JJT: Cowboys offense no juggernaut

[jobberone]

Thanks.

I just can't jive with the idea that "if our offense was better we'd have made the playoffs". Yes, it's true to a degree, but you could say that about almost every team that missed the playoffs. Our offense was playoff caliber this past year, they just didn't have a competent defense to compliment them.

Our offense shouldn't need to be a juggernaut in order for us to be successful as a team. And believe me, I'm one of the fans that liked the Kiffin/Marinelli hire and the switch to the 4-3. I just hope they can fix the defense before September.

Well the hopes of millions of Cowboys' fans ride with that. I just hope we have enough health and talent influx to get a good read on them.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The offense because the defense could not force punts had some of the worst starting field position in the league. Our ST were excellent but that is not so meaningful when you are never returning punts. Opposing offenses were setting records in number of first downs and we were 26th in time of possession.

Yes, Garrett is loathe to run into 8 man fronts even at the end of games which drives us all nuts but despite all of that poo, we ended up 5th in points scored. We had one of the best offenses in the league and one of the worst defenses in Cowboys history. We ended up 8-8 but this notion of expected outcomes based on JJT whim is dumb.

 

[SDCowboy]

If the Cowboys' offense had been good, the team would've made the playoffs this season, despite a historically bad defense.





That's the truth.

Wow, this is message board level stupidity. Good grief.

 

[ShiningStar]

oh come on guys, lets not forget we all lament when this team would go three and out as predictable that the sun would come out the next day. Lets not act like Dallas could always shoot it out with better teams.

 

[Idgit]

The offense because the defense could not force punts had some of the worst starting field position in the league. Our ST were excellent but that is not so meaningful when you are never returning punts. Opposing offenses were setting records in number of first downs and we were 26th in time of possession.

Yes, Garrett is loathe to run into 8 man fronts even at the end of games which drives us all nuts but despite all of that poo, we ended up 5th in points scored. We had one of the best offenses in the league and one of the worst defenses in Cowboys history. We ended up 8-8 but this notion of expected outcomes based on JJT whim is dumb.

I feel like I'm on crazy pills here this offseason. All I can say is, if Jason Garrett were a defensive coach instead of an offensive coach, I don't think threads like this would exist.

 

[percyhoward]

Too many times, Dallas kicked field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. That cost the Cowboys victories against Detroit and Green Bay.

Too many times compared to what team? Dallas was 8th in TD/FG attempt ratio.

The Cowboys' defense scored five touchdowns and gave the offense the ball 21 times in the opponents' side of the field. The Cowboys scored only seven touchdowns in those situations.

Ridiculous.

Not only is this NOT ridiculous, it isn't even accurate. The Cowboys began 19 drives on the opponents' side of the field, and scored 8 TD. That 8/19 ranked them 12th in the NFL, so apparently JJT thinks 21 teams are ridiculous.

Actually, what is ridiculous is to look only at the drives that began in opponent's territory and use that to judge the performance of your offense. Drives that start in opponents' territory only made up 10.5% of all drives in 2013, so he's ignoring almost 90% of drives anyway. If you look at all drives that began inside the offense's 35 yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD. That's a much more meaningful stat, because that's where more than 75% of all drives started.

 

[RS12]

JJT: Cowboys offense no juggernaut

I agree with JJT but think with one more stud OL this team could run the ball at will.

 

[Iago33]

Too many times compared to what team? Dallas was 8th in TD/FG attempt ratio.


Not only is this NOT ridiculous, it isn't even accurate. The Cowboys began 19 drives on the opponents' side of the field, and scored 8 TD. That 8/19 ranked them 12th in the NFL, so apparently JJT thinks 21 teams are ridiculous.

Actually, what is ridiculous is to look only at the drives that began in opponent's territory and use that to judge the performance of your offense. Drives that start in opponents' territory only made up 10.5% of all drives in 2013, so he's ignoring almost 90% of drives anyway. If you look at all drives that began inside the offense's 35 yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD. That's a much more meaningful stat, because that's where more than 75% of all drives started.

The problem is it's not compared to any team. People who complain about our offense are myopic and think a good offense will never go three and out. Completely unrealistic.

 

[percyhoward]

Looking at all drives league-wide that started in opponent's territory and didn't finish with kneeldowns, we find that 39.2% of those drives ended with TDs. The Cowboys were at 42% (8 out of 19), 12th-best in the league. Not great, but not "ridiculous", as JJT claims. In fact, they did better than these numbers suggest. The Cowboys never turned it over on one of these drives; league-wide, teams turned it over 7.5% of the time.

Good context.

 

[Risen Star]

I'd love to see JJT run into percyhoward in a dark alley.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Too many times compared to what team? Dallas was 8th in TD/FG attempt ratio.


Not only is this NOT ridiculous, it isn't even accurate. The Cowboys began 19 drives on the opponents' side of the field, and scored 8 TD. That 8/19 ranked them 12th in the NFL, so apparently JJT thinks 21 teams are ridiculous.

Actually, what is ridiculous is to look only at the drives that began in opponent's territory and use that to judge the performance of your offense. Drives that start in opponents' territory only made up 10.5% of all drives in 2013, so he's ignoring almost 90% of drives anyway. If you look at all drives that began inside the offense's 35 yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD. That's a much more meaningful stat, because that's where more than 75% of all drives started.

I think you've done a great job here and elsewhere of pointing out that the Dallas offense was quite good and that the problem this year was the D, by far. This is all consistent with available stats. The Aikman ratings, for example, which I think do a pretty good job at evaluating offenses and defenses, have the Cowboys rated quite high. Anecdotal carping from fans about the offense is pretty much the last place you'd want to look for the truth. And I think this article is junk, in a lot of ways.

Still, I can't get around thinking there is something to the argument that they underperformed significantly on offense *and* that it matters. It's true that no unit is ever going to be perfect; every offense always leaves points on the table. But what I keep going back to -- and what I haven't seen a particularly convincing argument against -- is that against this schedule, with our relative lack of injuries, the overall level of talent, including one of the best OLs we've had in quite a while and an offensive-minded coach we should have been quite a bit better. Or, to put it another way, if we had had an average schedule and an average amount of injuries, this very talented offense would have quite possibly been just average.

 

[Idgit]

I'd love to see JJT run into percyhoward in a dark alley.

Me, too. Though JJT might not know what an alley was if he saw one.

 

[big dog cowboy]

If the Cowboys' offense had been good, the team would've made the playoffs this season, despite a historically bad defense. That's the truth.

There is no way that man can believe this statement has any truth to it.

 

[TrailBlazer]

Why not? We were fourth in points per possession. Is that not accurate because we scored a lot of those points on short fields? Nope, that can't be your reasoning, considering that you believe that we didn't take advantage of short fields like we should have. Was it because we scored a lot of points in garbage time? Nope, that can't be it, either. The only garbage touchdowns we scored came in one game against the Bears. So exactly what is misleading about how much our offense scored?

Defensive scores and turnovers combined with a fluke game against Denver skew the stat a little bit. Top ten maybe; too inconsistent to be considered among the likes of packers saints broncos patriots.

 

[theogt]

If you look at all drives that began inside the offense's 35 yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD.

That ends the discussion right there.

 

[percyhoward]

The stats suggest this offense was top 5 when it certainly was not. Too inconsistent. They never came close to duplicating the performance we seen against Denver.

Just to put this to bed. Every team has it's own "best game," and every team's numbers suffer when that game isn't counted.

These are all the offenses that averaged 2+ points per drive (bold), along with their season-high game in points per drive.

1 Den 2.83 vs Phi: 45 points/9 drives (5.0)
2 SD 2.33 vs NYG: 37 points/9 drives (4.1)
3 NO 2.29 vs Dal: 49 points/9 drives (5.4)
4 Dal 2.18 vs Den: 48 points/11 drives (4.4)
5 Chi 2.16 vs Dal: 45 points/8 drives (5.6)
6 GB 2.15 at Min 37 points/8 drives (4.6)
7 Phi 2.12 vs Chi 45 points/10 drives (4.5)
8 Sea 2.12 vs Jac 45 points/13 drive (3.5)
9 NE 2.10 vs Pit: 55 points 13 drives (4.2)

Here are the rankings when you take out that game.
1 Den 2.70
2 SD 2.23
3 NO 2.13
4 Dal 2.04
5 GB 2.04
6 Sea 2.02
7 Chi 2.00
8 Phi 1.99
9 NE 1.95

Every team's number goes down .10 -.16 of a point per drive. With the Denver game included, Dallas ranks 4th, hundredths of a point ahead of the Bears. Without it, Dallas still ranks 4th, thousandths of a point ahead of the Packers.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Regardless of the temperament found here about any journalist, I think he had a point. A small one, but his was accurate.

Dallas controls two interceptions and kicks two field goals they are in the play-offs. Simple as that.

Many will argue. Some will post stats galore.

But this season, and its play-off implications came down to two turnovers and two field goals.

Now the real question is this. Would making the pl;ay-offs to get humiliated on National TV be worth it. Because there was not an NFC team that would not beat this team in a winner take all game. JMO.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Wait....if the offense was great we would've made the playoffs even with a historically bad defense? The same team that lost 48 to 51 to the Bronco's? Really?

 

[Wheeltax]

If the defense forces 1 FG instead of 1 TD in each game this past season, the Cowboys are 13-3 instead of 8-8

I know it's a lot more complicated than that, but I don't think I can be convinced that the offense was not good enough to get to and win playoff games if the defense was even average. They don't have to be a juggernaut. There are always improvements that can be made.

 

[StevenOtero]

Bad defense + incnosistent offense (flashes of greatness, but never consistent) = 8-8