FWST Just Chill: 'Boys didn't abandon the run but the running game has not been good

WoodysGirl

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Just CHILL: The Cowboys didn't abandon the run but the running game has not been good lately

Clarence Hill



Watch the game, please.

Those who are criticizing the Cowboys for supposedly abandoning the run in the 17-7 loss to the Packers clearly weren't watching the game. They simply looked at the final lopsided pass-run numbers and concluded it was a case of abandoning the run.

The numbers don't tell the whole story. Many of the passes came on the final two drives when the Cowboys were behind and had to throw every down.

Before that they simply didn't have the ball enough to get anything going because the Packers were dominating time of possession and when they did have the ball they didn't do anything with it.

The Cowboys ran only 21 plays in the first half and notched just three first downs. One was a 42-yard pass and fumble by receiver Roy Williams.

They had the ball just twice in the third quarter. The opening drive of the quarter began with Marion Barber being dropped for a loss and Romo being sacked.

There was no chance to run there.

The next drive featured a second and 10 run by Tashard Choice out of the Wildcat offense that netted 11 yards. 15 more yards were tacked because of a face mask penalty.

Of course the Cowboys then began to self destruct with Romo fumbling a snap, Williams dropping a pass and a 22-yard pass to Choice being negated by a pass interference penalty on tight end Jason Witten.

That drive was over. So again, I asked, was this a case of abandoning the run or the Cowboys simply making mistakes and not executing?

They opened the first drive of the fourth quarter with a 20-yard pass to Williams and a Felix Jones run for four yards. Of course, Charles Woodson came through on the next play for the infamous sack and forced fumble on Romo.

Now down 17-0 and in desperation mode, the Cowboys ended the game with 27 straight passes.

No doubt, the Cowboys didn't run the ball often. But they didn't abandon the run either.

What's also true is the Cowboys are not running the ball well and haven't for a while. Their running attempts and yards have a diminished dramatically since the start of the season.

That is a more of a product of Marion Barber and Felix Jones being injured. Neither has had the same burst since returning to the lineup. Barber missed one game. Jones missed two.

Barber has started to look more like his old self of late. But Jones looks uncomfortable and tentative. He has not been a game-breaking threat.

Consider that he has had only two runs longer than 10 yards the last four games since returning from the sprained knee and they were just 12 and 11 yards each. He has not had a run longer than four yards against the Eagles and Packers the past two weeks.

Jones needs to be game-breaking good for the Cowboys to be truly special on offense.

He hasn’t been that lately.

There are those calling for the Cowboys to put the ball back in the hands of the three-headed monster at running back. If that monster is not a beast in more then that won’t work either.


Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Posted at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
 

Doomsday101

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Clarence I saw the same game you did, evidently there was another Cowboys vs GB taking place some wheres else. :laugh1:
 

Crad|e

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Well with MB3 and Felix both hurt and Choice not getting the touches... our running game might be hurting. And if MB3 isn't hurt he needs to play fullback, any rb with that game speed is a major concern.
 

VThokie7

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I think the problem with the run game is not giving Choice the carries. Barber is either still hurt or we have some serious concerns because he is SLOW. He has never been a fast RB, but before he ran like a wild man and I haven't seen that same passion this year.

Choice should be getting the bulk of the carries until the old MB returns.
 

WoodysGirl

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VThokie7;3087944 said:
I think the problem with the run game is not giving Choice the carries. Barber is either still hurt or we have some serious concerns because he is SLOW. He has never been a fast RB, but before he ran like a wild man and I haven't seen that same passion this year.

Choice should be getting the bulk of the carries until the old MB returns.
I think Barber looked better in the Green Bay game than he had in a long time.

Felix still doesn't look right to me.

I do agree that Choice should probably get some more carries outside of when they run the Razorback.
 

InmanRoshi

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The Green Bay game in and of itself might not be an egregious abandonment of the run (although I think it was pretty bad), but when you combine it with the Denver loss, with the Pittsburgh and Philly losses from last year where, you're building a substantial body of evidence.
 

peplaw06

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InmanRoshi;3087959 said:
The Green Bay game in and of itself might not be an egregious abandonment of the run (although I think it was pretty bad), but when you combine it with the Denver loss, with the Pittsburgh and Philly losses from last year where, you're building a substantial body of evidence.
Aren't most teams one-dimensional on occasion? You want to cite 4 games from the past two seasons and pretend like it's the norm?? Nevermind that each one of those teams has a stout run defense. And Choice had a pretty durned good game against the Steelers, even if it wasn't all on the ground. Why don't you mention the game against the Ravens where Choice had 90+ yards rushing?? And weren't we the number one rushing offense for the first 4 weeks or so. By your definition, that's a substantial body of evidence.
 

Doomsday101

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peplaw06;3087973 said:
Aren't most teams one-dimensional on occasion? You want to cite 4 games from the past two seasons and pretend like it's the norm?? Nevermind that each one of those teams has a stout run defense. And Choice had a pretty durned good game against the Steelers, even if it wasn't all on the ground. Why don't you mention the game against the Ravens where Choice had 90+ yards rushing?? And weren't we the number one rushing offense for the first 4 weeks or so. By your definition, that's a substantial body of evidence.

See when you get to pick and choose what games to pull stats from it make the point more meaningful. :laugh1:
 

reddyuta

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unless we start choice we will continue to have problems offensively early in the game and will continue to play catch up football.Its a shame he is viewed as our third best.
 

TheCount

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3 first downs in a half of football, holy crap, that's Browns territory right there.
 
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yeah there isnt much to abandon with the crap jason gave us last week of course it wont be good when you run that simplistic stuff they ran last week..
 

InmanRoshi

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peplaw06;3087973 said:
Aren't most teams one-dimensional on occasion? You want to cite 4 games from the past two seasons and pretend like it's the norm?? Nevermind that each one of those teams has a stout run defense. And Choice had a pretty durned good game against the Steelers, even if it wasn't all on the ground. Why don't you mention the game against the Ravens where Choice had 90+ yards rushing?? And weren't we the number one rushing offense for the first 4 weeks or so. By your definition, that's a substantial body of evidence.

If I'm cherry picking games, its merely because I don't really give a flip about how often Garrett is running the ball in blowouts when the game is decided in the 4th quarter and he's just trying to run out the clock. That's not commitment to the run. Commitment to the run (or lack thereof) comes when the outcome of the game is still undecided.

When I see multiple games with common themes like the ones I mentioned above (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, 2008 Philly, 2008 Pittsburgh) .. on the road, hostile environments, offense struggling ... and see Garrett respond the way he does over and over again it's not cherry picking, it's detecting a pattern. If you want to take the Pittsburgh game for example ... We were tied or ahead for the entire game until 1:46 left in the game. The game situation didn't dictate that we had to pass. Choice was running for very well, with Pittsburgh surrendering more yards to a rusher than they had given up all season. The game was played in gale force winds conditions. Romo was off the reservation throwing 3 interceptions, fumbled once, and sacked 3 more times ... and we still threw the ball 33% more than we ran the ball. Bottomline: Even though we were ahead and running the ball well and the game conditions were not conducive to passing, Garrett got freaked out that the game was close, we weren't scoring and moving the ball at will against a good defense (on the road)... and when Garrett gets spooked we become a borderline run and shoot team. Quarterbacks aren't the only ones who have to keep their poise in the clutch on the road.

Sometimes you just got to be committed to winning ugly when the alternative is losing dynamically, and I don't know if Garrett has patience or poise for that commitment.
 

DaBoys4Life

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Man no matter what they say it just sounds like excuses to me. Get Choice more involved if Barber and Jones aren't 100% hell Choice should be the starting back if they are healthy.
 

Everlastingxxx

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InmanRoshi;3088025 said:
If I'm cherry picking games, its merely because I don't really give a flip about how often Garrett is running the ball in blowouts when the game is decided in the 4th quarter and he's just trying to run out the clock. That's not commitment to the run. Commitment to the run (or lack thereof) comes when the outcome of the game is still undecided.

When I see multiple games with common themes like the ones I mentioned above (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, 2008 Philly, 2008 Pittsburgh) .. on the road, hostile environments, offense struggling ... and see Garrett respond the way he does over and over again it's not cherry picking, it's detecting a pattern. If you want to take the Pittsburgh game for example ... We were tied or ahead for the entire game until 1:46 left in the game. The game situation didn't dictate that we had to pass. Choice was running for very well, with Pittsburgh surrendering more yards to a rusher than they had given up all season. The game was played in gale force winds conditions. Romo was off the reservation throwing 3 interceptions, fumbled once, and sacked 3 more times ... and we still threw the ball 33% more than we ran the ball. Bottomline: Even though we were ahead and running the ball well and the game conditions were not conducive to passing, Garrett got freaked out that the game was close, we weren't scoring and moving the ball at will against a good defense (on the road)... and when Garrett gets spooked we become a borderline run and shoot team. Quarterbacks aren't the only ones who have to keep their poise in the clutch on the road.

Sometimes you just got to be committed to winning ugly when the alternative is losing dynamically, and I don't know if Garrett has patience or poise for that commitment.

Some really good points. Hadn’t thought about the fact that we commit to the run once games are put away skewing the stats. Garrett does panic and you can feel that vibe in the game...i feel antsy just watching his play calling in those type of games. You have to run to calm things down, slow it down. And even facing 8 man fronts..use the offseason hyped 2 TE sets to combat it. I don’t think Garrett will ever get it...he is set in his ways.
 

NextGenBoys

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peplaw06;3087973 said:
Aren't most teams one-dimensional on occasion? You want to cite 4 games from the past two seasons and pretend like it's the norm?? Nevermind that each one of those teams has a stout run defense. And Choice had a pretty durned good game against the Steelers, even if it wasn't all on the ground. Why don't you mention the game against the Ravens where Choice had 90+ yards rushing?? And weren't we the number one rushing offense for the first 4 weeks or so. By your definition, that's a substantial body of evidence.

Hahaha, that's what we call ownage right there.
 

peplaw06

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InmanRoshi;3088025 said:
If I'm cherry picking games, its merely because I don't really give a flip about how often Garrett is running the ball in blowouts when the game is decided in the 4th quarter and he's just trying to run out the clock. That's not commitment to the run. Commitment to the run (or lack thereof) comes when the outcome of the game is still undecided.
So it's your 4 games, and every other game in the past 16 or so has been a blowout?? Damn dude, where have you been?

If you want to take the Pittsburgh game for example ... We were tied or ahead for the entire game until 1:46 left in the game. The game situation didn't dictate that we had to pass. Choice was running for very well, with Pittsburgh surrendering more yards to a rusher than they had given up all season. The game was played in gale force winds conditions. Romo was off the reservation throwing 3 interceptions, fumbled once, and sacked 3 more times ... and we still threw the ball 33% more than we ran the ball. Bottomline: Even though we were ahead, Garrett got freaked out that we weren't scoring and moving the ball at will against a good defense, and when Garrett gets spooked we become a borderline run and shoot team.
Choice was running relatively well yes (3.8 ypc... actually pretty good against PIT, but not great overall), but we weren't ahead comfortably enough just to run the clock out. Garrett didn't get "freaked out." We needed a couple first downs to milk the clock and we probably weren't gonna get that by just running the ball against that defense.
 

Future

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reddyuta;3087988 said:
unless we start choice we will continue to have problems offensively early in the game and will continue to play catch up football.Its a shame he is viewed as our third best.
what are you talking about? Barber had runs of 7 5 13 on that first drive and then hardly touched the ball again.

Anyone who thinks its the wrong guys getting the ball, injuries, or line play for the reason our run game struggles is completely naieve. The reason our run game struggles is because WE DONT RUN THE BALL. Period. The two games where we did run the ball NYG and Carolina we had like 500 yards on the ground. The games where we haven't consistently tried to run the ball, we have struggled. There is no coincidence there.
 

NextGenBoys

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Future;3088152 said:
what are you talking about? Barber had runs of 7 5 13 on that first drive and then hardly touched the ball again.

Anyone who thinks its the wrong guys getting the ball, injuries, or line play for the reason our run game struggles is completely naieve. The reason our run game struggles is because WE DONT RUN THE BALL. Period. The two games where we did run the ball NYG and Carolina we had like 500 yards on the ground. The games where we haven't consistently tried to run the ball, we have struggled. There is no coincidence there.

You think blocking might have to do with it?

And the two games we ran the ball we lost, and played a down-to-the-wire game against a previously winless team.

I'm all for balance, and ultimately I want 50/50. But I do not want to become a running team. We are, and should be a pass first team.
 

Jimz31

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I couldn't agree more that JG panics once he gets behind and it doesn't matter if it's by one point or three points or what.

I mentioned this last year, and now finally people are beginning to see it.

Plus, to say that JG doesn't abandon the run....give me a break. We should be used to it and should have expected it by now. They guy is a former QB....it's in his blood to pass the ball.

I just wish that he had learned how to be an OC...There needs to be a "prep" school or something for it.

He has his moments where he is good....but just too many times he tries to get too cute with the play-calling.

Football is one of those games where a play here or there is what wins it and loses it for you.....that is where JG makes me nervous....I just don't have the confidence the he'll make the "sensible" decision.

For an example of where play-calling can kill you....we passed the ball with a 1st and goal from inside the 2 or so yard line on every play and had to settle for a FG. The sensible thing to do was run the ball....especially since we had run for over 200 yards that game and it was obvious they couldn't stop us in the run department.....fast forward to the end of the game.....we lose by a FG at the end of the game.

THAT is what frightens me.....
 
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