I guess I'm the only one disappointed in Phillips comments about our offense.

[CrazyCowboy]

We need improvement everywhere, however I do understand your frustrations

 

[conner01]

there is a big differense in the offensive scheme and the play calling in a particular game. our sheme is fine and worked very, very well last year. you are referring to particualr games play calling where we ran when you felt we should pass. thats not the scheme, thats the play calling

 

[Crown Royal]

I think Parcells subtraction will make things better just by itself...and I think Garrett will be good...we just need 1 or 2 upgrades on the OL, and we'll be in good shape if we stay healthy...

David

I'm hoping for this. Actually, like I said, I'm hoping that Haley's departure will actually help out. Our passing game was stuck in 1985.

 

[Crown Royal]

Actually, I've read that if Jason Garrett is in control of the offense, we'll see more of the old Cowboys/Norv Turner timing offense employed...



OK, but I'll have a tougher time forgiving you for jumping to such a ludicrous conclusion, based on what Wade had to say... you read a lot more into that words than was really there, I think...

I was reading the recap that was in the daily zone - something about 'they have a scheme already.' That plus all the articles about Sparano staying because he is so well respected & was the backbone of our offense. Thus my conclusions.

 

[Hunter71]

Similar to the hiring of Philips, we need to give this time before we jump to conclusions about what the outcome will be...

However, we can look at recent histoty to determine what it MAY look like...

My understanding is that Sparano is considered a good offensive mind to the point that the offensive "guru" Turner considered putting him in charge of playcalling...

Regardless, we have 2 coaches who are well regarded around the league...

Should be interesting to see what kind of system they put in...

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

For starters the Cowboys need to get better guards, Kosier and Rivera stink, the team will be better served replacing Rivera more so though.

 

[Bleu Star]

Now that manboobies control freak is gone the offense will flourish under a creative mind that's willing to make adjustments to exploit weaknesses.

 

[percyhoward]

Like in the Washington game where we scored 19 points and had to rely on a last second drive to even consider trying to win?

We were a blocked FG and a TO drop away from scoring 29 points in a road division game. 378 yards total offense.

Or Indianapolis where we scored 4 more offensive points than the Grossman led Bears?

And missed two more FG's, and were taking a knee at their 28 at the end. 342 yards total offense, and would have been more, if we'd been trying to score.

Or the Giants where we again relied on a last minute drive to win by 3, after scoring 10 points?

We had scored 20 points, not 10. Finished with 365 yards total offense (more than our 5th-ranked per game average) in another division road game.

In every one of those 3 games, we piled up more yardage than twenty-five offenses in the league averaged. You can't gameplan your way around drops, missed FG's, and kneeldowns.

The other 3 games (Philly rematch, NO, Seattle) were legit poor offensive performances. 3 bad games out of 17 isn't much to worry about, but what these 3 have in common are that they were the only three games we had that were against winning teams that we had already seen once before--if not in regular season, then in preseason.

They were losses 7, 8, and 9 in Parcells' dubious record of 0-9 in same-season rematches against winning teams while he was coach.

Our biggest concern offensively will be staying healthy. Assuming we can do that, the thing Sparano/Garrett will have to focus on is making adjustments, avoiding predictability, and just being ready to counter the adjustments that opposing coaches are sure to make. That's the only element that might be missing from this offense.

 

[superpunk]

It wasn't broke. It was creative and effective. I can't count the number of times Tony took the ball and drove it down opponents throats for game-winning drives. Toward the end, it remained extremely effective, but the defense faltered. Seriously, if you think this offense was broken, either (1) there's no pleasin you, or (2) you just didn't watch the games.

Again, there's always room for improvement.

Our run game became extremely ineffective. The positions we were putting Tony in to end the year were completely unmanagable - and the poor results were predictable. The offense will remain similar, and for the best. That familiarity will work wonders for the offensive line and Tony. We struggled down the stretch. That doesn't erase what the offense CAN be, and what it was for most of the season.

 

[Biggems]

Like in the Washington game where we scored 19 points and had to rely on a last second drive to even consider trying to win?

Or Indianapolis where we scored 4 more offensive points than the Grossman led Bears?

Or the Giants where we again relied on a last minute drive to win by 3, after scoring 10 points?

How bout New Orleans, where our innovative offense passed for all of 6.6 yards per pass and an anemic 14 points?

Philadelphia. 7 Points.

Seattle. 7 points.


Sorry if I expect more out of an offense that isn't broken.

Dallas was 3rd in the league in points scored....near the tops in 1st Downs....and up there in 3rd down efficiency....

Romo was a wonderful surprise for me. My only beef with him is his fumbling...and I mean all the ones that happened without contact....He needs to hold onto the damn ball better. Other than the fumbling, Romo rocked.

Now the OL played the whole season together....Simply change out Rivera for someone younger and more effective and I can see the continuity of this OL being huge. Our OL was hurt by blitzes and pressure last year quite a bit...but then again I blame much of this on our defense. Our OL practiced against a vanilla defense. You are only as good as you practice. Because the OL wasn't used to seeing all the blitzes and stunts....they blew a lot of assignments. I have a feeling that in 2007, our OL will show a lot of improvement, and much of that due to a defense that will put a lot of pressure on them in practice.

Cut down on dropped passes by TO, Glenn, and Witten and the offense should be more effective. Say what you want about the playcalling...but it doesn't matter how good a play is, if the players don't execute it (dropping passes that should be caught)....then the play looks bad.

Jones finally had a quality year as far as health and production. Barber showed he is a red zone beast. Hoyte has slowly emerged as a quality blocker. I would still like to see at least 10 or so plays each game where JJ and Barber are in the game together. I am not a fan of Thompson. Yes he has speed, but he has no elusiveness. He runs straight all the time. He couldn't juke a defender if his life depended on it. I want to bring someone else in instead....a big back....either Michael Bush (Louisville) or Chris Henry (Arizona).

I keep hearing we need to draft a stud WR....I disagree. I want to see what Hurd, Austin, and Rector have to offer before going after another WR. I liked the way Hurd and Austin played on ST....Austin seems to have stamped his name on the KR duties.....Now I would like to see what he can do on offense. If we do draft a WR, I would like one from the late rounds.....two guys I am looking at Yamon Figurs (KSU) and Aaron Fairooz (UCA). Figurs is a speedster with very good hands and is an excellent PR. Fairooz is 6'6 and has very good hands and solid speed 4.5 (I look at his size and think what a great red zone threat).

All in all......I loved watching our offense last year. It was actaully exciting to see them again. The offense had been bland and boring for a while now.....Now I can look forward to the next game and say the offense will do some nice things.

 

[superpunk]

We were a blocked FG and a TO drop away from scoring 29 points in a road division game. 378 yards total offense.

I was looking for that thread where we (and particularly you) broke down why it was so tough for Tony down the stretch, and the situations we were putting him in. Wish I could find that stuff.

 

[superpunk]

I was looking for that thread where we (and particularly you) broke down why it was so tough for Tony down the stretch, and the situations we were putting him in. Wish I could find that stuff.

Got it.

http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1303293&highlight=romo#post1303293

Hella-good stuff in there from percy.

 

[big dog cowboy]

For starters the Cowboys need to get better guards, Kosier and Rivera stink, the team will be better served replacing Rivera more so though.

Kosier doesn't stink.

 

[superpunk]

Here are some of the highlights from that thread, percy's research.

3rd down conversions allowed (league ranking)
games 1-5 28% (5th)
games 6-17 48% (28th)

The (28th) is for the whole season. We're dead last if you only count Romo's starts.

Basically this difference of 48% to 28% means that, while Bledsoe was jogging onto the field to start another drive, Romo was typically standing on the sidelines watching the other team march down the field.

This one stat alone (dropping from 5th in the league to 28th) means we should've finished about 6-10. That's the average record of the other teams in the bottom 1/4 of the league in 3rd down conversions allowed.

 

[CF74]

This just proves that you will never have everyone happy.

Seriously, if you weren't pleased with the offense last year, you'll never be pleased. Could it improve? Sure, but my god if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It did kinda fade in some of our last games, it just needs to be tweaked..

 

[CF74]

Didnt we score 425 pts last year? Didnt our D totally suck?

Give me another 425 and with the "phillups 34" we will be in NFC Title Game.

Ahh this is true, we were #2 in total points scored the majority if not the entire season...

 

[the kid 05]

Ahh this is true, we were #2 in total points scored the majority if not the entire season...

we were a field goal away from the number 2 spot....

 

[smarta5150]

4th in scoring and there is a problem? LOL, that is really something.

 

[ddh33]

The offensive scheme will be the same, but I would be very surprised if it was the same offense. Safe to say, calling plays with Bill looking over your shoulders is different than calling plays without him.

 

[Chuck 54]

Yeah yeah yeah our offense was 4th in scoring and was fine an dmoves the ball and blah blah blah/

Our offense was decent. That's it. It did some good things against crap defenses, but disappeared down the stretch. Phillips' comments today lean toward the idea that the scheme is going to stay the same/use Parcell's offensive philosophy.

This is frustrating - does that mean that when you play an injury decimated secondary, you won't throw the ball against them? Does that mean that when TO is against a team's rookie CB that is garbage (NOLA) you'll only attempt fades? Does that mean TO will ONLY play flanker, never moving to the slot, running deep ins/drags?

Forgive me if the prospect of a 'somewhat adequate' offense doesn't excite me when it has the talent to be special.

First of all, where do you see the "talent to be special"?

Gurode was our best OL, but is he SPECIAL? Adams? Rivera? Kozier? I don't think so. And while Colombo was a pleasant surprise, special is not the adjective for him.

Romo looks like he will be SPECIAL, but how special? Right now he's still inexperienced enough that we had to deal with some growing pains as a starter.

JJ and Barber made a nice tandem...but are they SPECIAL? Would anyone in the NFL give you a 2nd round pick this spring before the draft for either of them? I don't call that special.

We do have a special TE, though he's not the blocker he should be.

Glenn and T.O. are the only other players on this offense who have ever been SPECIAL in their careers, and while both are still very good, neither is still going forward...both are less than they were and SPECIAL won't be around for long.

My point? The offense has far less talent than the defense...we have neglected the offense for quite a while (when we weren't simply blowing bad draft picks on it).

Our offense needs some serious work and upgrading, in my opinion.