Sturm analysis suggest O-Line Isn't League Best

[windward]

He's right and most have said as much. They usually held up in pass protection when it was needed most, but had plenty of struggles across the board. Stunts really seemed to bug the interior of the OL. They also seemed to struggle with who to pick up when the defense sent more than could be blocked to allow Romo an area to step into his throw.

It's to be expected though honestly. Leary and Frederick were 2nd year starters and Martin was a rookie. As they continue to play together and learn the recognition, communication and technique should improve.

The way I see it, they blocked well enough to allow Tony to lead the league in passer rating this past year. If average is their baseline, I'm looking forward to any improvement they make as a unit.

 

[Clove]

Sometimes, sacks can be the fault of several things.

Flat out getting beat -- I think Smith is overrated in pass protection. But he can get better.
It can be confusion -- this happens a lot with young guys, especially with exotic blitzes.
Overloading -- overloading the LOS comes down to either the QB calling back some protection, or changing the play all together. This also falls on the Coach if he continues to not leave a TE or back to help out, and the defense keeps calling overloads.

Holding on to the ball too long -- Manning is a guy who gets the ball out fast. He comes to mind. Romo likes to hold on to the ball ( because of his elusiveness ) and try to find the perfect situation.
Mistakes -- Sometimes, you just simply make a mistake which causes a blitz.

 

[ShiningStar]

this article did NOT answer my question "will there be secret sauce this year?"

 

[ThreeandOut]

I think it's fair to say that this was a very young offensive line that could be more consistent in pass protection. On the other hand, Romo lead the league in passer rating for a reason. How many times last year did they put a clock on the time Romo had to throw the ball? That extra time often translated into a big play or a TD. These kind of plays are probably not factored into the passing protection metrics.

 

[Doc50]

Lot of issues with this article.

The focus is on the first three games. Were any of us aware how good this team would become at the outset of the season? Zack Martin was a fresh rookie. Romo didn't even have a preseason. Nothing had really gelled yet.

Look at the season from the Seattle game forward. THAT is when it had come together, and other than an Eagles game when Romo didn't take a shot of Toradol on a short week, a Commander game when he got hurt, and an Arizona game when he didn't play, the pass protection was good and the offense was dominant.

The OL's development has been and will continue to be on fast track. I'm content with teams selling them short.

There has not been another OL this young with this much talent. The DL practicing daily against them will also rapidly excel and begin to dominate. The secondary will reap the benefits of hurried throws and shorter coverage.

Sure, they'll give up a sack and a negative run now and then, but by the playoffs they'll be dominant.

Barring injury..........fingers crossed.

 

[Bleu Star]

Sometimes, sacks can be the fault of several things.

Flat out getting beat -- I think Smith is overrated in pass protection. But he can get better.
It can be confusion -- this happens a lot with young guys, especially with exotic blitzes.
Overloading -- overloading the LOS comes down to either the QB calling back some protection, or changing the play all together. This also falls on the Coach if he continues to not leave a TE or back to help out, and the defense keeps calling overloads.

Holding on to the ball too long -- Manning is a guy who gets the ball out fast. He comes to mind. Romo likes to hold on to the ball ( because of his elusiveness ) and try to find the perfect situation.
Mistakes -- Sometimes, you just simply make a mistake which causes a blitz.

Don't forget uninstinctful / bad blitz pickup... Demarco. *tear*

 

[Clove]

Don't forget uninstinctful / bad blitz pickup... Demarco. *tear*

Those fall under, getting beat.

 

[Bleu Star]

Those fall under, getting beat.

Roger that.

 

[Vintage]

Sometimes, sacks can be the fault of several things.

Flat out getting beat -- I think Smith is overrated in pass protection. But he can get better.
It can be confusion -- this happens a lot with young guys, especially with exotic blitzes.
Overloading -- overloading the LOS comes down to either the QB calling back some protection, or changing the play all together. This also falls on the Coach if he continues to not leave a TE or back to help out, and the defense keeps calling overloads.

Holding on to the ball too long -- Manning is a guy who gets the ball out fast. He comes to mind. Romo likes to hold on to the ball ( because of his elusiveness ) and try to find the perfect situation.
Mistakes -- Sometimes, you just simply make a mistake which causes a blitz.

You are not allowed to criticize Tyron, state that he is anything less then perfect, or imply it.

Fall in line.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Frankly I don't care if people think have the best OL in the league or if it's a top 3 or 4 unit.

It's good enough to win a championship with and I'm more than good with that.

 

[Bleu Star]

Frankly I don't care if people think have the best OL in the league or if it's a top 3 or 4 unit.

It's good enough to win a championship with and I'm more than good with that.

It takes a village.

 

[TheDude]

In fact in the second half of the season, teams just ran line stunts on us constantly because we couldn't execute against them consistently in the run game or in pass protection. Some of that was Jeremy 'Derp' Parnell but all 3 interior guys would botch passing guys off and simply be unaware far too often.

uh-oh

 

[Clove]

You are not allowed to criticize Tyron, state that he is anything less then perfect, or imply it.

Fall in line.

Folks know me better than that.

 

[reddyuta]

He's right and most have said as much. They usually held up in pass protection when it was needed most, but had plenty of struggles across the board. Stunts really seemed to bug the interior of the OL. They also seemed to struggle with who to pick up when the defense sent more than could be blocked to allow Romo an area to step into his throw.

It's to be expected though honestly. Leary and Frederick were 2nd year starters and Martin was a rookie. As they continue to play together and learn the recognition, communication and technique should improve.

I feel the lack of execution when teams blitzed were partly on Romo and the OC,we knew it was coming but failed to get the ball in time to the open guy and there were instances when someone like Beasley was wide open and Romo failed to see him.This is been a problem for years now and i think its getting worse as Romo ages.

 

[AzorAhai]

Romo was to blame for some, but I remember quite a few instances where stunts and twists confused the interior OL. One would end up not picking up the right guy and Romo would have a blitzer in his face instantly. Thats a recognition issue that will get better with experience. Detroit was killing the interior OL in the 1st half and causing a ton of confusion. Even when the defense sends more then can be blocked, if the OL picks it up properly, Romo should have a decent amount of time to get the ball out. When theres a defender coming free through the middle untouched there's nothing to do except eat the sack.

I'm not overly concerned about them though. As they get more experience they should improve. I'll take a top 5-10 pass blocking OL and the best run blocking OL every day.

 

[Zman5]

Sometimes, sacks can be the fault of several things.

Flat out getting beat -- I think Smith is overrated in pass protection. But he can get better.
It can be confusion -- this happens a lot with young guys, especially with exotic blitzes.
Overloading -- overloading the LOS comes down to either the QB calling back some protection, or changing the play all together. This also falls on the Coach if he continues to not leave a TE or back to help out, and the defense keeps calling overloads.

Holding on to the ball too long -- Manning is a guy who gets the ball out fast. He comes to mind. Romo likes to hold on to the ball ( because of his elusiveness ) and try to find the perfect situation.
Mistakes -- Sometimes, you just simply make a mistake which causes a blitz.

Part of that is JG's offense. We tend to use long developing routes over quick ones. We did better last season with Beasley but I think we should do more with Dez. Especially with his run after the catch skills.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

There's no doubt the media overhyped this OL but I'm sure the coaches know better than to eat the cheese. These guys still have a lot of work to do.

 

[RW31]

Poor La'El. I guess he won't be part of the best O-Line in history afterall.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I disagree with Bob and the pass protection was pretty good. Maybe not the league's best, but still pretty good.

Romo was not very mobile throughout the season. Some of the sacks he's shown were against the Niners where Romo said he was 'rusty' and they had to change up the weekly preparation by giving Romo Wednesday's off. He was so bad in that game that many (myself included) thought he was done for due to his performance and the injury.

He then started to get back into form a bit, but then the injury in the Skins game happened. That slowed him down a bit afterward and then he started to regain his strength and some of his old form. Then Free got injured and Parnell just is not as good as Free. Maybe at times in the run game, but Parnell doesn't have the knee bend to consistently fend off pass rushers well.

Also, nowhere in the article does it mention the average length of time that a QB holds the ball for. They have statistics for that and the Cowboys are one of the longest in the NFL due to the scheme. Much easier to not get sacked when your QB is throwing the ball under 2 seconds than when it is taking 3 seconds or in some cames...9 seconds.

I think what the goal should be is to become one of the best O-Lines in the history of the game. The last great O-Line I saw was the Chiefs under Vermeil. In fact, I would actually take that O-Line over the Cowboys' O-Line of the 90's as I think the Cowboys' O-Line was better at pass pro than run blocking. The Cowboys couldn't win when Emmitt was not playing, yet they won multiple times against good teams when Aikman got hurt with guys like Beuerlein, Kosar and Garrett. I think Collins can potentially usurp Free down the road and we could have the best O-Line in the league from here until at least 2018 (knock on wood with the injuries) and our oldest O-Lineman would still be only 27 years old.




YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

There's no doubt the media overhyped this OL but I'm sure the coaches know better than to eat the cheese. These guys still have a lot of work to do.

I don't think they overhyped them at all. I don't find one O-Line out there that was better. I don't recall them being called the greatest O-Line ever by the media. At the very worst, it was along the lines that if they keep at this current rate and find a RT to replace Free...they could be the best O-Line ever (which is ridiculous, but I don't think is quite what the media has said).




YR