Sturm: Marinelli Report - Green Bay

[Floatyworm]

Why in the world are we playing with only 2 linebackers on the field the majority of the game?

Marinelli has done this all year. No wonder Green Bay tore us up with the run.

And to have Barry Church lined up 1 on 1 vs Randall Cobb in the slot all game long. That's just insane. After the 1st quarter I thought Cobb was gonna catch 20 balls....

 

[dagreat1_87]

Would be interesting to see if McClain was freelancing or if Irving just blew an assignment. After breaking down the tape....If Irving had made the twist I think he makes the sack. Regardless...there was such a huge opening for Rodgers to run through....I can't blame Crawford for not making up that much ground. Would have been a huge stop....and a game changer. In that situation I don't get why we didn't have Lee spying on Rodgers. Seems like he was killing us on runs all day. The more you watch this GIF......I don't think Irving had a clue he was supposed to twist. I'm inclined to think McClain was just freelancing.....thoughts?

to me it looks like if sean lee didn't slip, he would've been in a good position to take rodgers down.

 

[CrownCowboy]

And to have Barry Church lined up 1 on 1 vs Randall Cobb in the slot all game long. That's just insane. After the 1st quarter I thought Cobb was gonna catch 20 balls....

Yep.

I saw McClain going off on Garrett during the game and it looked like he had two fingers up while talking to garrett.

You can't have two linebackers on the field the majority of the game. I've had it with this coaching staff.

 

[itsaboat]

Marinelli looks totally lost and helpless out there.

Kiffin should have been retained.

What an awful comment. I guess you forgot what happened when Kiffin was running the defense so here is a recap of his work:

Kiffin's defense allowed 6,645 yards, which is the third-most allowed in NFL history. The Cowboys gave up 388 first downs, which is second-most in NFL history. The Cowboys allowed 432 points, second-most in team history. Only the 2010 defense gave up more (436).

The Cowboys gave up a record four 400-yard passing games to quarterbacks. They had five quarterbacks throw four touchdowns in a game, including two from backups in Chicago's Josh McCown and Green Bay's Matt Flynn. The New Orleans Saints put up an NFL record 40 first downs against the Cowboys in the Nov. 10 meeting. They allowed six rushers to eclipse more than 100 yards in the last eight games.

Kiffin had a record setting 30th ranked defense when he was in charge. The next season with Marinelli we jumped to 19th and currently we are 9th. Ya we should have retained Kiffin /s

 

[natedoug]

Would be interesting to see if McClain was freelancing or if Irving just blew an assignment. After breaking down the tape....If Irving had made the twist I think he makes the sack. Regardless...there was such a huge opening for Rodgers to run through....I can't blame Crawford for not making up that much ground. Would have been a huge stop....and a game changer. In that situation I don't get why we didn't have Lee spying on Rodgers. Seems like he was killing us on runs all day. The more you watch this GIF......I don't think Irving had a clue he was supposed to twist. I'm inclined to think McClain was just freelancing.....thoughts?

Agreed - that was a blown assignment by 95. McClain takes on the RG's shoulder at and angle, 95 should twist inside. Even if Lacy peels off McClain and gets 95 - you still have better / sound gap assignment. The threat of Rodgers running up the middle caused Lee to over react and move off his gap. When Rodger's cut back - Lee slipped and it was all over when Crawford missed

 

[Kevinicus]

Agreed - that was a blown assignment by 95. McClain takes on the RG's shoulder at and angle, 95 should twist inside. Even if Lacy peels off McClain and gets 95 - you still have better / sound gap assignment. The threat of Rodgers running up the middle caused Lee to over react and move off his gap. When Rodger's cut back - Lee slipped and it was all over when Crawford missed

Also, if Lacy takes on Irving, then McClain is free to bounce back inside for the sack, just like Lee did last week.

 

[Junglist]

Marinelli looks totally lost and helpless out there.

Kiffin should have been retained.

There guy responsible for the worst defense in Cowboys' history?

 

[Angry Man]

Would be interesting to see if McClain was freelancing or if Irving just blew an assignment. After breaking down the tape....If Irving had made the twist I think he makes the sack. Regardless...there was such a huge opening for Rodgers to run through....I can't blame Crawford for not making up that much ground. Would have been a huge stop....and a game changer. In that situation I don't get why we didn't have Lee spying on Rodgers. Seems like he was killing us on runs all day. The more you watch this GIF......I don't think Irving had a clue he was supposed to twist. I'm inclined to think McClain was just freelancing.....thoughts?

This is definitely on David Irving. Here's this same blitz vs Washington Last week.

(shamelessly taken from Bob)

Also, McClain wasnt freelancing. The linebacker blitz is predicated on the turn of the center. The center turned towards Sean Lee and Tyrone Crawford which means that McClain was the one that was supposed to blitz and that Lee was supposed to drop into coverage/spy the QB. Here's a good write up on the Rain Blitz the Cowboys have been running this season: http://jameslightfootball.com/2015/...-rain-pressure-check-versus-empty-formations/

 

[Mr Cowboy]

I hope the Cowboys don't consider using a high draft pick or a big money FA at CB. The one thing that has been proven in Dallas, regardless of Coach, is that CB's come to die here. We have not had a stud CB here since Deion. Several first round draft picks have been used as well as big money free agents. They come to Dallas and become bad. The team has several 6th rounders in the draft, this is where they should look for the CB. No sense wasting prime picks on CB when they have no clue how to develop them.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Marinelli looks totally lost and helpless out there.

Kiffin should have been retained.

LOL........ I read this and could not believe it. The defense isn't the problem here. Kiffin wasn't making this D work when he was here and the truth of the matter is that Kiffin wanted to leave. He wanted to help his Son at USC.

 

[Wolfpack]

This is definitely on David Irving. Here's this same blitz vs Washington Last week.

(shamelessly taken from Bob)

Also, McClain wasnt freelancing. The linebacker blitz is predicated on the turn of the center. The center turned towards Sean Lee and Tyrone Crawford which means that McClain was the one that was supposed to blitz and that Lee was supposed to drop into coverage/spy the QB. Here's a good write up on the Rain Blitz the Cowboys have been running this season: http://jameslightfootball.com/2015/...-rain-pressure-check-versus-empty-formations/

Thats a great site. Thanks for posting.

 

[coogrfan]

The fact is, we are third in TOP, yet we aren't scoring despite holding on to the ball for long. We are 30th in terms of scoring. Talk about an absolutely ineffective offense... We have not broken even close to 300 yards passing since our very first game. And our offense has 23 TOs, despite playing this conservative.

The offense is absolutely atrocious..

And BTW, we are 16th in points allowed.

It's just amazing that the FO keeps talking about the defense needed to generate TOs to win. Our offense isn't doing anything with the opportunities given to it, while at least the defense is doing an adequate job of keeping the opposing offense from scoring.

What opportunities? Thru 13 games we have started a grand total of 8 drives on the opponents side of the 50 (league avg is 14).

Are we talking about the same defense that has failed to protect multiple 4th qtr leads? The defense whose failure to generate takeaways has resulted in Dallas ranking 30th in avg starting field position and 29th in drives started in the opponents territory? The defense that has lost two OT games in which our offense never got back on the field? The defense that hasn't gotten a 4th qtr stop with a game on the line at any point this season?

The truth is this disaster of a season has been a total team effort. The offense at least has an excuse. The defense...not so much.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...rm-marinelli-report-defense-fights-hard-wears

I have to point out with dynamic systems time is typically the denominator. If the opponent's time is low and their plays are high then that means the defense is having to deal with a high play per minute. A sprint is exponentially more tiring than a jog because of the rate. Similar principles exist in most complex cycles.

 

[JoeBoBBY]

This.

Twelve touchdowns generated by the offense. TWELVE! The Jets have rushed for 10 TDs alone on the ground.

The defense may not be generating turnovers but it still comes down to scoring more points than the other team. The offense lost this season.

Ive seen improvement in the Defense. Like we all thought at the begininng of the season. That the defense would improve after some guys got back and some rookies got experience, and got through some inujuries.....The Defense got better as the season went along. Thats my impression at least. But I dont study film or even look at the numbers.....I just watch the games.

The Offense.....................

No Romo.
No DM.
No Dez.

What I take from watching the offesne this year is that , the Oline, mini great wall of Dallas, cant make just "anybody" produce. They need help too.............. They arent as dominant as I thought they might be. Not yet, maybe not ever. They are good. Not great.

 

[khiladi]

What opportunities? Thru 13 games we have started a grand total of 8 drives on the opponents side of the 50 (league avg is 14).

Are we talking about the same defense that has failed to protect multiple 4th qtr leads? The defense whose failure to generate takeaways has resulted in Dallas ranking 30th in avg starting field position and 29th in drives started in the opponents territory? The defense that has lost two OT games in which our offense never got back on the field? The defense that hasn't gotten a 4th qtr stop with a game on the line at any point this season?

The truth is this disaster of a season has been a total team effort. The offense at least has an excuse. The defense...not so much.

Huh?

Maybe because our special teams sucks and Beasley likes to fair catch, which is why we have bad starting field position...

We are 30th in offensive scoring with over 20 TOs, including multiple TOs resulting in TDs.. You can attempt to spin the offense as being a lesser problem, but we are 16th in total points allowed, and 30th in offensive scoring..

And you obviously missed the point about why we let up in the 4th quarter...

It's just amazing that the FO keeps talking about the defense needed to generate TOs to win.

Our offense isn't doing anything with the opportunities given to it, while at least the defense is doing an adequate job of keeping the opposing offense from scoring.

And as Sturm points out, it's natural considering our size up front on defense. It's actually more a testimony to our defense for holding on for so long, despite being under-sized.

If you know your defense has that much pressure, than it's only natural a coach tries to adjust and put points on the board and not settle for field goals...

 

[Floatyworm]

This is definitely on David Irving. Here's this same blitz vs Washington Last week.

(shamelessly taken from Bob)

Also, McClain wasnt freelancing. The linebacker blitz is predicated on the turn of the center. The center turned towards Sean Lee and Tyrone Crawford which means that McClain was the one that was supposed to blitz and that Lee was supposed to drop into coverage/spy the QB. Here's a good write up on the Rain Blitz the Cowboys have been running this season: http://jameslightfootball.com/2015/...-rain-pressure-check-versus-empty-formations/

Good stuff...Thanks for sharing

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I disagree with the entire premise of the article. The stats he shows have our opponent not having the ball a lot and still running a lot of plays. This makes sense because we play in the same division as the Eagles. Energy consumption is an exponential phenomenon relative to the rate of action. Our guys are veritably sprinting because of all the 3 and outs.

At this point ---I'm sure Sturm realizes this too--- you can write the same story every week. They flipped the line in the base and put in wrinkles to mix and disguise coverages but outside of a couple of weeks of targeted blitzing the defense is what it is and teams have a very common game plan that is working well enough to beat our offense.

1) Teams attack Hayden and try to run up the middle. With one armed 98 next to him it's been a big problem even after flipping the front in base. The Packer's double teams dominated him right from the beginning. Single teams trapped velcro.
2) They attack the middle of the field in the passing game where Patmon, White, Wilcox, and Church await. This has gotten worse not better.
3) Key off Lee. Teams seldom throw into his zip code. He tries to run under stuff in the robber role as other mention but the plan is typically stay away from Lee and make plays on the other guys. That's what Rodgers did.

You give Jones consistent snaps at that deep robber role and in combo with Lee some turnovers have a better chance to happen. As it is they have Wilcox and Church doing it. One cannot see and one cannot run. They need the rookie in man coverage now more than ever unfortunately. Scandrick going down hurt the defense in this way.

Anyone have any idea where Crawford got hurt?

 

[coogrfan]

Huh?

Maybe because our special teams sucks and Beasley likes to fair catch, which is why we have bad starting field position...

The primary method of flipping the field is via takeaways. Case in point - Carolina.

1st in the league in % of opponent drives ending in a turnover;
1st in avg starting field position;
1st in drives starting in the opponents territory.

By comparison we are dead last, 29th and tied for dead last. Not surprisingly, Carolina is really good and we are not. That's just how it works.

We are 30th in offensive scoring with over 20 TOs, including multiple TOs resulting in TDs.. You can attempt to spin the offense as being a lesser problem, but we are 16th in total points allowed, and 30th in offensive scoring.

I ask again: provide an example of the defense getting a stop in the 4th qtr with a game on the line. I can't recall one.

What I can recall is several instances where our much maligned offense had manged to scratch and claw out a lead or a tie in the 4th qtr only to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the (supposedly blameless) defense allowed the opposition to go right down the field for the game winning score.

And you obviously missed the point about why we let up in the 4th quarter...

Enlighten me. It certainly can't be due to fatigue, given that our offense is 3rd in time of possession.

It's just amazing that the FO keeps talking about the defense needed to generate TOs to win.

How exactly do you think teams without their starting qb's win games? Here's a hint: they take the ball away.

 

[coogrfan]

I disagree with the entire premise of the article. The stats he shows have our opponent not having the ball a lot and still running a lot of plays. This makes sense because we play in the same division as the Eagles. Energy consumption is an exponential phenomenon relative to the rate of action. Our guys are veritably sprinting because of all the 3 and outs.

We have gone 3 and out on 23.74% of our drives this season (20th in the league). Below avg? Yes. Terrible? Not really.
http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/three-and-out-percentage/2015/

We also third in the league in time of possession.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

The defense, otoh, has been on the field for only 807 snaps this season (26th in the league).
http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/defensive-snaps/2015/

So I ask again: what has the defense done this year that they should be so worn out at the end of games?

 

[Stryker44]

LOL........ I read this and could not believe it. The defense isn't the problem here. Kiffin wasn't making this D work when he was here and the truth of the matter is that Kiffin wanted to leave. He wanted to help his Son at USC.

Kiffin was at USC before Dallas.

Kiffin was around during the 12-4 season mentoring Marinelli.

Now you see Marinelli on the sidelines looking lost and baffled.