Cowboys Defensive Alignments

[xwalker]

Finally, getting a chance to go back and watch the game concentrating on the alignment on defense (and Brandon Knight on offense), I can confirm at least from the first quarter that what you say here is correct.

So far, they've played four snaps in the Big 4-3 (Smith, Crawford, Poe, Hill, Griffen/Lawrence). Smith rushed the passer once, had coverage responsibilities twice and played the run like a linebacker once. And I've only gotten to the point in my review where Hayden Hurst was wide open for the touchdown.

We've mostly played nickel up to this point, so my eyeball test was off. I guess I'm just not a fan of that Big 4-3/3-4/5-2 alignment because A) it puts Crawford on the field at end over Griffen; B) now I see that it has Smith dropping in coverage instead of rushing the passer; and C) it hasn't been effective with pressure.

The basic alignments and personnel are shown below.
- Obviously there are additional backups such as Gallimore, Armstrong and Woods that are not listed.
- Crawford is not really taking the place of any of the top 3 outside pass rushers per se.
- The intention of the 4-3 look is to have DLaw/Griffen at DE and Smith at OLB.
- DLaw only played about 1/3 of the snaps vs Atlanta which probably put Crawford into that position.

I think they want the top 3 to each play about 70% of the snaps (on average).
- If they always have at least 2 of them on the field, then that would leave 10% to have all 3 together.

 

[gimmesix]

The basic alignments and personnel are shown below.
- Obviously there are additional backups such as Gallimore, Armstrong and Woods that are not listed.
- Crawford is not really taking the place of any of the top 3 outside pass rushers per se.
- The intention of the 4-3 look is to have DLaw/Griffen at DE and Smith at OLB.
- DLaw only played about 1/3 of the snaps vs Atlanta which probably put Crawford into that position.

I think they want the top 3 to each play about 70% of the snaps (on average).
- If they always have at least 2 of them on the field, then that would leave 10% to have all 3 together.

Only thing I don't agree with is Crawford not taking the place of one of the outside alignment. In that Big 4-3 (3-4) alignment, they have Crawford at RDE and Lawrence/Griffen at LDE, with Aldon Smith aligning outside of Crawford as DPR (although he can move around). But the fact that they dropped him into coverage two of the four times I saw the alignment in the quarter I looked at and essentially did a third time when he gave the tight end a shove about 5 yards downfield and then played the run, means that Crawford and Lawrence/Griffen are the primary pass rushers on those plays. I'm not a fan of that.

Any down where we are not bringing Lawrence/Griffen and Smith or all three is a bad decision IMO. The only exception is maybe where we are blitzing a linebacker and dropping a lineman in coverage. That wasn't the case from what I saw.

Now, you've examined the rest of the game and I have not, so I don't know the exact number of plays where we did that. I just know that Aldon Smith did not rush three of the four times in that alignment midway through the first quarter.

The fact that we used nickel negates the concern to some extent but not completely.

 

[xwalker]

Only thing I don't agree with is Crawford not taking the place of one of the outside alignment. In that Big 4-3 (3-4) alignment, they have Crawford at RDE and Lawrence/Griffen at LDE, with Aldon Smith aligning outside of Crawford as DPR (although he can move around). But the fact that they dropped him into coverage two of the four times I saw the alignment in the quarter I looked at and essentially did a third time when he gave the tight end a shove about 5 yards downfield and then played the run, means that Crawford and Lawrence/Griffen are the primary pass rushers on those plays. I'm not a fan of that.

Any down where we are not bringing Lawrence/Griffen and Smith or all three is a bad decision IMO. The only exception is maybe where we are blitzing a linebacker and dropping a lineman in coverage. That wasn't the case from what I saw.

Now, you've examined the rest of the game and I have not, so I don't know the exact number of plays where we did that. I just know that Aldon Smith did not rush three of the four times in that alignment midway through the first quarter.

The fact that we used nickel negates the concern to some extent but not completely.

The 3-4 is a run defense alignment. They are expecting greater than 50% chance of run when they play the 3-4 or they've been struggling to stop the run and go to the 3-4 to beef up.

They're not going to play any of DLaw, Griffen or Smith for 100% of the snaps regardless of alignments used.

With approximately 70% of snaps for each, there are not going to be very many snaps with all 3.

They have also used an alignment that is basically a 4-2-5 except 1 DT is removed and Aldon Smith stands up in one of the gaps on either side of the lone DT.
- The Cowboys did this often last season with Jaylon as that stand up player replacing the DT and another LB would come in to play Jaylon's normal position.
- This wide 3 man DL gives them the option to use DLaw and Griffen exactly like they're used in the 4-2-5 but it also gets Aldon Smith on the field.

I love the scheme. It is very very similar to concepts used by Belichick and by the Ravens defense which leads the league in points allowed.

 

[gimmesix]

The basic alignments and personnel are shown below.
- Obviously there are additional backups such as Gallimore, Armstrong and Woods that are not listed.
- Crawford is not really taking the place of any of the top 3 outside pass rushers per se.
- The intention of the 4-3 look is to have DLaw/Griffen at DE and Smith at OLB.
- DLaw only played about 1/3 of the snaps vs Atlanta which probably put Crawford into that position.

I think they want the top 3 to each play about 70% of the snaps (on average).
- If they always have at least 2 of them on the field, then that would leave 10% to have all 3 together.

Watching some more of it.

Just saw one play where the announcers pointed out that Ryan had all day where we had the 3-4 alignment with Smith and Griffen standing up and we dropped both of them in coverage.

 

[Verdict]

First off @xwalker, thanks for the effort you put into these things. I appreciate your in depth study/analysis of the game. Based on that, I have a couple of questions I would love to hear your opinion on:

1. Why do you think the Cowboys are using Crawford so much, and what does he being to the table as a starter that other players on our team can not do as good or better?

2. In Gallimore’s limited snaps, how is he playing, and why do you think he is not getting more playing time?

3. The run defense, at times seems pretty porous. What do you attribute that to?

4. How has our linebacker play been at filling gaps on running plays? It seems lacking strictly based on results.

Thanks in advance, brother. Keep up the good work.

 

[gimmesix]

The 3-4 is a run defense alignment. They are expecting greater than 50% chance of run when they play the 3-4 or they've been struggling to stop the run and go to the 3-4 to beef up.

They're not going to play any of DLaw, Griffen or Smith for 100% of the snaps regardless of alignments used.

With approximately 70% of snaps for each, there are not going to be very many snaps with all 3.

They have also used an alignment that is basically a 4-2-5 except 1 DT is removed and Aldon Smith stands up in one of the gaps on either side of the lone DT.
- The Cowboys did this often last season with Jaylon as that stand up player replacing the DT and another LB would come in to play Jaylon's normal position.
- This wide 3 man DL gives them the option to use DLaw and Griffen exactly like they're used in the 4-2-5 but it also gets Aldon Smith on the field.

I love the scheme. It is very very similar to concepts used by Belichick and by the Ravens defense which leads the league in points allowed.

I know they are not going to play Lawrence, Griffen and Smith on every snap, but that 3-4 (Big 4-3) alignment isn't much good when teams choose to pass instead of run if we're dropping one of our primary pass rushers into coverage.

Crawford and Lawrence/Griffen rushing the passer as ends isn't as good as Smith and Lawrence/Griffen rushing the passer as ends/OLBs/whatever. That isn't as good as Smith, Lawrence and Griffen rushing the passer, but obviously you can't use that on every down because it would be a disadvantage against the run.

If we're going to put the five linemen out there, I'd rather see us run it as a 5-2 and either have all five attack the line or drop a DT into short zone over the middle, letting the real LBs run with fullbacks, etc. Yes, the risk with that is that the DT isn't going to do much good in coverage other than provide an obstacle for the QB to throw around, but as we've seen the 3-4 isn't much good at getting to the passer when we drop Smith into coverage. No matter if Smith's coverage is better, if the QB has time to throw the ball, he's going to find someone open.

 

[xwalker]

Watching some more of it.

Just saw one play where the announcers pointed out that Ryan had all day where we had the 3-4 alignment with Smith and Griffen standing up and we dropped both of them in coverage.

Go review the Cowboys-Rams playoff game and you'll see why they have to stop the run.

The Play
1st and 10
2 TE set
QB under Center
25 yards on pass to Ridley

It was a good defensive play call but bad execution.

It was a zone blitz with Smith dropping and Joe Thomas blitzing.
- Thomas had a good opening but hesitated.
- Notice that the RB briefly looked to see if he needed to stay in to block.
- The RB in the flat ended up affecting 3 players (Thomas, Smith and the SS).
- It Thomas had hit the blitz without delay, then he is either in the face of the QB or the RB blocks him.
- If the RB blocks, then the SS drops back as fast as possible.
- If the RB blocks, Smith probably pass rushes as soon as he sees the RB commit to block.
- Jaylon is there to pick up coverage if Smith rushes but you can see Smith look at the RB running a route towards the sideline.

It is easy to see this play and want to correct the pass defense; however, you have to envision the scenario where the Cowboys play a different alignment.
- They could have played max pass defense but then they're susceptible to getting gashed by the run.
- Go back to the Cowboys-Rams playoff game or even game 1 this season to see that they have to stop the run and have to guard against wide open RBs in the flat or QBs faking the handoff and then rolling out backside to hit a receiver for an easy 1st down.

 

[Sargon]

Interesting information.

Unfortunately, the results are the same. No stops on 3rd down. No turnovers. No sacks.

So far the playcalling including Zeke on the safety have been suspect, I'm guessing half the Offensive calls, and there is that same double reverse that got destroyed last week, stop the play calling that fails!

 

[Sargon]

Interesting information.

Unfortunately, the results are the same. No stops on 3rd down. No turnovers. No sacks.

So far Db's are getting beat like red headed stepchildren, receivers are having enough time to put a lawn chair out and wait for the balls, and we're holding receivers to break passing routes when we should be hitting them at the line.

 

[Sargon]

So far Db's are getting beat like red headed stepchildren, receivers are having enough time to put a lawn chair out and wait for the balls, and we're holding receivers to break passing routes when we should be hitting them at the line.

need to put jordan lewis in a set of mittens so he can't hold any more

 

[jrumann59]

I think going forward we need to draft players with versatility to play both techniques. Many teams would not have had D-Law so high on their board as we did. I think MM and MN both are aware of this.

Also partly explains why the market for EG was limited this off-season. Clowney had more suitors because of his versatility

That is easier said than done. It also appears to be cyclical thing. Remember when Dallas switched to the 3-4 the rumblings were it was hard to find players to fit the 4-3 scheme they liked to run. You take a look at Anthony Spencer or Greg Ellis neither were really suited for a stand up position, Ellis was a more polished pass rusher so transitioned well as a stand up pass rusher, he had more of "finesse" pass rush D-Law uses a lot of strength and leverage.