percyhoward;2548832 said:
dc, I don't think we necessarily have to follow the formula of the early 90's Cowboys to be a successful running team. Last year, nobody would question the fact that we were a successful passing team, and we did it--regardless of whether the QB had all day to throw or if he was ducking his shoulder and squirming away from the rush.
It worked.
The same can be true of the running game with Jones and Choice. Every play doesn't have to be a dive play, and when it is, the blocking doesn't have to be perfect.
I agree it worked last year to help us win games.
But I think what we saw against the Giants in the playoff loss was us trying to be a power running attack because Wade didn't trust the defense.
He ran Barber hoping to wear out the Giants and put up a nice lead without making Romo have to take too many chances throwing it.
In theory it should work. But by the second half we screwed ourselves because we gave up two quick strike TD's to the Giants. Then once we got behind at the end of the game our O line was worn out from all the run blocking it had done in the first half and could not block for Romo.
People try to say Barber wore up in the that second half, but it was really the O line that was worn out in the second half.
You are right though, we don't have to be the 90's Cowboys offense to have success, but we have to pick an identity and stick with it.
Garrett was all over the place this year with his gameplans trying to counter what defenses we were playing. He needs to do just the opposite. Which is make sure we are firing on all cylinders at what we do best so the defenses have to worry about adusting their gameplan to shut us down.
We should be dictating how the game goes with all the weapons we have, not the other way around.
And with Choice and Jones we should be looking to get them involved in the 'edge' running game. But once again we are going to run into the same problem we have with the passing game.
One football to go around. But three good RB's to contribute.
It's almost as if Jason Garrett has so much to work with he forget the basic idea of the game which is to move the ball 10 yards at a time and then do it all over again.
He seemed over confident that we could dial up anything on the menu and it would work. I say why not just order the same 10 things that you like over and over again because you know what you are getting and have had success with it.
Just think about some of the plays we have seen in crucial spots.
An option play with Romo and Choice? That pitch to T.O.? A bubble screen to Roy?
We didn't have any other plays in the arsenal that could pick up the neccessary yards needed in those situations where when we had run them prior and the success rate wasn't at least 85%?
I think we did for sure.
Just because he can design a 1200 page playbook, doesn't mean has to implement it all in one game, or even one season.
Football isn't rocket science. Especially when you have replacement offensive lineman in the game and rookies at TE and RB playing key roles. Not to mention your All Pro QB and TE are nursing all sorts of injuries.
If Garrett comes back I just hope he looks back on all this and grows as an offensive coordinator. He's only been doing it full time for 2 seasons. So not to use it as an excuse for him, but more of a talking point as to why it's maybe not time to give up on him just yet.
Now about how he handles the ego's on this offense is another issue altogether and its one of the reasons I would be ok with him leaving. I just know there are riffs there with him and the players. They can't be calling him out like that because it's useless in helping the progression of him as a future head coach here. It also makes him more willing to accept an offer elsewhere. Then we are starting over on offense, but with Wade still in place as the head coach for maybe one more season. Then what happens when Wade is ousted next year?
If we are starting over on either side of the ball I would just rather start over with an entirely new coaching staff all the way around.
