JJT: Cowboys don't have running back to match their philosophy

[zrinkill]

That's the biggest mystery to me. You see the results in 2014 when we had a dominant line/RB working in unison (even with a subpar defense).

Nobody considered Murray a dominate running back before 2014 started. If you claim they or you did ........ you are lying.

Alfred Morris is more of a dominate running back than Murray.

 

[DC Cowboy]

That's the biggest mystery to me. You see the results in 2014 when we had a dominant line/RB working in unison (even with a subpar defense). And here we are, trying to be cute. Again.

Get a RB in here you KNOW will produce and just pray Romo stays healthy. We will win 10 games just with that formula.

Agree, forget how you feel about the reporter. Is what he wrote the truth? Yes it is! We throw numbers around all the time well how about these numbers: "History has shown Romo is significantly better when he throws the ball no more than 30 times a game. The Cowboys are 38-11 in such games and 41-38 in his other 79 starts." I know everyone will say that a RB isn't worth a 4th pick in the draft in "this" passing league but what a good RB does for our team is remarkable. We built a great O-line for what? Put a great back behind it! I hear/read some of you say trade down and take Zeke @ 7th or 8th, now this thinking baffles me, he is good enough for the 7th or 8th pick but not worth a 4th pick. Hell if he will make us better then take him. I understand taking a QB for the future and/or a DE for pressure, I like you watched us last year. But I placed a lot of the blame on the coaching staff as well. Taking a QB who might not play for a while doesn't help us now nor am I convinced Bosa will give you more say than Irving at DE. I like Bosa but I am not convinced he will help the Boys more than Zeke. IMO we take Zeke and go defense with the next 2-3 picks. Somewhere around the 4th or 5th pick we try our best to find a WR with SPEED and hopefully with hands. I can see Zeke's 4 yard carries in the 1st half turning into 8-10+ yard carries in the 2nd half. Let our O-line attack instead of pass blocking... well enough rambling

 

[Alexander]

This current state of RBs is better than our current state last year.

Be hard not to be. Randle had no business being handed the starting job. At least Morris is a reliable, mature and emotionally stable professional.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Cowboys don't have running back to match their philosophy

Jean-Jacques Taylor

Coming from JJT, this means very little.

 

[FaSho]

I didn't even know JJT was still employed.

 

[Vanilla2]

Are we still acting like Murray is a special player?

He a good player who had a special year on a damn good football team.

 

[DogFace]

Why are you talking like a pirate?

 

[percyhoward]

We won most of our games in the 4th quarter because it was THEIR defense that was gassed not ours.

We only won one game when we weren't leading after three quarters. When we were tied or trailing after three quarters, we were 1-3. Our running game was not particularly effective when defenses knew the run was coming, so we weren't that good at protecting leads by chewing up clock with the run late in games.

In 2014, our offense had quick-strike ability (Romo), which gets the opposing defense off the field. In 2015, we punted more often, but since we didn't have that quick-strike ability, the duration of our average drive hardly changed at all. On a typical drive, THEIR defense was on the field just as much as it was the year before.

 

[marchetta]

Our problem last year was the QB not being available, and not anything to do with the RB position.

It was the RB that kept Romo healthy, and allowed him to play at a MVP level, in 2014! Jeez!

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Why is it dumb? He's just being honest. We dominated games in 2014 because our run game pounded the other team into the ground. We won most of our games in the 4th quarter because it was THEIR defense that was gassed not ours. Letting go of Murray I agreed with. To expensive. But then to not replace him, that my friend is the definition of arrogance. Trusting Randle to be our starting RB was a huge mistake. We need a bell cow. It's that simple. Jerry has to stop thinking we can mimic successful teams every year and win. We aren't the Patriots. RBBC works for them because they have Brady, a genius head coach, and a dominant defense. They also call plays that benefit their players and play to their strengths. We dont. Just stick with the formula that worked, and see results.

Why is it dumb? Here's just a few reasons:

1. Teams did stack 8 in the box against the Cowboys…a lot. We’ve seen it all of the time thru articles like Ben Muth’s on Football Outsiders. They put 8 in the box because they knew we were not a threat in the passing game with our backup QB’s and no Dez. Per usual, JJT is just making stuff up. Must have had a deadline to fulfill.
   
   
2. Having a tailback that ‘commands’ 8 in the box is not a ‘philosophy.’ Every team would like to have a back that commands 8 in the box. Unfortunately, you can’t just get a tailback that is going to command that every time. It’s dependent up on your O-Line and your passing game as well.
   
   
3. Morris is an adept zone running back (provided he still has some juice in those legs). DMC was better in man blocking. Having both tailbacks helps us be able to switch between zone and man blocking. THAT would go along with our philosophy of being a versatile running team that can use both zone and man blocking schemes along with being able to run left, right and up the middle.

We won in 2014 because we balanced out the offense. We were almost at 50/50 in terms of running and passing. We took the ball out of Romo's hands so he didn't have to throw it so much and that allowed him to be more effective. But, without Romo (and Dez), we simply do not run the ball anywhere nearly as effective because teams just stack the box. For instance, in the 2nd game against Philly in 2014, the Eagles stacked the box and blitzed almost the entire game. Murray had something like 31 carries for 83 yards (IIRC). But we scored a ton of points because it made it easier for Romo. Without Romo teams could just stack the box without any fear and stop the run. And even still, only Adrian Peterson ran the ball better in those last 10 games that McFadden started. And I'm not a huge Bridgewater fan, but he's far better than Weeden, Cassel and Moore.

If anything, JJT wasn't watching the games very carefully to see what the opposing defenses were doing. Dumb, ignorant, incompetent...call it whatever you want.







YR

 

[TonyS]

JJT must have an account here and he is trying to rile up the fanbase that thinks everything we do is wrong. McFadden did well last year w/out his starting QB and starting WR for most of the season. Morris was not utilized well and Skins O-line was not the second coming of ours. Morris is a cheaper option than Miller, but is still young, a definite RKG and the type of back that can ground and pound. He can catch the ball, just wasn't asked to do it often and probably won't be here as well. I like the signing. This is no Eddie George signing by any means.

 

[TonyS]

Why is it dumb? Here's just a few reasons:

1. Teams did stack 8 in the box against the Cowboys…a lot. We’ve seen it all of the time thru articles like Ben Muth’s on Football Outsiders. They put 8 in the box because they knew we were not a threat in the passing game with our backup QB’s and no Dez. Per usual, JJT is just making stuff up. Must have had a deadline to fulfill.
   
   
2. Having a tailback that ‘commands’ 8 in the box is not a ‘philosophy.’ Every team would like to have a back that commands 8 in the box. Unfortunately, you can’t just get a tailback that is going to command that every time. It’s dependent up on your O-Line and your passing game as well.
   
   
3. Morris is an adept zone running back (provided he still has some juice in those legs). DMC was better in man blocking. Having both tailbacks helps us be able to switch between zone and man blocking. THAT would go along with our philosophy of being a versatile running team that can use both zone and man blocking schemes along with being able to run left, right and up the middle.

We won in 2014 because we balanced out the offense. We were almost at 50/50 in terms of running and passing. We took the ball out of Romo's hands so he didn't have to throw it so much and that allowed him to be more effective. But, without Romo (and Dez), we simply do not run the ball anywhere nearly as effective because teams just stack the box. For instance, in the 2nd game against Philly in 2014, the Eagles stacked the box and blitzed almost the entire game. Murray had something like 31 carries for 83 yards (IIRC). But we scored a ton of points because it made it easier for Romo. Without Romo teams could just stack the box without any fear and stop the run. And even still, only Adrian Peterson ran the ball better in those last 10 games that McFadden started. And I'm not a huge Bridgewater fan, but he's far better than Weeden, Cassel and Moore.

If anything, JJT wasn't watching the games very carefully to see what the opposing defenses were doing. Dumb, ignorant, incompetent...call it whatever you want.

YR

If I could like this 1000 times, I would. So many people want to complain w/out looking at the facts. JJT just wants to make a splash and he did with this Chicken Little article.

 

[Q_the_man]

This current state of RBs is better than our current state last year.

We have the same crew except we have Morris instead of Randle. Randle brought explosiveness but he was to dumb to realize his potential, now we have a big slow back in Morris (aka Troy Hambrick) nuff said....

 

[DogFace]

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...wboys-snag-alfred-morris-run-scheme-low-price

Excellent read with plenty of examples as evidence. This was a good pickup. I say he's a more durable version of Murray. We will see.

 

[marchetta]

Agree, forget how you feel about the reporter. Is what he wrote the truth? Yes it is! We throw numbers around all the time well how about these numbers: "History has shown Romo is significantly better when he throws the ball no more than 30 times a game. The Cowboys are 38-11 in such games and 41-38 in his other 79 starts." I know everyone will say that a RB isn't worth a 4th pick in the draft in "this" passing league but what a good RB does for our team is remarkable. We built a great O-line for what? Put a great back behind it! I hear/read some of you say trade down and take Zeke @ 7th or 8th, now this thinking baffles me, he is good enough for the 7th or 8th pick but not worth a 4th pick. Hell if he will make us better then take him. I understand taking a QB for the future and/or a DE for pressure, I like you watched us last year. But I placed a lot of the blame on the coaching staff as well. Taking a QB who might not play for a while doesn't help us now nor am I convinced Bosa will give you more say than Irving at DE. I like Bosa but I am not convinced he will help the Boys more than Zeke. IMO we take Zeke and go defense with the next 2-3 picks. Somewhere around the 4th or 5th pick we try our best to find a WR with SPEED and hopefully with hands. I can see Zeke's 4 yard carries in the 1st half turning into 8-10+ yard carries in the 2nd half. Let our O-line attack instead of pass blocking... well enough rambling

Exactly. Bosa/Ramsey/etc can make our D better. But, Zeke makes our TEAM better. He makes our running game, passing game, AND D better (By keeping them off the field). Name another player that can impact this team (this year) as much as Zeke could? Other players will just make us better. But, Zeke makes us contenders.

 

[Idgit]

It was the RB that kept Romo healthy, and allowed him to play at a MVP level, in 2014! Jeez!

We should play with two RBs in at all times so the QB never gets hurt.

If we only knew.

 

[percyhoward]

"History has shown Romo is significantly better when he throws the ball no more than 30 times a game. The Cowboys are 38-11 in such games and 41-38 in his other 79 starts."

When you're already winning, you don't throw as much later in the game, so that gives you fewer attempts for the game. Romo actually had more 1st-half attempts in 2014 than he had averaged over his career.

Romo's pass attempts per quarter
1st
2014 only: 8
2006-2013: 7

2nd
2014 only: 10
2006-2013: 10

3rd
2014 only: 5
2006-2013: 8

4th
2014 only: 6
2006-2013: 9

JJT doesn't realize it, but his advice isn't "throw less," it's "have the lead more often." Even if you get that lead by throwing more, apparently.

 

[jwooten15]

Nobody considered Murray a dominate running back before 2014 started. If you claim they or you did ........ you are lying.

Alfred Morris is more of a dominate running back than Murray.

Read my post, dude. I said "dominant line/RB working in unison". As in, great offensive line working with a RB that fed off their blocking ability. I did not, nor have I ever, claim that Murray was dominant running back.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

If I could like this 1000 times, I would. So many people want to complain w/out looking at the facts. JJT just wants to make a splash and he did with this Chicken Little article.

I just eschew the fact that he made up the fact that teams didn't stack 8 in the box against us last year. Couldn't have been further from the truth. How many articles did we have here specifically discussing the Cowboys needing to stop running on 1st down every time and open up the passing game so teams couldn't put 8 or 9 in the box because nobody is going to run it well under those conditions (and DMC actually did run it well, still)?

IMO, JJT is a devout liar.







YR

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Does JJT have a journalism philosophy?

Yes, it's called shock journalism. Philosophically, on offense, the Cowboys want to win by any means necessary. That includes the arm of Romo, the hands of Dez, and the blocking of the line. Elite running back would be nice but not critical.

Gene Jock Tailer knows squat about nothing except donuts.