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Tale of the Tape
Here’s the rundown of what the Tape told me today, and what some eyes might’ve missed in the Meadowlands:
 Plenty of you probably wondered what happened to Jason Witten in New York. Turns out, nothing happened to him. But some things did go on in pass protection that affected where he lined up. By my count, the Cowboys motioned him on nearly half of their first 19 plays and lined up him as a fullback, tight end, h-back and slot receiver on each side of the formation. He blocked on just one pass play to that point. That’s not unusual. But it all came screeching to a halt after the Cowboys went through a stretch of four drives that produced a total of one first down, three three-and-outs and a pick. Dallas had been trying to block four with five, and five with six, using a back as the extra man – and it just wasn’t working. The Giants got a sack and influenced some hurried throws from Romo, which pushed the emphasis to protecting the quarterback. On the Cowboys’ seven-play, 68-yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half, Witten was sent in motion just once, was stationed as an in-line tight end on every other down and blocked on four of six called pass plays. The result? Romo went 6-of-6 for 68 yards, the Cowboys took a 17-14 lead and didn’t trail again. What it tells you is that the offensive coaches, who have proven creative, aren’t going to bang their heads against the wall continuously when something doesn’t work.
 We mention the Greg Ellis/Anthony Spencer/DeMarcus Ware component of the game earlier today, and it’s pretty simple to see what they did to Eli Manning. In the first quarter, on a third-and-6, the Cowboys put Spencer at nose tackle and lined Ware up as a 3-technique, with Greg Ellis and Chris Canty flanking them as the ends. Manning saw this and called a timeout, because he couldn’t adjust the protection in time. Then, in the third quarter, there was a third-and-5 where Ware was lined up down on the left edge, with Ellis inside him as a 3-technique. Spencer, meanwhile, was floating over the top as a linebacker next to Kevin Burnett. And as Manning tried to make sense of it – a quarterback has to identify and call out the ‘Mike’ (MLB) to set his protection and blocking, and it was unclear whether Spencer would be up or down – the whistle blew. Delay of Game, Giants. The Cowboys also fashioned more 3-3 nickel looks, which had two of the three outside linebackers floating over the line with Burnett, and the other as a down lineman. This is where the Cowboys really should be able to get teams with their pass rush going forward, and could become a strength of the defense.
 A big reason the Cowboys can do all this – and we mentioned it earlier – is because the coaches seem to trust what the outside linebackers can do in coverage. And that’s why any blitzing out of the base 3-4 seems to be getting a charge from increased creativity. On a second-quarter first down, the Cowboys sent Bradie James and Akin Ayodele up the middle, and dropped Ware and Ellis. Four plays later, they forced a hurried throw by sending one inside and one outside linebacker. Two drives after that, a sack came with Roy Williams and an outside linebacker coming, and Tank Johnson dropping. Another sack was registered on the series when Jay Ratliff dropped, and Anthony Spencer floated over the center as a linebacker, then moved just before the snap right outside Greg Ellis. As Ratliff went into coverage, the center was forced to adjust, and the trickle-down had Spencer coming free off the edge for the take-down. There was yet another hurried throw when Williams and Terence Newman came off the edges and Johnson dropped over the middle. As is indicated above, this is becoming a pretty tough defense to pass protect against.
 Interesting to see how the Cowboys dealt with Plaxico Burress, because there wasn’t just one way they did it, especially when Newman was the corner to his side. On the Giants’ drive, Manning seemed to check to him when Newman was playing off, and Burress would run a quick hitch to take advantage of the cushion. The receiver had two catches for 17 yards on the drive, producing a pair of first downs. The rest of the way, he had two catches for 7 yards. And a big reason for that appeared to be the Cowboys keeping from tipping their hand on coverage, at least when Newman was to that side. They’d play him up, then bail. They’d play him off, then roll him up before the snap. They’d mess with the Giants in that way. And, if I’m not mistaken (TV view hinders this), they had to have had some over-the-top help for Newman. Whatever the case may be, the Cowboys showed a lot of trust in him to handle much of the Burress equation Sunday, and the Giants showed him plenty of respect in only sparingly going after him.
 Last week, in this space, we discussed the Eagles’ use of “Hugs” to blitz, the practice where a defensive player rushes or drops based on what the receiver to which he is assigned does, and how the Cowboys took advantage with their backs. You could see the Giants weren’t going to let that happen Sunday, and it may provide some reason as to why Witten was kept in more. Like they did against Philly, the Cowboys sent their backs out on plenty of delayed routes, where they were to pick up any blitzing back-seven player, and then release into the flat. Only this time, those linebacker-types didn’t come, they sat in the flat and waited for the backs to release. The backs eventually would, and that would take them out of the protection equation with other rushers, which would leave the linemen to block the Giants defensive line themselves. It worked for New York, and eventually meant Witten staying in more to block.
 NT Tank Johnson, as Wade Phillips said yesterday, showed potential in pass defense, getting after the quarterback, but showed a thick coat of rust in defending the run. It’s no coincidence that Tank saw his most extended playing time on grinding Giants’ drives of 11 and 16 plays in the first and second halves, respectively. Early in the former of those marches, Giants guard Chris Snee had his way with Johnson, sealing him off on multiple occasions and simply influencing the nose tackle to run himself out of the play. Late in the third quarter, the same kind of over-aggression cost Johnson on Brandon Jacobs runs. In both cases, Johnson was pulled for Jay Ratliff, who was a much more effective run player on this day. In the fourth quarter, the coaches used Johnson almost exclusively in passing situations. The good news is twofold: Johnson still playing his way into shape and learning the defense, and the effort was there. A second-and-8 in the second quarter pretty much sums up his day. On the play, Johnson shot right through the play-side center-guard gap, and past Jacobs. Jacobs turned the play up off right tackle, but Ellis and Jason Hatcher were standing their ground on the edge, forcing hesitation from Jacobs. That created enough time for Johnson, who’d recovered and gone into pursuit, to get to the tailback and yank him down from behind.
 Kevin Burnett got buried for his penalty Sunday (it happened here too), but deserves credit for how he played in coverage in the game. There’s no question that he was in on five tackles defensively is because guys were catching the ball around him. But he’s not Derrick Brooks, so no one expects him to stop Jeremy Shockey. Besides, what he did against the Giants was plenty good, being the sure tackler in the hook, curl and middle zones, and preventing much of any run after the catch. Give Roy Williams some credit in this vein too. Shockey ate his lunch a little bit, and the Giants were certainly picking on him, but he didn’t allow the tight end to block him. And here’s one area where I’m going to get my blogmate. Timmy Mac, Shockey is not a bad blocker. In fact, he’s a pretty darn good one, from what I can see. He did miss a block or two. But the rest of the game, he was really, really solid, and presents a tough challenge for any offense to face in that phase of the game.
 Here’s where Williams really deserves credit, and he may not want to hear it again: run defense. He was excellent there, a big reason the Cowboys held the Giants under 4 yards a carry. We’ve got a good example. First-and-10, Giants 48, Jacobs takes the ball off right tackle. The Giants have everyone blocked, and are running to the weak-side, where the safety has some way to come up. Williams sees it. He finds a gap in the line, and shoots through it to pursue from the backside, pulling Jacobs down from behind for no gain. You see James do this quite a bit from inside linebacker, and I could swear that’s who it was when Williams made the hit. That, by the way, is a compliment to Roy – and it would be to any safety capable of defending the run well enough that he looks like a ’backer doing it.
 Finally, that was the best job we’ve seen all year of Julius Jones running the ball, and not just because the numbers say he had a good (4.4-yard average) day. It’s because he found a way to blend his patient running style with an aggressiveness he’s lacked at times. Case in point: On his 20-yarder to open the game, Jones flattened out a bit to wait for Witten, coming from the back-side fullback spot in a power-I, to block down on Mathias Kiwanuka. Once Witten got his man, Jones planted and exploded into the opening. One cut, and he was in the open field, where he’s at his best. Like I said last week, Jones was made to play behind an Alex Gibbs-style blocking scheme.
Posted by Albert Breer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 4:30 PM (E-mail this entry)
Here’s the rundown of what the Tape told me today, and what some eyes might’ve missed in the Meadowlands:
 Plenty of you probably wondered what happened to Jason Witten in New York. Turns out, nothing happened to him. But some things did go on in pass protection that affected where he lined up. By my count, the Cowboys motioned him on nearly half of their first 19 plays and lined up him as a fullback, tight end, h-back and slot receiver on each side of the formation. He blocked on just one pass play to that point. That’s not unusual. But it all came screeching to a halt after the Cowboys went through a stretch of four drives that produced a total of one first down, three three-and-outs and a pick. Dallas had been trying to block four with five, and five with six, using a back as the extra man – and it just wasn’t working. The Giants got a sack and influenced some hurried throws from Romo, which pushed the emphasis to protecting the quarterback. On the Cowboys’ seven-play, 68-yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half, Witten was sent in motion just once, was stationed as an in-line tight end on every other down and blocked on four of six called pass plays. The result? Romo went 6-of-6 for 68 yards, the Cowboys took a 17-14 lead and didn’t trail again. What it tells you is that the offensive coaches, who have proven creative, aren’t going to bang their heads against the wall continuously when something doesn’t work.
 We mention the Greg Ellis/Anthony Spencer/DeMarcus Ware component of the game earlier today, and it’s pretty simple to see what they did to Eli Manning. In the first quarter, on a third-and-6, the Cowboys put Spencer at nose tackle and lined Ware up as a 3-technique, with Greg Ellis and Chris Canty flanking them as the ends. Manning saw this and called a timeout, because he couldn’t adjust the protection in time. Then, in the third quarter, there was a third-and-5 where Ware was lined up down on the left edge, with Ellis inside him as a 3-technique. Spencer, meanwhile, was floating over the top as a linebacker next to Kevin Burnett. And as Manning tried to make sense of it – a quarterback has to identify and call out the ‘Mike’ (MLB) to set his protection and blocking, and it was unclear whether Spencer would be up or down – the whistle blew. Delay of Game, Giants. The Cowboys also fashioned more 3-3 nickel looks, which had two of the three outside linebackers floating over the line with Burnett, and the other as a down lineman. This is where the Cowboys really should be able to get teams with their pass rush going forward, and could become a strength of the defense.
 A big reason the Cowboys can do all this – and we mentioned it earlier – is because the coaches seem to trust what the outside linebackers can do in coverage. And that’s why any blitzing out of the base 3-4 seems to be getting a charge from increased creativity. On a second-quarter first down, the Cowboys sent Bradie James and Akin Ayodele up the middle, and dropped Ware and Ellis. Four plays later, they forced a hurried throw by sending one inside and one outside linebacker. Two drives after that, a sack came with Roy Williams and an outside linebacker coming, and Tank Johnson dropping. Another sack was registered on the series when Jay Ratliff dropped, and Anthony Spencer floated over the center as a linebacker, then moved just before the snap right outside Greg Ellis. As Ratliff went into coverage, the center was forced to adjust, and the trickle-down had Spencer coming free off the edge for the take-down. There was yet another hurried throw when Williams and Terence Newman came off the edges and Johnson dropped over the middle. As is indicated above, this is becoming a pretty tough defense to pass protect against.
 Interesting to see how the Cowboys dealt with Plaxico Burress, because there wasn’t just one way they did it, especially when Newman was the corner to his side. On the Giants’ drive, Manning seemed to check to him when Newman was playing off, and Burress would run a quick hitch to take advantage of the cushion. The receiver had two catches for 17 yards on the drive, producing a pair of first downs. The rest of the way, he had two catches for 7 yards. And a big reason for that appeared to be the Cowboys keeping from tipping their hand on coverage, at least when Newman was to that side. They’d play him up, then bail. They’d play him off, then roll him up before the snap. They’d mess with the Giants in that way. And, if I’m not mistaken (TV view hinders this), they had to have had some over-the-top help for Newman. Whatever the case may be, the Cowboys showed a lot of trust in him to handle much of the Burress equation Sunday, and the Giants showed him plenty of respect in only sparingly going after him.
 Last week, in this space, we discussed the Eagles’ use of “Hugs” to blitz, the practice where a defensive player rushes or drops based on what the receiver to which he is assigned does, and how the Cowboys took advantage with their backs. You could see the Giants weren’t going to let that happen Sunday, and it may provide some reason as to why Witten was kept in more. Like they did against Philly, the Cowboys sent their backs out on plenty of delayed routes, where they were to pick up any blitzing back-seven player, and then release into the flat. Only this time, those linebacker-types didn’t come, they sat in the flat and waited for the backs to release. The backs eventually would, and that would take them out of the protection equation with other rushers, which would leave the linemen to block the Giants defensive line themselves. It worked for New York, and eventually meant Witten staying in more to block.
 NT Tank Johnson, as Wade Phillips said yesterday, showed potential in pass defense, getting after the quarterback, but showed a thick coat of rust in defending the run. It’s no coincidence that Tank saw his most extended playing time on grinding Giants’ drives of 11 and 16 plays in the first and second halves, respectively. Early in the former of those marches, Giants guard Chris Snee had his way with Johnson, sealing him off on multiple occasions and simply influencing the nose tackle to run himself out of the play. Late in the third quarter, the same kind of over-aggression cost Johnson on Brandon Jacobs runs. In both cases, Johnson was pulled for Jay Ratliff, who was a much more effective run player on this day. In the fourth quarter, the coaches used Johnson almost exclusively in passing situations. The good news is twofold: Johnson still playing his way into shape and learning the defense, and the effort was there. A second-and-8 in the second quarter pretty much sums up his day. On the play, Johnson shot right through the play-side center-guard gap, and past Jacobs. Jacobs turned the play up off right tackle, but Ellis and Jason Hatcher were standing their ground on the edge, forcing hesitation from Jacobs. That created enough time for Johnson, who’d recovered and gone into pursuit, to get to the tailback and yank him down from behind.
 Kevin Burnett got buried for his penalty Sunday (it happened here too), but deserves credit for how he played in coverage in the game. There’s no question that he was in on five tackles defensively is because guys were catching the ball around him. But he’s not Derrick Brooks, so no one expects him to stop Jeremy Shockey. Besides, what he did against the Giants was plenty good, being the sure tackler in the hook, curl and middle zones, and preventing much of any run after the catch. Give Roy Williams some credit in this vein too. Shockey ate his lunch a little bit, and the Giants were certainly picking on him, but he didn’t allow the tight end to block him. And here’s one area where I’m going to get my blogmate. Timmy Mac, Shockey is not a bad blocker. In fact, he’s a pretty darn good one, from what I can see. He did miss a block or two. But the rest of the game, he was really, really solid, and presents a tough challenge for any offense to face in that phase of the game.
 Here’s where Williams really deserves credit, and he may not want to hear it again: run defense. He was excellent there, a big reason the Cowboys held the Giants under 4 yards a carry. We’ve got a good example. First-and-10, Giants 48, Jacobs takes the ball off right tackle. The Giants have everyone blocked, and are running to the weak-side, where the safety has some way to come up. Williams sees it. He finds a gap in the line, and shoots through it to pursue from the backside, pulling Jacobs down from behind for no gain. You see James do this quite a bit from inside linebacker, and I could swear that’s who it was when Williams made the hit. That, by the way, is a compliment to Roy – and it would be to any safety capable of defending the run well enough that he looks like a ’backer doing it.
 Finally, that was the best job we’ve seen all year of Julius Jones running the ball, and not just because the numbers say he had a good (4.4-yard average) day. It’s because he found a way to blend his patient running style with an aggressiveness he’s lacked at times. Case in point: On his 20-yarder to open the game, Jones flattened out a bit to wait for Witten, coming from the back-side fullback spot in a power-I, to block down on Mathias Kiwanuka. Once Witten got his man, Jones planted and exploded into the opening. One cut, and he was in the open field, where he’s at his best. Like I said last week, Jones was made to play behind an Alex Gibbs-style blocking scheme.
Posted by Albert Breer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 4:30 PM (E-mail this entry)
