Evaluating all 56 sacks the Cowboys allowed in 2018

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Excluding sacks the fastest time for a QB to throw the football from snap to to throw was 2.55 seconds

https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/stats/passing#average-time-to-throw

So, no

!? what.....I hope you mean the fastest average time....not fastest time...because that would make no sense

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

The o line was horrendous last season and so were linehans route combos.

the offensive line wasn't horrendous last season. its the go to move by Dak lovers. the offensive line was good, not great., but given needs a strong supporting cast, everyone wants the 2016 offensive line. one of the greatest ever lines in NFL history....which is what dak needs....you want to tell me Brady? Rodgers? brees? Rivers? on and on and on all had great offensive lines!!! seriously.... I guess we have to give dak 5 first round OL men. 5 first round WRs. 3 first round RBs. and bilicheck...then watch out...here comes Dak!!!


oh sorry, I forgot 2 first round TEs....

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

The OP states that PFF attributed 15 to Dak. Obviously it’s subjective. But if it’s close to accurate that still puts about 40 on the OL which is still way too much, especially for a team so heavily invested in OL play.

40 on the offensive line would put us about league average......not bad for an injured OL who has been called bad, awful, horrendous, atrocious, crraapy…. .

 

[ClintDagger]

40 on the offensive line would put us about league average......not bad for an injured OL who has been called bad, awful, horrendous, atrocious, crraapy…. .

They were a middle of the pack pass blocking line and a high end run blocking line. Probably puts them somewhere around 10th to 12th overall. Maybe higher. And that’s with a reserve and a rookie in there and an All Pro on the sidelines. The day will come I’m sure when this team does have a bad OL and it will be a rude awakening for some.

 

[Kaiser]

Why make a post on the negatives when the OL was short the most important piece, i.e. the center and had a rookie playing RG? Why? Are you ignorant?

Because, narrative, that's why. Sturm's article was only on the first four games of the season and is the first of four articles to break down each 4 game stretch of the season. Not surprising a rookie OL would be beaten by guys like Kwame Short in his first few games, Sturm awarded 3.5 of the 14 sacks in that stretch to Williams.

 

[Kaiser]

Lost in all the good feelings about Connor Williams adding weight and muscle this offseason is an analysis of just how poorly he played in his rookie year.

Bob Sturm is writing another 4-part series in The Athletic, this time a deep dive into all 56 sacks the Cowboys allowed in 2018 - second in the NFL.

For context, teams that are second in the league in sacks allowed do not usually make the playoffs. That’s a testament to just how good the defense played last year.

I have read too often here that these sacks were Dak’s fault because he holds the ball too long. It’s not true. According to Pro Football focus, only 15 of those 56 sacks were on Dak. And, in fact, Dak and the Cowboys were one of the best teams in the league at not allowing sacks in 2016 and 2017.

This thread is disingenuous. Sturm's article was only about the first four games of the season (the first of four) and he awarded 3.5 of the 14 sacks in that stretch to Williams, which isn't unusual for a rookie OL going up against elite DTs when giving up sacks to Kwame Short and Jarran Reed.

Also its clear from the article that Sturm doesn't agree with the PFF number of Dak causing 15 sacks. That's why he is breaking down each sack for the entire season. In those four games Sturm blames Prescott for 5 of the 14 sacks so the number may be more or less than the PFF number, but we don't know until he finishes the series of articles.

 

[DandyDon52]

Some of it is Dak, some the OL , but most of the sacks are due to poor coaching, and scheme.
The linemen play the way they are coached too. So does Dak.

 

[buybuydandavis]

for example, why keep a mobile QB in the pocket when your OL is springing 3 leaks ?

"Next man up!"

 

[RJ_MacReady]

Don’t forget to lay some blame on that OLine coach we brought in from Cinci. He was undoing some of the hand-fighting fundamentals that has been installed since Callahan.

 

[TheSkaven]

Why make a post on the negatives when the OL was short the most important piece, i.e. the center and had a rookie playing RG? Why? Are you ignorant?

An offensive line is only as good as its weakest link. Looney played very well. Zack Martin is an all-pro and probably a future Hall of Fame candidate. Not being negative here, Williams actually got better as the year went along. All I am saying is that the coaching staff made an enormous error when they started him at the beginning of the year. He clearly was not ready.

 

[NotForLong]

Do an evaluation on how many sacks Dak skipped right into.

My Favorite is when he spins to his left as a Right handed QB . . . How many times does in a game is he facing the opposite End Zone . . . While his Wr's are running timing patterns

 

[NotForLong]

For the record, I don't believe anyone on this board ever argued that ALL the sacks were Dak's fault.

Only about 75%

 

[NotForLong]

Excluding sacks the fastest time for a QB to throw the football from snap to to throw was 2.55 seconds

https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/stats/passing#average-time-to-throw

So, no

Lol . . . I can't tell if your Joking or not

 

[NotForLong]

the offensive line wasn't horrendous last season. its the go to move by Dak lovers. the offensive line was good, not great., but given needs a strong supporting cast, everyone wants the 2016 offensive line. one of the greatest ever lines in NFL history....which is what dak needs....you want to tell me Brady? Rodgers? brees? Rivers? on and on and on all had great offensive lines!!! seriously.... I guess we have to give dak 5 first round OL men. 5 first round WRs. 3 first round RBs. and bilicheck...then watch out...here comes Dak!!!


oh sorry, I forgot 2 first round TEs....

Lol . . . Its Funny because its true

 

[Rockport]

Well it sounds to me like he was saying that the rookie playing LG(not RG where All Pro Martin plays) wasn't ready physically, or mentally to play LG, and in turn was giving up sacks. In fact he even says, "he will be better this year"

So i guess the real question is Are you capable of reading?

Yes but you obviously aren’t able to comprehend what’s written.

 

[InTheZone]

oh boy, can't wait for the defense to come out in this one!

btw your boy has average about the same "time to throw" every year, so the OL didn't just magically drop off the face of the earth...for those who think it's flat lol

if anyone cares to post each and every sack I'm sure we can fairly assess what happened, but I'm sure an easy blame from my perspective is going to turn into gymnastics for why it wasn't the blame of the same guy, but someone else.

 

[jrumann59]

Was the OL its normal dominating nope. But there are many things that contribute to a sack scheme, QB footwork, technique, play call, etc. Any one of those is bad a sack is likely.

 

[noshame]

Scott is gone, along with 75% of what defenses are reading pre-snap. You'll think we have 9 all pros on offense this year.

 

[CowboysRule]

I watched all his sacks on youtube awhile back. I put about 25 on Dak if I remember correctly.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Lost in all the good feelings about Connor Williams adding weight and muscle this offseason is an analysis of just how poorly he played in his rookie year.

Bob Sturm is writing another 4-part series in The Athletic, this time a deep dive into all 56 sacks the Cowboys allowed in 2018 - second in the NFL.

For context, teams that are second in the league in sacks allowed do not usually make the playoffs. That’s a testament to just how good the defense played last year.

I have read too often here that these sacks were Dak’s fault because he holds the ball too long. It’s not true. According to Pro Football focus, only 15 of those 56 sacks were on Dak. And, in fact, Dak and the Cowboys were one of the best teams in the league at not allowing sacks in 2016 and 2017.

So, clearly 2018 was the problem.



In the articles, there is video of every sack and commentary. What’s clear is that Conner Williams had no business starting last year. He did much better in the final quarter of the season, and I have no doubt he’ll be better this year, but a great deal of 2018’s sacks were either errors from CWill or him being outright bull rushed into the quarterback.

In one instance against Seattle, Dak was sacked in 2.6 seconds! As Sturm wrote, “At some point, you feel like the player was let down here by the organization. 2.6 seconds from snap to sack is ridiculous from an inside player.”

Here is Sturm’s description of CWill’s first of many sacks to be given up in 2018:

“We may one day get to a point of Connor Williams’ career when NFL Films will do a feature on how he has progressed and all signs will go back to Week 1 of 2018 when he was asked to deal with Kawaan Short in his “Welcome to the NFL” moment. That game was when everyone quickly realized the growth and development for the college tackle-turned-NFL guard was going to be much longer than anyone let on in Oxnard. This is why we should all slow our roll when practice reports and camp reports tell us a kid is fitting right in and everything is great. You truly don’t know until they’re facing live ammunition. Here, Short destroys Williams for a sack that you would hope a guard would not allow all season. But this, unfortunately, was a sign of things to come for the rookie. He was pulled off balance, and any time you end up on your stomach watching your man blindside your quarterback, something went very wrong.”

Here is the angle that EVERYONE misses. Someone should go back and find out how many obvious sacks DAK AVOIDED because of his strength and mobility. I would be willing to bet its close to 15 as well. Sacks that most other QB's would have simply gone down.