DC.COM Blog: Unleashing T.O. In The Cards

[WoodysGirl]

Unleashing T.O. In The Cards

Posted by rphillips at 10/10/2008 5:23 PM CDT on truebluefanclub.com

The Cowboys rediscovered their offensive balance last Sunday against Cincinnati, but one ingredient was missing: Terrell Owens' consistent involvement in the offense. The star receiver was held to two catches for 67 yards, albeit one a 57-yard catch-and-run for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

You can bet offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has spent all week devising ways to get Owens more touches on Sunday. It's been tough this season, with corners jamming him at the line of scrimmage, safeties playing tighter over the top and linebackers trying to prevent slant routes. Owens says he's getting double- and triple-teamed as much, if not more, than he can remember in his entire career.

A couple of early backside catches from Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin would give Owens some breathing room. But at times, quarterback Tony Romo simply has to take what the defense gives him, even if that makes Owens an occasional decoy.

“I don’t know how to explain it other than we like it when he gets pressed and is in one-on-one," Romo said. "A lot of times there’s a safety over the top helping that guy. If that guy didn’t have help, very seldom ever are you going to see a guy get up in his face and try to play him one-on-one. That’s a credit to him.

“If he takes a safety over there with him, then that means that’s two guys really out of the play and it allows us to do some things offensively.”

Although the offense is deadliest when Owens is making consistent plays.

--Rob Phillips

Comments (3) | Permanent Link

 

[Coakleys Dad]

I want to see it!!

 

[gimmesix]

I want to see it!!

It won't happen until someone else becomes a consistent threat to beat man coverage. Teams will put a safety over the top of Owens and traffic around Witten because they know that no other Cowboys receiver can consistently win the 1-on-1 battle.

To get Owens more involved in the game, Dallas is going to have to make some changes in its approach. But the Cowboys might not be inclined to do that since they do have one of the top scoring teams in the league.

 

[Seven]

“I don’t know how to explain it other than we like it when he gets pressed and is in one-on-one," Romo said. "A lot of times there’s a safety over the top helping that guy. If that guy didn’t have help, very seldom ever are you going to see a guy get up in his face and try to play him one-on-one. That’s a credit to him.

“If he takes a safety over there with him, then that means that’s two guys really out of the play and it allows us to do some things offensively.”

Like what? Seriously. Is it that we have the ability to do some things offensively or are we just not doing them? Show me the ability. I've heard this all off-season and all season but have yet to see how #81 out of the picture allows us to do more. Where's the more?

 

[ddh33]

Yeah, I think by taking TO away from the offense, teams are making Dallas have to sustain drives - taking a chance that a turnover will occur before points. Sometimes it's worked for the defense, sometimes it hasn't...

Because the offense is being forced to sustain these drives is more reason why I have advocated getting Felix the ball more. As good as Witten and Barber are, they aren't the game-breakers that guys like TO and Felix are.

I'm going to try to watch more closely this game to see how well TO is handling the jams at the LOS, but I'd still like to see the team move him around a little more. I don't think that is catering to a superstar either; I think it's just trying to make your team better and your offense more dynamic.

 

[Seven]

It won't happen until someone else becomes a consistent threat to beat man coverage. Teams will put a safety over the top of Owens and traffic around Witten because they know that no other Cowboys receiver can consistently win the 1-on-1 battle.

To get Owens more involved in the game, Dallas is going to have to make some changes in its approach. But the Cowboys might not be inclined to do that since they do have one of the top scoring teams in the league.

I agree............


Use 'Tellus. Use Felix, everywhere. Use Austin. NOT after teams know we need to, but when we don't. Then pound Barber after we've run the wind out of them.
JMO, of course.

 

[Pick6TerenceNewman]

Unleashing T.O. In The Cards

Posted by rphillips at 10/10/2008 5:23 PM CDT on truebluefanclub.com

The Cowboys rediscovered their offensive balance last Sunday against Cincinnati, but one ingredient was missing: Terrell Owens' consistent involvement in the offense. The star receiver was held to two catches for 67 yards, albeit one a 57-yard catch-and-run for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

You can bet offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has spent all week devising ways to get Owens more touches on Sunday. It's been tough this season, with corners jamming him at the line of scrimmage, safeties playing tighter over the top and linebackers trying to prevent slant routes. Owens says he's getting double- and triple-teamed as much, if not more, than he can remember in his entire career.

A couple of early backside catches from Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin would give Owens some breathing room. But at times, quarterback Tony Romo simply has to take what the defense gives him, even if that makes Owens an occasional decoy.

“I don’t know how to explain it other than we like it when he gets pressed and is in one-on-one," Romo said. "A lot of times there’s a safety over the top helping that guy. If that guy didn’t have help, very seldom ever are you going to see a guy get up in his face and try to play him one-on-one. That’s a credit to him.

“If he takes a safety over there with him, then that means that’s two guys really out of the play and it allows us to do some things offensively.”

Although the offense is deadliest when Owens is making consistent plays.

--Rob Phillips

Comments (3) | Permanent Link

What happened to moving Owens around?

 

[ajk23az]

“I don’t know how to explain it other than we like it when he gets pressed and is in one-on-one," Romo said. "A lot of times there’s a safety over the top helping that guy. If that guy didn’t have help, very seldom ever are you going to see a guy get up in his face and try to play him one-on-one. That’s a credit to him.

“If he takes a safety over there with him, then that means that’s two guys really out of the play and it allows us to do some things offensively.”

Like what? Seriously. Is it that we have the ability to do some things offensively or are we just not doing them? Show me the ability. I've heard this all off-season and all season but have yet to see how #81 out of the picture allows us to do more. Where's the more?

Dude, we have the HIGHEST SCORING OFFENSE IN THE NFC! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?! Goodness.........

 

[Coakleys Dad]

What happened to moving Owens around?

Exactly...put him and motion...little jam...free release.

 

[gimmesix]

I agree............


Use Felix, everywhere

That would be my primary plan. You want your best weapons on the field most of the time, so we need to maximize Felix's ability to make big plays.

Put him in the backfield with Barber and motion him into the slot, line him up in the slot some, let him run routes out of the backfield, hit him on screens, etc. If teams are committed to playing a corner and safety on Owens on virtually every play, going over and under on Witten and manning a corner on Crayton, who's left to cover Jones?

Some might think it hurts the running game, but putting two RBs in the backfield against a base defense, then motioning one into the slot or wide spreads the defense out. Plus, we can do things such as motioning the tight end into the backfield some, etc.

I like Deon Anderson. I like our backup tight ends some. And I like Miles Austin on occassion. But none of them provides the dynamic we've seen so far from Jones.

 

[diekrazy]

Dude, we have the HIGHEST SCORING OFFENSE IN THE NFC! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?! Goodness.........

We only have the highest scoring offense in the NFC because our defense has allowed so many points that we have to outscore them just to win games. It would mean more if we could hold the opposing team to less points.

 

[Idgit]

We only have the highest scoring offense in the NFC because our defense has allowed so many points that we have to outscore them just to win games. It would mean more if we could hold the opposing team to less points.

It'd be awesome to have the kind of defense where our offense doesn't have to outscore anybody to win games.

That way our offense could be more impressive b/c we wouldn't have to score so much.

But then our defense wouldn't be as good, because we'd have to hold teams to fewer points to win, but it would mean less b/c they'd be having to do that because our more impressive offense wasn't scoring people enough to win games.

Or something.

 

[JackMagist]

I'd like to see us get the ball to Owens more just so he doesn't start to pout and cause trouble. But the last time we tried to get him the ball more (7 catches out of 18 attempts...with at least two outright drops) it screwed up the offense and we lost the game...and he pouted anyway. I say just take what the defense gives us and if that means that Owens only gets two catches then so be it...as long as we WIN.

 

[Garland powerplay]

yeah really if the backup te scores 5 touchdowns who cares as long as Cowboys win.

 

[Phantom]

What happened to moving Owens around?

+1, I remember the first few weeks he was moving around everywhere, in motion etc. The Green Bay game, when they started jamming him he stopped moving around, and started running simple fly and posts routes.

Garrett better wake up.

 

[Boysboy]

All I can say is there's no excuse for not being able to get your playmakers involved.

Look at LT-opposing D's constantly stack 8 men in the box, but does that mean the Chargers will just go ahead and abandon his run game, while thinking the passing game will be open all day? No, of course not. Even if those runs net minimal yardage, you still have to get your playmakers in rhythm.

I hope Garrett has done alot of studying in the film room this week-there's no excuse for not getting TO in rhythm. I agree the wealth needs to be shared, but nonetheless that leaves no excuse for Owens to be quiet all game.

 

[EveryoneElse]

All I can say is there's no excuse for not being able to get your playmakers involved.

Look at LT-opposing D's constantly stack 8 men in the box, but does that mean the Chargers will just go ahead and abandon his run game, while thinking the passing game will be open all day? No, of course not. Even if those runs net minimal yardage, you still have to get your playmakers in rhythm.

I hope Garrett has done alot of studying in the film room this week-there's no excuse for not getting TO in rhythm. I agree the wealth needs to be shared, but nonetheless that leaves no excuse for Owens to be quiet all game.

Teams are doing something that I thought they would never try, they're doubling both Owens and Witten, and the rest of the guys aren't making plays in the passing game.

Crayton has dropped a lot of balls this year and just looks lost, except for the gift TD late last week.

 

[cardsfanmd]

Dude, we have the HIGHEST SCORING OFFENSE IN THE NFC! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?! Goodness.........

And the cards have the #2. With homefield advantage this has a W for the redbirds written all over it.

 

[ladiewolve]

And the cards have the #2. With homefield advantage this has a W for the redbirds written all over it.

Hey guess what? Troll alert ......This has an L all over it for the cards because the boys will be bringing it.:starspin

 

[cardsfanmd]

Hey guess what? Troll alert ......This has an L all over it for the cards because the boys will be bringing it.:starspin

Good explanation.