Sturm talks interior line and draft

[chicago JK]

Easily predictable to everyone but apparently the Cowboys front office, 2011 was an amazing disaster from the offensive line standpoint. To call Nagy and Costa outclassed is an understatement and by the end of the year, Montrae Holland was called in off his couch and Kevin Kowalski, yet another undrafted rookie, were being overrun by the Giants in Week 17 as a battered Tony Romo took all of the national blame. Yes, paying offensive linemen less allowed the Cowboys to spend elsewhere, but the neglect and ill-advised ideas of 2011 are never discussed enough, but of all of the Jerry Jones evaluation train wrecks, I don't think the decisions to set sail with Costa and Nagy as starters in 2011 ever gets enough publicity. It might be the worst idea this administration has ever come up with.

As is the habit, they found blame in the coach Hudson Houck and retired him after 2011 because he could not make practice-squad players into starters, and in comes Bill Callahan to fix things in 2012.

Except, yet again, we had no plans to invest in the offensive line (because of that salary cap again) and it appeared the drafting of David Arkin was no more successful than the Nagy/Costa/Kowalski ideas of 2011. So, in comes 2 starters who were both cheap and easy to acquire because their former teams seemed to have no plans to keep them in Mackenzy Berndeau and Nate Livings. Also, they traded for the guy who would start the whole year at center in Ryan Cook just days before the opener. Costa, who was hurt almost all of preseason got hurt on the first drive of the season, and in stepped Cook for the rest of the year. Bernadeau and Livings were ok, but Livings' body was also breaking down and his play was inconsistent. Cook missed a few games and Derrick Dockery was signed and put in the games over Arkin, letting us know how things must be for him. Free and Smith switched spot and Tyron kept developing as the least of the problems on this line now at left tackle for the next decade.


http://sturminator.blogspot.com

 

[visionary]

This is just not true
Costa, kowalski, Nagy , and Arkin will make a great OL and "just need time to develop"

I heard it right here

 

[Risen Star]

This is just not true
Costa, kowalski, Nagy , and Arkin will make a great OL and "just need time to develop"

I heard it right here

Those people have forever lost the right to be taken seriously when talking about this team. If you saw any value in that, you are auditioning to be Rich Dalrymple's replacement.

 

[perrykemp]

Wow, Sturm is usually a bit more reserved in his criticism. He really blasted the Cowboys front-office and Jerry Jones in this article.

 

[dreghorn2]

This is just not true
Costa, kowalski, Nagy , and Arkin will make a great OL and "just need time to develop"

I heard it right here

Seriously that group was horrendous, just terrible.

People justifying that foursome were really looking through Cowboy colored glasses. Embarrassing.

 

[skinsscalper]

Wow, Sturm is usually a bit more reserved in his criticism. He really blasted the Cowboys front-office and Jerry Jones in this article.

Rightfully so in this aspect (and many others). I'll defend the Jones' and their tactics when it's warranted and against unwarranted criticism. However, there are moves and mindsets that come out of this front office that are completely indefensible. Even the homiest of homers have to be able to see how catastrophic some of these decisions have been for this franchise.

The majority of careers of some elite players (and YES Romo is one of them) have been, for the most part, wasted in mediocrity due to horrific blunders by this front office. Unfortunately, they look like dolts even when they DO get it right because the overwhelming sound of the white noise of ineptitude completely drowns out anything positive that they might do. You'll still here about the Cowboys drafting woes because they've blundered it so many times when the truth of the matter is that they've done a pretty damned solid job the past few years. The media and the fans still have this stigma attached to how Dallas drafts that they've blown it before they even started. It's not fair but it's been brought on by themselves.

I'll never forget a comment Jones made about his lack of commitment to the O-line citing Romo's ability to evade the rush as better suited to deal with that issue. I couldn't believe my ears. My very first thought was "He's going to get this guy killed". Lo and behold, since then, Romo has either missed portions of a season or forced to endure one with a collapsed lung and broken ribs. That is unforgivable/unforgettable IMO. Now, with Romo in the twilight of his career, Jones has finally given the O-line the attention it deserved all along (let's hope he continues to do so). Our only hope is that Romo will survive it and be able to thrive without the recurring nightmare of being crushed that turns, a now conditioned, QB to get a little gunshy (who the hell could blame him?).

With any hope Jones will realize what the hell it was that got him three trophies to begin with. Dominance up front (on both sides of the ball). Once that happens everything else falls into place. Maybe the light is finally on upstairs. If not, this team will mire in mediocrity (along with the careers of some outstanding players) until someone actually gets it. I'm a fan, so I'm holding my breath.

Go Cowboys!

 

[dmq]

I liked Nagy and up until his injury, I thought he was going to turnout to be a good draft pick for us.

 

[percyhoward]

In the last decade, 2009 is easily the year that this team ran the ball most effectively and ran it without gimmicks. They did not rely on shotgun runs or deception.

Wow.

Just...wow.

The following is something I posted in 2010, when Sturm was going to do a Q & A in this forum. He never responded to my post, but something tells me he read it:

"I read your blog fairly regularly and especially enjoy the statistical analysis. Last December, you wrote that Garrett's introduction of contact in practice had made the power running more successful, pointing to an increase in yards per carry on plays run with "22" personnel. Looking at the actual plays that were run, I don't see that our power running improved at all.

For example, the three longest runs we'd had from "22" at the time you posted your numbers--Kitna's bootleg against Detroit, and two tosses to Choice at Indy--all used speed or deception to go around the defense, as opposed to using strength to run over it.

I looked at all the handoffs to running backs with QB under center in 2010, and found no difference in the yards per carry between games 1-8 and games 9-15. This despite the fact that we should have had an advantage in the second half of the season because the OL was healthier, the run D's we faced were weaker, and Felix got a greater share of the carries.

I'd like to believe the physical practices made a difference in OL performance, but I'm having a hard time finding that difference on the field. I'm curious to know if you still believe our power running improved after Garrett was named head coach, in the light of these numbers, and if so, how did it improve?

Handoffs to RB w/QB under center, 2010
Games 1-8: 116 carries for 409 yards (3.5 ypc)
Games 9-15: 155 carries for 537 yards (3.5 ypc)

Conversion percentage on short-yardage runs by RB
(3rd or 4th and 2 or less to go, any down from 2-yard line in)
Games 1-8: 14 of 20 (70%)
Games 9-15: 5 of 17 (29%)"

http://cowboyszone.com/threads/bob-sturm-has-agreed-to-do-a-q-amp-a-for-us.206059/

 

[thunderpimp91]

2011 was an interesting scenario. Going into that season our O line was expected to be a strength. If my memory is correct is was accepted as a Jason Garrett move to get rid of Leonard Davis/Andre Gurode. Combine that with the Doug Free collapse and you now basically had to rebuild a whole Line, minus Tyron Smith. I never liked that Houck was the fall guy for that season. I don't know how much input he had on the drastic moves, but he was left with nothing to work with.

2012 however I put largely on Jerry. If you're going to trade up for Mo Claiborn in the draft with multiple holes to fill you better be right. So far that move has been a huge mistake. Instead of claiborn, and a couple cheap FA Guards you could have had two high draft picks, at least one of which could have been a starter on your o-line.

 

[visionary]

Seriously that group was horrendous, just terrible.

People justifying that foursome were really looking through Cowboy colored glasses. Embarrassing.

Not only this but they would flippantly make fun of those of us actually arguing to acquire actual NFL caliber talent at OL to allow romo to be effective

By sheer coincidence ( I am sure) they seem to be the same who agreed with FO
that the DL was going to be a strength last off season and that kiffin was still a great dc

 

[Rockport]

Wow, Sturm is usually a bit more reserved in his criticism. He really blasted the Cowboys front-office and Jerry Jones in this article.

And rightfully so.

 

[Rockport]

Not only this but they would flippantly make fun of those of us actually arguing to acquire actual NFL caliber talent at OL to allow romo to be effective

By sheer coincidence ( I am sure) they seem to be the same who agreed with FO
that the DL was going to be a strength last off season and that kiffin was still a great dc

Blind homerisim will make you look foolish.

 

[Dodger12]

If Risen Star isn't careful, people are going to figure out that he's Bob Sturm posting on the Zone under a screen alias.......

 

[jnday]

Those people have forever lost the right to be taken seriously when talking about this team. If you saw any value in that, you are auditioning to be Rich Dalrymple's replacement.

There are still posters on this board that have high opinions of Costa and the gang. Go figure.

 

[DanTanna]

Payton, Drew Breeze and Brady would have retired if they were forced to play behind our OL since Tony has been here. Jerry has wasted our opportunity so far with Tony. Crying shame.

 

[Boys122]

This is just not true
Costa, kowalski, Nagy , and Arkin will make a great OL and "just need time to develop"

I heard it right here

LMAO

 

[Common Sense]

The silver lining in all of this is that the OL blunder possibly caused Jerry to finally see the light there, and we actually took some steps to fix the issue. Maybe the same will hold true for DL this year.

 

[Dwight]

Blind homerisim will make you look foolish.

The homers really loved Costa and some still take up for him.

I remember the Ravens game a couple of years ago and some of the homers were happy about Costa owning an injured Ngata. Too funny.

 

[reddyuta]

Blind homerisim will make you look foolish.

the same guys are saying we are ok with WR,lets see how these guys play when Dez gets injured.

 

[Risen Star]

The silver lining in all of this is that the OL blunder possibly caused Jerry to finally see the light there, and we actually took some steps to fix the issue. Maybe the same will hold true for DL this year.

If he learned anything from that, why did he fail to address the DL last offseason with even a single addition? Not even our UDFA class contained a defensive lineman.

He didn't learn a thing. Neither did his son.