News: ESPN: Five Wonders: More Jason Garrett on offense?

[NewsBot]

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IRVING, Texas – At 5-4 the Dallas Cowboys lead the NFC East and have won three of their last four games. I wonder why things seem so bleak. (Not really). Anyway, it’s Tuesday and it’s time for Five Wonders.

Off we go:

1. I wonder if Jason Garrett will be more involved in the offense. Not to say he hasn’t been involved, but this has been Bill Callahan’s baby (and Tony Romo’s by extension) for the season. The results have been mixed, to say the least.

2. Remember last fall when it looked like Sean Payton would be a free-agent coach after his contract with the New Orleans Saints was disapproved by the NFL? I wonder if the Cowboys really would’ve gotten into a bidding war for Payton.

3. Garrett wants players to show passion, emotion and enthusiasm. Some players show that outwardly. Some players don’t. Bruce Carter is the former, but I wonder if that’s why the coaches have not taken kindly to the linebacker’s play this year. He was benched in favor of Ernie Sims against the Vikings and only got on the field for the bulk of the second half because Sims was so bad. Carter has immense athleticism, but I wonder if the coaches want to see some fire on the field.

Continue reading...

 

[WoodysGirl]

The other wonders were about Brian Waters returning next year and maybe deactivating Escobar.

 

[theebs]

It would be odd to deactivate Escobar. If we had an injury it would really mess with some of the packages we run.

We had four rb's active Sunday and we barely run the ball. I would start there.

 

[EPL0c0]

if Escobar's ot gonna be used in the passing game, what point is there for having him in a game this year? If Hanna can be a "good enough" backup pass catcher, why do they need Escobar? Might as well go with Smith and maybe have it help the run game. If this was week 2 or 3, I'd say stick w/ Escobar, but it's week 9...come on.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Reposting from other Sturm thread

Bob Sturm ‏@SportsSturm 2m
Cowboys out of shotgun: 2011 - 44%, 2012 - 54%, 2013 - 65%. Balance, Schmalance

it is more an observation at all of the "12 personnel" nonsense that led them down the Escobar road.

In other words, they drafted Gavin Escobar and then installed an offense that had little ability with which to use him.

Which speaks to idealism in April versus realism in November. Life in the NFL.

Clarence Hill ‏@clarencehilljr
@JJT_ESPNDallas @SportsSturm how about they realized he cant play

Bob Sturm ‏@SportsSturm 2m
@clarencehilljr @JJT_ESPNDallas if they were going to run all-shotgun, all-spread, Hanna/Beasley make more sense w speed. Odd.


Clarence Hill ‏@clarencehilljr 30s
@SportsSturm @JJT_ESPNDallas how about they had no plans to draft a pass catching TE then saw him on the board..then tried to justify it

 

[Future]

Esco is a guy that it doesn't matter what system you are in. He's too big for guys to cover him down the seam. I just don't understand how he can't get any touches. Not even a little bit.

 

[morasp]

1. I wonder if Jason Garrett will be more involved in the offense. Not to say he hasn’t been involved, but this has been Bill Callahan’s baby (and Tony Romo’s by extension) for the season. The results have been mixed, to say the least.

Hope so. The offense seems to have taken a step back this year despite Romo having more time in the pocket.

 

[khiladi]

How has the offense taken a step back when they are dramatically better in the red-zone? Our five WR sets, quick slants are "new additions' and they are actually way more effective, despite ow little we use it, than what we threw out there when Garrett was coaching. What planet do these people make such observations from?

 

[morasp]

For one thing this year they're ranked 17th and last year they were ranked 6th per nfl.com.

 

[Alexander]

Esco is a guy that it doesn't matter what system you are in. He's too big for guys to cover him down the seam. I just don't understand how he can't get any touches. Not even a little bit.

We do not even work the seam that much anymore. Most of what you see is working the sideline quarters of the field. That is one kind of route that he seems to have a tough time running sharply.

As much as the blocking is an issue, I do not think the staff trusts him to be in the right place either. It is hardly a coincidence he has got next to nothing accomplished since the Denver INT.

 

[pugilist]

wow, the fallout on here and the fanbase in general would be immense if they deactivate Escobar LOL

 

[Future]

We do not even work the seam that much anymore. Most of what you see is working the sideline quarters of the field. That is one kind of route that he seems to have a tough time running sharply.

As much as the blocking is an issue, I do not think the staff trusts him to be in the right place either. It is hardly a coincidence he has got next to nothing accomplished since the Denver INT.

You have to give him opportunities to get better. Fasano played better in Miami, where he got more opportunities, and Marty is thriving in Chicago, where is getting more opportunities.

JG, and even Tony I think, are just too cute. When one guy is covering Esco, he's open.

 

[khiladi]

For one thing this year they're ranked 17th and last year they were ranked 6th per nfl.com.

Yards don't put points on the board. We also, as RoytheHammer pointed out to me in a thread, -8 in terms of drives as our opponents per game, which could explain less yardage. We also have more TOs, meaning less yardage our offense has to work with. Again, we are much better in the red-zone in termsof efficiency.

The struggles we actually do have on offense are the same struggles of JG era, meaning if we go back to JG, we get the same struggles, plus less scoring.

 

[khiladi]

We do not even work the seam that much anymore. Most of what you see is working the sideline quarters of the field. That is one kind of route that he seems to have a tough time running sharply.

As much as the blocking is an issue, I do not think the staff trusts him to be in the right place either. It is hardly a coincidence he has got next to nothing accomplished since the Denver INT.

we haven't worked the seam since Garrett took control of this offense. We've done a little more this year and were successful at it, but for some reason, we go away from it. Part of it seems to be our lack of play-action as well, where seams are often attacked.

 

[tecolote]

You have to give him opportunities to get better. Fasano played better in Miami, where he got more opportunities, and Marty is thriving in Chicago, where is getting more opportunities.

JG, and even Tony I think, are just too cute. When one guy is covering Esco, he's open.

This, it's not that they don't know how to play, the problem is that they don't know how to play them. The coaching here has been terrible for a while.

 

[dstovall5]

You have to give him opportunities to get better. Fasano played better in Miami, where he got more opportunities, and Marty is thriving in Chicago, where is getting more opportunities.

JG, and even Tony I think, are just too cute. When one guy is covering Esco, he's open.

It's all about match ups. If Tony has Beasley/Williams 1 on 1 then I'm sure he's looking there first before looking at Escobar, even if he is 1 on 1 as well.

Though I do agree we should find a way to implement him better in the offense, somehow.

 

[morasp]

Yards don't put points on the board. We also, as RoytheHammer pointed out to me in a thread, -8 in terms of drives as our opponents per game, which could explain less yardage. We also have more TOs, meaning less yardage our offense has to work with. Again, we are much better in the red-zone in termsof efficiency.

The struggles we actually do have on offense are the same struggles of JG era, meaning if we go back to JG, we get the same struggles, plus less scoring.

I'll stick with the yards.

 

[Future]

It's all about match ups. If Tony has Beasley/Williams 1 on 1 then I'm sure he's looking there first before looking at Escobar, even if he is 1 on 1 as well.

Though I do agree we should find a way to implement him better in the offense, somehow.

Yea, I dont think Tony is blameless in terms of the TE development, or lack thereof, but JG should be making more of an effort to get this guy the football.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I'd prefer we go back to last seasons offense. It couldn't score in the redzone but it could atleast get us done field consistently. I think this season we've fixed our redzone problems.