The point is not to become one dimensional. The more ways you can attack a defense, the better. Plus, if you watched the teams from the early 90's, if you can run the ball you can keep a good opposing offense off the field or end the game when you have the lead by grinding out first downs and running out the clock.
I agree, if we're running the ball well it creates another dimension for our offense and makes us that much more potent. But what if we're running the ball terribly and it's only hurting our passing at that point in the game? Do you say screw it, we're going to let our franchise QB take over, or do you stick with the ineffective running game?
If you're going to remove the 'longest run' as an outlier - please, at least remove the longest TFL as a countermanding outlier.
If I had that information easily assesible, I would've looked it up no problem. Regardless of TFL not being added in, it still shows how inconsistent we are running the ball and I don't see how anyone could say other wise.
The key to winning is to keep the other team off balance and have them guessing as to what we are trying to do. Running the ball will not alway produce big and long gains. But it can set the foundation for later in the game (as it did last night) and keep the other teams Offense off the field along with closing out games. Yesterday was a prime example of have to pass to set up the run. They played 8 to 9 men in the box and dared us to pass the ball. Other times we will have to run vice pass. Its not a sure method of winning, but if we are up in a game and we run smart, throw to the check down WR or RB we can use the clock. And that my friend is a key that this team has been missing for a while now!
So again I ask, what would YOU do if we only had like 10 carries for 30 yards, but 25 of those yards came on one play. Would you stick with our innefective running game, even though it's getting stuffed and forcing long 2nd/3rd downs? When you have a QB as good as Romo, you're better off just passing and using short routes as your running game, IMO.
As clearly noted by our recent trend in W's, the real key is to utilize a balanced attack on offense to keep all 11 of our players engaged on offense and opposing defenses off balance. I'm pretty sure you tried to prove your point in my thread and it was debunked. Anyhoo... The latest results stand on their own merits. A balanced approach will get us into the playoffs not just as a 1 & done but as a serious force to be reckoned with.
Oh, & it doesn't hurt that we win at a very high percentage when DeMarco touches the ball no less than 15x. That ties directly in the the required balance on offense to avoid sliding into predictability.
Have fun with those storytelling stats.. Lol
If we're running the ball effectively, it's a big plus to our offense, but that's not what happens every game. Half the time we're NOT running the ball effectively, and that's what I'm talking about here. And you noted our latest streak of W's ... If it's not for Romo pulling out 2 clutch GWD then we're 1-3 in these past 4 games, instead we're sitting 3-1.
... Have fun believing we're winning because of our running game.
Can't buy what's being sold here...looks like cherry picking stats...you can't just throw and you can't just run....there minimally has to be some type of balance to keep the other guessing...an example of when we didn't do that was the game where we ran on 2nd down EVERY time (I think it was Detroit?)...they had our number because of predictability
What's being cherry picked here? All I did was add only our RB's carry/yards for each game, and then I took away the longest run of each game. What this shows is how inconsistent we are and it's part of the reason why we struggle moving the chains.
In the last 3 games (taking away our longest run each game) those are the stats. Seems we are learning to run better post Waters. More than anything I find that encouraging.
We definitely are running the ball better recently, but that's not what I'm asking people. Should we abandon our running game when it's NOT being effective? Because half the time our running isn't being effective as it should be, and that much is obvious. I believe we should come out trying to ground and pound, but if we're being ineffective at it then we should just put the ball in Romo hands. Like I said before though, if we're running effectively then there's no reason to abandon it.
