Graziano: Twitter mailbag! Best WR duos/Callahan's impact

[WoodysGirl]

Zan Rozen
@bomber215
@espn_nfceast Where do you think Nicks/Cruz rank among the top WR duos in the league? #nfceastmail
Jul. 3, 2013
@ESPN_NFCEast: I rank the New York Giants' wide receiver duo of Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz somewhere between No. 2 and No. 4 in the NFL right now, and I'll explain in detail if you'll bear with me. I think the Atlanta Falcons duo of Roddy White and Julio Jones is the clear winner in this category right now. I still put Cruz and Nicks ahead of the Dallas Cowboys duo of Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, though I think it's incredibly close. Bryant obviously has the most upside of the group but needs to keep showing it. Nicks is all-world at every aspect of the position but needs to stay healthy. Cruz is more dynamic than Austin, but a healthy Austin is a more complete player, more versatile, more physical, etc. He's just never healthy. So like I said, real close between the Giants' guys and the Cowboys' guys. My issue is that I don't know what to do with the Denver Broncos' receivers right now? Which tandem are we ranking here? Demaryius Thomas/Wes Welker? Thomas/Eric Decker? Decker/Welker? It's possible that one or two of those tandems outrank Cruz/Nicks, but we haven't see that offense with all three of them yet. So, tough to say. Cruz is probably better than Welker right now, though Welker is more accomplished. Thomas has that Bryant-type of upside. So I might throw Thomas/Welker in the discussion, I don't know. I guess with the uncertainty about what Denver looks like I'll put the Giants' guys at No. 2 behind the Atlanta guys. Hope you enjoyed the way I worked that out while you were reading it.


Sean McCauley
@seanmac331
How big of an impact will Bill Callahan be on the offensive playbook? Still Garrett's offense or does Jerry want a change? #nfceastmail
Jul. 3, 2013

@ESPN_NFCEast: I think you raise an important point about this whole Dallas Cowboys offensive playcalling issue that's been blown way beyond proper proportion this offseason. The offense is still going to be Jason Garrett's offense. He's still going to design it and implement it (with help from Callahan and other coaches and Tony Romo this year), and if Callahan calls plays Garrett doesn't want called, Garrett will surely let him know about it. What's changed is that Callahan, and not Garrett, will call the plays during the game. He's going to do it from the booth, not the sideline. What's been taken away from Garrett is not input into the design or implementation of the offense, but the play-to-play responsibilities of deciding what to run and relaying it to the huddle. Garrett will hear all of the calls Callahan makes and will surely, as the head coach, have the power to overrule him. But he has struggled with the quick decision-making and delivery parts of this particular job, and the Cowboys have decided to try a different way of handling it. I personally think it will benefit Garrett to no longer have to worry about a part of the job at which he was not great and to be able to focus more on the parts of the job he's done well.

Thanks for all of the questions. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Catch you again Monday.

More: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/52609/bonus-twitter-mailbag-best-wr-duos

 

[Future]

Pretty fair analysis there I think.

Still would take Dez/Miles over Cruz/Nicks though.

 

[dstew60105]

Bryant > Hicks
Cruz > Austin

Push goes to the Boys!!

 

[Echo9]

Zan Rozen
@bomber215
@espn_nfceast Where do you think Nicks/Cruz rank among the top WR duos in the league? #nfceastmail
Jul. 3, 2013
@ESPN_NFCEast: I rank the New York Giants' wide receiver duo of Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz somewhere between No. 2 and No. 4 in the NFL right now, and I'll explain in detail if you'll bear with me. I think the Atlanta Falcons duo of Roddy White and Julio Jones is the clear winner in this category right now. I still put Cruz and Nicks ahead of the Dallas Cowboys duo of Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, though I think it's incredibly close. Bryant obviously has the most upside of the group but needs to keep showing it. Nicks is all-world at every aspect of the position but needs to stay healthy. Cruz is more dynamic than Austin, but a healthy Austin is a more complete player, more versatile, more physical, etc. He's just never healthy. So like I said, real close between the Giants' guys and the Cowboys' guys. My issue is that I don't know what to do with the Denver Broncos' receivers right now? Which tandem are we ranking here? Demaryius Thomas/Wes Welker? Thomas/Eric Decker? Decker/Welker? It's possible that one or two of those tandems outrank Cruz/Nicks, but we haven't see that offense with all three of them yet. So, tough to say. Cruz is probably better than Welker right now, though Welker is more accomplished. Thomas has that Bryant-type of upside. So I might throw Thomas/Welker in the discussion, I don't know. I guess with the uncertainty about what Denver looks like I'll put the Giants' guys at No. 2 behind the Atlanta guys. Hope you enjoyed the way I worked that out while you were reading it.


Sean McCauley
@seanmac331
How big of an impact will Bill Callahan be on the offensive playbook? Still Garrett's offense or does Jerry want a change? #nfceastmail
Jul. 3, 2013

@ESPN_NFCEast: I think you raise an important point about this whole Dallas Cowboys offensive playcalling issue that's been blown way beyond proper proportion this offseason. The offense is still going to be Jason Garrett's offense. He's still going to design it and implement it (with help from Callahan and other coaches and Tony Romo this year), and if Callahan calls plays Garrett doesn't want called, Garrett will surely let him know about it. What's changed is that Callahan, and not Garrett, will call the plays during the game. He's going to do it from the booth, not the sideline. What's been taken away from Garrett is not input into the design or implementation of the offense, but the play-to-play responsibilities of deciding what to run and relaying it to the huddle. Garrett will hear all of the calls Callahan makes and will surely, as the head coach, have the power to overrule him. But he has struggled with the quick decision-making and delivery parts of this particular job, and the Cowboys have decided to try a different way of handling it. I personally think it will benefit Garrett to no longer have to worry about a part of the job at which he was not great and to be able to focus more on the parts of the job he's done well.

Thanks for all of the questions. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Catch you again Monday.

More: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/52609/bonus-twitter-mailbag-best-wr-duos

Wow. That was surprisingly spot on. From ESPN no less. Accurate reporting and solid opinion based on evidence. I almost fell out of my chair. Personally, I'd take Dez/Austin over Nicks/Cruz, but it's such a close call I can see someone picking the Giants duo. I like how he honestly portrayed the strengths of each WR and takes the injury problems into account. When it comes down to it, the problems NIcks and Austin have staying healthy are really a huge factor.

Good take on the Garrett Callahan stuff too.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Graziano does a good job.

 

[AsthmaField]

Graziano does a good job.

Yeah, he is surprisingly fair in everything he puts out. If people haven't bookmarked his NFC East blog, they need to.

 

[jobberone]

He's consistently pretty good.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I think the Callahan move to calling plays is huge. I was re-watching some old games on YouTube and getting very frustrated with some of the calls. Particuarly on 3rd down. I honestly think we could see a much more improved O-Line play if we stop audibling so much and some better playcalling on 3rd down.





YR

 

[Next Years Champ]

I think the Callahan move to calling plays is huge. I was re-watching some old games on YouTube and getting very frustrated with some of the calls. Particuarly on 3rd down. I honestly think we could see a much more improved O-Line play if we stop audibling so much and some better playcalling on 3rd down.





YR

I'm hoping we stop letting the clock tick down to 1-2- seconds left before snapping. I think that does nothing for th e offense at all.

In fact by always doing it, the defense knows when the snap is coming and there is no edge offensively.

Snap the ball quicker, give the other team less time to adjust and stop the chessmatch at the LOS.

More often than not it gets us offsides and walking backwards. If this is Garrett 'innovation it needs to be deleted. Hopefully Callahan can fix this.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I'm hoping we stop letting the clock tick down to 1-2- seconds left before snapping. I think that does nothing for th e offense at all.

In fact by always doing it, the defense knows when the snap is coming and there is no edge offensively.

Snap the ball quicker, give the other team less time to adjust and stop the chessmatch at the LOS.

More often than not it gets us offsides and walking backwards. If this is Garrett 'innovation it needs to be deleted. Hopefully Callahan can fix this.

I hope so as well. It throws off the O-Line too much. It's not so much letting it wind down, but letting it wind down every snap. The pace needs to change up more often.

But, I also had problems with Garrett's actual play calling last year when I re-watched some of the games. Particularly on 3rd downs. He often had ill suited protection schemes given the situation. And if he didn't, you could not help but get the feeling that the opposing D-Coordinator had a good feel for what Garrett was going to call because so many times the defensive play call was spot on as to what we were trying to do.

I was watching one play on a 3rd and 2 from under center where the Eagles called a perfect play call against the Cowboys offense. The linebacker blitzed which forced Felix to pick up the block, but it got the blitzing LB closer to Romo. Usually in a play like that, the LB hesitates to see what Felix is going to do and if he stays home, the LB then blitzes. Here, the LB didn't miss a beat and blitzed. Free gets beat on the play as well, but he was not badly beaten. When you first glance at the play, you think the O-Line's protection was bad, but when you break it down you see a perfect call by the Eagles with good pass protection from the O-Line, sans Free...who was not exactly beaten like a drum either. The pocket collapses more because of the play call and Romo has to make a play.

I think if we can speed up the snaps more frequently and Callahan's playcalling keeps opposing defenses off kilter more often, we'll see what appears a much better O-Line simply because their job is being made easier to execute.





YR

 

[Next Years Champ]

I hope so as well. It throws off the O-Line too much. It's not so much letting it wind down, but letting it wind down every snap. The pace needs to change up more often.

But, I also had problems with Garrett's actual play calling last year when I re-watched some of the games. Particularly on 3rd downs. He often had ill suited protection schemes given the situation. And if he didn't, you could not help but get the feeling that the opposing D-Coordinator had a good feel for what Garrett was going to call because so many times the defensive play call was spot on as to what we were trying to do.

I was watching one play on a 3rd and 2 from under center where the Eagles called a perfect play call against the Cowboys offense. The linebacker blitzed which forced Felix to pick up the block, but it got the blitzing LB closer to Romo. Usually in a play like that, the LB hesitates to see what Felix is going to do and if he stays home, the LB then blitzes. Here, the LB didn't miss a beat and blitzed. Free gets beat on the play as well, but he was not badly beaten. When you first glance at the play, you think the O-Line's protection was bad, but when you break it down you see a perfect call by the Eagles with good pass protection from the O-Line, sans Free...who was not exactly beaten like a drum either. The pocket collapses more because of the play call and Romo has to make a play.

I think if we can speed up the snaps more frequently and Callahan's playcalling keeps opposing defenses off kilter more often, we'll see what appears a much better O-Line simply because their job is being made easier to execute.





YR

Couldn't agree more. But I don't know if it's Garrett directing this, the Qb being slow to read the defense that is causing this or the opposition just has a great book on Garrett's playcalling.

Like we said, if Callahan can have a hand in changing things up, if he can have an influence on Romo more than Garrett does, if they can scout themselves more successfully ..then maybe it will improve overall and the OL, the QB and the RBs will benefit.

Garrett comes too much from the old school back when Dallas had Aikman and All-Pros at every position. Dallas offensively was just coming at you and few teams had the personnel to stop it. Callahan has to use more imaginative play-calling and not let the offense get into predictable tendencies as we don't have the matchup talent to just line up and slug things out.

So we'll see. Thanx for the reply.

Getting excited for the beginning of the season now.