Interesting Food for Thought - Play Action

[khiladi]

Looking at 2014, of that stats are correct, Romo moved up the rankings in play-action passes attempted with Linehan to 23rd, in league-leading yards per attempt with 75.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/cow...3/romos-play-action-passes-bringing-big-gains

The key stat in relation to this point is the amount of throws off play-action. Dallas with Dak, is per Cowboys Nation already at 110. That is already 35 more attempts with two more games to play to match Romo's usage.

http://cowboyszone.com/2016/12/dak-prescott-under-pressure-and-play-action-vs-nyg.html

In this article, it mentions that Linehan went open backfield against the Giants on first more than expected. Cowboys Nation was also saying that they avoid the traditional 3-5 or 7 step drop with Dak the Minnesota game and that the total all season long has been 11 times total on first down.

That one throw (no real drop-back, just a quick throw to the outside immediately following the snap) is something the Cowboys rarely do. They have never asked Dak to attempt a tradition 3-5 or 7 step drop from directly under center and throw the ball. Linehan has only called this kind of passing play 5 times so far this season on 1st down (11 times in total), and I am pretty sure this is the 1st time they have tried it to D. Bryant. Defenses expect a run or play-action when Dak is under center – Linehan broke that tendency and it resulted in a very significant touchdown.

Teams basically expect run or play-action with Dak.

http://cowboyszone.com/2016/12/analyzing-linehans-use-of-shotgun-prescotts-success-vs-min.html

So you can tell the difference in 'dependency' in running game between the two QBs as far as Linehan has used it. With Romo, the running game wasn't really meant as a staple of sorts on opening the passing game, while it is with Dak.