CFZ Defeating San Fran Will Ultimately Come Down to Scheme, Not Talent

Pass2Run

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If we want to beat the 9ers, it's going to have to come down to scheme—not talent.

I'm not saying we don't have the talent to beat the 9ers, because I think they're beatable, and we definitely have the talent to get it done. But I think it will come down to scheme. In our first game against San Fran, we were still running the old, vanilla playbook, running Pollard up the middle, and calling pass plays straight from Kellen Moore's playbook.

The one TD we scored, came from motioning Turpin and allowing him to get downfield.

After that game, I came to the conclusion that McCarthy was lost, and in over his head. In fact, I think that actually was the case at that point in time. Then, we were told McCarthy stayed late at the office and had the assistant coaches stay as well, so they could figure out how to fix the offense.

Since that loss, everything has gotten better for the offense, including our red zone efficiency. And Dak is playing at a consistently high level. He even played well in the loss to Sillydelphia. We should have won that game.

Anyway, for us to win beat San Fran, it'll have to come down to creativity and scheme, especially on offense. I'm hoping our first outing against San Fran was a fluke and that our coaches were holding back and not showing their cards to San Fran.

I've been saying it since last year, motion, motion, motion. We have the personnel to move our players around pre-snap in order to confuse the defense, or make them hesitate about their assignment. San Fran's defense matches up well against the Cowboys offense. We're not likely to beat them with our old philosophy where they know what we're running and just have to stop it.

We need to keep them guessing and not allow them to get into a rhythm. The same ole plays, beginning the game by running our back into the A and B gaps likely will not work. We need to stay creative, run counters, reverses, WRs out of the backfield, roll Dak out, toss it, pitch it, and most importantly motion, motion, motion. If we can do that, we have as good of a chance as anyone to beat San Fran.

I know, I know. We need to beat Philly this week. I think we can, and I think it'll come down to some of the same things I'm mentioning about San Fran. I think we match up better against Philly but both teams are well-suited opponents as far as personnel.

The most important thing this week should be keeping our scheme as unpredictable and productive as possible. We can't let them know what we're running and say, now you have to stop us. We need to beat them with scheme, and passing to set up the run.
 

FanofJerry

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I would say do your homework and try and get into a rhythm. Im not saying take the whole first half to get into a rhythm...but dont go out and do risky pass plays and have 2 early turnovers. Play safe.

You cant turn the ball over to this team.

Dont want Dak to play scared...but dont want to be too risky early.
 

Pass2Run

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I would say do your homework and try and get into a rhythm. Im not saying take the whole first half to get into a rhythm...but dont go out and do risky pass plays and have 2 early turnovers. Play safe.

You cant turn the ball over to this team.

Dont want Dak to play scared...but dont want to be too risky early.
I'm not saying take too many risks. But you can't be afraid to take risks. That's how we got beat last time: being too conservative and predictable.

I'm not talking about a risky scheme. I'm talking about effective scheme. Of course, you need to execute whicever scheme you're running. That goes without saying. I'm just saying, we need to be creative out there. I think the part you mention about Dak's confidence is also important. Same for Pollard, IMO. They just need to wipe the slate clean and start over. Pretend last game never happened, go out there and get the W. That is, if we end up meeting them again. And I think we will.
 

Pass2Run

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Shannahan will outsmart our staff..

Its nothing against our coaches either but he gets us every single time.
Our defense held them enough last year to win, had our offense done its part. I think our defense can do the same thing again.. .I realize they hung 40 on us. But that's not all their fault when the offense doesn't produce and has to punt so often. Not really fair to entirely blame the defense, although it wasn't their best game. The offense has to do its part.

McCarthy needs to anticipate several possible/likely scenarios, and prepare for them.

We need to spend a day a week from now on preparing for San Fran and Philthy. The road to the SB will go through them.

Also, let's give McCarthy some credit. Facing Shanny that game is what inspired him to make the adjustments. This is a different team since that game.

I'm on board with McCarthy. He's still not perfect. But I can say I no longer miss Kellen Moore.
 
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Pass2Run

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In 3 games against the 49ers we’re averaging 13 points. The constant in all 3 meetings is this offense cant figure out their defense, and their offense has figured out our best defensive player - rendering him ineffective in all 3 games.
Exactly my point. I agree.
 

Pass2Run

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The main thing is to tackle and not allow yards after catch. San Fran feast on yards after catch/contact.

It's a must to tackle well
That's why I personally like Bland as my CB as opposed to Diggs (as much as I love Diggs) to match up against the 9ers. He's just a better tackler.
 

DCreppinBoysfan

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Gotta stop beating ourselves first. Tell the team we’re trying to win a superbowl. Not contribute to American pie. All those stupid presnap penalties have to halt
 

Mark

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DAL is probably still one year away from being able to realistically compete with SF. And the issues to be addressed are primarily on the defensive side of the ball.

This year's edition reminds me of the 1991 Cowboys.
 

ATXSRT

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We're gonna have to score fast in the 1st half. Get them out of their offensive rhythm and let our d-line get after Purdy. If we're playing from behind we'll never beat them.
 

rags747

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The only way you beat SF is through the air, forget establishing the run game. Have to go all out ballz to the wall to beat a superior team.
 

Avenging Hayseed

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To beat the Niner defense we have to be willing to go over the top of their D,L and linebacker unit similar to what we did in the first game of the 21 season against the defended champion Bucs. We knew their front 7 was just too damn tough to go through so instead we went around and over the top of it to get to their far less dominant secondary. Same goes for the Niners. Now,....someone else can figure out how our defense defeats their O. I would say it has to start with getting pressure right up the middle.
 

Adreme

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The only way you beat SF is through the air, forget establishing the run game. Have to go all out ballz to the wall to beat a superior team.
Except they have both a very strong secondary and very strong pass rush. The best way to move against them is with multiple outside threats, which sadly the Cowboys lack since Gallup forgot how to play, or to have a complete mismatch at TE or RB that forces the defense to adjust, which they don’t have.

Basically the only mismatch is Lamb but they can double him, dare Cowboys to run and just win the game. We know this is the gameplan because we have seen it multiple times already.
 

Praxit

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Lots football left. Let it play out.
Dallas is still evolving. Especially the offense.
Dallas will eventually play SF. So another opportunity awaits.
Keep the optimism.
 
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