I actually lookd at the numbers, rankings, team, etc. you say "probably"......you made the point about last 8 games, based on your perception without looking at any facts....again..."probably"
our running game is hitting its gears is not all linehan....its the OL finally coming together and romo's responsibilities and freedom to change plays reduced. last year against GB, when they showed 8 man fronts, romo changed plays to pass....this year against giants 8 man fronts, we continued to run.... Aikman even made the same comment during the giants' game
I said 'probably', because I'm pretty sure and your still waffling around the point. We play good teams and bad teams in the first half of the season, as well as the second half of the season. This isn't some insight that requires some deep analysis, it's pretty much a general rule. Trying to liken running the ball differently between two periods of a 50/50 split as some indicator that we the reason we ran well in the second half of the season and first half of the season, because we played worse run defense teams is just a stretch of the highest order. We play NFC East teams twice a year, meaning three of our games are repeats.
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...s-abandoned-the-run-in-the-fourth-quarter.ece
"
The last four weeks, nobody could stop it — their zone (running) scheme. And they gave up on it. We're just happy they did. We were, like, 'OK, we'll take it,' " Green Bay defensive lineman Ryan Pickett said after the game,
according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Just like this year, when the Giants players pointed out the scheme, the Packers were pointing out that nobody could stop their zone SCHEME.
"That's just who they are," Packers defensive back Tramon Williams said. "They run the ball really well against everybody they play, but they just never stick with it."
Notice that even last year, players were saying they ran well against every team. The issue was never quality of opponents, which indicates your argument that the OL is much better this year, which is the reason they stick to the run as void. And the irony is now, your arguing that they 'abandon' the running game, which nobody ever disputed and this actually contradicts your original point, that it has to do with the OL between last year and this year. Of course we are better with Martin, but that's not the argument. We were still good last year. Callahan has improved the running game since he's been here.
Also, to absolve Garrett, your blaming Romo for changing from run to pass all the time, so essentially it's Romo's fault, which contardicts your assertion that it was because of the OL this year that we are running weel. The only play that claimed Romo was changing the play, was the INT against Green Bay, which Garrett claimed Romo audibled out of i.e. threw him under the bus. That's when the Garrett homers came out in full force and went to attacking Romo himself to defense Garrett. The team abandoned the run as a WHOLE, not just that specific play.
Garrett himself stated during this game:
“At different times in the second half, we probably could have run the ball more,” coach Jason Garrett said after the game.
Plus, to further this point, we played the Eagles with Kyle Orton and he threw over 40 times in the game and we 'abandoned' the run.
Further, Romo has no trouble handing the ball off this year. Additionally, we are running play-action passes, meaning showing run, while going pass. With Garrett we were bottom of the league in play-action passing, meaning we weren't even taking advantage of our running game, to create a successful passing game. It's not just about "balance", it's the fact that now the defense has to second guess, based on the looks we are showing. Linehan in one game has used play-action passing more than Garrett essentially did all year. It's also allowing us to wear down defenses and we never have to go up tempo and play catch up in the second half. The OL is asserting itself in the second half now, because we no longer go ufp-tempo, shotgun
empty-backfield offense which was the staple of these Garrett years, because we could accomplish nothing in the first half of games.
Of course we are running more, and nobody disputes this, which pretty much negates the fact that Romo never wanted to run the ball. He has no problems handing the ball off, because he has a legitimate play-caller in Linehan.
