xwalker
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The All-22 is not available yet. This review is just from the Broadcast view.
They did have a chance to win this game which was more than I expected considering all of the injuries.
I find many of the threads blaming certain players to be really comical. I have no idea how people watched that game and came away thinking it was the fault of Devin Street and Demarcus Lawrence.
The big picture is that Weeden would not throw past about 8 yards and everything else can be traced back to that problem.
He threw long twice, one was the at the very beginning of the game the other time was the over throw to Witten at about 20 yards. The initial long throw resulted in a penalty against the defense and seemed to help open up the run game in the first half; however, once the Falcons figured out that he just wouldn't or couldn't complete a pass past 10 yards, they just started loading up against the run and where able to get more pressure on the QB.
Once the offense couldn't eat up the clock, the defense which was very short handed at DE, started to get tired.
Other than Weeden I didn't see any specific players that were consistently terrible other than the FB Clutts.
The outside WRs didn't really have a chance. Guys like Street and Butler were running routes past 10 yards but were never going to get the ball regardless of whether they were getting open because Weeden had already dumped the ball off at about 3 yards when the outside WRs were still only half way into their routes. Yes, Williams dropped a slant and had another one batted down by the defender but other than that the outside WRs just were not going to get a chance regardless of their ability.
Williams is not great but he also does not suck. He just has limitations. Everybody should know by now that certain routes/throws are going to be a problem for him. He can be great on slant routes when they are thrown in a specific way but he will definitely struggle if the throw is outside his comfort zone. Weeden threw him an Elway/Farve type fastball which is always going to be difficult for him on a slant route that close to the line of scrimmage. Also he does much better when the ball is leading him than he does when it is right at or slightly behind him.
Without the All-22 I could only occasionally see the WRs that were not getting the ball, but there were 2 specific times I recall seeing deeper options wide open and Weeden still threw short. On one play the WR Butler was wide open on a curl at about 12 yards but Weeden threw short. On another play Witten was wide open just past the 1st down line about 9 yards out but Weeden again threw it short.
The run game was shut down in the 2nd half because Atlanta loaded up defenders in the box because Weeden was not a threat past about 8 yards. There were a few players that had some individual fails, but nothing extreme. Some run plays would fail or be limited due to just 1 failed block. It could be Collins not blocking the right guy, Martin not being able to sustain a block long enough, Free just getting overpowered or Clutts just sucking. Swap FBs with Atlanta and there is a good chance the Cowboys win that game. Collins can make some terrific blocks but he also makes some mistakes. Getting Leary back will be helpful.
I didn't see any problem with the RBs. There was one play where McFadden went inside the OT and I thought he should have gone outside, but otherwise they were generally doing OK. There was nothing there for Randle on that 3rd and short play. The Cowboys tried the Jumbo package and their success rate with that package seems very low the past few years. They do much better spreading it out and giving the defense more than one thing to defend against.
On defense, the basic story was that they got tired, especially on the DL. They really only had 1 true DE active. They had to play Wilber and even the 6', 240 LB Wilson at DE. The other DEs were Jack Crawford who has bulked up to play DT and Russell who show some good physical ability but made some mistakes and is really not ready to that much action.
I watched Lawrence on all of his snaps and just didn't see why people are calling him out. First, people don't understand that while on most teams the DEs are the primary pass rushers, in Marinelli's defense, the primary pass rushers are the RDE and the 3tech DT. The LDE plays more of a 5tech type position while the RDE is more of a 7tech.
There were some run plays where Lawrence was rushing up-field somewhat taking him out of position against the run, but in this defense that is basically part of the play call. If they want him to say back and play the run they'll make that part of the defensive play call. They did have him start playing more run contain in the 2nd half in an effort to stop the bleeding. When Lawrence played some snaps at RDE he got very close to the QB but he didn't play many snaps over there. There were snaps where they were double teaming Lawrence at LDE while they were blocking the RDE with a TE. The lack of consistent pressure from the other side or the middle made it easy for the QB to avoid Lawrence when he did get pressure.
The LBs seemed a bit off. They might have gotten a bit tired due to the Cowboys offense not holding the ball long enough and due to the DL not covering them from blockers adequately; however, there were many plays that the LBs had a chance to make and didn't. Hitchens seemed little off in this game. Lee didn't seem quite like himself after he went in to get his lip stitched up. I think he might have had his bell rung on that play. It seemed unlike him to come out just for a split lip. Wilber let himself get boxed out on one of the big run plays.
The secondary did better than I expected against Julio Jones. The Falcons did some scheming to get him open. They got a big play by lining him up in the slot on the same side as 2 other WRs. They kept the single high Safety Wilcox on that side while Jones ran an in route across to the other side away from the Safety help and he was an obvious mismatch on Patmon.
Wilcox is another guy that people are posting about. He did have 2 big missed tackles; however, he also had several tackles of a runner with a full head of steam and no other defenders in sight if Wilcox missed. I can't really determine blame of the TD where they brought the WR across the formation in the backfield with a roll out by the QB. It was a great play design. It was initially Carr's man but Carr couldn't get through the traffic and either or both Church and Wilcox were a step late. I'm not certain if Wilcox had a good view into the backfield initially on that play. In general, Wilcox was where he should have been and was not taking bad angles or making significant mental mistakes. There generally had already been a significant fail somewhere before runners made it to Wilcox.
Summary:
Weeden has to throw deep sometimes even if it's not a completion.
I doubt if Cassell is an option next week, but they might have to just not give Weeden any underneath options if they want him to throw it more than 5 yards in the air.
No way to judge WRs like Street when Weeden is not going to look at them regardless because they are running routes past 10 yards.
The defense really needs Mincey back.
Having the DE like Lawrence rush wide is a coaching decision somewhat like calling a blitz. It can make the defense vulnerable to the run if the LBs are not covering the area vacated by the DE.
Blitzing Lee also resulted in huge gain that is highly doubtful to have happened if Lee is not blitzing. That was a desperation move that won't be needed when Hardy, Gregory and Mincey are all back.
This is the first game where I thought RoMc could be a big help. There were some plays where Hitchens almost had the runner but was just out-muscled a little bit by a blocker. I could see RoMc making those plays.
The OL is just a little off. They should be able to improve as the season progresses. Leary coming back will help. Martin may not be 100% but I would expect that to improve.
Coaches: Please consider getting another FB or not using that formation. This is the 2nd week that Clutts has killed a run with a terrible block.
Coaches: Please remove the Jumbo formation from the playbook. It is not a good percentage play for this team. They are better on short yardage when they spread out the defense.
They did have a chance to win this game which was more than I expected considering all of the injuries.
I find many of the threads blaming certain players to be really comical. I have no idea how people watched that game and came away thinking it was the fault of Devin Street and Demarcus Lawrence.
The big picture is that Weeden would not throw past about 8 yards and everything else can be traced back to that problem.
He threw long twice, one was the at the very beginning of the game the other time was the over throw to Witten at about 20 yards. The initial long throw resulted in a penalty against the defense and seemed to help open up the run game in the first half; however, once the Falcons figured out that he just wouldn't or couldn't complete a pass past 10 yards, they just started loading up against the run and where able to get more pressure on the QB.
Once the offense couldn't eat up the clock, the defense which was very short handed at DE, started to get tired.
Other than Weeden I didn't see any specific players that were consistently terrible other than the FB Clutts.
The outside WRs didn't really have a chance. Guys like Street and Butler were running routes past 10 yards but were never going to get the ball regardless of whether they were getting open because Weeden had already dumped the ball off at about 3 yards when the outside WRs were still only half way into their routes. Yes, Williams dropped a slant and had another one batted down by the defender but other than that the outside WRs just were not going to get a chance regardless of their ability.
Williams is not great but he also does not suck. He just has limitations. Everybody should know by now that certain routes/throws are going to be a problem for him. He can be great on slant routes when they are thrown in a specific way but he will definitely struggle if the throw is outside his comfort zone. Weeden threw him an Elway/Farve type fastball which is always going to be difficult for him on a slant route that close to the line of scrimmage. Also he does much better when the ball is leading him than he does when it is right at or slightly behind him.
Without the All-22 I could only occasionally see the WRs that were not getting the ball, but there were 2 specific times I recall seeing deeper options wide open and Weeden still threw short. On one play the WR Butler was wide open on a curl at about 12 yards but Weeden threw short. On another play Witten was wide open just past the 1st down line about 9 yards out but Weeden again threw it short.
The run game was shut down in the 2nd half because Atlanta loaded up defenders in the box because Weeden was not a threat past about 8 yards. There were a few players that had some individual fails, but nothing extreme. Some run plays would fail or be limited due to just 1 failed block. It could be Collins not blocking the right guy, Martin not being able to sustain a block long enough, Free just getting overpowered or Clutts just sucking. Swap FBs with Atlanta and there is a good chance the Cowboys win that game. Collins can make some terrific blocks but he also makes some mistakes. Getting Leary back will be helpful.
I didn't see any problem with the RBs. There was one play where McFadden went inside the OT and I thought he should have gone outside, but otherwise they were generally doing OK. There was nothing there for Randle on that 3rd and short play. The Cowboys tried the Jumbo package and their success rate with that package seems very low the past few years. They do much better spreading it out and giving the defense more than one thing to defend against.
On defense, the basic story was that they got tired, especially on the DL. They really only had 1 true DE active. They had to play Wilber and even the 6', 240 LB Wilson at DE. The other DEs were Jack Crawford who has bulked up to play DT and Russell who show some good physical ability but made some mistakes and is really not ready to that much action.
I watched Lawrence on all of his snaps and just didn't see why people are calling him out. First, people don't understand that while on most teams the DEs are the primary pass rushers, in Marinelli's defense, the primary pass rushers are the RDE and the 3tech DT. The LDE plays more of a 5tech type position while the RDE is more of a 7tech.
There were some run plays where Lawrence was rushing up-field somewhat taking him out of position against the run, but in this defense that is basically part of the play call. If they want him to say back and play the run they'll make that part of the defensive play call. They did have him start playing more run contain in the 2nd half in an effort to stop the bleeding. When Lawrence played some snaps at RDE he got very close to the QB but he didn't play many snaps over there. There were snaps where they were double teaming Lawrence at LDE while they were blocking the RDE with a TE. The lack of consistent pressure from the other side or the middle made it easy for the QB to avoid Lawrence when he did get pressure.
The LBs seemed a bit off. They might have gotten a bit tired due to the Cowboys offense not holding the ball long enough and due to the DL not covering them from blockers adequately; however, there were many plays that the LBs had a chance to make and didn't. Hitchens seemed little off in this game. Lee didn't seem quite like himself after he went in to get his lip stitched up. I think he might have had his bell rung on that play. It seemed unlike him to come out just for a split lip. Wilber let himself get boxed out on one of the big run plays.
The secondary did better than I expected against Julio Jones. The Falcons did some scheming to get him open. They got a big play by lining him up in the slot on the same side as 2 other WRs. They kept the single high Safety Wilcox on that side while Jones ran an in route across to the other side away from the Safety help and he was an obvious mismatch on Patmon.
Wilcox is another guy that people are posting about. He did have 2 big missed tackles; however, he also had several tackles of a runner with a full head of steam and no other defenders in sight if Wilcox missed. I can't really determine blame of the TD where they brought the WR across the formation in the backfield with a roll out by the QB. It was a great play design. It was initially Carr's man but Carr couldn't get through the traffic and either or both Church and Wilcox were a step late. I'm not certain if Wilcox had a good view into the backfield initially on that play. In general, Wilcox was where he should have been and was not taking bad angles or making significant mental mistakes. There generally had already been a significant fail somewhere before runners made it to Wilcox.
Summary:
Weeden has to throw deep sometimes even if it's not a completion.
I doubt if Cassell is an option next week, but they might have to just not give Weeden any underneath options if they want him to throw it more than 5 yards in the air.
No way to judge WRs like Street when Weeden is not going to look at them regardless because they are running routes past 10 yards.
The defense really needs Mincey back.
Having the DE like Lawrence rush wide is a coaching decision somewhat like calling a blitz. It can make the defense vulnerable to the run if the LBs are not covering the area vacated by the DE.
Blitzing Lee also resulted in huge gain that is highly doubtful to have happened if Lee is not blitzing. That was a desperation move that won't be needed when Hardy, Gregory and Mincey are all back.
This is the first game where I thought RoMc could be a big help. There were some plays where Hitchens almost had the runner but was just out-muscled a little bit by a blocker. I could see RoMc making those plays.
The OL is just a little off. They should be able to improve as the season progresses. Leary coming back will help. Martin may not be 100% but I would expect that to improve.
Coaches: Please consider getting another FB or not using that formation. This is the 2nd week that Clutts has killed a run with a terrible block.
Coaches: Please remove the Jumbo formation from the playbook. It is not a good percentage play for this team. They are better on short yardage when they spread out the defense.
