Our Running Plays vs. Skins (all 8 of them)

[percyhoward]

FWIW, the first 3 weeks of the season, teams had great success running left against the Skins.

Runs vs Wash (first 3 games)
RIGHT: 37 rushes, 130 yards 3.5 ypr
LEFT: 25 rushes, 158 yards 6.3 ypr
MIDDLE: 12 rushes, 40 yards 3.3 ypr

 

[ctrous25]

We ran 58 plays from scrimmage against the Skins, and only 2 plays were runs to the right side, behind Colombo and Davis.

That says it all right there

 

[Green28]

Idk what Garrett was thinking yesterday

no Felix

only 8 runs by Barber

only 2 to the right side

wth?

Maybe they saw the tape of the last time the Skins shut down the Cowboys....16 rushes, 1 yd.

This game was actually an improvement.

 

[AdamJT13]

I agree with the basic idea that you can't be deterred from running just because of some early failures. But half of Barber's carries were for 1 yard or less. At Green Bay, he rushed 15 times in the first half and never had even one carry of 1 yard or less.

At Green Bay, Barber averaged 5.3 yards per carry in the first half. That's much better than his average this season (4.4) and even more superior to the NFL average. I'm talking about a normal distribution of yardage (which is exactly what I said), not the yardage distribution when you're running far better than average.

Against Philadelphia, HIS FIRST FIVE CARRIES went for 1 yard or less. So did two of his next four and four of his last six. Out of 18 carries overall, 11 of them went for 1 yard or less, and two more gained only 2 yards. That's a worse distribution than what we had against Washington, when we almost completely stopped running.

 

[AdamJT13]

FWIW, the first 3 weeks of the season, teams had great success running left against the Skins.

Runs vs Wash (first 3 games)
RIGHT: 37 rushes, 130 yards 3.5 ypr
LEFT: 25 rushes, 158 yards 6.3 ypr
MIDDLE: 12 rushes, 40 yards 3.3 ypr

But they also rank DEAD LAST in the NFL against runs behind the right guard -- 5.73 yards per carry.

 

[DallasDomination]

Wow..I hate that game:bang2:

 

[LeonDixson]

Nice thread.

Mickey was defending the lack of runs on Talkin' Cowboys, saying they are were basically all loses so why bother running and that the Cowboys have never been a team to beat another team by running on them.

Mickey's main point was this. We can criticize the offense and the play calling (or Romo's audibles) all we want but they still scored 24 points. The defense was the real reason we lost the game.

However, I agree they should have run a few more plays behind Colombo and Bigg.

 

[AdamJT13]

Mickey's main point was this. We can criticize the offense and the play calling (or Romo's audibles) all we want but they still scored 24 points. The defense was the real reason we lost the game.

How many points would the defense have allowed if we hadn't turned the ball over inside our territory or gone three-and-out four times? The Commanders' scoring was directly related to their field position, and we gave them good field position too often because we weren't consistently moving the ball on offense.

The defense deserves a lot of blame, but the offense deserves its share, too.

 

[LarryCanadian]

I think this is an excellent thread and important in a couple of subtle ways:

1. It shows the value of a good FB to the running game. Cricket is more important than many realize, and I hate not having a veteran, proven blocker from the FB position. When Cricket went out last year it hurt run game too.

2. Shows the value of good Oline Depth, and how just one position can cost you. Not slagging Proctor, but shows Kosier is pretty reliable doesn't it.

Also, Adam's numbers are interesting. Barber's distribution is starting to look a lot more like Julius's with lots of short runs, then some longer ones. At least in tougher games. I much prefer Barber and feel he is the superior player, but to me it just goes to show how Emmitt Smith spoiled us all. I keep posting this over and over, but for me, Emmitt's real superior quality was his consistency in getting 3-7 yards. If someone ran Emmitt's numbers, particularly in the first 2/3rds of his career, I think his distribution would show just how often he hit 3, 5, 7 yard runs. He didn't run many 15-25 yarders, but he rarely didn't negative, zero, or 1 yarders easier, which is why Dallas moved the sticks so well. Emmitt was a 1st down machine, getting them himself and setting up 2 and 3rd and short where Irvin and Novaceck would then have an easier time of it. Ball control offense. Our offense now is more big play. It's still finding an identity. Blocking helps though. The thing I like about Barber is that he fights hard and often gets that extra yard or two that helps the distribution, even on his longer plays. This is where I thought Julius Jones fell short for us last few years. I think some of it is psychological for our Oline and for enemy Defense. 2nd and 8 after getting hit in the backfield yet digging for a 3 yards is so much better than 2nd and 11.

This team has a bunch of work to do yet. Getting a FB back and being less predictable in run game (by mixing in Felix AND by throwing to backs a bit) will help I think.

LarryCanadian

 

[CrazyCowboy]

I would of never believed it.....wow

 

[AdamJT13]

Also, Adam's numbers are interesting. Barber's distribution is starting to look a lot more like Julius's with lots of short runs, then some longer ones.

That's not Julius' distribution, it's everyone's. That's my point. The NFL average last year was 30.2 percent of all carries going for 1 yard or less. Barber was right at 30.2. Julius was at 32.1 -- a difference of two or three carries out of 165. LaDainian Tomlinson was at 33.0 percent. Adrian Peterson was at 35.6 percent.

Take it up to 2 yards or less (NFL average last year: 44.6 percent), and all four of those backs were worse than the average.

The reason guys such as Tomlinson and Peterson had high averages per carry last season wasn't because they didn't get stopped short a lot, it was because they broke a lot of long runs. That's what makes a high average, not avoiding the short ones.

 

[LarryCanadian]

I understand what you are saying Adam and I haven't worked the numbers, but my gut feeling from watching is that Barber's distribution (taking out short touchdown runs for all RB's) would have a MEDIAN or a distribution that is slightly better than Julius Jones'. I do agree that the average distribution you are talking about is standard accross NFL and has likely been for years. AVERAGE is a bit misleading like you said. Short Touchdowns, and singular or a few very long runs throw off the picture. That is why IMHO taking into account MEDIAN, and to a lesser extent even MODE, makes a more thorough picture.

Negative runs are like sacks, very hurtful for psychological and down and distance reasons. My unverified opinion with regards to Barber vs Julius (and other similar back for that matter) is just that Barber so aggressively fights for that extra yard or two, lunging, diving, digging, driving. That extra yard or two every 2nd or 3rd run is underrated if you asks me and shifts that distribution (bell shaped) curve to the right just that little bit, that I think makes all the difference for an offensive running game.

This is why IMHO (again) I though Emmitt was such a much more effective RB than Barry Sanders. Sustaining drives as you mention in this thread or another Adam is important. You are right, the offense played a big part in loss, because it went 3 and out so quickly so often against 'Skins. The other thing is if you pass all the time and go incomplete alot and the other team is running on you, they completely control the game clock and game plan and often field position, as the 'Skins did to near perfection on Sunday. Give Skins credit they gameplanned us and followed it well. Intersting, Divisional rivals know you so much better, which is why those Division games can go any which way.

A 4 yard running average is considered a necessity in NFL. Like Adam says, how that 4 yard average comes about is actually very interesting. I still think Dallas was spoiled through the nineties and got used to CONSISTENT 4 yard gains by EMMITT, and we are now seeing more the traditional distribution be it with Julius Jones, or Barber. It's nice to have the potential weapon in Felix Jones to throw that distribution off a bit. I'd like to see Felix Jone's distribution after 100 runs in his NFL career. Wonder what it would look like even if he's averaging over 6 yards hehe. 1, 3, 0, 72, 3 ....hehe.


LarryCanadian

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Maybe they saw the tape of the last time the Skins shut down the Cowboys....16 rushes, 1 yd.

This game was actually an improvement.

why are you still here?

are you guys going to be a 9-7 team again this year? no, things change from year to year, and this year, we're stronger running to our right, than we are at our left

it's inexcusable that we only tried to rush to that side twice

but thanks nonetheless for injecting your useless "truism" into this thread

 

[ABQcowboyJR]

Yep, they could have told Tony at any time to stop the audibles and run anyway. But, they didn't. The problem is, we use the pass to set up the run and we weren't able to do that successfully. The audibles have to end up with completions often enough to encourage the other team to change what they are doing, but that wasn't happening. I guess we didn't have enough plays putting T.O. in motion, which stops them from banging on him while he is trying to get free at the LOS. Hopefully, next time a team does this to us we have the motion plays to fight back.

The goal of every defense is to stop the run first, so if we just don't run when at all when the defense lines up a certain way, they win by default. They've stopped the run without having to tackle anyone. We have to have the plays to stop this, or that is all we will see the rest of the year. They will just line up like they have 8 in the box, then go wherever they want to after the ball is snapped.

I agree that using the pass to set up the run is the problem. We have a huge offensive line and a strong physical back. I feel like we are much less talented in the passing game then the running game. Both weapons are good but why not put your best foot forward and let the passing game feed off the running game.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I agree that using the pass to set up the run is the problem. We have a huge offensive line and a strong physical back. I feel like we are much less talented in the passing game then the running game. Both weapons are good but why not put your best foot forward and let the passing game feed off the running game.

idk dude, here are our passing game weapons:

TO
Witten
Bennett
Crayton
Austin
Felix Jones

 

[ABQcowboyJR]

idk dude, here are our passing game weapons:

TO
Witten
Bennett
Crayton
Austin
Felix Jones

Like i said they are both very talented. If we had another top end WR I would have to go with the pass as the strong point. Our line should be able to physically beat any D in the trenches.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Like i said they are both very talented. If we had another top end WR I would have to go with the pass as the strong point. Our line should be able to physically beat any D in the trenches.

the scheme is not the problem

it was just abandoning the running game too soon and too fast

 

[ABQcowboyJR]

the scheme is not the problem

it was just abandoning the running game too soon and too fast

yeah thats probably true. I prefer run first pass second. Just feel like more bad things can happen when you pass then when you run.

 

[percyhoward]

LEFT: 18 rushes, 47 yards 2.6 ypr
MIDDLE: 15 rushes, 54 yards 3.6 ypr
RIGHT: 36 rushes, 205 yards 5.7 ypr

That's what Barber's done thru 4 games. Obviously, his success comes from running right. Going into that game, 56% of Barber's runs had been to the right side. That's why it's odd that we only had him running in that direction on 25% of his carries vs. Washington (2 carries).

If we'd run more, and just kept running left or up the middle at a 75% clip, we wouldn't have had much more success anyway. We needed to run right, it seems to me. And I have no idea why we didn't.

I hope it's a mistake we learn from, anyway.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

LEFT: 18 rushes, 47 yards 2.6 ypr
MIDDLE: 15 rushes, 54 yards 3.6 ypr
RIGHT: 36 rushes, 205 yards 5.7 ypr

That's what Barber's done thru 4 games. Obviously, his success comes from running right. Going into that game, 56% of Barber's runs had been to the right side. That's why it's odd that we only had him running in that direction on 25% of his carries vs. Washington (2 carries).

If we'd run more, and just kept running left or up the middle at a 75% clip, we wouldn't have had much more success anyway. We needed to run right, it seems to me. And I have no idea why we didn't.

I hope it's a mistake we learn from, anyway.

you pointed out that Wash is weak this year defending the left-side, their right-side, or were until we played

I think Garrett outcoached himself