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Bob's Blog - Live from Lewisville
"Everything we are facing is a competition. How are you going to help us win today?" - Jon Daniels
Daily Commentary on the Dallas Sports Scene - By Bob Sturm - Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Defending Kiffin: Week 12 - Gashed On The Ground
Often, in sports, after time, people don't want to hear about injuries or "excuses" as to why a team isn't playing very well in certain departments. My response is generally simplistic, but I believe it to be true: There is a reason that different players can demand different salaries, rather than have some flat fee based on service time like some ways to make a living (military, police), and that clearly is that all players are not close to created equal. And, if you lose enough highly compensated players, invariably, their absence should either greatly affect the product you can put on the field, or you are paying the missing players too much money.
That is why, despite the easy target that is available wearing the defensive coordinator title up in the press box, it is difficult for me to blame Monte Kiffin for what is going on against the Cowboys recently on the ground. And, with Oakland landing in Dallas today for the Thanksgiving game, we should prepare for Oakland to attempt to do the same thing the Giants did on Sunday.
And what did the Giants do? Well, they became the 3rd team this season to run for 200 yards in a game against the Cowboys. From 2003-2012, the Cowboys had only allowed 7 200 yard rushing games for the entire decade in 160 games (4%), but in 2013 we have moved that to 3 out of 11 games (27%).
And yet, as we look at many of these plays, we are reminded that the Cowboys are not a team that teams run at over the years. This has not been a festering problem. In fact, it started getting bad last year, and had roared out of control this season. Which is why we must consider the absences of fine run stuffers Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff, and Sean Lee - who are all players who have helped make the reputation what it is here - and understand the alternatives who are there in their place.
Most players in the football food chain are not "all situation" players. They are either strong players in passing situations or running situations. Those who are excellent in both are those who get paid a ton of cash and also who you cannot afford to lose to injury and be fine. Because if you have players that are either strong against the pass OR strong against the run, then you get to a spot where your opponent sees what you have decided to try and stop by which players you put on the field. Then, if they are in a standard down and distance, they simply consider who you have put on the field and then call a play accordingly. If they see you have put little defensive ends who are good at pass rushing but not very strong anchors against the run, they simply run right at them and then you see what we saw on Sunday.
Which was a textbook example of running game carnage.
http://sturminator.blogspot.com
"Everything we are facing is a competition. How are you going to help us win today?" - Jon Daniels
Daily Commentary on the Dallas Sports Scene - By Bob Sturm - Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Defending Kiffin: Week 12 - Gashed On The Ground
Often, in sports, after time, people don't want to hear about injuries or "excuses" as to why a team isn't playing very well in certain departments. My response is generally simplistic, but I believe it to be true: There is a reason that different players can demand different salaries, rather than have some flat fee based on service time like some ways to make a living (military, police), and that clearly is that all players are not close to created equal. And, if you lose enough highly compensated players, invariably, their absence should either greatly affect the product you can put on the field, or you are paying the missing players too much money.
That is why, despite the easy target that is available wearing the defensive coordinator title up in the press box, it is difficult for me to blame Monte Kiffin for what is going on against the Cowboys recently on the ground. And, with Oakland landing in Dallas today for the Thanksgiving game, we should prepare for Oakland to attempt to do the same thing the Giants did on Sunday.
And what did the Giants do? Well, they became the 3rd team this season to run for 200 yards in a game against the Cowboys. From 2003-2012, the Cowboys had only allowed 7 200 yard rushing games for the entire decade in 160 games (4%), but in 2013 we have moved that to 3 out of 11 games (27%).
And yet, as we look at many of these plays, we are reminded that the Cowboys are not a team that teams run at over the years. This has not been a festering problem. In fact, it started getting bad last year, and had roared out of control this season. Which is why we must consider the absences of fine run stuffers Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff, and Sean Lee - who are all players who have helped make the reputation what it is here - and understand the alternatives who are there in their place.
Most players in the football food chain are not "all situation" players. They are either strong players in passing situations or running situations. Those who are excellent in both are those who get paid a ton of cash and also who you cannot afford to lose to injury and be fine. Because if you have players that are either strong against the pass OR strong against the run, then you get to a spot where your opponent sees what you have decided to try and stop by which players you put on the field. Then, if they are in a standard down and distance, they simply consider who you have put on the field and then call a play accordingly. If they see you have put little defensive ends who are good at pass rushing but not very strong anchors against the run, they simply run right at them and then you see what we saw on Sunday.
Which was a textbook example of running game carnage.
http://sturminator.blogspot.com
