Cowboys Rated Best Offensive Line - Again

[Wood]

RunDMC did pretty well behind this line.

I said before season that if RunDMC had good year we should starting footings for OL statues.

 

[BAT]

If you telegraph to the world that your running up the middle every 3rd and 1 than its more of a coaching issue, not the players.

90's Cowboys telegraphed plays all the time too, especially on 3rd and 1.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Of course.

We'll soon hear about how bad the offensive line was as compared to last season.

They werw probably actually better. Seemed much stronger in pass pro

 

[darthseinfeld]

I knew somebody would bring up
silliness, while ignoring all the busts we picked and the actual scheme we were running while picking these busts.

Guess what?

Smith was pretty much the best OL to come out of college in years. He was arguably the JJ Watt of the OL that year.

It didn't take a genius to pick him, particularly since Flozell left and Jerry Jones was looking to protect Romo's blind-side. Jerry offered Flozell huge money the previous contract to stay here.

Smith wasn't the best to come out in years, or else he wouldn't have made it to #9 even in that draft. Smith was undersized, and had never played LT. He needed molding and it showed when they first moved him to LT in his second year.

 

[Sarge]

Great OL, no question about it......and when you are THAT good, there is no good excuse to finish 4-12.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

They werw probably actually better. Seemed much stronger in pass pro

In 2014, they really struggled versus stunts and blitzes. Some teams were reluctant to do that due to Romo's elusiveness, but teams could pressure us this way. Kinda hard to evaluate their improvement when we had such poor QB play, but you may be right.

 

[Rockport]

Tell me what good it has done instead sitting there shaking your head like a fool.

12-4 last year with NFL leading rusher. Produced another 1000 yd rusher this year on an offense without its starting QB and WR. Duh.

 

[Nova]

Smith wasn't the best to come out in years, or else he wouldn't have made it to #9 even in that draft. Smith was undersized, and had never played LT. He needed molding and it showed when they first moved him to LT in his second year.

Agree with your initial point, but did you see who was drafted in front of him?

Smith doesn't make it to 9 in just about any other year.

 

[Nova]

The people up in arms about the Cowboys being "the best", please point out who is better.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Agree with your initial point, but did you see who was drafted in front of him?

Smith doesn't make it to 9 in just about any other year.

Ya, but I think if he was more polished ( like say a Joe Thomas or Jake Long when they came out )at that point I think he would have been drafted higher, at least top 5. Due to position value he may have gone ahead of Green/ Jones and Peterson

 

[Longboysfan]

Sounds great. We were still 4-12.

Hmmmmm.... Number 1 offensive line.

4 - 12 record.

Something does not translate well here.

 

[tyke1doe]

So it DOES matter who runs behind this line?

Go get Ezekiel Elliott!

 

[tyke1doe]

Hmmmmm.... Number 1 offensive line.

4 - 12 record.

Something does not translate well here.

C-O-A-C-H-I-N-G

(But that's for another forum)

 

[cowboyblue22]

I am like a some of the other cowboys fans have the best rated o line and you have a 4 and 12 record. Don't make lots of sense but there was lots of incompetence in other areas.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Hmmmmm.... Number 1 offensive line.

4 - 12 record.

Something does not translate well here.

Easy.

A -22 turnover differential overwhelms whatever good the team did do.

The Cowboys led the league in negative turnover differential BY 8 TURNOVERS. That in itself is stunning. They were a negative 1/2 a turnover per game worse than any other team in the NFL.

By contrast Carolina is +20 in turnover differential.

That in a nutshell explains why one team is playing this weekend and the other was 4-12.

 

[JIGGYFLY]

And looking back maybe investing so much into the OL was overkill.

We will never get an equal return and now we have to start paying for their talent.

Romo got hurt and we went 4-12 with a great OL and an improved Defense.

3 years ago SF had an OL to be jealous of and now they are back next to us in the draft.

Wow.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Murray averaged 4.7 yards behind this line last year and some said he was too good to let leave. And he did that with Romo having the best year of his life and Bryant having a great season.

McFadden averaged 4.6 yards behind this line last year. He did that with Romo being out a large chunk of the season and Bryant being a shell of himself due to a foot injury. And apparently, that's not good enough.

The reality isn't that McFadden isn't good enough. He is. He's likely as good as Murray, or just a tick below. The problem is he's a big injury risk still.

YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I'm just glad that PFF put a stop to the nonsense that the O-Line doesn't pass protect well. I also remember when people were saying the Eagles O-Line was better. That was a hoot.




YR

 

[Sydla]

At times. But not where a defense was geared to stop McFadden with a gameplan as it was for Murray for an entire game..

You can keep saying this but it won't make it true. The opposite happened. Teams still played a lot of two deep safety looks against us because they knew they couldn't sell out on the run lest they got burned by Romo. The notion that teams just geared up and loaded the box to stop Murray constantly is just simply not true. That was the beauty of the offense last year. Teams couldn't sell out one way or the other, or they would have gotten chewed up.

The fact McFadden was as successful as he was with no passing game to speak of at all is fairly impressive. I suspect if McFadden had a healthy Romo and Bryant, he'd have had 1,400 yards or more (he might have had that anyway if the staff had made him the starter from the beginning of the season). To deny otherwise is absurd IMO.

 

[VACowboy]

First the OL was sucking in 2015 because Callahan was gone. Now PFF has rated the Dallas OL the best in the league (and it wasn't even close) and the logic is that the Cowboys have the best OL in the league because of Callahan and despite Jerry? Alrighty, then.

Fred came out of Wisconsin where he played in the epitome of man-blocking offenses. He was widely regarded as a powerful technician who lacked athleticism and quickness. Not exactly your quintessential zone-blocking lineman.

And I love the way some people rationalize stuff, like... You can't credit Jerry with Tyrone Smith or Zach Martin. They were just the best players on the board. Or... Take out five games. Look what a crappy season McFadden had!

And just as an aside, the Commanders were hampered by injuries on their OL and by the end of the season, were starting 4 first round lineman I believe. Their first pick this year was OL.

Cousins had all day to throw and was not sacked, threw over 70% and nobody in Washington was complaining about the OL when it was a regular theme in DC. Their passing game was built off of play action, meaning the threat of the run game was always there even though they weren't putting up big numbers with all their injuries.

And this was Callahan's first year there. I live in DC so the fans were elated with Callahan's work.

Callahan is probably the best OL coach in the league. He did a spectacular job in Dallas and has turned the Washington OL around. He certainly deserves credit for a good job coaching his position and helping bring offensive success to DC. But lets not get carried away. Gruden is the guy who designed the plays, chose Cousins as his starter and coached him. Cousins was only sacked 27 times, and the OL is a major part of that, but offensive scheme, play calling and the quarterback himself play significant roles in that as well. Irony of ironies, Washington averaged 3.7 yards a rush, good for third worst in the league. The Cowboys went 4.6 per, 6th best, with zero passing game.

I'm just glad that PFF put a stop to the nonsense that the O-Line doesn't pass protect well. I also remember when people were saying the Eagles O-Line was better. That was a hoot.

Yeah. Too funny. I think it says a lot about Murray too.

If I liked your post in this thread, I would have liked it 100 more times if I coulda.