Last night was the best illustration of the value of long drives that I've seen in a while

[RonnieT24]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

you are talking about TOP and running the ball also contributes to that, but I get what you mean. the one other thing this showed last night was that we are able to attack deep and make big plays, shown that for quite a few games now and last night it showed, if you take the big down field attack away, we will take what you are giving, and methodically go down and score. now take your poison. in years past we struggled converting these long drives to scores and made too many mistakes and imploded.

 

[Whirlwin]

I love throwing the ball deep down field early in the game. It changes the whole format.

 

[GoCowboysGo]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

This guy gets it. Winning formula for champions!

 

[HungryLion]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

I agree TOP is important. The thing is. You gotta be smart about it. You can’t just run for the sake of running. The runs have to be efficient.

Converting first downs is what it’s all about. Whether it’s by pass or run.

 

[RonnieT24]

you are talking about TOP and running the ball also contributes to that, but I get what you mean. the one other thing this showed last night was that we are able to attack deep and make big plays, shown that for quite a few games now and last night it showed, if you take the big down field attack away, we will take what you are giving, and methodically go down and score. now take your poison. in years past we struggled converting these long drives to scores and made too many mistakes and imploded.

Yes.. if you take out Lamb's yards on end arounds the Cowboys had 106 yards on 32 carries. Under 3.5 yards per carry. Yet they STILL kept running the ball. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Sometimes you keep hammering away at the defense even if you're not getting big yards. It gives your offense some semblance of balance at forces the defense to at least honor the run. And with how well Dak is throwing it I don't care about it being third and 6 or 7.

 

[gimmesix]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

We had a good mixture of driving and taking deeper shots. Had no problem at all with our approach yesterday, other than having to kick some FGs ... but even on some of those, we would have had TDs if not for drops/penalty.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Yes.. if you take out Lamb's yards on end arounds the Cowboys had 106 yards on 32 carries. Under 3.5 yards per carry. Yet they STILL kept running the ball. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Sometimes you keep hammering away at the defense even if you're not getting big yards. It gives your offense some semblance of balance at forces the defense to at least honor the run. And with how well Dak is throwing it I don't care about it being third and 6 or 7.

I said it before, its not necessarily about the yards you run, but how many times. I take that average, although I would love for it to be higher, but it puts you in decent shape on second downs. now, if we averaged 2 yards, then it plays right into defenses hand on down and distance.

 

[RonnieT24]

I said it before, its not necessarily about the yards you run, but how many times. I take that average, although I would love for it to be higher, but it puts you in decent shape on second downs. now, if we averaged 2 yards, then it plays right into defenses hand on down and distance.

Yeah Parcells' words "Sometimes you gotta be stubborn with the run" always echoes in my mind. Norv Turner was also a big proponent of chipping away at the defense 2-3 yards at a time until the dam breaks. Again it's not the ONLY way to win in the NFL.. but it's the most tried and true method I've seen in my 50+ years of watching NFL football. When we get a string of teams throwing it 70% of the time winning Super Bowls I will change my tune. Until then I want my team to strive for balance.

 

[Dallasfann]

This board is lucky to have posters like you RonnieT. Our defense made plays late when they needed too, that's for sure. I think the Seahawks put in their best shot of the year and we withstood it. Big win for this team late in the season. Games like last night can do wonders for the playoffs.

 

[RonnieT24]

This board is lucky to have posters like you RonnieT. Our defense made plays late when they needed too, that's for sure. I think the Seahawks put in their best shot of the year and we withstood it. Big win for this team late in the season. Games like last night can do wonders for the playoffs.

Thanks for the kind words. I think the offense doing what it did made it possible for the defense to have enough in the tank to do what it did to close out the game. Meanwhile the Seahawks defense continued to have no answers for the Cowboys offense pretty much throughout. That's what I'm really talking about. Nobody just shuts down every team every game in the NFL. Even the '85 Bears got roasted for 38 one Monday night.. and with the rule changes to favor the offense I'm not sure even that defense could hold teams down now.

 

[Coogiguy03]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

Those long drives are great, but to get 3 and not 6 is upsetting at times. We give our d all that rest, and they come out and look sloppy

 

[Dallasfann]

Thanks for the kind words. I think the offense doing what it did made it possible for the defense to have enough in the tank to do what it did to close out the game. Meanwhile the Seahawks defense continued to have no answers for the Cowboys offense pretty much throughout. That's what I'm really talking about. Nobody just shuts down every team every game in the NFL. Even the '85 Bears got roasted for 38 one Monday night.. and with the rule changes to favor the offense I'm not sure even that defense could hold teams down now.

I agree. Add in the fact that we've played 3 games in 12 days. For one of the first times this year our offense told our defense "we got you"...and those long drives in a game like that were absolutely a difference maker. This upcoming mini bye couldn't come at a better time for our last stretch of games.

 

[RonnieT24]

Those long drives are great, but to get 3 and not 6 is upsetting at times. We give our d all that rest, and they come out and look sloppy

Frankly I don't think either defense was up to snuff energy wise after playing their 4th game in 19 days. I don't like kicking FGs either but I'm fine with at least TRYING to run it in down close before going all Kellen Moore. Though I really wish they'd use Rico or Leupke down there more than Pollard. Power running is just not his thing.

 

[Bagman]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

Excellent post Ronnie

 

[JustChip]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

While I agree with you, TOP means nothing if you don’t score. Scoring is the priority. TOP for the Thanksgiving game was exactly the opposite, yet Warshington was blown out.

This is similar to the argument fans make about scoring late to take a lead, but leaving time for the other team to potentially have a winning drive. It doesn’t matter how much time is left if you’re behind - you do what you have to do to score then worry about the time.

 

[RonnieT24]

While I agree with you, TOP means nothing if you don’t score. Scoring is the priority. TOP for the Thanksgiving game was exactly the opposite, yet Warshington was blown out.

This is similar to the argument fans make about scoring late to take a lead, but leaving time for the other team to potentially have a winning drive. It doesn’t matter how much time is left if you’re behind - you do what you have to do to score then worry about the time.

It goes without saying is that you're trying to score. What I am saying is that trying to score without paying attention to the other side of the ball, the game situation et al is foolhardy. The best example is when a team is driving for what would be the game winning points and they get into game winning FG position with 2 minutes left and the other team with 1 timeout. So with 1st and goal at the 9 yard like do they throw three passes into the end zone trying to score a TD and if they fail kick the FG with 1:40 left? Or do they run the ball three times, consume that last timeout, then 40 seconds each on the next two runs and kick the FG with maybe 15-20 seconds left? In that situation "do what you do to score and then worry about the time" is the worst decision you could make. That's what I am talking about.. you have to be playing the long game. The Washington game was an outlier because you were playing a vastly inferior team. In those games you can pretty much do whatever you want. I'm talking about taking on somebody closer to your own weight class. Play stupid against that team and you get your lights punched out.

 

[Flamma]

We have been debating the whole "why not just try to score on every drive as quickly as possible and the hell with time of possession" deal for years.. So at the end of last night's game.. where neither team punted you could clearly see that late in the 4th quarter one defense had energy left to make stops when they needed and the other team didn't. On team's defense ended up being on the field less than 24 minutes while the other had been on the field over 36 minutes. One defense got stops on downs on the opponent's last three drives giving up 79 yards while the other defense gave up two field goals and a TD on the opponent's last three drives giving up 150 yards. If ever there was an illustration of the value of continuing to run the ball and control the clock last night was it. I can's shake the feeling that if Kellen Moore was still our OC last night we lose this game.

I think the entire 2016 season was a good example as well. That D we had borderline sucked. But played better because they weren't on the field that often.

 

[RonnieT24]

I think the entire 2016 season was a good example as well. That D we had borderline sucked. But played better because they weren't on the field that often.

Yeah 2014 was similar in that regard. I would not go so far as to say they sucked but I do think in both years the defensive rankings were greatly enhanced by the fact that they generally had to play about 24-25 minutes a game because the offense was hanging onto the ball on long scoring drives. When the offense didn't do that, the defense got torched by good QBs and good offenses. I do think this defense is better than those two, but not the all time great level we were hoping for. So there will be more games where the offense will need to help them out.. Complementary football!

 

[Flamma]

Yeah 2014 was similar in that regard. I would not go so far as to say they sucked but I do think in both years the defensive rankings were greatly enhanced by the fact that they generally had to play about 24-25 minutes a game because the offense was hanging onto the ball on long scoring drives. When the offense didn't do that, the defense got torched by good QBs and good offenses. I do think this defense is better than those two, but not the all time great level we were hoping for. So there will be more games where the offense will need to help them out.. Complementary football!

I couldn't agree more, and I don't know how I forgot about 2014.

I didn't say the D sucked, I said borderline sucked . I'm pretty sure that was what remained of the defense that used to collapse when Sean Lee got injured.