It matters, and it matters a lot. It will garner you an extra 1 YPC or so, but what really matters is that it makes the run game effective and a threat which makes the passing game work better.
I wouldn't even call this a west Coast offense, this is more of a Coast West offense, it has no identity what so ever!!!!
No it doesn't. NE used a pounder and a pass catcher. Tandem back system, and the pass catcher was more of a slot type. Plus, NE used the short pass as a running game. Silly to use the best QB in the league as an example. The Chiefs are not the same when Pacheco doesn't play. SF isn't the same when McC is out.
Yeah RBBC really needs to be defined when it gets used as its taken on a wide variety of meanings. To many people, I think any situation where more than 1 RB is getting consistent work is viewed as RBBC, but the problem is thats almost every team in the league now so the terms do really need to be updated to separate tandem and RBBC.
As long as we're not going to try and play smash mouth football I agree Dowdle is the best option. The only way to get the best out of Zeke is to pound the rock and no way in hell McCarthy is calling the game that way. Hell they were up what 24 points on Cleveland and didn't try to pound the rock so I don't expect that to be the strategy anytime soon. I do have to wonder though how much of it is Dak changing the plays because of the defensive looks. Teams used to do that to Romo too.. show a look that they knew would get us to audible away from any run then drop the whole defense into the passing lanes. Dak needs to get better at that chess match with DCs.
Again, McCarthy’s backs hovered around 4ypc throughout his tenure in GB.
This ^^^^^. Using a committee of a couple of talented running backs is a good strategy. Using a committee of 2 to however many untalented RBs is a poor strategy.
Nope!
Same exact short passing game emphasis west coast he ran in New Orleans, San Fran and Green Bay!
Yeah I wish I could really diagnose the issues with the run game. Coming into the year I had concerns about the run game but thought at very least this team could use Zeke early and often to get in some of those body shots to wear down the defense and open up the rest of the playbook. Now granted they are yet to really stick with the run game in any situation as you said they may have the worst numbers in the league running between the Tackles. I'd have to pull the chart back up but I believe the only gap they are averaging more than 4ypc is the B gap off of Zach Martin and that is because of one rush attempt. Even if Zeke has lost a step or two he should still be able to get those consistent 3-4 yard power runs up the gut if the OL is giving him any room at all.
Because I knew better and I hate blatant falsehoods I went and looked this up. The following is the list of backs who ran for 1000+ yards during the Brady/Belichick Super Bowl runs.
somehow we're not getting the same success
My big fear is this is coming from the Cowboys new and improved analytics department, and the strategy wont be changing anytime soon. Devaluing the RB position is one thing, just throwing bodies at it and passing on free agents over minimal amounts of money is a red flag in my mind.
hey the less we run the more we get out of our investment 60 million! 60 million to hand the ball off a lot nope
I think this is the main issue. McCarthy has only slightly more patience with the run than Kellen Moore does. I never believed him when he stated " we are going to run the ball.." because he's never shown that to be his desire at any point in his career. There has been times when he's had to because he was protecting a backup QB but whenever he's had his starter he's aired it out as much as anyone in the league. Oddly enough I do think it's going to get better as the line comes together. I think people greatly underplayed the whole "two rookie starters" thing. The line looks completely discombobulated on most plays and just are not opening up much in the way of holes. To say nothing of the amount of times we've got unblocked defenders in our backfield. Teams have drawn a bead on our run formations and calls so they are run blitzing the hell out of us. I did see signs of life against the Giants though because both Zeke and Dowdle had a couple of nice holes early. But McCarthy's strange rotation seemed to rob them of any chance at establishing a rhythm and getting in sync with the blocking. As I have said many times, if the hole opens a half tick before or after the back looks at the point of attack then it may as well have not opened at all because any decent back is going to go somewhere else if the hole isn't where it was supposed to be when he looks at the point of attack. IMHO that may be the biggest problem we're seeing.. The line and the backs are out of sync.. and the only thing that can fix that is time on task to steal a Garrett-ism.
60 million to win games however the hell you have to should be the mantra. Hand it off, throw it, run it, punt it, whatever it takes.
