Jerry Jones Hopeful Cowboys Can Spark Their Ground Game Against Atlanta

[Tommy]

I am and will until we have a back that can step up.

Have you seen Murrays numbers in Philly? Apparently he isn't stepping up either.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Have you seen Murrays numbers in Philly? Apparently he isn't stepping up either.[/quot

He has 21 attempts in two games. Murray isn't a RB by committee kind of RB. He needs carries to get going.
As we have seen when he was here.

 

[Gameover]

Not a Jerry basher, but I wish he didn't talk so much.

 

[Blast From The Past]

Several member of the Cowboys organization have pointed it out, including Jones and Cowboys coach Jason Garret, and it’s a valid argument: circumstances haven’t been ideal for a ground-and-pound gameplan through two weeks. In the season opener, the Cowboys fell behind by double digits in the second half, and last week they went against a stingy front seven in Philadelphia.
“If we get in the situations that we were in most of the time last year, then I think you’ll see the type running game that you might have come to expect from last year,” he said.
The Cowboys are tied for just 16th in the league in attempts, with just 56 on the year. But they’re also averaging just 3.4 yards per carry on those attempts, which is 27th in the league. Garrett didn’t elaborate quite as much as Jones, but he agreed that it needs improving.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2...s-can-spark-their-ground-game-against-atlanta

Maybe Atlanta loads up 8 in the box and dares Weeden to beat them. It's simple really....unless Weeden and our receivers and tight ends make them pay dearly for having done so. We shall see. Is it game time yet???

 

[Doomsday101]

Maybe Atlanta loads up 8 in the box and dares Weeden to beat them. It's simple really....unless Weeden and our receivers and tight ends make them pay dearly for having done so. We shall see. Is it game time yet???

I agree and have said the same thing though out the week. If you look at this game from Atl stand point of what they need to do, I think we would all agree force Weeden to beat you. I fully expect Alt to be up on the line of scrimmage and going man outside. If Weeden can take advantage of that then I think it will be a big boost to his overall confidence not to mention it could get Alt to start backing off the line

 

[CF74]

Especially since their nose is out...

 

[GOLDENCHILD1688]

Atlanta defense is not as good as people think. We are going to run very well against them.

Atlanta has had one of the worse Run Defenses in the league for several seasons in a row now. If we can't run on them michaels who already should be playing now must be involved drone there on out

 

[Risen Star]

He had 21 attempts in two games. Murray isn't a RB by committee kind of RB. He needs carries to get going.

How many carries does he need to average over a yard per carry?

 

[Eric_Boyer]

This HAS to be the game the run game gets going. I we cant get it going against the Giants, Philly, and Atlanta, then there isnt much hope for it the rest of the way. Unless Michaels comes off the bench and goes nuts.

The Saints will provide more hope then any you just mentioned, but the simple fact is a defense is going to key on our running game until we prove we can hurt them with Weeden, Williams, Beasley, etc, etc.

 

[Aven8]

Just block Durant on every play and we will have a chance. He's playing the best of his career IMO. Also like YR said we need to go deep. This is starting to look like Cally is calling the plays again!

 

[Denim Chicken]

That will be just what they are expecting. We need to unleash the Weed!

 

[chicago JK]

This will be a big week to see if we really can generate a running game identity. Without Dez and Romo it will definitely be more difficult and teams will probably try to eliminate our running game. Teams last year did the same thing but was unable to stop our running games. If teams can eliminate our running game, it will have major factor moving forward. Last year we were able to get 3 and 4 yards on 1st down consistently when teams knew we were going to run. I think that is a huge factor. The big runs will come and a lot of running backs can run through big holes. The 3-5 yard runs is what we are missing so far this year. The abundance of penalties has also obviously hurt the running game.

While it is nice to think of Weeden leading us to a victory with a 300 yard passing game, I think the better option is enforcing our will in the running game with all our first round lineman when a team is focusing on stopping the running game. This will also open up some opportunities for Weeden to make a big play at some point in the game. I am just not sure we have the backs this year. Time will tell.

 

[dallasdave]

How many carries does he need to average over a yard per carry?

 

[visionary]

I don't Dallas faced good run stopping teams last year Murray had over 100 vs the seahawks both games vs NYG over 100 yards and even with Romo out vs Arz he had 79 yards on 19 carries.
I'm not ruing the loss of Murray but you bet right now I'm not thilled with the running game and expect more from our plug and play RB. After all I have been told it is an easy position anyone can do it. yet right now none of the RB are even 4.0 a carry. Dallas needs to get this figured out and get this run game moving.

IMO the loss of Callahan hurts more than Murray

 

[Idgit]

We'd have seen the same thing last season in the game situations we've been in the last two weeks. Penalties and turnovers will put you in passing situations.

We were starting to loosen up PHI in the second half of that game, though, when Romo went out. Eventually, we're going to find ourselves in running situations and things are going to continue to be fine. Hopefully the first of those happens this weekend, if we can pass the ball ok and don't get too far behind early at home.

From what I've seen, the backs have been fine, the OL has been a bit out of sorts (probably because of the injuries and the position juggling going back to preseason), and the play mix has changed slightly in that we're throwing more on first downs and throwing to the backs more than we did previously. I'm not sure how much it matters, though, because we're controlling the clock just like we did when we were running the ball. If it weren't for the turnovers or the flukey play like the Escobar no-call on the TD, we probably wouldn't be talking about the issues on offense.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Julio jones, hankerson, and roddy are a good receiving Corp.

Justin Durant is a freaking stud. He will pummel randle, and is familiar with our offensive schemes.

 

[cowboys2233]

Atlanta defense is not as good as people think. We are going to run very well against them.

I think that entire team is fraudulent, with the exception of Julio Jones. And I can't wait until they're exposed tomorrow for the soft team they are.

 

[KJJ]

Atlanta has a good run defense so far this year.

We can't use that as an excuse because that seems to be the theme here. Last season the three highest ranked teams the Cowboys faced vs the run Seattle (3rd) SF (7th) and the Rams (14th) the Cowboys ran the ball well with Murray having 100 yard games. Without Dez and a solid back the Cowboys are going to have problems running the ball no matter who they face because defenses are going to be able to stack the box and force Weeden to have to beat them. Dez helped open up the running game with all the attention he got so getting any kind of running game going without him on the field and the lack of a talented runner is going to be difficult. Expect the backs to continue to be targeted in the passing game with a lot of dinks and dunks.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Atlantas defense Is ranked like 29th. Dallas should be able to out score them.

 

[KJJ]

I think that entire team is fraudulent, with the exception of Julio Jones. And I can't wait until they're exposed tomorrow for the soft team they are.

It's going to be hard to expose them with all the players the Cowboys have missing. If you haven't noticed they're missing some very significant players. It's going to be hard to expose anyone with Romo out and Weeden in. With Mincy out it's going to be even more difficult to get a pass rush and if the Cowboys don't get some pressure on Ryan he's likely to have a big day to Julio. The Cowboys aren't fielding a team right now that can expose anyone they're going to have to hope they can keep games close and win some dog fights. They simply don't have the talent right now to take advantage of anyone they're just hoping they can hang in until Hardy enters the mix and their best players start coming back.