Re-watched the Tampa Game-thoughts/opinions

[Cowboyny]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

 

[John813]

-I see a defense that is very finesse

Seems to be a theme for over a decade now.
Outside of a few guys here or there like Lee or McClain, we got guys that look like Tarzan but play line Jane.
And sadly both guys above were either never healthy or had personal demons.

 

[kskboys]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

Bland: His skillset to play CB was barely good enough. After his injuries, it's simply not good enough anymore.

 

[Captain-Crash]

The defense confused him. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Johannes44]

The defense confused him. Nothing more, nothing less.

It's not like we haven't seen this movie before.

 

[shabazz]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

Stopped reading at "something was off by Dak"

I wont tolerate hate crimes here.

 

[75boyz]

The defense confused him. Nothing more, nothing less.

It was obvious Bowles did some film study towards making pressure packages that made Dak uncomfortable.

He was already confident in his run dee shutting the Cowboys run game down which they did, so he mixed up several effective pressure schemes and blitz packages to take away the pass game.

Prescott usually had good success against blitz type defenses in the past.
Just not against this Bowles version.
Wasn't gonna happen on this night.

 

[cristglo]

Bland: His skillset to play CB was barely good enough. After his injuries, it's simply not good enough anymore.

When Quinn was here were we playing more Man than Zone and didn't Bland play the slot?

 

[Blitzen]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

I saw similar stuff, but I can also see more age related problems popping up for Dak. Last year he must have really busted his butt to get in the shape he was in because he was more mobile than the previous year. This year he’s still in very good shape, but he looks considerably slower when he must scramble at all. When he gets flushed from the pocket or has to go sideways to then attempt a pass I can see a major difference (and I think he can feel a difference). He knows that he cannot get away from rushers like he once could and I think he REALLY wants to avoid any big hits at this point in his career (taken very few sacks this year compared to other QBs). His agility is going way down, and if he knows that he may be chucking the ball away more quickly to avoid big hits (which can definitely lead to throwing mechanics issues and sailing the ball).

I think that’s also why the huge focus on rebuilding the offensive line as quickly as possible happened and why they would not give up Pickens this past offseason. Got to give Dak as many quick pass options as possible (guys that can win one on one matchups quickly) and keep him clean for as long as possible. Jerry and Stephen have constructed this team with Dak as the centerpiece, for years. Then they throw a Hail Mary at the defense to try to salvage this season and it may work because the division is so awful.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

I think Bland is just done. I think he was a system player and without Harris, he isnt going to have success

At this point I think they need to make Lawrence the primary weak side pass rusher if they dont make a trade

 

[Coogiguy03]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

They had CD locked up, the falling of our CBs is nothing new, when the game is bad these are the things that happen!

Stopped reading at "something was off by Dak"

I wont tolerate hate crimes here.

I don't know how when he's never done anything wrong lol

 

[Hawkeye19]

Offense

-Something was off with Dak. His accuracy was all over the place, majority of his throws were high. He usually feasts when teams blitz them, but struggled throughout the night. Footwork was also terrible.
-Tampa corners were sitting on the underneath routes, dared the Cowboys to beat them over the top.
-Both interceptions were on fastballs where it bounced off both Ferguson and Flournoy.
-Run game struggled throughout the game.
-Schott's decision to go for 2, made zero sense. You also play for the tie at home.

Defense

-Outside of 1st drive, thought the defense is the 1st half wasn't bad. That 1st drive they could of gotten off the field multiple times, several penalties kept the drive going.
-2nd Half the wheels came off and that snowball affect started where they couldn't stop the momentum. 1st the long run to start the half was poor tackling, they should of stopped the run early on. The huge pass on the next drive was due to Bland falling, he is healthy? This is unacceptable. Then you have the Turpin fumble.
-Giving up that 3rd and 20 plus was a back breaker. We have seen CP play soft zone in the same situation with the same results. However, when they do blitz, they never hit home.
-Downs is a far better player inside the box then as a roof safety. Unfortunately they are mash unit at the safety position.
-I see a defense that is very finesse, struggle to take on blocks, pass rushers look like they quit after they get stopped after the 1st move, tackling in space is a problem. Just not a physical team, which has to be addressed at some point
-The outside runs have been an issue for this defense for years, inconsistent of setting an edge.
-I do think some players started to quit as the game got out of hand.

Couple of my opinions-something isn't right with Bland, is it confidence/injury? He looks like Diggs from last season. Think they need another physical linebacker next to Barham. Downs needs to play inside the box as that is where his strength is. Front office is going to have to get help for this pass rush, outside of Lawrence who flashes.

Good analysis. I agree with many of your points.

Thought the same thing about Dak. Wondering if the cut on his hand from the previous week was an issue?

Hopefully Durant and Overshown are back next week and Downs can play down in the box more with Porter also being an obvious upgrade.

They can only get better lol….

 

[Creeper]

Watching the Giants game I began to believe in that team. I think they are going to win the division. Sure, they were lucky to get away with a tie, but sometimes you make your own luck. The way they play defense is all in the coaching. They don't have any stars in that secondary. I wouldn't say their LBs are great either. But Harbaugh has them playing better than they are maybe. They want to win and it shows in the way they play. Maybe that's a bubble that bursts at some point but I am impressed with how they are coached.

I was particularly impressed with how aggressively the defense played with the game on the line in overtime. All out blitzes every play completely stymied Daniels. I love that kind of aggressive play calling. The Giants are not a good football team, but their coaching staff has them playing over their heads. The Cowboys are soft and they play soft. They are afraid to be aggressive and that is a losing mentality. On 3rd and 21, I would have loved to see Parker call an all out blitz and force the young inexperienced QB rush his throw. Parker does not have that kind of courage.

 

[nate dizzle]

Defense gave the offense 4 possessions in the 2nd qtr and they put up 3 points and ran off about 5 min of clock, one possession was like 30 something seconds. That's the story. Defense gassed by second half and it showed. If the offense had managed to put together some scoring drives, it likely puts more pressure on the young undrafted rookie QB and he makes some mistakes.

One of the issues with this offense, even when it's clicking, is it's all chunk plays. There's very few, long, sustained drives that keep the defense off the field. With a defense that's this bad, you want them out there as little as possible.

 

[Cmac]

When you watch or have the privilege to film breakdowns, typically nobody is above reproach, except here. On the field, outside of Dak, Bland, and Ferguson, immunity granted all over the place. for misfit play.
ba

 

[nate dizzle]

Watching the Giants game I began to believe in that team. I think they are going to win the division. Sure, they were lucky to get away with a tie, but sometimes you make your own luck. The way they play defense is all in the coaching. They don't have any stars in that secondary. I wouldn't say their LBs are great either. But Harbaugh has them playing better than they are maybe. They want to win and it shows in the way they play. Maybe that's a bubble that bursts at some point but I am impressed with how they are coached.

I was particularly impressed with how aggressively the defense played with the game on the line in overtime. All out blitzes every play completely stymied Daniels. I love that kind of aggressive play calling. The Giants are not a good football team, but their coaching staff has them playing over their heads. The Cowboys are soft and they play soft. They are afraid to be aggressive and that is a losing mentality. On 3rd and 21, I would have loved to see Parker call an all out blitz and force the young inexperienced QB rush his throw. Parker does not have that kind of courage.

Even the other bad defenses in the league at least look like they know what they're doing and they have a lot less talent then here...our defense plays slow and looks confused. They are slow, likely because they are confused.

 

[cowboyblue22]

i think a lot of the problem is that the cowboys are jsut not a very good football team overall from top to bottom they should be some better on defense with the talent they have added but they are not and it shows coaching leaves a lot to be desired

 

[darthseinfeld]

When Quinn was here were we playing more Man than Zone and didn't Bland play the slot?

His rookie year and he gave up a 74% completion percentage

 

[maryquality]

First off, kudos to you for re-watching that "embarrassing" game. I don't think I could watch it again without getting ill.
And I do agree with all your bullet points. As you said, Dak is usually good against the blitz, but not against TB. Not sure what's going on with him. I know a lot of people get on Dak for everything, but honestly, the defense is the most worrisome.

 

[DeaconMoss]

5 takes
Dallas cant tackle
Rayne is not good. Daks alter ego.
Shatty wont run the ball inside the 5
Ferg is not good
Bland is the target for every QB. Hes bad