Run game may be different this year

[Zekeats]

I've noticed that fans like to ignore what management and coaches say about the team and personnel, choosing often to assume that whatever we saw work last year will be the same this year.

However, Garrett, Linehan and Romo have all stated that every year is DIFFERENT and that every year the play book and game plan will be based on the strengths of the team.

Last year we started running Murray in game #1 and got good results. So we stuck with that philosophy.

However it is quite possible that what we saw this week #1 is what we will see throughout the season. And what we saw is Randle and McFadden trading quarters while having Dunbar act as a Sproles type out of the background.

We saw passes to all three backs and a lot of them. And it worked.

We controlled the ball, avoided sacks, gained the #3 most yards in the league in week #1, dominated time of possession and gave the backs over 50% of the offensive touches.

We may not have the physical punishing style of Murray this year (at least not with Randle and McFadden) but the offensive productivity in week #1 did not miss a beat from last year.

And how did that work out for us. Bring on C-Mike

 

[Cowboys22]

Different as in worse? They threw twice as much as they ran last night. That is the same formula they had for many years before last season and it got them nowhere. They abandoned the run every time they got to the redzone. If that's the plan moving forward, get ready for a bunch of field goals and a long season.

 

[30yrheel]

I'm a firm believer in taking what the defense gives you.

 

[superonyx]

Should anyone be shocked that Randle isn't going to break many tackles? He is a smallish back that really is best suited to be a 3rd down back who can catch out of the backfield. He has some elusiveness to him but he isn't world class in any category. I don't know what he brings over McFadden. At least with McFadden the defense needs to account for his speed.

How many weeks of this before people realize that Demarco wasn't as awful as people have made him out to be on this board.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Different as in worse? They threw twice as much as they ran last night. That is the same formula they had for many years before last season and it got them nowhere. They abandoned the run every time they got to the redzone. If that's the plan moving forward, get ready for a bunch of field goals and a long season.

You're discounting the affect of the short-passing game, which for the most part are nothing more than longer-distance handoffs.

The offense put up 27 points and probably cost themselves a few more on the turnovers.

Looking at the number of yards the offense put up in conjunction with the number of points scored– it was one of the most effective offenses in week #1.

 

[Jarv]

Up to the last couple of minutes left in the half I was fine with our running game. Then we got away from the run in the second half because of the points off of turnovers. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'll bet our run/pass ratio was completely different from the 1st half to the second. JG will have to get more patient with the run again.

 

[mattjames2010]

Randle is just too slow to the hole, I mentioned it last night. Reminded me why I hated him as an RB in 2013.

 

[tyke1doe]

But but everyone here told me anyone could run behind this line.

The issue isn't the line, but the turnovers and not converting touchdowns but settling on field goals.

Let's assume we didn't cough up the ball and converted six instead of three. We would have just eaten up the clock.

But when we abandoned the run in the red zone (partly because Witten had his obligatory off sides), we were pressed into throwing.

I think the running game will be fine. The holes were there. Holding onto the ball was our issue.

 

[superonyx]

Looking around the league stats it seems running was down for most players yesterday.
Many quality players with not very impressive running totals.

Our running game will come under extra pressure moving forward without Dez. Teams will stack the box and dare us to throw on them deep without Dez. I don't know how many 8 man fronts the Giants ran against us yesterday. I saw us dink and dunk all the way down the field. I would have imagined Romo would have throw deep earlier if that's what the defense gave him.

Randle didn't look awful...he just looked to be an easy tackle vs Murray. He had some agility and fought for yards. Just doesn't seem like a horse that can grind you down like Murrray was.

 

[ufcrules1]

But but everyone here told me anyone could run behind this line.

Keep in mind this was against a pathetic defense and defensive line too. Murray is going to be badly missed.

 

[VACowboy]

You're discounting the affect of the short-passing game, which for the most part are nothing more than longer-distance handoffs.

The offense put up 27 points and probably cost themselves a few more on the turnovers.

Looking at the number of yards the offense put up in conjunction with the number of points scored– it was one of the most effective offenses in week #1.

ACK! Facts and common sense!

 

[Cowboys22]

You're discounting the affect of the short-passing game, which for the most part are nothing more than longer-distance handoffs.

The offense put up 27 points and probably cost themselves a few more on the turnovers.

Looking at the number of yards the offense put up in conjunction with the number of points scored– it was one of the most effective offenses in week #1.

You're discounting that they were afraid to hand the ball to any of our active RBs when they reached the redzone. That is completely opposite of what we saw last year and a recipe for disaster. It's back to the future when everything was on Romo. If that's the case, it's going to be a long season. They moved the ball, great! If they can't or won't run the ball in the redzone, this team may not even make the playoffs. Go watch games from before last season. They were carbon copies of last night. Too much on Romo's shoulders and when you do that, there will be a mistake or two along the way and you end up needing a miracle to beat a team they should have beat by 10. Next week, you don't get that miracle. The week after that, probably not either. And so on. They went back to being unbalanced with too much relying on Romo. He's great in the 2 minute drill but I'd rather not have every week come down to that. I hope Michael will be the answer. They need a back they trust in the redzone or last season was a one hit wonder.

 

[VACowboy]

You're discounting that they were afraid to hand the ball to any of our active RBs when they reached the redzone. That is completely opposite of what we saw last year and a recipe for disaster. It's back to the future when everything was on Romo. If that's the case, it's going to be a long season. They moved the ball, great! If they can't or won't run the ball in the redzone, this team may not even make the playoffs. Go watch games from before last season. They were carbon copies of last night. Too much on Romo's shoulders and when you do that, there will be a mistake or two along the way and you end up needing a miracle to beat a team they should have beat by 10. Next week, you don't get that miracle. The week after that, probably not either. And so on. They went back to being unbalanced with too much relying on Romo. He's great in the 2 minute drill but I'd rather not have every week come down to that. I hope Michael will be the answer. They need a back they trust in the redzone or last season was a one hit wonder.

It was one game, the first game of the season no less. I don't think we know how red zone play calling is going to shake out over the course of the season.

 

[visionary]

I've noticed that fans like to ignore what management and coaches say about the team and personnel, choosing often to assume that whatever we saw work last year will be the same this year.

However, Garrett, Linehan and Romo have all stated that every year is DIFFERENT and that every year the play book and game plan will be based on the strengths of the team.

Last year we started running Murray in game #1 and got good results. So we stuck with that philosophy.

However it is quite possible that what we saw this week #1 is what we will see throughout the season. And what we saw is Randle and McFadden trading quarters while having Dunbar act as a Sproles type out of the background.

We saw passes to all three backs and a lot of them. And it worked.

We controlled the ball, avoided sacks, gained the #3 most yards in the league in week #1, dominated time of possession and gave the backs over 50% of the offensive touches.

We may not have the physical punishing style of Murray this year (at least not with Randle and McFadden) but the offensive productivity in week #1 did not miss a beat from last year.

The run game was mediocre against a below average defense. Our own coaches had no confidence in it. It was 1 game so don't want to over react but this was not an effective run game.

Philly will eat our lunch next week with this run game
Their front 4 will put pressure and they have smart speedy LBs who will gobble up those passes in the flats

 

[superonyx]

Keep in mind this was against a pathetic defense and defensive line too. Murray is going to be badly missed.

Let's hope Christine Michael can become the hammer that Murray was. We need her to get up to speed as fast as possible. She could really help us when those big nasty Eagles tackles are waiting for us.

Dez was an eagle killer. It will be very interesting to see who steps up.

 

[Cowboys22]

It was one game, the first game of the season no less. I don't think we know how red zone play calling is going to shake out over the course of the season.

You do realize at one point they had 1st and goal at the 1, and they still put it on Romo's shoulders to throw the TD. To me, that's a lack of confidence in the run game. I doubt it's the OL they don't have confidence in. They also didn't hand the ball off a single time on 3rd and short that I can remember. How many times last year did we see a handoff on 3rd and 4 or less? A lot! I think one game is all you need to see to realize the OL doesn't make RBs plug and play. Their defense played differently and our OC called a different game. The only thing different is Murray no longer in the backfield. I'm holding out hope that Michael can take the reigns and somewhat come close to giving them what Murray gave them because it's obvious to me that the Randle/McFadden committee won't.

 

[Doomsday101]

As Mike said, all that BS about leaving meat on the bone? Well there is a lot of meat that was left on the bone. Bottom line someone needs to step up. I will say later in the game Randle at least was finishing runs off the strong so I'm optimistic about that but this run game accounted for 80 yards combined and that is not going to get it.

 

[superonyx]

You're discounting that they were afraid to hand the ball to any of our active RBs when they reached the redzone. That is completely opposite of what we saw last year and a recipe for disaster. It's back to the future when everything was on Romo. If that's the case, it's going to be a long season. They moved the ball, great! If they can't or won't run the ball in the redzone, this team may not even make the playoffs. Go watch games from before last season. They were carbon copies of last night. Too much on Romo's shoulders and when you do that, there will be a mistake or two along the way and you end up needing a miracle to beat a team they should have beat by 10. Next week, you don't get that miracle. The week after that, probably not either. And so on. They went back to being unbalanced with too much relying on Romo. He's great in the 2 minute drill but I'd rather not have every week come down to that. I hope Michael will be the answer. They need a back they trust in the redzone or last season was a one hit wonder.

Dez is out and we have what all signs would point to as a mediocre run game.
Anyway you want to spin it.....it is all on Romo...

That said ...romo may just be playing at a level where he can carry this team. When he gets to the line and scans the defense it's as if he was in their huddle.

He willed us to victory last year also. I loved Murray and the running game but it very well may have Romo all along. We led the league in 3rd down conversions last year and Romo was the highest rated passer in the league. He may just have elevated his game to that level.

That said... Let's get a hammer to punish the defenses like we had. I'd rather not find out I'm wrong..haha.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

THe backs didn't dominate on the ground but were very effective in the short passing game which is just an extension of the run game. I thought McFadden looked good and was surprised with the minimal work. His YPC was hurt because he had two 8-9 yd runs then short yd runs to convert first downs. When he got the one carry in the second half the line got blown up. Randle got what was blocked but nothing more...that is the dirty yards we missed. He had have the nice one handed grab late. Dunbar still isn't much as a returner, but he showed a lot of toughness early and then made some bigger plays late.

Circumstance became an issue....first drive we moved it right down with mix of run and pass, then Witten has the dumb penalty and takes us out of run mode there. Next series Dez drops a perfect pass that would have likely put us into a goal to go situation. Obviously late we had to abandon run.

Will be interesting to see if Collins or Bernadeau is the starter going forward for Leary.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

You're discounting that they were afraid to hand the ball to any of our active RBs when they reached the redzone. That is completely opposite of what we saw last year and a recipe for disaster. It's back to the future when everything was on Romo. If that's the case, it's going to be a long season. They moved the ball, great! If they can't or won't run the ball in the redzone, this team may not even make the playoffs. Go watch games from before last season. They were carbon copies of last night. Too much on Romo's shoulders and when you do that, there will be a mistake or two along the way and you end up needing a miracle to beat a team they should have beat by 10. Next week, you don't get that miracle. The week after that, probably not either. And so on. They went back to being unbalanced with too much relying on Romo. He's great in the 2 minute drill but I'd rather not have every week come down to that. I hope Michael will be the answer. They need a back they trust in the redzone or last season was a one hit wonder.

Afraid?

I apologize, but I didn't see that.