DMN Blog: Has the league caught up with Jason Garrett?

[superpunk]

The league has caught up to T.O. imo. Was just listening to Norm, talked about that - don't talk about double and triple teams, Andre Johnson and Steve Smith are getting doubled all day long.

It's a little tougher to design an offense when your exorbitantly paid X receiver can't get off the LOS.

 

[theogt]

The league has caught up to T.O. imo. Was just listening to Norm, talked about that - don't talk about double and triple teams, Andre Johnson and Steve Smith are getting doubled all day long.

It's a little tougher to design an offense when your exorbitantly paid X receiver can't get off the LOS.

Sorry, but this is complete BS. He gets off the LOS just fine. He's open quite a bit too when he's not double covered, which is almost every play. I went back and watched the Giants game last night (thanks to the new NFL online replay system...hooray!) and their goal was to take him out of the game. It's every defense's goal nowadays, and I think that's smart football on their part. When he's not involved it's tough for us to move the ball. We do it, but it's still tough. Also, I think it effects how much Tony looks his way such that even if he is open, he's assuming their taking him away.

When you jam a guy and play man, then have the safety wholly responsible for that one receiver, you can take him out. They do it almost every play.

 

[theebs]

Extreme much?

I think people can take those things into consideration and still evaluate what Garrett has done this year. Garrett doesn't suck, but I'm not as impressed with him based on this year's job.

the only thing that is extreme, is that people are questioning whether or not the league has caught up with him. Its a ******** argument to begin with.

so when the opening statement of the argument is extreme, short sighted and plain dumb, everything is game.

I said earlier why I believe people are attacking garrett and it is sad.

The numbers of this team at home are terrific. The numbers on the road are down a little, which is to be expected.

a play is called, the players either execute it or they dont.

If garrett was as poor at gameplanning as say steve spurrier, then there would be something to complain about, but he is not.

Blitz protections are there, check downs are there for romo, the qb is well coached enough that he has the right to check plays or call two plays in the huddle.

I think garrett is an outstanding coach. Our offense is very good. People want to break scoring records or they dont give them credit, couple that with whiny 81 complaining about garrett every week and fans start to regurgitate talking points that have no merit.

Just like last week when every one was complaining about garrett because of the 4th and inches we didnt convert. I never saw anyone say well owens went down on the third down play softer than shaun alexander or Jason Witten completely blew his block of james harrisson or deion anderson would have had a first down.

Instead it was Jason Garrett's offense sucks and it was the typical response.

People started this nonsense about Garrett being "Figured out" before the sf game. The next two games proved that was nonsense. Just like it is right now.

 

[superpunk]

Sorry, but this is complete BS. He gets off the LOS just fine. He's open quite a bit too when he's not double covered, which is almost every play. I went back and watched the Giants game last night (thanks to the new NFL online replay system...hooray!) and their goal was to take him out of the game. It's every defense's goal nowadays, and I think that's smart football on their part. When he's not involved it's tough for us to move the ball. We do it, but it's still tough. Also, I think it effects how much Tony looks his way such that even if he is open, he's assuming their taking him away.

When you jam a guy and play man, then have the safety wholly responsible for that one receiver, you can take him out. They do it almost every play.

He beat the jam well a few times against the Giants. But it is in no way, complete BS. I think if you watch closely you'll also notice that when TO sees the coverage rolled there is considerably less effort given. At least that's what I see.

The guy is barely averaging like 50 yards per game over the past 16 games, right? I think he has to be personally accountable for that drop.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Couldn't agree more. IMO, Garrett's play-calling has cost us a few games where he thought the run wasn't important against the Skins the first game!

I guess play calling hasn't won the team any games either...

 

[theogt]

He beat the jam well a few times against the Giants. But it is in no way, complete BS. I think if you watch closely you'll also notice that when TO sees the coverage rolled there is considerably less effort given. At least that's what I see.

The guy is barely averaging like 50 yards per game over the past 16 games, right? I think he has to be personally accountable for that drop.

That is certainly a fault of his. When he gets the double coverage, he doesn't continue to go all out. But it's not about ability. It'd been nice if we could have gotten RW11 around the draft. Next year should be interesting to see if TO's age is a factor with RW11 in full swing and Austin have a full lock on the 3rd WR spot.

But this year, TO's age is absolutely not factor on his performance. The guy can outrun just about any player on the team.

 

[Doomsday101]

Throw in Romo's injury which costed him 3 games, Injuries to Felix Jones and Kyle Kosier which had really hurt the Offensive line and then add a new Starting WR midway though the season. Plus a defense that earlier in the year weren't causing any turnovers.

No doubt the offensive numbers were extremely bad when Romo went down and Kosier injury did not help matters. This past week the Giants entered the game with a banged up OT McKenzie and Dallas was blowing by him and ended up recording 8 sacks. Now did the Giants OC Gilbride just turn into a bad OC heck this is an OC that many have been singing his praises or did the fact he was facing a very good defense with his starting OT playing injured then out of the game completely have a major effect on what the Giants could do.

 

[CF74]

When Garrett discovers fancy plays like the roll out, misdirection, and crossing routes the nay sayers will vanish...

 

[WoodysGirl]

the only thing that is extreme, is that people are questioning whether or not the league has caught up with him. Its a ******** argument to begin with.

"Figured out" is just the title of the thread, but if one is looking at Garrett's body of work from this year, I'd at least have some question marks. Obviously, you don't.

It's a short-sighted premise, but it doesn't mean people can't question his performance, which is the stance one SHOULD take.

so when the opening statement of the argument is extreme, short sighted and plain dumb, everything is game.

I said earlier why I believe people are attacking garrett and it is sad.

Well I've already said I disagree. From my perspective, it's not even about T.O.

The numbers of this team at home are terrific. The numbers on the road are down a little, which is to be expected.

a play is called, the players either execute it or they dont.

If garrett was as poor at gameplanning as say steve spurrier, then there would be something to complain about, but he is not.

Blitz protections are there, check downs are there for romo, the qb is well coached enough that he has the right to check plays or call two plays in the huddle.

As I stated earlier, it's not about even numbers. It's about the flow of the game...and the fact that the play-calling can be very predictable somtimes.

Just like last week when every one was complaining about garrett because of the 4th and inches we didnt convert. I never saw anyone say well owens went down on the third down play softer than shaun alexander or Jason Witten completely blew his block of james harrisson or deion anderson would have had a first down.

Really? You haven't seen anyone complaining about those things? Maybe that's because you stayed away from the board for four days. Just saying.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Dallas is averaging 26.5 points a game when Romo plays. That'd be good enough for 5th in the NFL. Factor in non-offensive scoring (which the Cowboys are among the worst in the league at) and that ranking climbs even higher.

Comparing the points Dallas has scored on opponents vs. their season average, it's hard to argue that Dallas isn't one of the better scoring offenses in the league.

I'd hate to be "figured out" so well.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Dallas is averaging 26.5 points a game when Romo plays. That'd be good enough for 5th in the NFL. Factor in non-offensive scoring (which the Cowboys are among the worst in the league at) and that ranking climbs even higher.

Comparing the points Dallas has scored on opponents vs. their season average, it's hard to argue that Dallas isn't one of the better scoring offenses in the league.

I'd hate to be "figured out" so well.

Plus the Cowboy offensive line hasn't played to the level it did last year IMO due to injury and a drop off in performance here and there.

That's going to figure into the equation.

 

[slick325]

I don't think it has anything to do with T.O. People on here have been questioning Garrett for awhile. The numbers are good, but the offense hasn't flowed this year nearly as well as last year and that's with Romo in the lineup.

Well put WG. The fluidity is not there and I don't think the media has been as tough on Garrett as they should have been.

 

[khiladi]

Dallas is averaging 26.5 points a game when Romo plays. That'd be good enough for 5th in the NFL. Factor in non-offensive scoring (which the Cowboys are among the worst in the league at) and that ranking climbs even higher.

Comparing the points Dallas has scored on opponents vs. their season average, it's hard to argue that Dallas isn't one of the better scoring offenses in the league.

I'd hate to be "figured out" so well.

How much were the scoring when Sparano had Romo? Yeah, that is what I thought... Now Garrett has Roy Williams and Bennett, as well as Choice...

 

[MichaelWinicki]

How much were the scoring when Sparano had Romo? Yeah, that is what I thought... Now Garrett has Roy Williams and Bennett, as well as Choice...

Romo also has Cory Proctor and an pinky that was snapped.

Sparano only really had control of the offense for the season that Romo replaced Bledsoe-- not last year.

So I'm really not sure what your point is.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Plus the Cowboy offensive line hasn't played to the level it did last year IMO due to injury and a drop off in performance here and there.

That's going to figure into the equation.

I don't know that the OL has played worse this year. I think the play of the skill players masked some of their deficiencies better last year.

Barber this year is putting up numbers eerily similar to Julius Jones last year. The difference is without Felix Jones and before Choice was trusted, there is no Barber type coming off the bench. Maybe it's Barber wising up that he could never take the pounding full time, maybe it's in part to the Barber Rule, maybe he was hurt earlier in the year and we never knew, but Barber's been a major disappointment from an rushing perspective. Maybe it's been Barber that's been "figured out". Bounces most runs right, play contain and use the sideline. Barber hasn't been punishing people for that this year and has gone out of bounds on his own more times than I can count. His best game was the 4th quarter of the 2nd Washington game when he hit holes inside and made people not want to tackle him.

That alone made the OL appear better than they were last year and worse this year. Plus without Romo avoiding defenders for three games, some of their weaknesses were easily spotted. It's the same principle as the line that looked like dung while Bledsoe was playing but came alive when Romo was inserted.

 

[khiladi]

Romo also has Cory Proctor and an pinky that was snapped.

Sparano only really had control of the offense for the season that Romo replaced Bledsoe-- not last year.

So I'm really not sure what your point is.

Uh, the point is... This offense was top five in scoring with Sparano... What has Garrett done that is so special? Made a top-5 scoring offense a top-5 scoring offense. Whoopity-freakin' do. AN offense that seems to totallys putter when it can drum up some big plays in the first quarter. He has Roy Williams now, Felix Jones, Choice and Bennett, and excuse after excuse is being made for this guy. This guy has had how many weeks with Roy Williams, and what has Roy done?

So this offense collapses suddenly, because one player goes down? Isn't it the OC responsibility to take pressure off the QB and OL when situations like this happen. You would think Garrett would run some screens to the side of Proctor throughout the year, to take advantage of pressure coming from that side. It took him the Giants game to do it. He had Choice run a circle route the first time against Piitsburgh, a freakin' blitz happy team.

For 10 plus games, the only outlet Romo had from pressure, was the over-the-top pass to Marion Barber, who just sat there while Romo kept looking downfield for his vertical targets, and there was nothing there.

Please...

Look at the Patriots last year when they added Moss... They exploited the match-ups for Wes Walker, making him the league leader in receptions. They had him isolated on linebackers all day long, catching 11 or 12 passes a day, with as young OC as Garrett.... And Garrett can't get the ball to Crayton, who can make a living against LBs, with Roy Williams and Terrell Owens as the number 1 and 2 receivers, and Witten as a TE... Give this team to any competent OC, it would be freakin' ridiculous...

This offense should be shattering game day records, if not putting up season records because of injuries now and then...

 

[Cowboys2008]

Until we get this damn o-line shored up, few could look good. I'm just appalled this season by the play of our left side. A strong o-line and our offensive playmakers should be back to making magic again with no excuses. As of now though, few lanes to run in and such little time in the passing game. And that's why everything has landed squarely on Romo's playmaking ability. If he has an off-game, we lose and it shouldn't always be like that. He shouldn't have to always carry this team being surrounded by the likes of Barber, Choice, Witten, TO, RW. A team with a strong o-line is able to mix 'n match game changers on any particular Sunday. We never see that though, it always has to be Romo, except barring that last Commander game when Barber took over.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Uh, the point is... This offense was top five in scoring with Sparano... What has Garrett done that is so special? Made a top-5 scoring offense a top-5 scoring offense. Whoopity-freakin' do. AN offense that seems to totallys putter when it can drum up some big plays in the first quarter. He has Roy Williams now, Felix Jones, Choice and Bennett, and excuse after excuse is being made for this guy. This guy has had how many weeks with Roy Williams, and what has Roy done?

So this offense collapses suddenly, because one player goes down? Isn't it the OC responsibility to take pressure off the QB and OL when situations like this happen. You would think Garrett would run some screens to the side of Proctor throughout the year, to take advantage of pressure coming from that side. It took him the Giants game to do it. He had Choice run a circle route the first time against Piitsburgh, a freakin' blitz happy team.

For 10 plus games, the only outlet Romo had from pressure, was the over-the-top pass to Marion Barber, who just sat there while Romo kept looking downfield for his vertical targets, and there was nothing there.

Please...

Look at the Patriots last year when they added Moss... They exploited the match-ups for Wes Walker, making him the league leader in receptions. They had him isolated on linebackers all day long, catching 11 or 12 passes a day, with as young OC as Garrett.... And Garrett can't get the ball to Crayton, who can make a living against LBs, with Roy Williams and Terrell Owens as the number 1 and 2 receivers, and Witten as a TE... Give this team to any competent OC, it would be freakin' ridiculous...

This offense should be shattering game day records, if not putting up season records because of injuries now and then...

Sparano WAS NOT the offensive coordinator last year.

You keep throwing out the Sparano name like he was driving the offense last year, which he wasn't-- an offense that WAS IN the top 5 in scoring.

Give me some numbers from when Sparano was the defacto offensive coordinator and I'll start to take your point seriously.

 

[khiladi]

The scheming from the OL perspective comes from the OC... He drums up where the plays are going...

Mis-direction is one thing Garrett has shown himself totally inept at, at least until this Giants game... QBs are always going to face pressure in certain situations, and it is always the OC that has to take account of this and start calling plays that back the pressure off.... You can't just keep putting a TE to help blocking..

Like I said, this offense is predicated on Tony Romo staying alive in the pocket, having his WRs breaking off their routes, getting behind protection.... That is why, as soon as a TO or TR go down, this offense just goes flat caput. They don't have a systematic approach to attacking a team's defense... Those TDs in SF, when TO shattered records, were plays like this...

It was the same with Sparano and it is the same with Garrett...

 

[khiladi]

Sparano WAS NOT the offensive coordinator last year.

You keep throwing out the Sparano name like he was driving the offense last year-- an offense that WAS IN the top 5 in scoring.

Give me some numbers from when Sparano was the defacto offensive coordinator and I'll start to take your point seriously.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL+Statistics/Team+Statistics/2006/finaltmst.htm

I know that... He was the offensive coordinator TWO YEARS AGO, and Dallas was top 5 or 6 in yardage gained for total offense... They had 52 TD that year, first in the NFC and top-5 or in the NFL.