"Balance" has ruined this offense and the season

[erod]

Here's a shocking statement for you to ponder: If Dallas threw the ball on every down this season to date, they'd be 7-4 or better right now.

OK, here me out.

Much of the reason for 5-6 is that Dallas has been behind early in almost every game this season, certainly of late. Down 28-3 to the Commanders, down 23-0 to the Giants, down 13-0 to the Browns...Dallas has seemingly trailed in every game. Then, they come storming back, only to fall short in the end.

Jason Garrett seems to have made an offseason commitment to being "balanced". I think we all agree with that sentiment, as good football typically is just that. And Garrett comes out every game making sure they're running the ball early. He trying desperately to mix the pass and the run more than a year ago.

Then.....WHAM! Down by two touchdowns.

That's when Garrett says "screw it" and starts chucking the ball. Romo takes over completely, and it's Katie-bar-the-doors football for the entire second half as the Cowboys try to claw their way back into the game. Usually, they do, to their credit.

They almost did it against the Giants and Commanders. They were moving the ball nicely against the Bears, Falcons, and Seahawks until turnovers took over.

Outside of an inexplicable performance against Baltimore, and a single run against the Giants that was all Demarco Murray, the run game has been pointless. Even still, Dallas threw its way back into the game late against Baltimore and missed a kick to win it.

This offensive line has been excrutiatingly bad at everything, but Romo saves enough of the day to give the team a fighting chance with its improved defense from a year ago. (Romo does seem to be getting a little antsy lately out of distrust; I hope that doesn't ruin him.)

If Garrett believes he's coaching for his job, he needs to entirely scrub the run game so he can stop falling behind early. Only run with a two-score lead. If he'd done that all along, there might be two or more wins in the books. It sucks to even write that.

Let's agree, that's no way to play football in the long run, but when you have an offensive line in name only, it may be the only chance at success.

What an ugly reality. Football blasphemy or bust.

 

[ufcrules1]

"OK, here me out"

Slow down man...

 

[CF74]

Slow down man...

We are usually down because of early picks or just bad passes on 3rd down, but continue requesting passing on every single down...
Maybe we can go 35 for 70...

 

[cowboysooner]

With this team, I don't disagree. Green Bay has done it. New Orleans often does it. Last year Eli did it. New England used to do it. Even Pittsburgh did it some last year.

The Green Bay and to a lesser extent the the Giants do it because their offensive line just can't run block and they have these fabulous weapons at wide receiver that are dangerous to take it the distance.

We are short of weapons at the 3rd receiver unless Harris really comes on or Murray comes back to essentially be our 3rd receiver.

I don't think running with Felix or Dubar will be effective with this line other than against Philly's unsound wide 9.

 

[xwalker]

Here's a shocking statement for you to ponder: If Dallas threw the ball on every down this season to date, they'd be 7-4 or better right now.

OK, here (hear) me out.

I'm a firm believer that the Cowboys biggest problem is the lack of ability to run the ball effectively. Having said that, if they can't run the ball, then I agree that trying to run it is a waste of down(s).

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Here's a shocking statement for you to ponder: If Dallas threw the ball on every down this season to date, they'd be 7-4 or better right now.

Great. You post this the week it looks like Murray is finally coming back?

 

[Yakuza Rich]

You have to think ahead though.

Throw on every down and the QB gets hit more. More he gets hit, the more likely he will get injured. He gets injured and your playoff hopes are dashed.

You also have a team that has a ton of injuries on defense. The more passes you throw, the less time goes off the clock. Less time goes off the clock, more time the defense will be out on the field and you're working with a M*A*S*H unit already. More injuries only make things more difficult.

I think we need to change some things up. I would try and pepper some hurry up in there. We have an obvious problem with discipline on offense. We can't run the ball and when teams have time to set up their blitz, it gives us problems. Run some hurry up allows us to simplify the plays. The opposing defense cannot set up their blitz and coverage looks to confuse the offense. And I believe we would run better out of a hurry up.

The only problem is that with the hurry up, you better have 3 tailbacks that can play. You'll have to substitute them in and out constantly. So if Murray comes back, we can then use it with him, Dunbar and Felix.










YR

 

[a_minimalist]

One day we don't run it enough. The next we are too balanced. You guys complain just to complain.

 

[Reality]

One day we don't run it enough. The next we are too balanced. You guys complain just to complain.

I am convinced that if we had run the ball every time we passed and we had passed every time we ran the ball, we would be 11-0 right now.

#reality

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

If Garrett would change the tempo at which we play...it would help a run game look somewhat adequate. How about quick snap it sometimes? How about no huddle? How about trying to run from spread formations. We HAVE to be the easiest team to prepare for...because we do the SAME thing every week. I truly believe this is WHY Romo has a defeated body language this year. I mean we are the ONLY team to not eclipse 10 points in the 1st half. This is just mind blowing!

 

[goshan]

If Garrett would change the tempo at which we play...it would help a run game look somewhat adequate. How about quick snap it sometimes? How about no huddle? How about trying to run from spread formations. We HAVE to be the easiest team to prepare for...because we do the SAME thing every week. I truly believe this is WHY Romo has a defeated body language this year. I mean we are the ONLY team to not eclipse 10 points in the 1st half. This is just mind blowing!

This is dead-on. I don't think the solution to our offensive woes is about passing all the time or as others have complained about, sticking with the run more. Its changing tempo and being more variable about our offensive approach. Run the hurry-up for a few series. Come in with a game-plan to run more pitch-outs and draws. We simply are way too static. Our game plan doesn't appear to vary - same story week to week.

BTW-I think we run the Defense pretty much the same way (little variability). Now we do have a ton of injuries on D now so it is difficult to change-up much.

 

[a_minimalist]

I am convinced that if we had run the ball every time we passed and we had passed every time we ran the ball, we would be 11-0 right now.

#reality

:laugh2: well played

 

[sbark]

Maybe with more elements of the "long handoff" west coast offense.....vrs the long developing vertical elements of Garrett/Zampese offense scheme's.

The WCO would help the OLine, compliment the supposed strengths of Murray and Felix.

The WCO should reduce the Pass/INT ratio, Garrett could implement more and more of those little pik/ rub routes that pop a receiver open quickly that everyone seems to use against us, with Garrett seeming hesitant to use them to any extent.

 

[Lazyking]

what? The op is off his rocker or something. We were losing to the skins' 28-3 in part because of two turnovers that weren't because of the running game.

Romo routinely throws it 40 times or more even when we're in games. When the running game has been effective, The cowboys have had a chance to win every game.

 

[DavidAK]

I'm a firm believer that the Cowboys biggest problem is the lack of ability to run the ball effectively. Having said that, if they can't run the ball, then I agree that trying to run it is a waste of down(s).

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

.

You should post more often. Everyone wants a balance offense, but if running the ball has been ineffective, then don't continue to do it for the sake of being balanced.

 

[erod]

what? The op is off his rocker or something. We were losing to the skins' 28-3 in part because of two turnovers that weren't because of the running game.

Romo routinely throws it 40 times or more even when we're in games. When the running game has been effective, The cowboys have had a chance to win every game.

The running game has been effective once.

And don't count the first New York game when Murray made one long run on a play he should have lost five yards on.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

sorry, teams that run the ball and pass protect as poorly as us, are usually around .500, give or take a game.

 

[jobberone]

You have to think ahead though.

Throw on every down and the QB gets hit more. More he gets hit, the more likely he will get injured. He gets injured and your playoff hopes are dashed.

You also have a team that has a ton of injuries on defense. The more passes you throw, the less time goes off the clock. Less time goes off the clock, more time the defense will be out on the field and you're working with a M*A*S*H unit already. More injuries only make things more difficult.

I think we need to change some things up. I would try and pepper some hurry up in there. We have an obvious problem with discipline on offense. We can't run the ball and when teams have time to set up their blitz, it gives us problems. Run some hurry up allows us to simplify the plays. The opposing defense cannot set up their blitz and coverage looks to confuse the offense. And I believe we would run better out of a hurry up.

The only problem is that with the hurry up, you better have 3 tailbacks that can play. You'll have to substitute them in and out constantly. So if Murray comes back, we can then use it with him, Dunbar and Felix.










YR

You also have to have enough WRs to run that much. Generally you are going deep with at least one and often two receivers on a pass play. If they can't get a little breather on the way back to the huddle then you have to platoon. We don't have the depth IMO.

 

[Shinywalrus]

I don't completely agree with the OP, but as I've re-watched the games and looked at the situations we've put ourselves in on various downs, I don't think his conclusion is too far off. I think it's very fair to say that we have fallen behind in many cases - not all - because we tried and failed to establish the run in the first half.

It's really tough to look at passing stats that are happening in the second half when we are fighting to get back into the game - and defenses are playing more passively - and trying to extrapolate them into other game circumstances, so I'm not willing to say we'd be "7-4" or anything like that. But have we lost games because we tried and failed to establish the run in the first half? I absolutely think so.

Would we have succeeded more by forcing the pass? That's just a question that I think we can't answer. Sometimes a thing can be bad and still be better than the alternative.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

I am convinced that if we had run the ball every time we passed and we had passed every time we ran the ball, we would be 11-0 right now.

#reality

:laugh2: