Dallas lost because they were tactically outcoached

[FVSTONE]

First, let's start with the defense



Its painful to watch but relevant. If you look at the running plays, the Packers are frequently running the same blocking scheme that has killed the Cowboys for a while. All of the linemen immediately go one direction. There is no pulling or complicated scheme. What is happening here is that defenders are trying to hold their gap as the gap rapidly moves to one side. With the size limitations of the defenders involved, eventually one of the gaps opens and Jones is free to pick it. GB isn't running plays into specific holes as much as just letting Jones go where the defense isn't. This isn't new. Teams have been doing this and it worked. There are fixes for this, like putting 8 in the box, 5 linemen, etc. and but I have seen no effort by Quinn to fundamentally change the tactics to address this weakness.

The issues with the team for some reason starting the game in a soft zone have been well documented. I have no idea why this was tried, much less why Dallas kept doing it when it obviously was not working.

......

When Dallas was on offense, GB didn't copy recent teams. I'll give them credit. They sat down and figured out a good number of Dallas' plays at a fundamental level. Dak has publicly commented that they were changing at the snap. If you have followed him all year, what Dak does is he gets a pre-snap read and that tells him which side of the field to throw to. He then usually has a single high/low read leading to a quick throw. This has been the offense all year and for the most part, it worked well. What GB did is figured out a way to break Dak's read progression. That's why he had the deer in the headlights look. The offense is set up for quick throws off 1 2 reads. Again, like the defense, there are fixes for this that can be done with playcalling and personnel. McCarthy didn't do anything and just kept feeding the players into the meatgrinder.

..........

Before the game, McCarthy was quoted as saying something to the effect of "you do what got you here". Quite frankly, this is reminiscent of a lot of Garrett's philosophy of just line up and beat your man. On offense, the team seemed to have absolutely no game specific plays or plans. McCarthy seemed to be treating it like a preseason game while LaFleur had prepared like it was the super bowl.

I do not blame the players nearly as much as others here do. I didn't see a ton of fumbles or missed assignments or dropped balls leading to a loss. Dak wasn't air mailing balls 10 feet over people's heads. They were put in a bad situation tactically and were not prepared to play. The NFL is a coach's league in that regard. GB took guys like Parsons and CeeDee out of the game which is possible when the Cowboys staff just sits on their hands and ignores the game being played in front of them.

I think McCarthy has done some good things in Dallas. Same with Quinn. That said, they both seem to have the same fundamental flaw in that they are not great preparers or in game coaches. If their base tactics don't work or things start going against them, they are powerless to change things up. This was a knock against them prior to their time in Dallas and it all came together on Sunday. This was also a knock on Garrett, who also was no tactical or game preparation genius.

As others have said, this all eventually falls back on Jerry but I'll be specific about it. Jerry doesn't know enough about football apparently to evaluate if the coach talking in front of him knows what he is talking about. As a result, he just falls for their lines about "analytics" hook line and sinker. Dallas is going to keep falling into the same trap as a result. Until the cowboys have a disciplinarian head coach backed up by tactically smart assistants, they will always fall short.

Relevant old article that really shows how brain dead Jerry is regarding coaching:
https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-co...lls-2005-cowboys-staff-has-seventh-head-coach

The Packers went to school on Prescot and found something that probably put Prescot in check a couple of seasons ago. It wasn't that long ago when the DC for the Cardinals deployed his defense in a way that smothered Prescot's ability to find any open receivers and shortly after that every Cowboy opponent was employing the same type of defense against Prescot, who happen to be on fire before he faced the Cardinals. After the Cardinal game Prescot ended up having a lousy second half of that season.

 

[rambo2]

First, let's start with the defense



Its painful to watch but relevant. If you look at the running plays, the Packers are frequently running the same blocking scheme that has killed the Cowboys for a while. All of the linemen immediately go one direction. There is no pulling or complicated scheme. What is happening here is that defenders are trying to hold their gap as the gap rapidly moves to one side. With the size limitations of the defenders involved, eventually one of the gaps opens and Jones is free to pick it. GB isn't running plays into specific holes as much as just letting Jones go where the defense isn't. This isn't new. Teams have been doing this and it worked. There are fixes for this, like putting 8 in the box, 5 linemen, etc. and but I have seen no effort by Quinn to fundamentally change the tactics to address this weakness.

The issues with the team for some reason starting the game in a soft zone have been well documented. I have no idea why this was tried, much less why Dallas kept doing it when it obviously was not working.

......

When Dallas was on offense, GB didn't copy recent teams. I'll give them credit. They sat down and figured out a good number of Dallas' plays at a fundamental level. Dak has publicly commented that they were changing at the snap. If you have followed him all year, what Dak does is he gets a pre-snap read and that tells him which side of the field to throw to. He then usually has a single high/low read leading to a quick throw. This has been the offense all year and for the most part, it worked well. What GB did is figured out a way to break Dak's read progression. That's why he had the deer in the headlights look. The offense is set up for quick throws off 1 2 reads. Again, like the defense, there are fixes for this that can be done with playcalling and personnel. McCarthy didn't do anything and just kept feeding the players into the meatgrinder.

..........

Before the game, McCarthy was quoted as saying something to the effect of "you do what got you here". Quite frankly, this is reminiscent of a lot of Garrett's philosophy of just line up and beat your man. On offense, the team seemed to have absolutely no game specific plays or plans. McCarthy seemed to be treating it like a preseason game while LaFleur had prepared like it was the super bowl.

I do not blame the players nearly as much as others here do. I didn't see a ton of fumbles or missed assignments or dropped balls leading to a loss. Dak wasn't air mailing balls 10 feet over people's heads. They were put in a bad situation tactically and were not prepared to play. The NFL is a coach's league in that regard. GB took guys like Parsons and CeeDee out of the game which is possible when the Cowboys staff just sits on their hands and ignores the game being played in front of them.

I think McCarthy has done some good things in Dallas. Same with Quinn. That said, they both seem to have the same fundamental flaw in that they are not great preparers or in game coaches. If their base tactics don't work or things start going against them, they are powerless to change things up. This was a knock against them prior to their time in Dallas and it all came together on Sunday. This was also a knock on Garrett, who also was no tactical or game preparation genius.

As others have said, this all eventually falls back on Jerry but I'll be specific about it. Jerry doesn't know enough about football apparently to evaluate if the coach talking in front of him knows what he is talking about. As a result, he just falls for their lines about "analytics" hook line and sinker. Dallas is going to keep falling into the same trap as a result. Until the cowboys have a disciplinarian head coach backed up by tactically smart assistants, they will always fall short.

Relevant old article that really shows how brain dead Jerry is regarding coaching:
https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-co...lls-2005-cowboys-staff-has-seventh-head-coach

They played zone to cover the injury to Gilmore and it failed badly.

 

[ChrisL97]

Right.
I forgot about Slowic.
Not a HC yet, but will be after this season, and won his first playoff game, absolutely taking apart a great defense.

Didn't Zack Taylor coach under McVeigh

 

[doomsday9084]

The Packers went to school on Prescot and found something that probably put Prescot in check a couple of seasons ago. It wasn't that long ago when the DC for the Cardinals deployed his defense in a way that smothered Prescot's ability to find any open receivers and shortly after that every Cowboy opponent was employing the same type of defense against Prescot, who happen to be on fire before he faced the Cardinals. After the Cardinal game Prescot ended up having a lousy second half of that season.

Here is my general understanding of how Prescott does his read progression this year. He gets a pre-snap read on where the safeties are or if its a blitz. Based on that, he decides to go left or right depending on the play. Once the play starts, he looks that direction and reads high or low as there should be two receivers on each side. If the defense drops, pass low if they come short, pass long. This whole system is in time in his head, with his feet and with the blocking.

What GB did is that they showed one thing pre-snap and changed the coverage at the snap. This meant that Dak was looking at the wrong side of the field. It totally screwed up his timing. The end results were not good.

There is some blame to place on Dak here. He has never been a super fast processor.

That said, there is a reason why teams don't do this every down of every play across the league. From a defense standpoint, its dangerous. Its really easy to get broken coverages when the first second after the snap is a scramble drill. An NFL team SHOULD have contingencies for this defensive strategy and go to them. Dallas either doesn't have them or McCarthy didn't recognize it and didn't call them. That left Dak on his own to figure out which he failed to do.

Just as an example: Bunch formations are a ***** to cover. Defenders have to be really clear on what they are going to do for each guy. If defenders are scrambling around, there is a good chance they will leave someone wide open out of a bunch formation. I didn't see many bunch formations this year out of McCarthy.

 

[duane33]

Parcells didn't have any more success in Dallas than McCarthy has. The common denominator is the GM.

Parcells had way less talent.

Those DB's were jumping routes and GB made them pay knowing they would do that.

Worst loss in the last 25 years. Think Jerry is too old and feeble to go thru a change

 

[Chuck 54]

First, let's start with the defense



Its painful to watch but relevant. If you look at the running plays, the Packers are frequently running the same blocking scheme that has killed the Cowboys for a while. All of the linemen immediately go one direction. There is no pulling or complicated scheme. What is happening here is that defenders are trying to hold their gap as the gap rapidly moves to one side. With the size limitations of the defenders involved, eventually one of the gaps opens and Jones is free to pick it. GB isn't running plays into specific holes as much as just letting Jones go where the defense isn't. This isn't new. Teams have been doing this and it worked. There are fixes for this, like putting 8 in the box, 5 linemen, etc. and but I have seen no effort by Quinn to fundamentally change the tactics to address this weakness.

The issues with the team for some reason starting the game in a soft zone have been well documented. I have no idea why this was tried, much less why Dallas kept doing it when it obviously was not working.

......

When Dallas was on offense, GB didn't copy recent teams. I'll give them credit. They sat down and figured out a good number of Dallas' plays at a fundamental level. Dak has publicly commented that they were changing at the snap. If you have followed him all year, what Dak does is he gets a pre-snap read and that tells him which side of the field to throw to. He then usually has a single high/low read leading to a quick throw. This has been the offense all year and for the most part, it worked well. What GB did is figured out a way to break Dak's read progression. That's why he had the deer in the headlights look. The offense is set up for quick throws off 1 2 reads. Again, like the defense, there are fixes for this that can be done with playcalling and personnel. McCarthy didn't do anything and just kept feeding the players into the meatgrinder.

..........

Before the game, McCarthy was quoted as saying something to the effect of "you do what got you here". Quite frankly, this is reminiscent of a lot of Garrett's philosophy of just line up and beat your man. On offense, the team seemed to have absolutely no game specific plays or plans. McCarthy seemed to be treating it like a preseason game while LaFleur had prepared like it was the super bowl.

I do not blame the players nearly as much as others here do. I didn't see a ton of fumbles or missed assignments or dropped balls leading to a loss. Dak wasn't air mailing balls 10 feet over people's heads. They were put in a bad situation tactically and were not prepared to play. The NFL is a coach's league in that regard. GB took guys like Parsons and CeeDee out of the game which is possible when the Cowboys staff just sits on their hands and ignores the game being played in front of them.

I think McCarthy has done some good things in Dallas. Same with Quinn. That said, they both seem to have the same fundamental flaw in that they are not great preparers or in game coaches. If their base tactics don't work or things start going against them, they are powerless to change things up. This was a knock against them prior to their time in Dallas and it all came together on Sunday. This was also a knock on Garrett, who also was no tactical or game preparation genius.

As others have said, this all eventually falls back on Jerry but I'll be specific about it. Jerry doesn't know enough about football apparently to evaluate if the coach talking in front of him knows what he is talking about. As a result, he just falls for their lines about "analytics" hook line and sinker. Dallas is going to keep falling into the same trap as a result. Until the cowboys have a disciplinarian head coach backed up by tactically smart assistants, they will always fall short.

Relevant old article that really shows how brain dead Jerry is regarding coaching:
https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-co...lls-2005-cowboys-staff-has-seventh-head-coach

1. Quinn gambles too much; when you try to cover a slot receiver with a LB or even a RB on the wheel with a LB, that’s a gamble that can kill.
2. He also gambles in the run game, often being unsound regarding gaps. 6 gaps…if you leave 1 or 2 unfilled and hope that’s not where they run, that’s a foolish gamble.
3. If you fill all gaps, but are trying to hold 1 or 2 with small safeties, well, you get it.

Against GB, if our corners had played press man, the pass rush would have gotten to Love as they were on him rapidly on most of the big pass plays. Unfortunately, the first drive resulted in Quinn pulling the safeties way down to help with the run (they still weren’t much help), and he then played an extremely soft zone with the defenders 10 yards off.
A - He had no answer for the run game as usual.
B - His soft zone with little or no safety help was a stupid plan.
C - If Quinn had the same free rein under Jerry that Moore had due to salary and didn’t have to answer to Mike, then shame on Jerry. If Quinn does answer to the head coach as he should, then Mike shares the blame for approving such a stupid game plan that has failed in the past.

 

[ChuckA1]

Parcells had way less talent.

Those DB's were jumping routes and GB made them pay knowing they would do that.

Worst loss in the last 25 years. Think Jerry is too old and feeble to go thru a change

Yes, but he's held out as a coach that did what he wanted and Jerry didn't interfere. He left abruptly for a reason.

 

[Chuck 54]

Here is my general understanding of how Prescott does his read progression this year. He gets a pre-snap read on where the safeties are or if its a blitz. Based on that, he decides to go left or right depending on the play. Once the play starts, he looks that direction and reads high or low as there should be two receivers on each side. If the defense drops, pass low if they come short, pass long. This whole system is in time in his head, with his feet and with the blocking.

What GB did is that they showed one thing pre-snap and changed the coverage at the snap. This meant that Dak was looking at the wrong side of the field. It totally screwed up his timing. The end results were not good.

There is some blame to place on Dak here. He has never been a super fast processor.

That said, there is a reason why teams don't do this every down of every play across the league. From a defense standpoint, its dangerous. Its really easy to get broken coverages when the first second after the snap is a scramble drill. An NFL team SHOULD have contingencies for this defensive strategy and go to them. Dallas either doesn't have them or McCarthy didn't recognize it and didn't call them. That left Dak on his own to figure out which he failed to do.

Just as an example: Bunch formations are a ***** to cover. Defenders have to be really clear on what they are going to do for each guy. If defenders are scrambling around, there is a good chance they will leave someone wide open out of a bunch formation. I didn't see many bunch formations this year out of McCarthy.

No one can convince me that GB did anything that other teams haven’t done this year. We have all seen countless replays on game day and film breakdowns all season of how much Dak was in control, how he move defenders with his eyes, how he went through progressions and found the correct guy. Its why he is in the MVP conversation.

What GB did was take the ball first instead of deferring, annihilate our defense and then play just about everyone in man coverage with a safety deep while showing us a very light box, daring us to run, but we couldn’t.

If GB was doing something no one else in the NFL tried to do this year (BS) and confusing Dak with it, should it have confused our experienced head coach and play caller too? Couldn’t he have figured it out and explained it to Dak and then called the plays accordingly? It’s all BS. We were a 1 dimensional offense because we couldn’t run vs a 6-7 man box. When we went heavy with 3 TEs, our RB was stuffed in the backfield….lol. Surely, most of you would admit that while GB receivers were running free, our receivers had defenders hanging on them, contesting almost every throw.

 

[doomsday9084]

No one can convince me that GB did anything that other teams haven’t done this year. We have all seen countless replays on game day and film breakdowns all season of how much Dak was in control, how he move defenders with his eyes, how he went through progressions and found the correct guy. Its why he is in the MVP conversation.

What GB did was take the ball first instead of deferring, annihilate our defense and then play just about everyone in man coverage with a safety deep while showing us a very light box, daring us to run, but we couldn’t.

If GB was doing something no one else in the NFL tried to do this year (BS) and confusing Dak with it, should it have confused our experienced head coach and play caller too? Couldn’t he have figured it out and explained it to Dak and then called the plays accordingly? It’s all BS. We were a 1 dimensional offense because we couldn’t run vs a 6-7 man box. When we went heavy with 3 TEs, our RB was stuffed in the backfield….lol. Surely, most of you would admit that while GB receivers were running free, our receivers had defenders hanging on them, contesting almost every throw.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ob-should-be-questioned-if-mike-mccarthys-is/

"Credit them for some of the early looks disguising how they were going to play him," Prescott said. "And then late after the snap, moving and not giving me the same picture that they were pre-snap as they did post-snap. Credit to them. Then I missed him on the sideline on a little roll out. But once we got it going, it was too late. But it was as usual, CeeDee was going to make a play."

This is what I saw several times. There was a lot of coverage shifts right at the snap. I didn't see that this much all year. I can't say why. Its not like no team has ever done it ever.

Dallas couldn't run all year. Despite that, they moved the ball relatively easily and put a lot of points on the board.

 

[Chasing6]

First, let's start with the defense



Its painful to watch but relevant. If you look at the running plays, the Packers are frequently running the same blocking scheme that has killed the Cowboys for a while. All of the linemen immediately go one direction. There is no pulling or complicated scheme. What is happening here is that defenders are trying to hold their gap as the gap rapidly moves to one side. With the size limitations of the defenders involved, eventually one of the gaps opens and Jones is free to pick it. GB isn't running plays into specific holes as much as just letting Jones go where the defense isn't. This isn't new. Teams have been doing this and it worked. There are fixes for this, like putting 8 in the box, 5 linemen, etc. and but I have seen no effort by Quinn to fundamentally change the tactics to address this weakness.

The issues with the team for some reason starting the game in a soft zone have been well documented. I have no idea why this was tried, much less why Dallas kept doing it when it obviously was not working.

......

When Dallas was on offense, GB didn't copy recent teams. I'll give them credit. They sat down and figured out a good number of Dallas' plays at a fundamental level. Dak has publicly commented that they were changing at the snap. If you have followed him all year, what Dak does is he gets a pre-snap read and that tells him which side of the field to throw to. He then usually has a single high/low read leading to a quick throw. This has been the offense all year and for the most part, it worked well. What GB did is figured out a way to break Dak's read progression. That's why he had the deer in the headlights look. The offense is set up for quick throws off 1 2 reads. Again, like the defense, there are fixes for this that can be done with playcalling and personnel. McCarthy didn't do anything and just kept feeding the players into the meatgrinder.

..........

Before the game, McCarthy was quoted as saying something to the effect of "you do what got you here". Quite frankly, this is reminiscent of a lot of Garrett's philosophy of just line up and beat your man. On offense, the team seemed to have absolutely no game specific plays or plans. McCarthy seemed to be treating it like a preseason game while LaFleur had prepared like it was the super bowl.

I do not blame the players nearly as much as others here do. I didn't see a ton of fumbles or missed assignments or dropped balls leading to a loss. Dak wasn't air mailing balls 10 feet over people's heads. They were put in a bad situation tactically and were not prepared to play. The NFL is a coach's league in that regard. GB took guys like Parsons and CeeDee out of the game which is possible when the Cowboys staff just sits on their hands and ignores the game being played in front of them.

I think McCarthy has done some good things in Dallas. Same with Quinn. That said, they both seem to have the same fundamental flaw in that they are not great preparers or in game coaches. If their base tactics don't work or things start going against them, they are powerless to change things up. This was a knock against them prior to their time in Dallas and it all came together on Sunday. This was also a knock on Garrett, who also was no tactical or game preparation genius.

As others have said, this all eventually falls back on Jerry but I'll be specific about it. Jerry doesn't know enough about football apparently to evaluate if the coach talking in front of him knows what he is talking about. As a result, he just falls for their lines about "analytics" hook line and sinker. Dallas is going to keep falling into the same trap as a result. Until the cowboys have a disciplinarian head coach backed up by tactically smart assistants, they will always fall short.

Relevant old article that really shows how brain dead Jerry is regarding coaching:
https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-co...lls-2005-cowboys-staff-has-seventh-head-coach

It helps when you have LB's to stop the run.

 

[ChuckA1]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ob-should-be-questioned-if-mike-mccarthys-is/


This is what I saw several times. There was a lot of coverage shifts right at the snap. I didn't see that this much all year. I can't say why. Its not like no team has ever done it ever.

Dallas couldn't run all year. Despite that, they moved the ball relatively easily and put a lot of points on the board.

Yeah, but not when it mattered, on the early series to keep the game competitive. The stats from the GB game are very deceiving.

 

[Ring6]

Random conspiracy..


I wonder if Shannahan helped Lefleur with his game plan against Dallas.

at the same time DQ's defense seemed betrayed too

 

[KMY_Amber]

As a Cowboys fan I go into almost every game knowing the Cowboys will be outcoached.

Been that way since Jimmy left.

Pretty much true right here^^^^

And it's hard to win a playoff game when the team is perennially outcoached...no matter how talented the roster.

I never believed McCarthy/Quinn combo could get this team to the Superbowl, even when they were winning. They're also regularly outcoached. Being able to punch the ball out and Bland jumping a bunch of routes does not a good defense make.

And Dak forced to make too many plays with his feet, off schedule, not in rhythm, does not mean the OC is performing well.

And arriving into a home playoff game and deciding to "pound the rock", with the team already losing, a run game that hasn't been consistent all season... to me that's enough of an offense to lose your job, especially since you're also the HC and the whole team looked unprepared, unexcited (with the game plans) and ultimately gave up. When you go down like that, from the start, because of poor decisions on both sides of the ball, it's time to move on.

McCarthy has tried, and has failed miserably in the playoffs. The Dak/McCarthy combo just doesn't seem good enough.

If nothing else, bring in an OC or at least an offensive consultant, at a minimum.

 

[Havic]

HERE WE GOOOOO

 

[HungryLion]

Random conspiracy..


I wonder if Shannahan helped Lefleur with his game plan against Dallas.

Quinn struggled against all the shanahan coaching tree guys.

Kyle, Lafleur, and McVay

 

[ChuckA1]

Quinn struggled against all the shanahan coaching tree guys.

Kyle, Lafleur, and McVay

Interesting point.

 

[DandyDon52]

Before the game, McCarthy was quoted as saying something to the effect of "you do what got you here".

This is why he loses in playoffs, because reg season is different than the playoffs. And you have to know and have already
adjustments you can switch to based on what the other team may do.

 

[DandyDon52]

Wish that was all it was But yes, DQ AND MM were dog doo with the plan.What made it worse, neither adjusted! If you refuse to adjust or just can't in this league, you aint winning. Ask the Eagles. Then what really did it for me was very telling. We all witnessed the defense simply quit. They quit in the late 2nd quarter. After we went down 27-0, it was all business decisions. One could even argue that the team quit after the initial GB drive that scored. Is that what we want? A team that quits on the HC/DC? This can only mean a couple things. One, we have the wrong HC/DC...we need a change. Teams not being held accountable..or properly prepared. Secondly, we need a massive overhaul player wise defensively. We have the wrong dudes. They been frauds, overvalued. Including Micah. The Texans did it in 1 offseason. We can do it.

you have to be ready to adjust, and know that you likely will have to. Otherwise it is hard to do it.
The offense was worse to me, one telling thing is when the defender shoved him after a play ended he did nothing,
Also he got frustrated when they did just let him run open with one guy covering him, they made it hard on him and he acted like a baby.
The defense switched from man to zone after the star db hurt his shoulder,and they should have just put another guy in for him and stayed
with man.

the whole game both sides were bad and dallas was out coached big time and now that mike is back it will be the same in playoffs next season.

The bad thing is dallas got beat at home and had they won they would have had the next game at home too, and if SF lost to tampa
the champ game could have been at dallas.

 

[Walker]

Its fine Dak nearly got 400 yards in the game at the end. Got to get those stats one way or another even if the game is long over.

 

[Cmac]

If you don't start with our defense failing......You've been hoodwinked again. It's so easy to jump on Dak (he looked bad) but I'd caution many........if you're dismissive or mild on that defense performance and players......we're in trouble and denial for a long time.

I'd say a change may be the best for Dak & team.....for each's sake, and the Board posters.

But I'd caution.....do you think this franchise can change things for the better, when we've seen the post Jimmy Johnson era right in front of us?