News: DMN: Stephen Jones: Weeden has arm to go downfield; Cowboys should've adjusted

[xwalker]

Most QBs aren't going to wait when they have underneath options open if the wideouts aren't getting of the line cleanly. Why not take the 10 yards to Dunbar and get to the next play? I like that a lot better than holding it for Street or Williams to break open and hopefully not be overthrown downfield, assuming our protection holds up, which it wasn't doing all the time in that second half, anyway.

Atlanta was not pressing much so getting off the line was not a problem.

Weeden just does not want to get hit or take any chance on throwing and INT. He slid down behind the line for no reason on one play.

 

[BrassCowboy]

Most QBs aren't going to wait when they have underneath options open if the wideouts aren't getting of the line cleanly. Why not take the 10 yards to Dunbar and get to the next play? I like that a lot better than holding it for Street or Williams to break open and hopefully not be overthrown downfield, assuming our protection holds up, which it wasn't doing all the time in that second half, anyway.

I dont think most Qbs, not successful ones, otherwise all defenses would adjust just like Atlanta did moving the defense closer and be successful at it. Have to stretch the field otherwise that 2nd half will happen every week.

 

[mahoneybill]

Weeden never game them time for separation, he threw the ball so fast the outside receivers never even had a chance to go into their break. I don't buy blaming the receivers. This falls on the coaches, especially Garrett. If he chose these players to be on his team, he should feel comfortable with them playing and giving them a chance to make plays.

Thanks for that clarification

 

[Idgit]

The OL wasn't playing good in the second half.

Really, if we're being honest, they haven't played at the level we should expect them to play at all year, with the exception of the first half of week 3 there. I didn't see ATL doing much more than getting their run fits sorted out in the second half this week. We just couldn't buy the backs any separation. On the one drive we had a chance to do so, we had a penalty by Wit, and bad run, and then a penalty by Free. Good luck getting a mediocre player like Weeden to consistently convert for you on 2nd and 3rd and long. It's just not going to happen with any regularity.

 

[VACowboy]

Well, the talent running the routes might have a lot to do with it. Can Beasley run routes outside the numbers effectively? Witten? Dunbar? Seems to me the personnel groupings were far from the ones to do what he is referring to.

The coaches have to put the packages/players on the field for the effect to take place.

Dunbar can.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

That throw seemed like he was just scared to try to get it to Witten despite the fact that he would really have to under throw it for the defenders to get a pick.

It was a poor throw but it was not that easy of a throw. It required some touch and would have been a lot more vulnerable if he underthrew it than you are remembering. I would go as far as to say it's the sort of throw that separates a solid starter from a scrap heap player like Weeden.

 

[erod]

You can call a play to go downfield, but the QB has to throw it downfield.

I'll bet they called it, but he checked it down.

I noticed he called the back out wide into the backfield presnap every time.

He talked about wanting to be able to enjoy his kids after his concussion. He's playing really carefully.

 

[Doomsay]

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!!

We ducked, but we did not cover! Must win on Sunday.

 

[etw926]

2nd Half Game Plan:

This looks more like all of the chicken little's in this forum.

 

[Zman5]

That was true a few times, but not on the majority of plays.

All but last possession when we had 3rd and long were like this in the second half.

 

[Rogerthat12]

This is BS from JG. I just watched the coach's film and the main problem with 2nd half offense was the 1st down where Atlanta dared us to pass by stacking the box and we kept running and getting negative yards.

We kept getting into 3rd and long and the way Atlanta played us on 3rd and long was to have the LBs at the 1st down maker giving us the check downs and played 2 safeties behind them to protect against the long pass. Had WeDone thrown a long pass against that look would have most likely ended up in an INT or in completion.

Out of 4 possession, they ran 3 times on first down. Two were for negative yards and once for 1 yard. When we did pass once, we got 9 yards.

I don't know why we kept trying to run on first down when their defense was set up to stop the run. My guess is WeDone wasn't given an option to audible out of it which is stupid on the coach's part.

It was moronic to continue to run on first, change it up, they knew what was coming every series.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

"Our game plan was early, and obviously it worked real well, is we thought that we could work the underneath part of their coverage and run the football," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan's G-Bag Nation show [KRLD-FM]. "Of course, the first half we did that real well. I think you got to give the Falcons a lot of credit, they adjusted. We didn't probably adjust as well as we needed to. We probably needed to be going to the outside group [of receivers] as they changed and adjusted there in the second half."


Continue reading...

All we did was...

Slip...
Slip.....
Slip.....

For last two quarters.one or two adjustments at any point and have better chance yo win game...


Instead....slip.....slip.........slip. Over,

 

[Rogerthat12]

Really, if we're being honest, they haven't played at the level we should expect them to play at all year, with the exception of the first half of week 3 there. I didn't see ATL doing much more than getting their run fits sorted out in the second half this week. We just couldn't buy the backs any separation. On the one drive we had a chance to do so, we had a penalty by Wit, and bad run, and then a penalty by Free. Good luck getting a mediocre player like Weeden to consistently convert for you on 2nd and 3rd and long. It's just not going to happen with any regularity.

I think the issue now is teams know how to beat Weeden, the Cowboys coaches need to offer him a game plan that he can actually execute with some type of success for an entire four quarters.

Running every series on first down when they are loading the box and run blitzing probably is not a good strategy for a limited QB.

If we simply say he is mediocre player and we can not expect anything much, even an actual win, then time to find a backup QB with less limitations or potential to win a few games even if they are still flawed.

 

[ufcrules1]

Good, then get that memo to Garrett and Linehan so they do not make the same mistake again.

They are still learning on the job. Leave them alone.

 

[Idgit]

I think the issue now is teams know how to beat Weeden, the Cowboys coaches need to offer him a game plan that he can actually execute with some type of success for an entire four quarters.

Running every series on first down when they are loading the box and run blitzing probably is not a good strategy for a limited QB.

If we simply say he is mediocre player and we can not expect anything much, even an actual win, then time to find a backup QB with less limitations or potential to win a few games even if they are still flawed.

Weeden is what Weeden is, that's not going to change. He can't win games for us forcing balls to the WRs downfield if the throws aren't there. And he's not going to convert for you very often when you get him in 2nd and 20 because of another holding penalty. It's too much to ask.

When the other guys are hitting their run fits, either your elite OL has to knock them down anyway, or your backs have to make somebody miss, because if you can't stay ahead of the chains, a limited player like Weeden isn't going to be able to get it done. But, if you do get to your blocks, and if you do hold onto the ball, and if you don't false start again, and if you don't hold against a DL you should be able to manhandle, he showed he can deliver the football. Nobody was complaining about the underneath stuff in the first half when the check downs were working and the Falcons were missing tackles. But let the defense give the lead away because they can't stop the run and can't cover Jones in the slot, and suddenly everybody expects Brandon Weeden to do what Tony Romo does. And he can't do it.

 

[Idgit]

Atlanta was not pressing much so getting off the line was not a problem.

Weeden just does not want to get hit or take any chance on throwing and INT. He slid down behind the line for no reason on one play.

I'll have to check the 22, because I was just going off of what Nate Newton had to say today. But I'm not really expecting to see anybody getting a clean release or a step on anybody downfield. If that's not the case, then I'm all for Weeden not throwing those and us finding another way to win football games. I don't think we can win with Weeden throwing balls into tight coverage downfield. I'd rather not turn it over and just trust the defense to not collapse like it did yesterday, because we've got more players there coming back sooner and more options for rotating if what we're trying to do isn't working. Our big slow pumpkin under Center isn't turning himself into a stage coach anytime soon.

 

[Sydla]

Jones is covering for his fraud of a QB.

Weeden might have the arm to throw it down the field but he chooses not to. Just because he has the arm doesn't mean he/'s going to do it in a game.

Hopefully they prove me wrong but I suspect we will see more check downs against NO.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Weeden is what Weeden is, that's not going to change. He can't win games for us forcing balls to the WRs downfield if the throws aren't there. And he's not going to convert for you very often when you get him in 2nd and 20 because of another holding penalty. It's too much to ask.

When the other guys are hitting their run fits, either your elite OL has to knock them down anyway, or your backs have to make somebody miss, because if you can't stay ahead of the chains, a limited player like Weeden isn't going to be able to get it done. But, if you do get to your blocks, and if you do hold onto the ball, and if you don't false start again, and if you don't hold against a DL you should be able to manhandle, he showed he can deliver the football. Nobody was complaining about the underneath stuff in the first half when the check downs were working and the Falcons were missing tackles. But let the defense give the lead away because they can't stop the run and can't cove Jones in the slot, and suddenly everybody expects Brandon Weeden to do what Tony Romo does. And he can't do it.

I think we know Weeden can not run the current offense in its totality, even the dumbed down version they had early success but then Atlanta made adjustments in the second half and the offensive success in the first half was snuffed out.

Blocking alone was not the issue, although it was not great either. Atlanta loaded the box and was run blitzing, they could not run the ball regardless because Atlanta was not worried about Weeden beating them with the pass.

To keep running on first down series after series was moronic, the defense was gassed because they lost the time of possession.

Atlanta had the ball for 34 minutes, we usually lose when our defense is on the field over 20 minutes like it or not.

This defense as it was constructed Sunday, would not play much better regardless because they were undermanned, played poorly and the team lost the time of possession which this defense seems to need to have success.

The offense scored ZERO points, -4 running and virtually nothing in the passing game in the second.

Another way to say it, Weeden after the adjustments could no longer move the offense because he had to pass.

In turn, ZERO points, -4 running and little passing success. They lost time of possession throughout the last two quarters, constantly three and out and exposing the defense that was playing poorly anyway.

So the question becomes, what can you do with Weeden if teams devote their resources to stop the run?

The coaches will have to provide another plan or move on to the "next man up".

 

[BAT]

According to Garrett, Stephen is wrong, no adjustments were necessary and it was all on the D.

 

[Idgit]

I think we know Weeden can not run the current offense in its totality, even the dumbed down version they had early success but then Atlanta made adjustments in the second half and the offensive success in the first half was snuffed out.

Blocking alone was not the issue, although it was not great either. Atlanta loaded the box and was run blitzing, they could not run the ball regardless because Atlanta was not worried about Weeden beating them with the pass.

To keep running on first down series after series was moronic, the defense was gassed because they lost the time of possession.

Atlanta had the ball for 34 minutes, we usually lose when our defense is on the field over 20 minutes like it or not.

This defense as it was constructed Sunday, would not play much better regardless because they were undermanned, played poorly and the team lost the time of possession which this defense seems to need to have success.

The offense scored ZERO points, -4 running and virtually nothing in the passing game.

Another way to say it, Weeden after the adjustments could no longer move the offense because he had to pass.

In turn, ZERO points, -4 running and little passing success. They lost time of possession throughout the last two quarters, constantly three and out and exposing the defense that was playing poorly anyway.

So the question becomes, what can you do with Weeden if teams devote their resources to stop the run?

The coaches will have to provide another plan or move on to the "next man up".

We're just not going to agree on this one. When your backup QB puts up 28 points, you ought to win that football game. You can't really complain that it wasn't 35 or 42. When your starting defense gives up 39, it's not the offense that's the primary culprit.

And the question isn't 'what can you do with Weeden?' It's 'what can you do on offense?' If your OL can't protect without holding and your WRs can't hold onto ball that hit them in the hands or get separation or win at the line, and your all-star OL can't get you into 2nd-and-reasonable because a mediocre defense is suddenly hitting their run fixes, then you really don't have a lot of options. If you think Matt Cassell's coming in and throwing those WRs open or Kellen Moore's going to grow 3 inches and add 15 pounds of muscle in order to start making throws Weeden can't, you're going to be pretty bummed out by the results.

If the defense can't hold up for a whopping 34 minutes without coughing up 39 points and yielding chunks in both the running and the passing game without so much as breathing hard on the QB in the pocket, we don't have a chance, anyway.

Lots of players didn't play up to their ability yesterday. Honestly, the backup QB wasn't one of them. What we saw was pretty much his best effort. If the same could be said of everybody else, we'd be 3-0 right now.