Garrett Addresses Clock Management On Final Scoring Drive vs. Packers

[Zman5]

This is what Sturm has to say about this:

"
So, here is second and 2 with 1:24 to go. Prescott's biggest decision blunder is to look at the Packers in pre-snap and diagnose what he sees as a call that is an automatic in the Dallas offense. You see a corner on his own -- this time, Davon House (a man released by the Jacksonville Jaguars in March and re-signed by his original Green Bay team shortly thereafter) -- trying to handle Dez Bryant in the red zone. This is a read the quarterback sees only on occasion since most opponents don't try it anymore, but when you do see it, the alarms go off. Tony Romo saw this at Lambeau Field when Sam Shields was trying to do the same thing back in January 2015, and now Prescott saw House on Bryant all by himself.

You always go to this throw. It is 100 percent the correct read, in a vacuum. But that decision was incorrect here.

If you go to that read, Bryant on House, you have a number of potential outcomes. The best one is a touchdown, which is great to give the Cowboys the lead, but then you give the Packers way too much time to answer to a three-point deficit based on lessons learned in January. Another not-so-great outcome is an incomplete pass, which gives Green Bay a timeout it didn't have to spare.

Prescott almost always makes the right decision. But here, you have to ignore your meetings and instincts and you have to play the game in front of you. In other words, this decision is automatic -- unless you are playing against the clock. On second and 2, you run the ball and keep the clock moving. You cannot allow the Packers to keep their timeout with the remaining time. The quarterback did not know his situation well enough at this early stage of his career.


Green Bay has its safeties still deep, but not nearly as deep. They are baiting you to make this throw. Nobody wants to blame Dak in the aftermath and maybe nobody should. Maybe the blame has to be on the coaches to ask him to give the ball or run it yourself to keep the clock moving. Maybe the coaches needed to run in there and demand that game circumstance require them to pull the keys out of his hands.

You can't throw there on second and 1. He is looking at the matchups and seeing an easy touchdown. Touchdowns are always good. But, the clock! "

https://sportsday.**************/da...oding-linehan-offense-produced-everything-win

 

[Cowboy4ever]

You are 100% wrong, when you take all factors into consideration in that moment, down and distance, time on clock, timeout situation, and how you've been running the ball, and the score, the play there is clearly to go for the first down. At the very least you run the ball, if they part the red Sea and let you score, so be it.

Look at it this way, if you're a packer fan and you're watching that, you want us to score asap so Rodgers can get it back only down 3.

Again, as a Cowboy, I want my team to score and take the lead. Would I prefer it happen with 1 second on the clock, yes. But I can't wait and around see if it will. I play to win the game. I take my shot when I think I have the advantage. The first and foremost priority is to score and take the lead. If all you want to do is run the clock, just take a knee and go home. You can't just assume, you can run it every down and get the first. they were stacking the box on 2nd and 2, we might could have gotten the first, we might could have gotten a holding call, we might could have had a fumble. As a coach, you don't have the luxury of knowing the outcome of the play to base your opinion on. Now that said, I probably would not have passed in that situation personally. But that doesn't make the coach stupid or anything else because I disagree with him on the call. They thought they had the advantage and knowing that scoring was the top and really only priority there, you take your shot when you have it.

The problem with the whole situation is the defense didn't hold up, again. That's the problem. Not scoring a TD with 73 seconds to go in the game.

 

[Sydla]

what if 2nd and 3rd had been flipped and they did Read option on 2nd. Would you be screaming for Dak not to score? The incomplete pass had maybe 0.025% to do with losing.

No, because the worst case scenario with running on 2nd down is that maybe you lose a yard but the clock keeps running. The worst case in throwing a fade (assuming no interception) is an incompletion that gives the Pack a free timeout.

The problem some of you are having is not that we scored when we did or scored at all. It's that we scored when we did because the coaching staff made a blunder on the previous 2nd down play call.

This really isn't a difficult concept to grasp here. I mean even if one believes that they had to score right then and there, a fade pattern is such a low probability play call to begin with.

 

[Sydla]

Then after Dak scored, Troy said "You have to take the TD there. You have to."

And again, on the play before, he was completely puzzled by the call to throw a fade.

 

[dallasdave]

All that l can add is it always seems to me that Garrett has no feel for a football game and that idiotic pass is yet another good example. A good coach has a feel for the game he is in...the instincts are not there with Garrett.

Well said indeed my friend !!

 

[dallasdave]

He didn't explain why the throw was made. What was the logic in that. He should run for office..he would be perfect for that.

I agree with that !!!

 

[TheHerd]

Well that's great and I am sure if Garrett was guaranteed that outcome, he would have done just that. The problem is, he or any other coach, don't have the luxury of seeing what will happen on the next play. You call the play that you think gives you the best chance to score. Bleeding clock is the not the priority there, it's scoring. And if you can bleed the clock while doing so, great, but you can't just assume you will score at will. You take your shot when you can. If they had called a run play, and lost 4 or 5 yards on it, like they did a few times earlier in the game, and we are now looking at 3rd and 7 or so and then fail to get the 1st down and settle for a FG, you would be complaining that he played to tie and not to win.

You are 100% wrong, when you take all factors into consideration in that moment, down and distance, time on clock, timeout situation, and how you've been running the ball, and the score, the play there is clearly to go for the first down. At the very least you run the ball, if they part the red Sea and let you score, so be it.

Look at it this way, if you're a packer fan and you're watching that, you want us to score asap so Rodgers can get it back only down 3.

Even if Dez scored on that pass it's a stupid call. Wining is the goal, not scoring and letting Rodgers win the game so we can blame to D. Yes, it would awesome if we could expect the defense to stop Rodgers with over a minute and a timeout. It would also be awesome if my CEO gave me a million shares of my company's stock. Neither is going to happen.

We have to live in reality. The very best chance to win that game was to let Zeke try to bleed to clock to as close to zero as possibly and score with < 20 seconds left. In fact, I bet if we ran and got a first down on the 2nd and 2 that the Pack would have called their TO then let us score on the next play because they are smart and know they have a close to 100% chance to win by getting the ball back to Rodgers with a minute to play.

If Zeke can't do it, then it's defensible since we have set this team up to win with the OL and the stud RB. Expecting the D to come up big against Rodgers is a typical Cowboys coaching gaffe of not putting the players in a position to win.

 

[waldoputty]

Even if Dez scored on that pass it's a stupid call. Wining is the goal, not scoring and letting Rodgers win the game so we can blame to D. Yes, it would awesome if we could expect the defense to stop Rodgers with over a minute and a timeout. It would also be awesome if my CEO gave me a million shares of my company's stock. Neither is going to happen.

We have to live in reality. The very best chance to win that game was to let Zeke try to bleed to clock to as close to zero as possibly and score with < 20 seconds left. In fact, I bet if we ran and got a first down on the 2nd and 2 that the Pack would have called their TO then let us score on the next play because they are smart and know they have a close to 100% chance to win by getting the ball back to Rodgers with a minute to play.

If Zeke can't do it, then it's defensible since we have set this team up to win with the OL and the stud RB. Expecting the D to come up big against Rodgers is a typical Cowboys coaching gaffe of not putting the players in a position to win.

it is silly to argue this.
all the commentators were talking about was not giving rodgers time.
the running strategy bled 9 minutes off the clock.
it was clearly on everyone's mind.
i cannot believe that garrett was not thinking the same thing.
he is not a great coach, but he is not a moron.
what the coaching staff have trouble managing is time and strategy at the same time.
they are overmatched just like the 20 secs before half time.

but it does not make sense to make any changes now.
they have pretty much ruined the season already.
give it another loss or two and we are done.
leaving garrett and marinelli there give us the best chance to get the best draft possible.
if we change, we may go 9-7 instead of 4-12 or 7-9.
that is the last thing we need.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Garrett is a coward. Own up to your mistakes and stop justifying your stupidity.

 

[haleyrules]

Well said indeed my friend !!

Thank you...thank you very much...

 

[coogrfan]

If you watch the video of Dak's TD, you can clearly see the DB that Witten was blocking was making zero effort to stop Dak. The Green Bay defense was apparently instructed to let Dallas score if we got the first down. We fell into their trap. If the opposition wants you to do something, we should be trying to do the opposite.

They knew if they got the ball with any reasonable time on the clock they would have a great chance at tying the game. I would have milked the clock down to under 25 seconds even if it meant we finished the game without the TD. Four shots from the 1 was still our best chance to win the game in regulation.

It's funny because I hear everyone say that you have to get the TD when you can, and yet I hear so many coaches and media now say that Dallas made the mistake of leaving too much time on the clock. They are now saying that you cannot leave that much time for an Aaron Rodgers or a Tom Brady, and I agree. That is why the right decision was to take a knee after we got the first.

Whether you lose with your defense on the field or whether you lose with your offense on the field, It is still a loss. I'll take my chances with the offense. Garrett needs to know his own team's strengths and weaknesses.

I'm with you on most of this, but GB didn't let Dak score. They brought a run blitz to fill the inside gaps and the RDE (#55) crashed down in hopes of dropping Zeke for a loss. It didn't work because we had a read option called, and Dak executed it to perfection.

 

[dallasdave]

Thank you...thank you very much...

OK ELVIS

 

[links18]

Then after Dak scored, Troy said "You have to take the TD there. You have to."

Yeah, you can't go down at the one like some people wanted him to, but you also don't have to stop the clock with two ill advised throws on that drive. With second and one or two from the 11, you run it, keep the clock moving, get the first down and then you can open up your playbook if you have to.

 

[TheHerd]

I'm with you on most of this, but GB didn't let Dak score. They brought a run blitz to fill the inside gaps and the RDE (#55) crashed down in hopes of dropping Zeke for a loss. It didn't work because we had a read option called, and Dak executed it to perfection.

He said they were instructed to let us score if we got the first down. We hadn't got the first down yet, so yes, they were trying to stop the third down play.

They would have called their TO and counted on a 4th down stop to win the game. But if the ball carrier or receiver had the first down on that fourth down attempt, I am sure the GB defense wouldn't have tried to tackle them inside the 10. They'd have stacked 11 on the LOS and if we got the two yards they'd have let us walk into the endzone and given Rodgers the ball with about a minute left.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

This is what Sturm has to say about this:

"
So, here is second and 2 with 1:24 to go. Prescott's biggest decision blunder is to look at the Packers in pre-snap and diagnose what he sees as a call that is an automatic in the Dallas offense. You see a corner on his own -- this time, Davon House (a man released by the Jacksonville Jaguars in March and re-signed by his original Green Bay team shortly thereafter) -- trying to handle Dez Bryant in the red zone. This is a read the quarterback sees only on occasion since most opponents don't try it anymore, but when you do see it, the alarms go off. Tony Romo saw this at Lambeau Field when Sam Shields was trying to do the same thing back in January 2015, and now Prescott saw House on Bryant all by himself.

You always go to this throw. It is 100 percent the correct read, in a vacuum. But that decision was incorrect here.

If you go to that read, Bryant on House, you have a number of potential outcomes. The best one is a touchdown, which is great to give the Cowboys the lead, but then you give the Packers way too much time to answer to a three-point deficit based on lessons learned in January. Another not-so-great outcome is an incomplete pass, which gives Green Bay a timeout it didn't have to spare.

Prescott almost always makes the right decision. But here, you have to ignore your meetings and instincts and you have to play the game in front of you. In other words, this decision is automatic -- unless you are playing against the clock. On second and 2, you run the ball and keep the clock moving. You cannot allow the Packers to keep their timeout with the remaining time. The quarterback did not know his situation well enough at this early stage of his career.


Green Bay has its safeties still deep, but not nearly as deep. They are baiting you to make this throw. Nobody wants to blame Dak in the aftermath and maybe nobody should. Maybe the blame has to be on the coaches to ask him to give the ball or run it yourself to keep the clock moving. Maybe the coaches needed to run in there and demand that game circumstance require them to pull the keys out of his hands.

You can't throw there on second and 1. He is looking at the matchups and seeing an easy touchdown. Touchdowns are always good. But, the clock! "

https://sportsday.**************/da...oding-linehan-offense-produced-everything-win

I think blame goes to both Dak and our inept head coach.

1. Needs to know game situations and the right call to make; optioning out to a pass was not the right decision; and

2. Garret HAS TO KNOW situational football and let Linehan/Dak know has to strictly be a run play.

 

[coogrfan]

I'm not justifying that play call , I'm just not blaming the loss on it.

It's nickpicking . We scored the potential game winning TD which was the objective and consumed as much time off the clock as we could.

Did we? Go back and watch our last drive and note the number of times where the ball was snapped with 8+ seconds left on the play clock.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

This is what Sturm has to say about this:

"
So, here is second and 2 with 1:24 to go. Prescott's biggest decision blunder is to look at the Packers in pre-snap and diagnose what he sees as a call that is an automatic in the Dallas offense. You see a corner on his own -- this time, Davon House (a man released by the Jacksonville Jaguars in March and re-signed by his original Green Bay team shortly thereafter) -- trying to handle Dez Bryant in the red zone. This is a read the quarterback sees only on occasion since most opponents don't try it anymore, but when you do see it, the alarms go off. Tony Romo saw this at Lambeau Field when Sam Shields was trying to do the same thing back in January 2015, and now Prescott saw House on Bryant all by himself.

You always go to this throw. It is 100 percent the correct read, in a vacuum. But that decision was incorrect here.

If you go to that read, Bryant on House, you have a number of potential outcomes. The best one is a touchdown, which is great to give the Cowboys the lead, but then you give the Packers way too much time to answer to a three-point deficit based on lessons learned in January. Another not-so-great outcome is an incomplete pass, which gives Green Bay a timeout it didn't have to spare.

Prescott almost always makes the right decision. But here, you have to ignore your meetings and instincts and you have to play the game in front of you. In other words, this decision is automatic -- unless you are playing against the clock. On second and 2, you run the ball and keep the clock moving. You cannot allow the Packers to keep their timeout with the remaining time. The quarterback did not know his situation well enough at this early stage of his career.


Green Bay has its safeties still deep, but not nearly as deep. They are baiting you to make this throw. Nobody wants to blame Dak in the aftermath and maybe nobody should. Maybe the blame has to be on the coaches to ask him to give the ball or run it yourself to keep the clock moving. Maybe the coaches needed to run in there and demand that game circumstance require them to pull the keys out of his hands.

You can't throw there on second and 1. He is looking at the matchups and seeing an easy touchdown. Touchdowns are always good. But, the clock! "

https://sportsday.**************/da...oding-linehan-offense-produced-everything-win

Nailed it IRT outcomes. That's the big issue to me. No matter what you do, you're not playing the clock. The defense is tired, Elliott just got 8 yards or so on the previous play. Run him again. Or a Dak scramble. Run. the. clock.

 

[Sydla]

I think blame goes to both Dak and our inept head coach.

1. Needs to know game situations and the right call to make; optioning out to a pass was not the right decision; and

2. Garret HAS TO KNOW situational football and let Linehan/Dak know has to strictly be a run play.

I guess I hesitate to blame Prescott here because as a young QB, if he gets a run/pass option call from the sideline, he has to think that the coaches are perfectly fine throwing a pass in that situation if the coverage dictates that they do that. So he's going to do what he's been coached to do in that situation......... read the coverage and if it dictates heaving up a jump ball to Bryant, that's what he's going to do.

I could see a guy like Brady or Brees, a seasoned vet with more experience and more cache to simply overrule a call from the sideline but I am not sure I can get on Prescott a ton for this.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Did we? Go back and watch our last drive and note the number of times where the ball was snapped with 8+ seconds left on the play clock.

That's an interesting point and something seasoned coaches should be aware of and coach.

 

[coogrfan]

He said they were instructed to let us score if we got the first down. We hadn't got the first down yet, so yes, they were trying to stop the third down play.

They would have called their TO and counted on a 4th down stop to win the game. But if the ball carrier or receiver had the first down on that fourth down attempt, I am sure the GB defense wouldn't have tried to tackle them inside the 10. They'd have stacked 11 on the LOS and if we got the two yards they'd have let us walk into the endzone and given Rodgers the ball with about a minute left.

Maybe they would have done so on the next play, or maybe that's just something they thought would sound good after the fact, but I'm simply not believing that they let him score on the 3rd down run. The safety who took Dak down as he crossed the goal line sure didn't look like someone who was letting us get in the ez.