DC: Spagnola: Rushing To Improve The Cowboys

[jobberone]

Spagnola: Rushing To Improve The Cowboys
Posted 27 minutes ago

Mickey Spagnola DallasCowboys.com Columnist

IRVING, Texas – So the debate begins:

What do the Cowboys need most to narrow the gap between their 8-8 selves and the Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks, who by the way will surely ungraciously play hosts to them at some point during the 2014 season? Yeah, up there in front of those overly-caffeinated souls filling to capacity what might as well be a sound tunnel constructed by Boeing. Again!

Geesh, can you just pass?

The Cowboys have won only once in the four times they have played in whatever today’s name of that stadium is (CenturyLink), and it took a miraculous comeback at that to win the one in 2004, 43-39, scoring two touchdowns in the final 1:45. That’s been so long ago, only Jason Witten andTony Romo probably remember the comeback led by Vinny Testaverde, Julius Jones and Keyshawn Johnson.

But most of these guys here today surely remember getting scalded the last time up there by the Sea-Boomers, 27-7, that second game of the 2012 season.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...-Cowboys/c5ea557d-105a-4180-bcd2-4038dc9892bb

 

[OhSnap]

I have almost nowhere to hang my hat on the returning defense other than we didn't loose Marinelli and the skies the limit on room for improvement. With the O-line coming together like it did and Murray putting up decent numbers behind it- Romos back thing and the question marks on defense I pray that they come out of training running the ball like there's no tomorrow. I can't deal with another here we go again passing game from whoever is playing QB for the other guys. Last year was the first time in many years that I started turning off the game early in the second half. The positive side is that they arent starting the year expecting to have Ware, Hatcher, Spencer, and Ratliff they've got 6 months to get ready for those guys not being around in 014 and maybe Ware can put together a double digit sack season.

 

[jobberone]

If they get their scoring up around 30 and can get near 20ish on D then we have a chance. The O was the problem for a long time with a couple of exceptions. Of course now the D has to tank. But there will always be some players found when others are down or gone. The question is how many holes can they fill.

 

[Redball Express]

I have almost nowhere to hang my hat on the returning defense other than we didn't loose Marinelli and the skies the limit on room for improvement. With the O-line coming together like it did and Murray putting up decent numbers behind it- Romos back thing and the question marks on defense I pray that they come out of training running the ball like there's no tomorrow. I can't deal with another here we go again passing game from whoever is playing QB for the other guys. Last year was the first time in many years that I started turning off the game early in the second half. The positive side is that they arent starting the year expecting to have Ware, Hatcher, Spencer, and Ratliff they've got 6 months to get ready for those guys not being around in 014 and maybe Ware can put together a double digit sack season.

Way to early to tell yet.

We are still rebuilding.

Let's see what is happening by OTAs.

If Romo is still deep into rehab..

and that continues into Preseason thru to the opener..

I'm going to suggest at that point that the team will crash by mid-season..

..and Garrett will step down.

Jones with get one of the ex-HCs to step up and take it until 2014 is over..

and a new hire or an extension could be made depending on how the team plays in that situation.

Just a guess.

 

[Fredd]

this is what everyone on earth has been saying during the season, let alone now....must apply pressure to the opposing QB.....must

 

[OhSnap]

Way to early to tell yet.

We are still rebuilding.

Let's see what is happening by OTAs.

If Romo is still deep into rehab..

and that continues into Preseason thru to the opener..

I'm going to suggest at that point that the team will crash by mid-season..

..and Garrett will step down.

Jones with get one of the ex-HCs to step up and take it until 2014 is over..

and a new hire or an extension could be made depending on how the team plays in that situation.

Just a guess.

I believe the D will be better and the team as a hole will reap some benefits of the rebuilding it's done BUT it's too murky to say player X is gonna make a difference this year. You cant say anyone is gonna do anything without an "IF" in front of the sentence anymore. If Romo cant go for 16 games and Orten comes in and looses a couple games or maybe just one then you'll probably see a 010 type collapse but I think they take a baby step forward at the least if they can get enough duct tape in a couple places.

 

[Redball Express]

I believe the D will be better and the team as a hole will reap some benefits of the rebuilding it's done BUT it's too murky to say player X is gonna make a difference this year. You cant say anyone is gonna do anything without an "IF" in front of the sentence anymore. If Romo cant go for 16 games and Orten comes in and looses a couple games or maybe just one then you'll probably see a 010 type collapse but I think they take a baby step forward at the least if they can get enough duct tape in a couple places.

well..

as always...

so much relies on Romo and the offense to score,

..hold the ball for large amounts of time so as to rest the defense...

score more than 35pts a game..

now it has to run the ball more than 50 percent of the plays...

So much is expected offensively..

what is the defense bringing to the party?

 

[OhSnap]

well..

as always...

so much relies on Romo and the offense to score,

..hold the ball for large amounts of time so as to rest the defense...

score more than 35pts a game..

now it has to run the ball more than 50 percent of the plays...

So much is expected offensively..

what is the defense bringing to the party?

Thats the million dollar question. If they don't figure out how to cover the middle of the field and knock a qb down once in a while it'll be another long season. I have to believe they'll get better and keep hoping until week 8 or I won't be able to watch any games.

 

[Redball Express]

Thats the million dollar question. If they don't figure out how to cover the middle of the field and knock a qb down once in a while it'll be another long season. I have to believe they'll get better and keep hoping until week 8 or I won't be able to watch any games.

I know how you feel.

We all do.

This is really a rebuilding season..

much like 1989 and 1990 were under Jimster.

and it wasnt until they did the Hershel Walker trade..

..that things started to change.

Now we do not have that to fall back on..

..but we do have alot of cap to cut.

 

[CATCH17]

We're not going to run the ball.

You won't see any difference in our offense at all. When it's 3rd & 2 you can bet on us passing. With Romo as the QB and giving him so much freedom that is just 1 more variable in the pass vs run filter that will get it switched to a pass even if it's a run call.

 

[CATCH17]

I know how you feel.

We all do.

This is really a rebuilding season..

much like 1989 and 1990 were under Jimster.

and it wasnt until they did the Hershel Walker trade..

..that things started to change.

Now we do not have that to fall back on..

..but we do have alot of cap to cut.

It should be a rebuilding season but when you still have Romo and you keep your coach then the expectations can not be lowered.

Dallas better win this next year or it's just a waste of a season. ( which I think we all know it is )

 

[Doomsday101]

We're not going to run the ball.

You won't see any difference in our offense at all. When it's 3rd & 2 you can bet on us passing. With Romo as the QB and giving him so much freedom that is just 1 more variable in the pass vs run filter that will get it switched to a pass even if it's a run call.

Maybe, maybe not Linehan and Det ran the ball an avg of 27 times a game even though they had the best WR in all of the NFL. Meantime I'll take the 27 points a game that was 5th in the NFL that Dallas produced last year and maybe adding a defense could turn some loses in to wins.

 

[CATCH17]

Maybe, maybe not Linehan and Det ran the ball an avg of 27 times a game even though they had the best WR in all of the NFL. Meantime I'll take the 27 points a game that was 5th in the NFL that Dallas produced last year and maybe adding a defense could turn some loses in to wins.

The 27 points a game stat does not point to how effective, or lack there of, we really were on offense.

Plus if you give Romo the freedom to change plays he is going to back out of runs a lot. We take what the defense gives us. That also means Romo adjusts to what the defense shows presnap.

If the defense wants to make us pass happy then they will do just that.


The Cowboys will live and die by Romo's ability to buy time and make a play. The Coaching in Dallas will not make any kind of difference because they are really just not good coaches.

 

[Doomsday101]

The 27 points a game stat does not point to how effective, or lack there of, we really were on offense.

Plus if you give Romo the freedom to change plays he is going to back out of runs a lot. We take what the defense gives us. That also means Romo adjusts to what the defense shows presnap.

If the defense wants to make us pass happy then they will do just that.


The Cowboys will live and die by Romo's ability to buy time and make a play. The Coaching in Dallas will not make any kind of difference because they are really just not good coaches.

In your opinion. I agree there are times we need to run more but the fact is they did put up point and that makes a big differance problem was we gave up more point than anyone in the NFL. I'm not saying offense can't improve but it is not that damn hard to figure out where the main problem was. Simple truth your own agenda will not allow you to see that.

 

[CATCH17]

In your opinion. I agree there are times we need to run more but the fact is they did put up point and that makes a big differance problem was we gave up more point than anyone in the NFL. I'm not saying offense can't improve but it is not that damn hard to figure out where the main problem was. Simple truth your own agenda will not allow you to see that.

We put up points because of the defense allowing so many so we were playing catch up a lot.

At the same time though.. We our offense has no urgency until we are behind in games.

So it's basically all of us sitting around and waiting for Romo to do something because the playcalling is so bad and has so many tendencies that make us predictable that Romo being Romo is really our only hope.


I feel like our Run to pass ratio might be a little higher if we actually came out with some urgency on offense and put some points on the board early.


Dallas needs better coaches though. That is what lacked from this past season. That and health on defense but im not giving these coaches the health excuse because this whole staff is a bunch of guys off the street that are lucky to have a job with a head coach that should at best be some teams QB coach.

This past season we beat 1 decent team and that is it.

 

[Doomsday101]

We put up points because of the defense allowing so many so we were playing catch up a lot.

At the same time though.. We our offense has no urgency until we are behind in games.

So it's basically all of us sitting around and waiting for Romo to do something because the playcalling is so bad and has so many tendencies that make us predictable that Romo being Romo is really our only hope.


I feel like our Run to pass ratio might be a little higher if we actually came out with some urgency on offense and put some points on the board early.


Dallas needs better coaches though. That is what lacked from this past season. That and health on defense but im not giving these coaches the health excuse because this whole staff is a bunch of guys off the street that are lucky to have a job with a head coach that should at best be some teams QB coach.

This past season we beat 1 decent team and that is it.

Health in not an excuse it is a reality, you can't have guys coming and going through out the season on defense and expect defense to be able to produce. We went through a lot of defensive players signing them on monday and seeing them play on sunday. They could not stop the run and could not stop the pass. As for Garrett I said when the season was over that if I had to make the call I would have fired him but not because of the lack of offense but because of the overall failure of the team. This does not mean from now on any time Garrett says something that I will start ragging on him like some 5 year old, he is the HC and I still continue to hope he can get this team playing better.

 

[CATCH17]

Health in not an excuse it is a reality, you can't have guys coming and going through out the season on defense and expect defense to be able to produce. We went through a lot of defensive players signing them on monday and seeing them play on sunday. They could not stop the run and could not stop the pass. As for Garrett I said when the season was over that if I had to make the call I would have fired him but not because of the lack of offense but because of the overall failure of the team. This does not mean from now on any time Garrett says something that I will start ragging on him like some 5 year old, he is the HC and I still continue to hope he can get this team playing better.

I hope he does too but it seems like the guy needs everything to be perfect for him to have any kind of success and that is just not going to happen when Jerry Jones is operating your football team.

 

[Doomsday101]

I hope he does too but it seems like the guy needs everything to be perfect for him to have any kind of success and that is just not going to happen when Jerry Jones is operating your football team.

I don't think it has to be perfect but i don't know any team that could sustain the injuries Dallas had and not be effected drasticly.

 

[CATCH17]

I don't think it has to be perfect but i don't know any team that could sustain the injuries Dallas had and not be effected drasticly.

I don't know of any team that could've had a strangle hold on their division like we did and choke it away.

 

[TrailBlazer]

Over the past five seasons.. Detroit has ran the ball 36.8% of the time. Dallas has ran the ball 39.9% of the time. The past 2 seasons are fairly even, but wel below league average. Unless extra emphasis is put on running the ball, we will see more of the same in regards to run pass ratio. Linehan likes to pass. His Detroit teams have been routinely in the bottom ten in rushing.