Collins is responsible for 55-Barr. People ask why Prescott doesn’t keep the ball on these plays, but I can tell you that Hunter is cheating on Prescott the entire time, and there is nothing for the quarterback to see that says keep. There is also no pass attached on this second down, despite what some have been saying on Twitter. This is certainly not an RPO. The Vikings use 91-Weatherly (who is basically their third DE) to line up in the A-Gap between Martin and Frederick, and he is just trying to do two things:

A) He wants to “show color” in his gap, which will trigger Zeke’s cutback.

B) He’d like to keep Frederick from getting to 54-Kendricks.

You could argue he does both very well, despite flirting with a defensive hold (which will almost never get called). Connor Williams is turned as well, which further tells the RB there is nothing frontside, so when he cuts back into what should be a hole in the middle, Kendricks and Hunter are there to meet Zeke for no gain. This is what they did all night, and this is what we would call fantastic defense for a team without its best middle anchor in Linval Joseph. Martin and Frederick try to recover, but as you can see, because Weatherly gave himself up for the cause, there is nothing Frederick can do to get Kendricks.

4Q – 1:06 – 3rd-and-2

This one actually is an RPO, and while I am not showing you the wide view, I did not see anything that suggested the QB made a poor decision here. The Cowboys have the blocking numbers here and should be able to get three yards wide as Smith-Williams-Frederick are in a spot to take care of three Vikings, leaving Zeke to fall forward and move the chains. Unfortunately, the Cowboys blow a block on 95-Odenigbo. This is supposed to be a combo block where Williams helps Frederick get to him before Williams leaves to handle 54-Kendricks. 95 is lined up over the LG for this very reason and, as you saw on second down, he will then occupy both guys and let the linebacker run free, so there is a real game of cat and mouse here. Connor doesn’t get enough of him, and Frederick can’t recover. Therefore, nobody gets the most important man well enough, and he ends the play himself. By the way, watch 55-Barr as he is sitting on the backside slant and any ideas Prescott has on keeping it. He never even moves. Clearly, the bust here is with your center and left guard, but even if Frederick gets 95, Zeke will try to cut back right into the teeth of the linebackers. Williams has to stay with Odenigbo longer and let Zeke try to run over Kendricks himself if need be. This one is very frustrating because they have a good call here and a good look. This one leaves the biggest mark.


4Q – 0:44 – 4th-and-5

This is an interesting play and one where I would prefer Dak makes a different choice. Randall Cobb looks most appealing to me on the front side in the slot, and he was making every play the entire evening when the Vikings started focusing all of their safety help on Amari Cooper. The top highlight is Cobb, and the bottom one is Elliott. I don’t think Elliott is a very good receiver in the slot in tight spaces and doesn’t set up his route very well with any sort of leaning on his man. There is very little to throw at here, but Prescott obviously has to try something. Troy Aikman was on The Ticket Tuesday morning and appeared to agree that Cobb is a better option but then pointed out that the flow of the safeties right into Cobb and Cooper tells a quarterback to get off that and throw away from the safeties. In other words, once he sees both safeties headed in Cobb’s direction, there isn’t time to see that one is actually headed to Witten and the other to Cooper. So staying on Cobb might have been a complete guess that they were not baiting him into thinking Cobb was single-covered. If Prescott can just give it another look, it is there. But I guess that is easy to say from here.

You can see Prescott is off Cobb quickly and now tries to gun the throw in there. It is just not going to work with Elliott not leaning into 54-Kendricks at all off the line. He also doesn’t have a two-way go, because they want Witten to have that part of the field. And Witten isn’t really open because Harrison Smith is ready to jump that throw if Prescott tries it. Tough spot. Could he have run? 91-Weatherly is spying him the whole time. Great defense, but doggone, this felt so promising three snaps ago.