From film review, things we need to do better on offense

[21Savage]

-I'm sorry but I don't have much for you in regards to this O-line in run blocking and pass pro. They're a young, tremendous group as we all see. Could be the staple for the next 8+ years. Imagine that!

-As for Free versus Parnell: I think Free is better in pass pro as a veteran and though Parnell is a physical freak comparable to Tyron, I don't think he has the same kind of savvy that Free possesses in pass pro. I think he's a stronger blocker and would be better in straight ahead run blocking but I worry about his quickness in cutting off the right DE when we run our bread and butter stretch plays to the left; I hope he has cleaned up his technique and can be better at this. To counter this, we might just need to run more of those stretch plays to the right instead where we can play to his strength.

People who are concerned about him need to remember that Tyron got hurt in the first quarter of the Cleveland game in 2012 and Parnell played 3 quarters of that game and started the Skins game on a short week. He had his moments in the Cleveland game but acquitted himself so well overall that that was when we had the confidence to start rotating him in for Free. For a college power forward, I have to believe that experience in addition to more practice time since then has to equal exponential improvement and that if he plays well again these next 4 games then we should rotate him and Free again for the rest of the season and he might save us some money on letting Free go.

-I think Romo and the WRs need to do a better job of converting the throws downfield on the sidelines. Throws everywhere else have been good but down the field, by the sidelines, needs to be better.

-Along those lines, we need to keep working on the fake back shoulder throw and then head up the field that we tried against Sherman with Dez. I think for all the back shoulder throws we throw that that will come in handy, especially against Peterson when we play the Cards.

-Dez is great but he has to come down with more of these catches in tough coverage. A few catches come to my mind from the Hawks game-the play he failed to make against Maxwell that he later on made against Sherman; and a couple of comebacks he got his hands on but failed to make the tough catch

-We need to keep mixing in Randle for a change of rhythm effect on the defense. His 38 yard run was a perfect example of how the defense starts keying in on a back and then a change of pace can hurt them.

-Involve Dunbar more on 3rd downs. 2 of the 3rd down conversions he had, I don't see any other RB on our roster making those. I still see a Sproles starter kit and the lack of production thus far doesn't sway my opinion.

-I love Witten to death but is there any good reason why those opportunities down the sidelines against Smith (LB) went to him and not Escobar? For opportunities down the middle of the field there's hardly any other TE in the league I'd rather have. But flexed outside or just routes that take him down the sidelines, he hasn't made hay for most of his career that way and I think that was misplaced play calling.

-Escobar continuing to improve and take opportunities away from Hanna would lead to more receiving production from him and just make us a more dynamic offense.

-Real question: Do you guys believe Romo can consistently throw a fade pass? Why does he default to the back shoulder in goal line all the time? This has been the case even when we were trying Bennett on those goal line opportunities. I think this needs to be worked on. The Maxwell play and dropped pick was actually pretty monumental in regards to what's going to happen as the season progresses. I think the Seahawks were very smart to know that was the throw Romo was gonna make and almost had a pick six on the play. Think of it, if you're a CB in this league, how do you not overplay that right now and go for the pick when the team hasn't proven they can throw a fade or a slant off that route. There's really only one place we go with that ball.

-Stop the turnovers, obviously!

 

[Phoenix]

-The Landry Shift needs to be done better

 

[gimmesix]

-Real question: Do you guys believe Romo can consistently throw a fade pass? Why does he default to the back shoulder in goal line all the time? This has been the case even when we were trying Bennett on those goal line opportunities. I think this needs to be worked on. The Maxwell play and dropped pick was actually pretty monumental in regards to what's going to happen as the season progresses. I think the Seahawks were very smart to know that was the throw Romo was gonna make and almost had a pick six on the play. Think of it, if you're a CB in this league, how do you not overplay that right now and go for the pick when the team hasn't proven they can throw a fade or a slant off that route. There's really only one place we go with that ball.

Romo doesn't seem to throw the fade, but if Escobar does what he was expected to do, Maxwell would have had to go through him to break up the pass. It doesn't matter if Seattle knew what Romo was going to throw, the receiver had the inside leverage so he would have been between the defender and the pass if he had gone where expected.

Escobar needed to run the route like Dez does: push the corner back with your body, then turn and catch the pass in the front of the end zone. If he does that, the back shoulder there is almost impossible to defend.

The defender really only has two choices if the route is ran correctly: Fight through the receiver or lay back so the receiver can't get into your body and charge hard when the pass is thrown.

 

[gimmesix]

-The Landry Shift needs to be done better

The one against NO was very good. This one, not so much.

 

[jobberone]

Our pass protection needs improvement from one end of the line to another. Smith still gets beat silly at times and I don't understand that. He's a way better than average player but he can still improve. The interior still has its problems and more so than the tackles. They have improved though. None are bad; all are still average. You can see the improvement from last year so I expect them to steadily improve as they all gain experience esp the guards. Free has always been good on the edge but he looks silly at times, too, esp with the bullrushes on occasion. To their credit both tackles often recover well enough to give Romo time. Both still give up too many pressures for their experience esp Free although in pass protection he's a bit better than Smith this year. Parnell I don't know. He's capable of being better than Smith which is saying something but his mental lapses or whatever it is holds him back. Right now he's not nearly the tackle as the others. We'll see if can take advantage of Free's absence. I also think he's a better run blocker than Free but Free is still the better technician. Hopefully Parnell has learned the system enough we won't see much difference.

 

[big dog cowboy]

-The Landry Shift needs to be done better

If it's going to become a weekly thing, then it needs to be done right.

 

[jobberone]

-I'm sorry but I don't have much for you in regards to this O-line in run blocking and pass pro. They're a young, tremendous group as we all see. Could be the staple for the next 8+ years. Imagine that!

-As for Free versus Parnell: I think Free is better in pass pro as a veteran and though Parnell is a physical freak comparable to Tyron, I don't think he has the same kind of savvy that Free possesses in pass pro. I think he's a stronger blocker and would be better in straight ahead run blocking but I worry about his quickness in cutting off the right DE when we run our bread and butter stretch plays to the left; I hope he has cleaned up his technique and can be better at this. To counter this, we might just need to run more of those stretch plays to the right instead where we can play to his strength.

People who are concerned about him need to remember that Tyron got hurt in the first quarter of the Cleveland game in 2012 and Parnell played 3 quarters of that game and started the Skins game on a short week. He had his moments in the Cleveland game but acquitted himself so well overall that that was when we had the confidence to start rotating him in for Free. For a college power forward, I have to believe that experience in addition to more practice time since then has to equal exponential improvement and that if he plays well again these next 4 games then we should rotate him and Free again for the rest of the season and he might save us some money on letting Free go.

-I think Romo and the WRs need to do a better job of converting the throws downfield on the sidelines. Throws everywhere else have been good but down the field, by the sidelines, needs to be better.

-Along those lines, we need to keep working on the fake back shoulder throw and then head up the field that we tried against Sherman with Dez. I think for all the back shoulder throws we throw that that will come in handy, especially against Peterson when we play the Cards.

-Dez is great but he has to come down with more of these catches in tough coverage. A few catches come to my mind from the Hawks game-the play he failed to make against Maxwell that he later on made against Sherman; and a couple of comebacks he got his hands on but failed to make the tough catch

-We need to keep mixing in Randle for a change of rhythm effect on the defense. His 38 yard run was a perfect example of how the defense starts keying in on a back and then a change of pace can hurt them.

-Involve Dunbar more on 3rd downs. 2 of the 3rd down conversions he had, I don't see any other RB on our roster making those. I still see a Sproles starter kit and the lack of production thus far doesn't sway my opinion.

-I love Witten to death but is there any good reason why those opportunities down the sidelines against Smith (LB) went to him and not Escobar? For opportunities down the middle of the field there's hardly any other TE in the league I'd rather have. But flexed outside or just routes that take him down the sidelines, he hasn't made hay for most of his career that way and I think that was misplaced play calling.

-Escobar continuing to improve and take opportunities away from Hanna would lead to more receiving production from him and just make us a more dynamic offense.

-Real question: Do you guys believe Romo can consistently throw a fade pass? Why does he default to the back shoulder in goal line all the time? This has been the case even when we were trying Bennett on those goal line opportunities. I think this needs to be worked on. The Maxwell play and dropped pick was actually pretty monumental in regards to what's going to happen as the season progresses. I think the Seahawks were very smart to know that was the throw Romo was gonna make and almost had a pick six on the play. Think of it, if you're a CB in this league, how do you not overplay that right now and go for the pick when the team hasn't proven they can throw a fade or a slant off that route. There's really only one place we go with that ball.

-Stop the turnovers, obviously!

Nice post. I don't think Romo has a strong fade pass for whatever reason. And teams are sitting on that out as well as that back shoulder throw these days. One of Romo's weaknesses is looking at the receiver a bit too early as well as not having a lot of velocity on his throws compared to bigger arms in the NFL. The result is DBs can sit on those routes. That's where you have to read it correctly and burn them with the stop and go, double move and out and up. As an aside I'd like to see more wheel routes esp when they are doubling Dez. Send Dunbar into that area after it is cleared. There is no LBer in the NFL that can cover him IMO.

 

[21Savage]

Romo doesn't seem to throw the fade, but if Escobar does what he was expected to do, Maxwell would have had to go through him to break up the pass. It doesn't matter if Seattle knew what Romo was going to throw, the receiver had the inside leverage so he would have been between the defender and the pass if he had gone where expected.

Escobar needed to run the route like Dez does: push the corner back with your body, then turn and catch the pass in the front of the end zone. If he does that, the back shoulder there is almost impossible to defend.

The defender really only has two choices if the route is ran correctly: Fight through the receiver or lay back so the receiver can't get into your body and charge hard when the pass is thrown.

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I apologize for not knowing how to embed pics so I have to resort to this for now. But from the progressions, taken from the all 22 you can see Maxwell start off by playing Escobar head on. At the snap, he takes outside leverage-the position of Chancelor is such that he can play the run or run back in and take away the slant but at the snap it's apparent that it's man coverage. Maxwell then aggressively takes the outside shade and jumps the route all day. A slant on that play would have been an easy TD with how much space Escobar had.

But Maxwell knowing 1) He has a TE on him so he can be quicker and 2) a back shoulder throw is coming so I'm jumping this played that perfectly. The only reason he could have been so aggressive is because of our predictability. On the other side, you can see Sherman play the route honestly but still aggressively hold his ground because he knew what was coming. We never run slants or fades off that route. It is an issue that needs to be addressed because that's our go to.

 

[21Savage]

Our pass protection needs improvement from one end of the line to another. Smith still gets beat silly at times and I don't understand that. He's a way better than average player but he can still improve. The interior still has its problems and more so than the tackles. They have improved though. None are bad; all are still average. You can see the improvement from last year so I expect them to steadily improve as they all gain experience esp the guards. Free has always been good on the edge but he looks silly at times, too, esp with the bullrushes on occasion. To their credit both tackles often recover well enough to give Romo time. Both still give up too many pressures for their experience esp Free although in pass protection he's a bit better than Smith this year. Parnell I don't know. He's capable of being better than Smith which is saying something but his mental lapses or whatever it is holds him back. Right now he's not nearly the tackle as the others. We'll see if can take advantage of Free's absence. I also think he's a better run blocker than Free but Free is still the better technician. Hopefully Parnell has learned the system enough we won't see much difference.

I would have to disagree. I watch film religiously and the only time I can recall Smith getting beat this year is on Brook's sack in the SF game. JJ Watt beat Fred and Romo on the snap count, not Smith. Not sure what he could've done on that play when the best defensive player in the league times the snap that perfectly. And when Irvin got to Romo it was Murray who was supposed to be chipping who knocked Smith out of position.

2nd to Watt in QB pressures in the league was Bennett and Martin just absolutely shut him down. He got tossed around by Watt some but bounced back big time. The rookie is a stud. Another stud is Leary and while he got beat a couple of times in the Seattle game-one drew a holding call-he bullied Watt on the 5 or so plays they matched up. And every guard is gonna get beat from time to time. Free has his struggles at times but has been very consistent this year. This is the best line in the league in most people's opinions.

Honestly, expecting this line to play much better than it is right now (even in pass pro) is asking a lot of a man's dreams.

 

[guag]

Romo doesn't seem to throw the fade, but if Escobar does what he was expected to do, Maxwell would have had to go through him to break up the pass. It doesn't matter if Seattle knew what Romo was going to throw, the receiver had the inside leverage so he would have been between the defender and the pass if he had gone where expected.

Escobar needed to run the route like Dez does: push the corner back with your body, then turn and catch the pass in the front of the end zone. If he does that, the back shoulder there is almost impossible to defend.

The defender really only has two choices if the route is ran correctly: Fight through the receiver or lay back so the receiver can't get into your body and charge hard when the pass is thrown.

I just don't understand the need to have Escobar on that route. If it ain't broke, don't fix it (Bryant)

 

[Doomsday101]

Not a big fan of rotating OL players, I think the group loses continuity when you start doing that. I hope Parnell comes in and plays well and if shows he is a better option than Free then he deserves the job if not then Free needs to be starting. As for Free being here next season or not I would guess it will be based on if they can agree to a contract, we will see.

 

[ConstantReboot]

If it's going to become a weekly thing, then it needs to be done right.

I agree. Maybe they can spend one whole day of practice working on it. There going to be using regularly from now on (sarcasm alert).

 

[jobberone]

I would have to disagree. I watch film religiously and the only time I can recall Smith getting beat this year is on Brook's sack in the SF game. JJ Watt beat Fred and Romo on the snap count, not Smith. Not sure what he could've done on that play when the best defensive player in the league times the snap that perfectly. And when Irvin got to Romo it was Murray who was supposed to be chipping who knocked Smith out of position.

2nd to Watt in QB pressures in the league was Bennett and Martin just absolutely shut him down. He got tossed around by Watt some but bounced back big time. The rookie is a stud. Another stud is Leary and while he got beat a couple of times in the Seattle game-one drew a holding call-he bullied Watt on the 5 or so plays they matched up. And every guard is gonna get beat from time to time. Free has his struggles at times but has been very consistent this year. This is the best line in the league in most people's opinions.

Honestly, expecting this line to play much better than it is right now (even in pass pro) is asking a lot of a man's dreams.

Nice post but we'll just have to agree to disagree. You don't see a lot of tackles not get beat so saying Smith gets beat at times is not a knock on Smith. OTOH, some around here seem to think he is playing at an All Pro level and he's not IMO. He's very good and seems to be improving.

Smith has given up 1 sack, 1 hit and 6 hurries. Free 3 sacks, 1 hit and 10 hurries. However, Free has played better than Smith the last 4 games on average. Smith's last two games haven't been great. I don't know how Free did after injury last week and I don't know if Smith is dinged up the last two games. Free did give up 4 hurries last week after doing very well weeks 3-5 but again I don't know how much came after injury. Don't think there was any of import though. Free's bad game was TN when he gave up 2 sacks, 1 hit and 1 hurry. A hurry can be well after he's supposed to hold their guy and in fact may be called after stopping their guy but allowing another player to hurry a scrambling QB. So I take all those stats with a grain of salt.

I still think Smith is a better player and has more upside than Free. Free is not getting any better. Smith matches up better against most players. Free is upgradeable although it won't be as easy as some think. He's a very serviceable RT. Smith is a long term keeper.

The interior is giving up too much pressure but Martin is a rookie, Leary is basically one and Fred is only in his second year. Not sure how often I should repeat this but if you look at OL you see a sharp learning curve the first two years. By the end of the third year you should know what you have esp if they get their snaps. It most often takes until the third year before you see them take off although the good ones start showing it towards the end of the second year with an increase in production and more consistency and good plays.

I think this young interior is very good at run blocking esp zone techniques. I like the ability of the interior to play the screen and to get outside to block as well as to the second level. They are all more mobile than I expected.They still have some problems with power blocking. So there is room for improvement. And that is scary considering we are the best run team in the league. And teams no longer play the pass in short yardage but are loading up the box; even in base packages. I've noticed 8 in the box and a DB creeping up to play it. They are also run blitzing. When's the last time you saw teams scheming us with run blitzes on more than occasion?

I wouldn't trade this line for another. I hope Leary can play for another contract and I'd like Parnell to push Free either to swing tackle or to another team.

 

[nalam]

-


-Real question: Do you guys believe Romo can consistently throw a fade pass? Why does he default to the back shoulder in goal line all the time? This has been the case even when we were trying Bennett on those goal line opportunities. I think this needs to be worked on. The Maxwell play and dropped pick was actually pretty monumental in regards to what's going to happen as the season progresses. I think the Seahawks were very smart to know that was the throw Romo was gonna make and almost had a pick six on the play. Think of it, if you're a CB in this league, how do you not overplay that right now and go for the pick when the team hasn't proven they can throw a fade or a slant off that route. There's really only one place we go with that ball.

-Stop the turnovers, obviously!

Good point , one that has puzzled me also ( have been mentioning this in the forum for years) , for all his heroism , Romo can't throw a high fade in the EZ , I had seen the same with Bennett was here.

We can't use Dez's jumping ability or Escobar's high reach because of that.imagine ,w e can't be stopped in the red zone if he can make those throws

 

[Zman5]

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I apologize for not knowing how to embed pics so I have to resort to this for now. But from the progressions, taken from the all 22 you can see Maxwell start off by playing Escobar head on. At the snap, he takes outside leverage-the position of Chancelor is such that he can play the run or run back in and take away the slant but at the snap it's apparent that it's man coverage. Maxwell then aggressively takes the outside shade and jumps the route all day. A slant on that play would have been an easy TD with how much space Escobar had.

But Maxwell knowing 1) He has a TE on him so he can be quicker and 2) a back shoulder throw is coming so I'm jumping this played that perfectly. The only reason he could have been so aggressive is because of our predictability. On the other side, you can see Sherman play the route honestly but still aggressively hold his ground because he knew what was coming. We never run slants or fades off that route. It is an issue that needs to be addressed because that's our go to.

Similar thing happened with TWill few games back. It seems like only receiver that can run that route well is Dez. Maybe Dez should do a clinic for the rest of the receivers.

 

[gdogg24]

I just don't understand the need to have Escobar on that route. If it ain't broke, don't fix it (Bryant)

I agree with this, nothing wrong with the play but they need Dez to be the one out there trying to catch it. Romo and Dez have that play down about as well as you can get it.

 

[erod]

I hate the fade pass. It looks weak and desperate, and it usually fails. Abandon it.

 

[TonyRomo17]

-I love Witten to death but is there any good reason why those opportunities down the sidelines against Smith (LB) went to him and not Escobar? For opportunities down the middle of the field there's hardly any other TE in the league I'd rather have. But flexed outside or just routes that take him down the sidelines, he hasn't made hay for most of his career that way and I think that was misplaced play calling.

+1

 

[gimmesix]

I just don't understand the need to have Escobar on that route. If it ain't broke, don't fix it (Bryant)

It was probably a question of coverage. If Seattle chose to double Dez on that (or we weren't comfortable running it against Sherman), then Dallas had Escobar singled for a supposed mismatch. (I believe we've done the same thing with Williams this year.)
If we could have gotten Dez singled up against Maxwell in that situation, we probably would have thrown it to him.

 

[gimmesix]

Similar thing happened with TWill few games back. It seems like only receiver that can run that route well is Dez. Maybe Dez should do a clinic for the rest of the receivers.

I do like that idea.