Tell me about Mike Solari

John813

Well-Known Member
Messages
23,731
Reaction score
36,763
One thing for certain, the offense went from the undisputed best outside zone blocking team in the league to below average by 2022. Success rate by 2022 was 20% for Dallas. 24% by 31 other teams.

Dallas OZB run game in 2022 fell off when Steele got injured. THE OZBS run rate went from 4.2ypc and 22% success rate to 2.3 YPC and 14% success rate. 1-14 with Steele, 15+ without.
Also didn't help that Zeke wasn't that same explosive back the OZBS needs to run parallel and then explode up when the hole opens. Pollard was more effective in those runs.


An underrated part of the OZBS is the ability of the TE to block the edge player/linebacker out of his gap and be in flow with the offensive line. Schultz wasn't much of a run blocker. Tried, but wasn't good at it.
Ferguson is better but not someone I would say is a + blocker.

Solari if you look at his history has been with a lot of offensives with power, zone, inside outside etc... And no team strictly runs one blocking scheme. Dallas even with Murray and Zeke ran man, inside and outside zone.Just in 14 the OZBS was their bread and butter. Teams just couldn't stop it, due to the lateral movement and strength of our starting 5.

Kyle S. runs a lot of OZBS, similar to his dad. Their line also explodes out of their snap for play action similar to their OZBS snap. That type of consistency from how they attack the DL throws off the front 7 IMO.
No obvious signs.

I've been checked out to see what type of run scheme they run most times this year. Is it mainly power with 1 v 1 with a pulling guard here and there? Inside zone? Or OZB?
 
  • Like
Reactions: CWR

nalam

The realist
Messages
11,910
Reaction score
7,157
OL is one area where I admittedly don't know much about. Even to someone like me though, it's evident that they are playing very poorly, despite having quite a bit of talent and pedigree.

Why is Solari here? What is his 'style'? Why does he suck? Why have we stuck with him etc.

Thanks
Nothing good to say, over the hill and screwed a good OL
 

Blast From The Past

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,911
Reaction score
2,468
CowboysZone LOYAL Fan
Look you guys can have your own opinions Mike McCarthy single handedly the problem he was handed the keys he took the job and somehow he was able to win 12 games three straight years and now all of a sudden it's Jerry and Stevens fault what happened in the playoffs is Jerry and Stevens fault no I don't I don't think the design of the offense and the play calling and the miss utilization of a bunch of players is even close to Jerry and Steven sure Jerry might make it hard because he doesn't get aggressive enough in free agency or make trades at the trade deadline that somehow could have helped his team and his coaching staff but don't even start with this nonsense this is what I'm tired of Jerry put enough players on the team for it to be a 12 win team win the division twice at last three years go to the playoffs five times out of the last eight years that tells me there's enough talent on this team with the right coaching staff they should be overachieving not underachieving they're underachieving guys like Turpin and Vaughn they're not used properly even hunter last year put on the shelf I bet zeke wouldn't even be here this year if they used hunter enough last year to show Jerry that he was the short yardage guy you don't realize this is reciprocal..

So while I won't disagree that I wish Jerry would do a little bit more I don't wanna hear it I see how this offense is now worse because of Mike McCarthy and I was blaming Kelly Moore I would take Kelly Moore back right now because I see Mike McCarthy's route trees his outdated use of players he does not put him the players in proper positions he doesn't use the role players correctly last year Jerry wasn't on the field when he was calling the plays and making the game plans and giving Tony Pollard carries that Rico should have got and vice versa they were used backwards same way with this year you got a guy getting hot like Rico at the beginning of the year and what do you do you give him less carries going forward Jerry does not control who plays how much they play and he doesn't drop the game plans and he does not drop the plays this is a total failure by Mike McCarthy it's been happening slowly but when he took over this offense at first the league didn't know what he was running they didn't know what to expect players were healthy and they got it done more often than they didn't but it showed against the better coaches and the better defenses that he was absolutely being curb stomped as players like to say around here drove through the mud that was not on Jerry not on Jerry to make in game adjustments or game plans or scheming or draw new plays draws up new plays every week and all I see is the same 7 plays being ran seven different ways and they're not working I've never seen so many players have to run around each other to finish their routes or bump into each other or block each other from seeing the ball literally drag their defender right by the primary target and that defender stops and intercepts the ball and he wasn't even supposed to be in the play he was guarding somebody else this is Mike McCarthy's offense, NOT JERRYS!!

Like I said I'm not taking blame off Jerry or Steven but I'm tired of hearing about this what we've been seeing in front of our eyes we happened in Green Bay last year it happened in the big games last year the same thing with Dan Quinn I'm not impressed what he's doing in Washington he's doing the same thing he's beating up on bad teams but the better teams know his defense and they know how to beat it and he usually blows big leaves Noah brown bail them out that was lucky the other team actually weren't even taking that play seriously one of those DBS was off to the side making jokes they thought the game was won that was lucky lucky bounce to win that game normally that's not how Dan Quinn's teams fight they blow these they've been blowing leads here for years and everyone's now blowing smoke up the guy's butt,

coaching has been a problem here for a very long time and yes that's on Jerry but Jerry put enough talent on this team to do all those things I said above that's not easy to do show me all the other teams that have won enough regular season games to be considered a top six team in this league up until this year but over the last decade the Cowboys have been winning a lot if they have enough talent to be winning that much then I'm out to blame the coaching and yes the coaching falls to Jerry but I'm not letting Mike McCarthy bolt as a head coach in an offensive coordinator off the hook like you are...

This is absolutely Mike McCarthy's mess that he didn't see this going into this year at a training camp just like last year we saw them the first six or seven games of both these seasons look lost they look conservative they look like they were trying not to lose games instead of bringing the game to the defenses they were playing and last year they said oh it's a new offense let's give them time and then yeah they did pretty damn good last year because they were relatively healthy the offensive line played pretty well and Prescott was on just fire he was elite last year and he bailed Mike McCarthy's offense out but this year all the injuries all the problems it got exposed this looks like a high school offense to me and you're trying to let him off the hook he's the one that has full control of everything about this team and this offense yes Jerry should have fired him that's Jerry's fault he basically gave him one last chance and now we have to live with it that's on Jerry and Steven but Mike McCarthy is solely responsible for this mess this year and if you don't see it I'm sorry you're blinded by the hate for the Jones family and I get it but I'm just trying to wake you up be woke as they say Mike McCarthy is swimming in his own muck and yes some of it was injuries bad luck just like in 2020 but what I've seen from this offense and from his lack of inner awareness that he's the problem and he should have gave the reins over to schottenheimer and everyone says well is it gonna get better I don't know I would have liked to seen it after the bye week Mike McCarthy could have just saved face and said I need to concentrate on the whole team and I'm gonna give my play Call of Duty and most of the game planning over to schottenheimer, he probably should've made Solari change some of the schemes but he didn't and I'm sorry Mike McCarthy is solely responsible for this year's mess because he has two roles here and I'm not letting him off the hook..​

See the difference here Mike Zimmer, could get a pass he hasn't done anything great but he had at least I don't know 11 injuries on that side of the ball he had one offseason to try to switch from Quinn's D to his own and he got little help from Jerry in that regard that is a great excuse but I need them all gone at the end of the year so it doesn't matter we can complain about the coaches all we want that's what I meant but you had to respond and now I'm responding and telling you you're wrong this is all about Mike McCarthy absolutely 100% responsible for this mess... A great coaching staff would have been able to adjust and adapt to figure out what they had and what changes need to be made and not continue to run the same stuff they ran last year or the first half of this year they could have while healthy make better adjustments..
Kudos to you good Sir for witting up a manifesto of sorts. I don't hate JERRY JONES the defacto owner of the Cowboys. I hate what he has done to make us a laughing stock. AND we are just that but they will make more money by the haters tuning in to watch this once great franchise get rag dolled. 12 win seasons mean exactly what to you when the goal is to get and win the Super Bowl?

I can tell by your passion that you love this team too. you made good points and they are duly noted. We will have to agree to disagree on a few of those. The team is also something I grew up with and nothing will make that any different. Losing is a fans worst feeling and after GB that was gut wrenching. Just wanted to see all in not all out is all. I will keep watching for the entertainment that they present but this season has been one for the ages.
 

blueblood70

Well-Known Member
Messages
42,779
Reaction score
29,005
Kudos to you good Sir for witting up a manifesto of sorts. I don't hate JERRY JONES the defacto owner of the Cowboys. I hate what he has done to make us a laughing stock. AND we are just that but they will make more money by the haters tuning in to watch this once great franchise get rag dolled. 12 win seasons mean exactly what to you when the goal is to get and win the Super Bowl?

I can tell by your passion that you love this team too. you made good points and they are duly noted. We will have to agree to disagree on a few of those. The team is also something I grew up with and nothing will make that any different. Losing is a fans worst feeling and after GB that was gut wrenching. Just wanted to see all in not all out is all. I will keep watching for the entertainment that they present but this season has been one for the ages.
No we're not a laughingstock that's your problem this year is a down year sort of like 2020 lots of teams experience these down years for long long stretches they don't get to win the division two out of last three years they don't get to win 36 games beyond prime time all the time and go to the playoffs 5 at the last eight years you can't be a laughing stock when your team is top 6IN regular season wins the last decade we're relative I get what you're saying that we want more as a fan base and we need to go further as a fan base 'cause we're all hungry for an NFC championship game appearance at the very least we're overdue we wanna get back to the Super bowl but teams like the Kansas City Chiefs took 56 years to do that the the Bengals and a handful of other teams never even won a Super Bowl their drought is so much longer I'm not even gonna get out the calculator to help you out this is not a laughing stock that's your problem the words you choose are not fiting the situation..

I'm tired of having to remind fans it could be worse much worse and don't tell me where Dallas Cowboys fans were used to winning championships we have different expectations no perspective this is the NFL this is sports I always bring this up because I think people forget about this if Jerry Jones three titles aren't enough since 1989 how come only two other teams have three or more titles since 1989 and that would be the patriots and now the chiefs all dynasties at one time the rest of the teams just pick up the scraps overtime you have to wait your turn get back in the cycle that's how it works but here's my other favorite..

Jerry Jones himself history titles or as many as The Mavericks stars and Rangers all together that's all they got one each in their entire history the history of three sports franchises together only have three titles Jerry has three Jerry has three the old regime has two do I need to get out the calculator and do the math?

It's not a manifesto by the way I use talk to text and it's really easy and fast and dangerous sometimes yeah I go on rants and rambles and I don't give a hoot how my sense of structure looks like but I gotta remind people yes we all want more but the ridiculous descriptive terms and the words you guys use do not fit yes this year is terrible but you describe the last three years as the same this is not a laughing stock if you want a laughingstock that would be the other 10-12 teams that have been bad for a decade or more.. Literally teams like the Cleveland Browns I believe it is either 1989 or 1996 I can't remember anymore they only want one division title that's it I mean that's it imagine that fan base still filling a stadium oh and they're not complaining about the snow or some of the missed plays you don't hear those players afterwards say the sun was in their eyes I mean how many curtains would it take to keep the snow and wind and cold out of that brown game that they oh they also won the game against the Steelers who were on the uprise and we beat both those teams...

That's why this fan base needs to check their words we can say disappointed upset not liking the situation that's OK calling this a circus and a laughing stock and acting like the Dallas Cowboys are below average in any way shape or form is inaccurate you guys complain about light coming through the stadium 3 * a year it affects 3 plays a year and yet never really affected a game but there are other NFL teams throughout the last 100 years has had to deal with Mother Nature all the time but yeah you'll find a way to complain about Jerry see what I'm talking about he won't put curtains up really why should he he wants that part of his stadium it doesn't really affect the game and it has not affected the outcome of any games any more than any other effects that you see in other stadiums or the way players play making mistakes the referees turnovers all of it accounts at the end of the game is just part of the game..

But this fan base latches on to every little thing and you guys are drama Queens you live for the reality TV show reactions it's insane yes wrapping it down here so did we in 2020 and 2015 and really fast we were right back to winning and hopefully one day come in the playoffs yes I'm a passionate fan you're damn right I am and I don't agree with everything Jerry Jones does or the Jones family and I don't let the front office off the hook for everything but I'm not gonna use ridiculously dramatic terms and inaccurate descriptive words for our team we are not that team in the NFL that's considered bad we are far from it..
 

Rayman70

Well-Known Member
Messages
35,415
Reaction score
34,319
This guy hasn't been good at his job for years now. He must go
 

Blast From The Past

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,911
Reaction score
2,468
CowboysZone LOYAL Fan
No we're not a laughingstock that's your problem this year is a down year sort of like 2020 lots of teams experience these down years for long long stretches they don't get to win the division two out of last three years they don't get to win 36 games beyond prime time all the time and go to the playoffs 5 at the last eight years you can't be a laughing stock when your team is top 6IN regular season wins the last decade we're relative I get what you're saying that we want more as a fan base and we need to go further as a fan base 'cause we're all hungry for an NFC championship game appearance at the very least we're overdue we wanna get back to the Super bowl but teams like the Kansas City Chiefs took 56 years to do that the the Bengals and a handful of other teams never even won a Super Bowl their drought is so much longer I'm not even gonna get out the calculator to help you out this is not a laughing stock that's your problem the words you choose are not fiting the situation..

I'm tired of having to remind fans it could be worse much worse and don't tell me where Dallas Cowboys fans were used to winning championships we have different expectations no perspective this is the NFL this is sports I always bring this up because I think people forget about this if Jerry Jones three titles aren't enough since 1989 how come only two other teams have three or more titles since 1989 and that would be the patriots and now the chiefs all dynasties at one time the rest of the teams just pick up the scraps overtime you have to wait your turn get back in the cycle that's how it works but here's my other favorite..

Jerry Jones himself history titles or as many as The Mavericks stars and Rangers all together that's all they got one each in their entire history the history of three sports franchises together only have three titles Jerry has three Jerry has three the old regime has two do I need to get out the calculator and do the math?

It's not a manifesto by the way I use talk to text and it's really easy and fast and dangerous sometimes yeah I go on rants and rambles and I don't give a hoot how my sense of structure looks like but I gotta remind people yes we all want more but the ridiculous descriptive terms and the words you guys use do not fit yes this year is terrible but you describe the last three years as the same this is not a laughing stock if you want a laughingstock that would be the other 10-12 teams that have been bad for a decade or more.. Literally teams like the Cleveland Browns I believe it is either 1989 or 1996 I can't remember anymore they only want one division title that's it I mean that's it imagine that fan base still filling a stadium oh and they're not complaining about the snow or some of the missed plays you don't hear those players afterwards say the sun was in their eyes I mean how many curtains would it take to keep the snow and wind and cold out of that brown game that they oh they also won the game against the Steelers who were on the uprise and we beat both those teams...

That's why this fan base needs to check their words we can say disappointed upset not liking the situation that's OK calling this a circus and a laughing stock and acting like the Dallas Cowboys are below average in any way shape or form is inaccurate you guys complain about light coming through the stadium 3 * a year it affects 3 plays a year and yet never really affected a game but there are other NFL teams throughout the last 100 years has had to deal with Mother Nature all the time but yeah you'll find a way to complain about Jerry see what I'm talking about he won't put curtains up really why should he he wants that part of his stadium it doesn't really affect the game and it has not affected the outcome of any games any more than any other effects that you see in other stadiums or the way players play making mistakes the referees turnovers all of it accounts at the end of the game is just part of the game..

But this fan base latches on to every little thing and you guys are drama Queens you live for the reality TV show reactions it's insane yes wrapping it down here so did we in 2020 and 2015 and really fast we were right back to winning and hopefully one day come in the playoffs yes I'm a passionate fan you're damn right I am and I don't agree with everything Jerry Jones does or the Jones family and I don't let the front office off the hook for everything but I'm not gonna use ridiculously dramatic terms and inaccurate descriptive words for our team we are not that team in the NFL that's considered bad we are far from it..
I have been a fan only as far back as Craig Morton being the qb of the Cowboys so you may go back further than I but I dare say we are both passionate in our own fandom. We are a laughingstock this season, I am only commenting on this season not seasons past. I say laughingstock as a reference to what non fans think of the Cowboys not me personally. I give Jerry Jones credit for having us hang around the rim for a good many years. I am in it for the SB's, that is the point isn't it? Or am I expecting too much?

Maybe my choice of words resonates on your brain a little off but I don't apologize for that because they are after all my words. Drama Queen? Pffft....Hardly. I have been called worse names on here than that good sir. I get that other teams have failed worse than the Cowboys and have long suffering fan bases but I have only followed one myself and that is the Dallas Cowboys. So my expectations never deviate or waiver for my chosen team. I expect excellence and a proud franchise extraordinaire to be what they purport to be and that is to do everything to get better. This off season and at the trade deadline they did diddly squat other than Mingo and bargain basement replacements in the off season. The cap was not dire as they want us to believe. It can be manipulated and molded to fit in better players had Jerry chosen to do so but he sat still on two crucial contracts that cost more because he stalled and he held hostage cap space that could have been better served in other areas when it mattered most. Is that "all in"?
I only expect Jerry Jones to be competent. Al Davis got left behind as he aged. So too will Jerry if it isn't already happening.

Also those 3 SB's is a legacy that Jerry lives on. A lot of owners have zero so I will give you that. I never followed the Rangers but always preferred the Astros and basketball is not my forte. Feel bad for their fan bases. I am a long suffering Pittsburgh Pirate fan almost a fan as long as a Cowboys fan. That is another story.

The curtains will remain controversial whether you agree with the premise or not. I kinda agree with Jerry. The sun affects both teams so should be a non issue right? Until it affects a play like with Lamb missing a sure td because the sun got in the way. The play design was on MM not Jerry Jones.

I never wanted Tom Landry to be terminated but a ton of people did. I believed in him but even Tom got stale. The NFL moves onward not backward. I want the old Jerry that got excited by his on field product not his Papa Johns franchise or his oil/gas businesses and a myriad of other business endeavors that he is wicked good at. Just want him to focus on his team and manage it correctly. Prima donna, drama queen, fan call me what you will. If I still drank beer I would love to have a few with Jerry and I would let him do all of the talking as he is a fascinating human being.
 
Messages
10,108
Reaction score
7,327
CowboysZone DIEHARD Fan
Solid coach.

many decades in the NFL coaching OLs.

wears the Ring.

will be gone next season, like most of our coaches.
Nate Newton likes him a lot and I can't imagine the guy doesn't know how to educate young players. One thing I'm unclear on though is how the blocking schemes are designed. Is it the OC that draws everything up or does the OL coach handle the blocking schemes? Seems like it's always straight up man or zone blocking unless the OC draws up something different (?) My point being, whoever is drawing up these run blocking schemes doesn't appear to be putting much effort into it.
 

Chuck 54

Well-Known Member
Messages
20,503
Reaction score
12,523
Two rookies starting, one vet has been hurt all year, and Zack Martin has had a very poor year.
Add to that the fact that we have no talent at RB, so when the guys do pop a RB into the second level, it ends at 6-8 yards.

Solari was getting the best out of Steele before his injury. He’s been responsible for developing Tyler Smith when many thought he was a bad pick. Anything positive you’ve seen from JAGS like Bass and Hoffman and draft pick Richards hs his hands on it. He’s the OL coach, not the run game coordinator. I think that’s Shottenheimer.
 
Top