False Narratives about Cowboys

[CouchCoach]

Marinelli ran some solid defenses with the Bears from 2010-2012 when he was the DC.

He worked alongside Lovie Smith and had better talent than he's had in Dallas. His forte had always been the DL and Booger listened too much to him about talent acquisition.

 

[texbumthelife]

That's the typical fan opinion which is not based on studying game footage.

He did have issues playing the ball, but much of that was due being in a disadvantageous position due to scheme issues and having to scramble to catch up to WRs.

Sometimes the masses are right.

 

[xwalker]

He worked alongside Lovie Smith and had better talent than he's had in Dallas. His forte had always been the DL and Booger listened too much to him about talent acquisition.

Booger McFarland listed to Marinelli about playing DT but I don't think he was involved in talent acquisition...

 

[xwalker]

Sometimes the masses are right.

The masses are almost always wrong but always think they're correct.

 

[texbumthelife]

That's the typical fan opinion which is not based on studying game footage.

He did have issues playing the ball, but much of that was due being in a disadvantageous position due to scheme issues and having to scramble to catch up to WRs.

OK, so I took your snark to heart and went and watched a ton of vids on Youtube and they all tell me the same thing (which is what I stated above) that Awuzie is a good cover corner with awful ball skills who rarely, if ever, wins one-on-one with a WR. If you've got the clips to back up your comments, feel free to post.

While it's not the same overall narrative, this guy does a pretty good job of showing exactly what I am saying. Awuzie clips start at 2:53:
Pay particularly close attention around the 8-minute mark. @8:50 he shows embarrassingly bad ball skills. He turns AWAY from the ball when it should have been an easy pick.

Even in his own highlight videos, when he does make a play he's regularly ignorant to where the ball is--though he does make an outstanding play at the 1:35 mark: ]
Pay close attention to the 2:40 mark when he makes no attempt at another easy interception. He's not even looking at the ball, he's looking at Beckham even though he's got great inside coverage.

Awuzie is a good cover corner. He shows good instincts in mirroring receivers routes and diagnosing plays quickly, he just doesn't have any sort of ball skill really.

Obviously this is a small sample, but having watched all the games, most multiple times, I really don't need to see more.

It seems to me that once Awuzie is out of his pedal, or into his bail, he just doesn't turn and locate. After watching a bunch of videos, I might have to agree with the camp that thinks he's a better safety than corner. The difference in his play when he can keep eyes in the backfield and when he's asked to turn and run is night and day. He's a solid corner, but he might be a very good safety.

 

[Ranching]

The coaching was bad enough in 2019. We don't need false narratives to pile on and blame them for things that were not really problems.

The George Iloka comments have caused a comical narrative.

People that are quoting him don't appear to have listened to his entire interview.

Iloka said that Kris Richard told him not to disguise coverage.
- Some pseudo media think that Iloka said KR told him to stay deep regardless.
- Iloka actually ended up saying that KR wanted to show an 8 man box and tempt teams to pass.
- He said that Zimmer/Edwards wanted to show 7 in the box to tempt teams to run.

Iloka also said that Awuzie indicated he always played the same technique.
- The All-22 is available to everyone for a low cost. Awuzie didn't always play the same technique.

Iloka never made the team and was 3rd string in the preseason.
- He is probably not fond of KR regardless of what actually happened.

The coaching was beyond terrible in 2019, but not for the reasons that people are now claiming.

The #1 problem with the defense was that Marinelli refused to change the DL scheme.
- The DL scheme was outdated and exposed by the Rams in the playoff game.
- In 2019 KR was in control of the back 7 and Marinelli still in control of the DL.
- KR tried to adapt the back 7 to stop the bleeding in run defense that was caused by the DL scheme.
- KR's changed ended up making it worse but he was in a no win situation.
- When offenses can run the ball with 3 OL blocking 4 DL and the other 2 OL free to block LBs, it's a fail for defense.

KR took all the help defenders from Awuzie and moved them inside and up to defend the run.
- Offenses would put 1 WR on Awuzies side.
- The Cowboys FS would align towards the side with 2 WRs.
- That meant Awuzie had no deep help on most plays.
- In Seattle with the Legion of Boom scheme, Richard Sherman often had help both inside deep and inside short.
- In 2019 KR had the inside short coverage help (SS and LBs) up near the DL to focus on the run.
- Despite Awuzie having no help deep or short on many plays, they also required him to be strong run defender on outside runs to his side.
- Awuzie was basically playing the Deion coverage style (no help) but even Deion didn't have the same run defense duties as Awuzie.
- It was indeed moronic to put Awuzie into that situation, but the problem was not because of technique or lack of disguising coverage.

In 2018 which was KR's first season with the Cowboys, the improvement in coaching of the secondary was obvious.
- It was obvious in reviewing game footage.
- It was also supported by player comments.
- CB Brown said the previous DB coaches never told him what technique to play and didn't even coach him on the differences in technique vs various situations. He said he learned more in a few months with KR than all years previously.

Maybe Richard was trying to sabotage Garrett like Garrett back stabbed Wade????

 

[kskboys]

OK, so I took your snark to heart and went and watched a ton of vids on Youtube and they all tell me the same thing (which is what I stated above) that Awuzie is a good cover corner with awful ball skills who rarely, if ever, wins one-on-one with a WR. If you've got the clips to back up your comments, feel free to post.

While it's not the same overall narrative, this guy does a pretty good job of showing exactly what I am saying. Awuzie clips start at 2:53:
Pay particularly close attention around the 8-minute mark. @8:50 he shows embarrassingly bad ball skills. He turns AWAY from the ball when it should have been an easy pick.

Even in his own highlight videos, when he does make a play he's regularly ignorant to where the ball is--though he does make an outstanding play at the 1:35 mark: ]
Pay close attention to the 2:40 mark when he makes no attempt at another easy interception. He's not even looking at the ball, he's looking at Beckham even though he's got great inside coverage.

Awuzie is a good cover corner. He shows good instincts in mirroring receivers routes and diagnosing plays quickly, he just doesn't have any sort of ball skill really.

Obviously this is a small sample, but having watched all the games, most multiple times, I really don't need to see more.

It seems to me that once Awuzie is out of his pedal, or into his bail, he just doesn't turn and locate. After watching a bunch of videos, I might have to agree with the camp that thinks he's a better safety than corner. The difference in his play when he can keep eyes in the backfield and when he's asked to turn and run is night and day. He's a solid corner, but he might be a very good safety.

That's how I feel about him.

Funny thing is, this was all over his scouting reports. Most thought he was better suited at S or in the slot. And that's what's apparently turning out to be. Which makes this another case of the previous regime misreading/misusing talent. Sad.

 

[texbumthelife]

That's how I feel about him.

Funny thing is, this was all over his scouting reports. Most thought he was better suited at S or in the slot. And that's what's apparently turning out to be. Which makes this another case of the previous regime misreading/misusing talent. Sad.

Don't get me wrong, I think Awuzie is a good corner. I would be happy with him on the boundary. I will not, however, blame his deficiencies on schematic issues when I've seen him lose in 'bail' coverage one-on-one with a WR over and over again. When I've seen this happen in Cover-2 and Cover-3 as well as man-to-man. When I've seen this happen over the entire course of his career, not just in an awkward season where Richard and Marinelli split decision making. He almost exclusively watched the receiver without turning his head, or turning exceptionally late, or even more egregiously, turning the wrong way.

 

[jterrell]

various:

Rod did have a dated DL scheme but he always stopped the run just fine... except when injuries limited his best run stuffers.
KR was fired before he ever met Rod M and his issues were told to us by Seahawks fans.
His defense DID teach CB to use a single technique. We had a highly respected private DB coach tell us this and it had zero to do with Iloka.
He literally said Chido told him he could not switch techniques.

KR is unemployed right now for a reason. His defensive scheme is very limited. Cover 1 only works with an elite Free Safety. And Cover 3 offers great success at times but it makes the edges soft. Corner is bailing out by technique and design. Run and pass can take advantage of the edges. If you can't really run Cover 1 then the scheme becomes too vanilla. Too repetitive.

Ben Bloom wanting to fight KR was a very real thing and it had to do with how poorly Jaylon was being used.
There are tons of examples including the red zone defensive set I often share which is the worst coaching I have seen in the NFL.
It forced Jaylon to have man overage on the slot WR regardless of that WR. It went from WR3 to WR2 to WR1.
That was KR and it was criminally bad.
He made coverage calls for the back 7.

A lot has been made of the Rams playoff loss and this team was gashed. But the week before they had stuffed the run and dominated Seattle.
LAR had figured out the DL calls and knew exactly what DL shift they were getting.
That is why they ran effortlessly.
Having a BYE week to study a team pays off when you have a very sharp head coach.

Dallas plan had been to promote KR and make him DC (after he shined as DB coach) but he failed so badly in the audition year he never got the job.

The biggest takeaways really are year 1 of a scheme can truly shine and you gotta love that as a Cowboys fan this year.
Coming off a year where you had some tough luck and general underachievement you get a new scheme advantage on both sides of the ball.
Should be perfect time to win a lot of games before the leagues figures out what is coming every play.

 

[jterrell]

Don't get me wrong, I think Awuzie is a good corner. I would be happy with him on the boundary. I will not, however, blame his deficiencies on schematic issues when I've seen him lose in 'bail' coverage one-on-one with a WR over and over again. When I've seen this happen in Cover-2 and Cover-3 as well as man-to-man. When I've seen this happen over the entire course of his career, not just in an awkward season where Richard and Marinelli split decision making. He almost exclusively watched the receiver without turning his head, or turning exceptionally late, or even more egregiously, turning the wrong way.

CB is arguably the hardest position to play skill-wise after QB.
Bail coverage is tough and Chido was a college safety who played coming forward not backing up.
What they decide to do with him will be interesting to watch. He is one heck of a natural athlete and came out of college as a big time play-maker.

 

[DFWJC]

This suggests Awuzie is a much better player then most realize. Having such responsibility made it nearly impossible to have any success.

I think he is.

 

[Corso]

Maybe Richard was trying to sabotage Garrett like Garrett back stabbed Wade????

Would serve him right.

 

[12+88=7]

Good post.

I too believe that the problems with Dallas has been schemes and not personal. Especially when they move on from Dallas and perform for their new teams.

Fixing the run defense will naturally help the pass defense. Beefing up the line this offseason was the first step. Now it's up to the coaches to put players in positions to succeed.

If this defense comes together, Dallas is going to have a very good year.

 

[fivetwos]

The coaching was bad enough in 2019. We don't need false narratives to pile on and blame them for things that were not really problems.

The George Iloka comments have caused a comical narrative.

People that are quoting him don't appear to have listened to his entire interview.

Iloka said that Kris Richard told him not to disguise coverage.
- Some pseudo media think that Iloka said KR told him to stay deep regardless.
- Iloka actually ended up saying that KR wanted to show an 8 man box and tempt teams to pass.
- He said that Zimmer/Edwards wanted to show 7 in the box to tempt teams to run.

Iloka also said that Awuzie indicated he always played the same technique.
- The All-22 is available to everyone for a low cost. Awuzie didn't always play the same technique.

Iloka never made the team and was 3rd string in the preseason.
- He is probably not fond of KR regardless of what actually happened.

The coaching was beyond terrible in 2019, but not for the reasons that people are now claiming.

The #1 problem with the defense was that Marinelli refused to change the DL scheme.
- The DL scheme was outdated and exposed by the Rams in the playoff game.
- In 2019 KR was in control of the back 7 and Marinelli still in control of the DL.
- KR tried to adapt the back 7 to stop the bleeding in run defense that was caused by the DL scheme.
- KR's changed ended up making it worse but he was in a no win situation.
- When offenses can run the ball with 3 OL blocking 4 DL and the other 2 OL free to block LBs, it's a fail for defense.

KR took all the help defenders from Awuzie and moved them inside and up to defend the run.
- Offenses would put 1 WR on Awuzies side.
- The Cowboys FS would align towards the side with 2 WRs.
- That meant Awuzie had no deep help on most plays.
- In Seattle with the Legion of Boom scheme, Richard Sherman often had help both inside deep and inside short.
- In 2019 KR had the inside short coverage help (SS and LBs) up near the DL to focus on the run.
- Despite Awuzie having no help deep or short on many plays, they also required him to be strong run defender on outside runs to his side.
- Awuzie was basically playing the Deion coverage style (no help) but even Deion didn't have the same run defense duties as Awuzie.
- It was indeed moronic to put Awuzie into that situation, but the problem was not because of technique or lack of disguising coverage.

In 2018 which was KR's first season with the Cowboys, the improvement in coaching of the secondary was obvious.
- It was obvious in reviewing game footage.
- It was also supported by player comments.
- CB Brown said the previous DB coaches never told him what technique to play and didn't even coach him on the differences in technique vs various situations. He said he learned more in a few months with KR than all years previously.

I greatly appreciate your posts and all the work, thought and insight that goes into them.

I think you deserve a SB win in return, so go ahead and take one...or three!

Plain and simple, the last staff was inferior to those of most other teams for one reason or another.

The owner didnt recognize it, largely because he knows what it's like with a high profile coach in town, and he loved the idea of possibly winning coupled with getting that much credit and being able to do and say whatever he wanted with no complaints from below telling him they cant work that way.

It failed.

We all hope to move ahead and succeed. Thats all any of us want.

We can all choose reason A thru Z why the last staff was bad, and it doesnt matter.

Let's move on ahead, and just hope that the egotistical owner, who thinks he can accomplish anything in this world because of the time he did so and so whenever, doesnt undermine the staff and let's them do what they know how to do and he doesnt.

 

[Williamsboys]

The Cowboys defense needs to be alot more agressive , we may still need another defensive end to accomplish that, what I do know is everyone elses job becomes alot easier when you rush the quarterback, gives him less time to find an open man.

 

[GMO415]

We can finally scheme an opponent now and it will be designed to attack a team's weakness

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Also-- for the record-- Kris Richard was put into a ridiculously confusing situation. He was basically a "quasi-DC" that had no real authority to check Marinelli. To have responsibility absence of authority is a recipe for frustration and disaster. Again-- Garrett takes the blame for creating a clown-show on his coaching staff and muddling up the lanes of authority.

The reverse is also true for Marinelli. He wasn't even able to put the game plans together or call the Defensive signals.

Terrible

 

[Verdict]

Marinelli ran some solid defenses with the Bears from 2010-2012 when he was the DC.

It turns out when you have great players it sometimes masks poor coaching.

 

[Dre11]

Marinelli had never been an effective DC in his career in the NFL. He had better talent on the DL in his previous jobs and a better front 7 that allowed him some leeway.

His major two problems were that he thought he was a talent evaluator of players he had not coached but the second one, his penchant for using the strength of the D to cover for the weakness, was his major flaw. All he did was neuter his strength and it really didn't help the weaknesses enough.

When Ryan was there, he just went balls to the wall with whoever he had and at times, didn't know who he had. But he wasn't going to back off his A players to cover for D players.

That was the same thing Wannstedt did with his guys and the rotation. That was the magic of having Woody back there with Roy Williams, Woody played his game, he didn't have to cover for Williams. When they rotated players in, the expectations didn't change and neither did the play calling.

When Parcells came in with the 3/4, he described it as a more "win the one on one battles" and proceeded to play a BDBD because he didn't have enough players to do that. Thatb 3/4 was a failed experiment.

We can talk about the great DC's that have been in this game Monte Kiffin, Marvin Lewis, Buddy Ryan, Bill Belichick, Dick LeBeau, Wade Phillips and a few others but let's list the players on those D's. They didn't make those players, they allowed them to play their game and put them in their best position to succeed. Belichick even admitting to changing the D when he saw what Lawrence Taylor could do.

I do have questions about Nolan as the DC but more questions about the talent on that DL. It is a new secondary that hasn't played as a unit yet, that DL is critical to not only the success of the D but of the team as a whole.

Chicago's defense under Rod Marinelli
Rank Yards allowed Points allowed Takeaways
2010 9th 4th 3rd
2011 17th 14th 5th
2012 3rd 3rd 1st

 

[CowboyRoy]

The coaching was bad enough in 2019. We don't need false narratives to pile on and blame them for things that were not really problems.

The George Iloka comments have caused a comical narrative.

People that are quoting him don't appear to have listened to his entire interview.

Iloka said that Kris Richard told him not to disguise coverage.
- Some pseudo media think that Iloka said KR told him to stay deep regardless.
- Iloka actually ended up saying that KR wanted to show an 8 man box and tempt teams to pass.
- He said that Zimmer/Edwards wanted to show 7 in the box to tempt teams to run.

Iloka also said that Awuzie indicated he always played the same technique.
- The All-22 is available to everyone for a low cost. Awuzie didn't always play the same technique.

Iloka never made the team and was 3rd string in the preseason.
- He is probably not fond of KR regardless of what actually happened.

The coaching was beyond terrible in 2019, but not for the reasons that people are now claiming.

The #1 problem with the defense was that Marinelli refused to change the DL scheme.
- The DL scheme was outdated and exposed by the Rams in the playoff game.
- In 2019 KR was in control of the back 7 and Marinelli still in control of the DL.
- KR tried to adapt the back 7 to stop the bleeding in run defense that was caused by the DL scheme.
- KR's changed ended up making it worse but he was in a no win situation.
- When offenses can run the ball with 3 OL blocking 4 DL and the other 2 OL free to block LBs, it's a fail for defense.

KR took all the help defenders from Awuzie and moved them inside and up to defend the run.
- Offenses would put 1 WR on Awuzies side.
- The Cowboys FS would align towards the side with 2 WRs.
- That meant Awuzie had no deep help on most plays.
- In Seattle with the Legion of Boom scheme, Richard Sherman often had help both inside deep and inside short.
- In 2019 KR had the inside short coverage help (SS and LBs) up near the DL to focus on the run.
- Despite Awuzie having no help deep or short on many plays, they also required him to be strong run defender on outside runs to his side.
- Awuzie was basically playing the Deion coverage style (no help) but even Deion didn't have the same run defense duties as Awuzie.
- It was indeed moronic to put Awuzie into that situation, but the problem was not because of technique or lack of disguising coverage.

In 2018 which was KR's first season with the Cowboys, the improvement in coaching of the secondary was obvious.
- It was obvious in reviewing game footage.
- It was also supported by player comments.
- CB Brown said the previous DB coaches never told him what technique to play and didn't even coach him on the differences in technique vs various situations. He said he learned more in a few months with KR than all years previously.

Those that hated Garrett and doubted him were right and those that supported Garrett and thought he was a good coach were proven dead wrong.

Nothing much else to talk about.