Quit trying so hard to get TO the ball

[InmanRoshi]

Wow. Just six weeks ago we were talking about how TO is faster after he spent the summer training by running in the sand.

What were "we" basing that on? Offseason fluff articles?

Now, all of a sudden he's lost it in his first game back with his starting QB who is still rusty after having the likes of Johnson and Bollinger throw him the ball.

He hasn't had 100 yards receiving in the Cowboys last 15 games.

 

[khiladi]

Bradie James is too unathletic to play MLB at an average level in this league. Sure he can fill but he must be able to cover the flats, the seams and some man.

When he is in coverage... Someone is open.

TO is still the best WR on this team. He just has to be hit in stride and he will make plays.

Oh, I agree in both areas...

 

[khiladi]

Patrick Crayton had 50 receptions last year and only 27 this year, in ten games. Is he gonna catch 23 receptions in 6 games?I guess he lost a step also...Jason Witten had 69 first downs last year and has only 21 this year, in ten games... I guess Jason Witten is gonna have 48 frst downs in his next six games... Oh, did I mention he had 7 TDS last year while he has only 2 this year... I guess he also lost a step...

 

[DaBoys4Life]

Patrick Crayton had 50 receptions last year and only 27 this year, in ten games. Is he gonna catch 23 receptions in 6 games?I guess he lost a step also...Jason Witten had 69 first downs last year and has only 21 this year, in ten games... I guess Jason Witten is gonna have 48 frst downs in his next six games... Oh, did I mention he had 7 TDS last year while he has only 2 this year... I guess he also lost a step...

none of them are 34.....

 

[InmanRoshi]

Witten in 2nd in the NFL among TE's in catches, tied for 1st in yards.

TO is 34th among NFL WR's in catches, 34th among NFL WR's in yards. Behind such spectacular talents as Greg Camarillo, Devery Henderson, Kevin Walter and Lance Moore.

Numbers are fun.

 

[khiladi]

none of them are 34.....

Which is the whole point? How can one legitimately argue that TO has lost a step because of age, when ever single player on offense has had his numbers dramatically decline...This offense has been sputtering for the last '15 games' or so, ever since TO went down and Tony Romo banged his thumb last year. Teams began to figure Jason Garrett out... The difference between this game and last game is JG totally changed the way this offense attacked not only for TO, but the whole OFFENSE. He attacked the edges with Barber all day long, he threw screen plays, to both TO and Roy Williams... He used TO in motion a lot, which created plenty of mis-matches.. TO would have had, most probably a nice TD if Romo didn't underthrow him.. WHo knows what would have happened if Romo wasn't late on the quick slant to TO in which the CB made a nice hit...TO has one bad game a year where he drops balls... It's been the consistent staple of his, and it has nothing to do with him losing a step... When he drops balls, he drops them in spurts...

 

[koolaid]

I thought TO had a decent game.
Yes, he got popped and lost the ball for a pick, but that was more a good play by the defender (Carlos Rogers?) than a bad play by Owens. Other than that, he had one drop, which there is no excuse for as an NFL WR, but TO has never been known for his hands.

 

[khiladi]

Witten in 2nd in the NFL among TE's in catches, tied for 1st in yards.

TO is 34th among NFL WR's in catches, 34th among NFL WR's in yards. Behind such spectacular talents as Greg Camarillo, Devery Henderson, Kevin Walter and Lance Moore.

Numbers are fun.

And your point is? You argued that TO lost a step... If taht is the case, so has Witten... He hasn't produced this year like he did last year... He has 2 TD the whole year and isn't even close to as many first downs...Witten, the last 4 games has a total of 141 yards. No TDs and absollutely no first downs... Interesting isn't it... BTW, Witten isn't doubled anywhere near as much as TO... We can talk about how well this team played last year when TO went down...It has nothing to do with TO and everything to do with teams figuring out this offense...

 

[Doomsday101]

Witten in 2nd in the NFL among TE's in catches, tied for 1st in yards.

TO is 34th among NFL WR's in catches, 34th among NFL WR's in yards. Behind such spectacular talents as Greg Camarillo, Devery Henderson, Kevin Walter and Lance Moore.

Numbers are fun.

I don't think teams spend as much time or focus on them as teams have done with Owens. I don't think Owens has lost anything I think teams have made it a major part of their game plan to take TO out of the game.

 

[khiladi]

If anybody says this offense made a consistent effort to target just TO last game, they are ridiculous. As pointed out, Barber led the team in catches and Barber got plenty of runs to the edges, over and over again... Hell, that whole last drive was Barber, very little, in fact, no TO...
Jason Garrett employed a tweaked game-plan that was different than anything he has thrown out this year... Interesting that this offense did whatever it wanted, with TO in motion all day long...

 

[InmanRoshi]

I don't think teams spend as much time or focus on them as teams have done with Owens. I don't think Owens has lost anything I think teams have made it a major part of their game plan to take TO out of the game.

They also aren't force fed the ball the way the Cowboys do to TO.


TO gets to play next to an All Pro TE and Pro Bowl caliber QB. Look at the Top 5 statistical WRs in categories I see Roddy White, Andre Johnson and Calvin Johnson ... none of whom play with anything near a Pro Bowl QB or an All Pro TE. If team's aren't gameplanning to stop them, who are they game planning around? They seem to overcome it ... because they're the elite WRs in the game today. Just like TO used to overcome double teams when he was one of the elite WRs in the NFL.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think this offense will start spreading the ball around a bit more and I think that they need to do this. If they spread it around more, TO will find that he is making fewer catches for much bigger yards and more TDs. They double him because there is a very good chance that we are going to TO when we drop back to pass. This does two things. It makes there defensive calls much more succesful and it also prevents RAC. If you go away from him, then the defense can't guess that he needs to be double covered all the time. That means that you have to play two deep safeties straight up. That's a big problem for any defense. It would be better for TO, IMO, if we stopped going to him as much until defenses start playing honest.

 

[DaBoys4Life]

Which is the whole point? How can one legitimately argue that TO has lost a step because of age, when ever single player on offense has had his numbers dramatically decline...This offense has been sputtering for the last '15 games' or so, ever since TO went down and Tony Romo banged his thumb last year. Teams began to figure Jason Garrett out... The difference between this game and last game is JG totally changed the way this offense attacked not only for TO, but the whole OFFENSE. He attacked the edges with Barber all day long, he threw screen plays, to both TO and Roy Williams... He used TO in motion a lot, which created plenty of mis-matches.. TO would have had, most probably a nice TD if Romo didn't underthrow him.. WHo knows what would have happened if Romo wasn't late on the quick slant to TO in which the CB made a nice hit...TO has one bad game a year where he drops balls... It's been the consistent staple of his, and it has nothing to do with him losing a step... When he drops balls, he drops them in spurts...

I was just messing with you. I don't think TO lost a step. However that's what people have been saying and then throw out his age...

 

[khiladi]

Everybody talks about slants so much but that IMO is not what we need. Long crossing routes are really his best routes, that is where he is at his best.

They are not his best routes... Slants are his best routes and that is why his best numbers have always been in a WCO... He destroyed this league when he played a full season with Donovan McNabb as a QB...And we need quick slants, because teams are dropping men back in coverage taking away the vertical passing game... This team needed to force the CBs up... Jason Garrett ran at the edges this game to make the CBs play close to the line of scrimmage...The short game tired the Commanders defense completely by the fourth quarter... Barber was punishing the front-line and secondary with his runs in the 4th...

 

[DallasEast]

I think this offense will start spreading the ball around a bit more and I think that they need to do this. If they spread it around more, TO will find that he is making fewer catches for much bigger yards and more TDs. They double him because there is a very good chance that we are going to TO when we drop back to pass. This does two things. It makes there defensive calls much more succesful and it also prevents RAC. If you go away from him, then the defense can't guess that he needs to be double covered all the time. That means that you have to play two deep safeties straight up. That's a big problem for any defense. It would be better for TO, IMO, if we stopped going to him as much until defenses start playing honest.

Very good post.

 

[Doomsday101]

TO gets to play next to an All Pro TE and Pro Bowl caliber QB.


Look at the Top 5 statistical WRs in categories I see Roddy White, Andre Johnson and Calvin Johnson ... none of whom play with anything near a Pro Bowl QB or an All Pro TE. If team's aren't gameplanning to stop them, who are they game planning around?

Listen to the coach who go aginst us the 1st thing they talk about is Owens. He is focused on and it is up to Romo and the other WR to make them pay when they do it. Owen number right now are down having Johnson and Bollinger throwing to him has not been a help to Owen or any other WR. Owens number before Romo went down were not bad

 

[InmanRoshi]

Listen to the coach who go aginst us the 1st thing they talk about is Owens. He is focused on and it is up to Romo and the other WR to make them pay when they do it. Owen number right now are down having Johnson and Bollinger throwing to him has not been a help to Owen or any other WR. Owens number before Romo went down were not bad

Again, you're avoiding the question. Why do Andre Johnson, Roddy White and Calvin Johnson put up elite numbers with even less talent around them?

I'm not saying he's bad, he's just not an elite player anymore. He's a Top 15-20 WR (even though his objective numbers are more in line with a Top 40 WR, I'll be a homer give him the benefit of the doubt). No shame in that, but we don't need to build our entire offense around force feeding a Top 15 WR the ball when we have an offense full of weapons.

 

[SultanOfSix]

What were "we" basing that on? Offseason fluff articles?

I'm not sure what everyone was basing it one, but a lot of fans on this board, as well as some commentators mentioned this notion when we were winning. However, when we started losing, and we had a non-QB as QB in for three games, all of a sudden TO lost a step, or the 'Skins came up with the blue print on how to defend him. Which, by the way, was usually press and then a safety over the top for the majority of his plays. Does an non-elite wide receiver get safety help on the majority of his plays?

He hasn't had 100 yards receiving in the Cowboys last 15 games.

So, let's say if he has a one hundred yard game next week and week after, it will be due to inferior competition, right?

I'm just curious to know when you like to apply stats and when you don't. You seem to have this bias against TO ever since he's been here. It's pretty easy to spot your various biases. For example, BP seemingly does no wrong to you.

TO's numbers have been typically put up in a West Coast type of offense. Garrett's offense is more timing based. You don't seem to like Garrett either, due to the association with the 90s team, so perhaps it's Garrett's fault that he's not putting him in a position to succeed.

What I heard from various sources is that TO was open for huge gains in the Tampa as well as the Rams games, but no one could get him the ball. Is that his fault also?

There are a lot of variables that go into games that need to be taken into account.

 

[Doomsday101]

I'm not saying he's bad, he's just not an elite player anymore. He's a Top 15-20 WR.

Again, why do Andre Johnson, Roddy White and Calvin Johnson put up elite numbers with even less talent around them?

Your entitled to your opinion. I think Owens is still an elite player who like most of the offense has had to deal with backup QB's who did a poor job. Because you don't have pro bowl next to a team mates name does not mean you don't have other quality players around you. Houston does have some very good play from their TE Owen Daniels has about as many catches as does Witten

 

[khiladi]

Your entitled to your opinion. I think Owens is still an elite player who like most of the offense has had to deal with backup QB's who did a poor job. Because you don't have pro bowl next to a team mates name does not mean you don't have other quality players around you. Houston does have some very good play from their TE Owen Daniels has about as many catches as does Witten

Andre Johnson hasn't broken 70 yards in his past 3 games and has only 2 TD to Owens 6. I guess Andre Johnson has lost a step, or maybe teams are now making more effort to try and stop him...