Tell me why we switched offensive coordinators again?

[Idgit]

I'm sure he is well capable of making a negative impact.

I guess we'll see.

 

[Zman5]

Why on earth would you think that? Like it or not but after Phillips was canned team penalties went down. The offense in particular stopped making quite so many glaring missed assignments. There have been less zigging when they should have zagged. The effort of the team has been better too.

When you look at Carter moping out there and everyone screwing up their drops and everything else we saw go on defense, I think the unit could use a guy that will come in and get on their *** to pay attention to detail, keep their chin up no matter what, and play their butts off.

If you want to complain about his game management and playcalling then I can see that but he isn't going to be creating the scheme nor calling the plays. He is going to do what walkaround HC do: regulate.

JG should spend his time learning how to better manage games than wasting it meddling what Rod is trying to do. I highly doubt JG can improve what Rod can/will do with this defense.

 

[Gaede]

Misdirection.

Every season we fail, someone takes the blame. And it's easier to continue cycling coordinators than to fire the head coach and pay all those salaries.

 

[OhSnap]

Not sure what the aversion is to looking at points per offensive series, but it's sort of fascinating.

I'm curious to see how the coordinating works out this season. I think having Jason freed up during the week is a good thing. It amuses me that fans want to believe he can't have an impact on defensive preparations, though.

Football Outsiders has them 4th in the league with 2.25/drive behind Denver-1, SD-2,NO-3. Not bad company. Theres an egg and chicken thing goin on depending on how you look at it. Either the def couldn't get off the field and give the offense more opportunities which were at a league low or the offense couldn't maintain enough drives. I lean more toward the defense being the largest chicken or egg.

 

[Hoofbite]

Somehow my other post got deleted that showed that Dallas scored 439 points or 27.4 per game last year, BUT that does include the defensive and special team scores.

Without those TDs, it's 397 points and 24.7 per game.

They also had a ridiculous number of drives that started inside the opponents 5 yard line.

2013: 4 drives starting inside the opponents 5 yard line
2009-2012: 4 drives starting inside the opponents 5 yard line

Just guessing that more often than not if a defender or returner gets that far, they go all the way. From 2009 to 2013 there's only been 91 such drives in the entire league, which basically comes out to about 23 drives per season.

In total the team had 10 scoring drives in which the total yardage gained was 5 yards or less. Against Detroit they had a scoring drive (FG) of 0 yards, and against Green Bay they actually had a scoring drive (FG) where they lost 11 yards before kicking it.

Between 2009 and 2012, Dallas had a combined 8 of these drives. Quick look at previous seasons and going back as far as PFR can go, it doesn't look like there's another team who had double digits in this area. Dallas is the only team from at least 1999 who has (in a single season) scored on 10 drives where the total yardage was less than 5 yards. Baltimore has the most number of these drives over the last 5 years, they have 23.

Those 10 drives accounted for 4 TDs and 6 FGs, with all 4 TDs being the TDs mentioned above. 6 non-offensive TDs, 10 scoring drives where the offense drove less than 5 yards before scoring a TD or kicking the FG. There's a lot of points that the Dallas defense pretty much put on the board, and that was really their 1 and only saving grace last year. Comes out to 88 points.

The team scored 439 total points. Deducting these 88 gives you 351 points (21.9 points/game). Those 88 points work out to 5.5 points/week that the defense was largely responsible for. That total would be 2nd highest in the NFL, behind only KC who's 97 points was largely driven by 11 non-offensive TDs. League average is 2.5 points per game, Seattle was at 3.0 and New Orleans had the league low in this area at 0.6 points per game. They didn't get a single non-offensive TD and only scored 6 total points on drives of 5 yards or less.

Here's the data for 2009 to 2013. Inside the brackets are the points being deducted from the total points scored. "+ X Points" are the number of points yielded on drives of 5 yards or less.

2009: Total Points 361 - [3 Non-offensive TDs + 3 Points] = 337 Points (21.0 points/game)
2010: Total Points 394 - [7 Non-offensive TDs + 3 Points] = 342 points (21.3 points/game)
2011: Total Points 369 - [1 Non-offensive TDs + 20 Points] = 342 points (21.3 points/game)
2012: Total Points 376 - [4 Non-offensive TDs + 6 Points] = 342 points (21.3 points/game)
2013: Total Points 439 - [6 Non-offensive TDs + 46 Points] = 351 points (21.9 points/game)​

The defense definitely helped that scoring rank. If you control for these non-offensive TDs and extremely short-drive scores across the league Dallas was 11th in the NFL in scoring. I doubt there are many who would say that Dallas had a better offense than New Orleans but because New Orleans didn't get a single bit of help on the scoreboard from their defense, that's what you could conclude by looking at total points per game. Without considering defensive scores and gimme points, New Orleans is 10th in scoring. Accounting for those, they're 4th in the NFL which sounds more reasonable. San Diego saw a decent jump as well of 6 spots after removing the defensive work, and I'm only pointing it out because if you look at the rankings after accounting for the defensive work it shows Dallas having played 6 of the 7 highest point scoring offenses last year. Of course, so did the rest of the East minus Philly, who creeps to #2. Only team from the Top 7 they didn't play was New England.

Side note: For those 6 teams, there were 7 total games due to playing Philly twice. Dallas' record, 1-6.

Dallas actually improved in rank by 6 spots because of the defense, second only to KC who saw a bump of 11 spots in the ranking all the way to #6 even though they have an average passing offense.

But all this isn't to say that the offense wasn't better last year. You can see they scored a couple extra points than previous years but they did this with about 70 less plays than they had averaged over 2009 to 2012. Right around 1 game less in snaps and the team scored a little more than it had been. Dallas actually had the fewest snaps on offense last year so while not all that improved in terms of raw production, they were significantly improved in terms of getting the most out of the opportunities they had. That said, being 25th in the NFL in 3rd down conversions really shackled the offenses ability to create more opportunities for itself and being near the bottom on defense allowed other teams to eat the clock.

The offense was more efficient, not necessarily more prolific. The defense is pretty much what boosted the team up to the top of the scoring list.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

We were 6th in ppg. I note how you keep changing your sig from ppg to ypg depending on which looks worse. I remember when we had the 7th ypg defense and you switched it to ppg and hand waved. Nice sophistry.

Wrong again. It's always been points. We've always been pretty good at yards. Unfortunately, I've never seen yards on a scoreboard.

Maybe you should spend less time in the thesaurus and more time addressing actual thread topics.

 

[DFWJC]

The offense and special teams carried us for sure.

But there was something not quite right with that offense last year. I know Romo played hurt for much of the time, but it was more than that. The system they had was not smooth, and the play calling didn't allow them to get into a rhythm as much as they should have...imo.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Oh for Pete's sake, if a Head Coach can't stop his QB from changing out of plays then he doesn't deserve an NFL headset, period. There is no way this is true and if it is, JG really needs to be gone.

You think Parcells would put up with that?

Its called romo friendly offense, per the GM. the GM built an offense around the QB, paid him 120 mill and strapped the cap, passed on QBs because he didn't want to upset him, etc. and parcells couldn't and he left....because Jerry Kept medlling. it takes a lot to put up with Jerry and work with him. we have switched coach after coach, the best of the lot who put us back on the right track quit because he couldn't take it.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Wrong again. It's always been points. We've always been pretty good at yards. Unfortunately, I've never seen yards on a scoreboard.

Maybe you should spend less time in the thesaurus and more time addressing actual thread topics.

If I was mistaken then oh well. That just leads to another question: when are you going to add the 6 for this season?

I don't try to be pedantic, it's just how I talk. Sorry if that threatens you. That really the best dig you can come up with? That I am well read? Oh NOES!!!!!

 

[Rockport]

The Cowboys have broken the 400 point barrier 11 times in franchise history resulting in 7 playoff appearances and 3 of the 5 Super Bowl trophies they own.

Last year was the 3rd time since 1995 that the Cowboys scored over 400 points but it became the first time the Cowboys would score 400 points and not make the playoffs.

So why did we switch OC's? We scored a ton of points.

In 1 word, chemistry.

 

[Rockport]

The offense and special teams carried us for sure.

But there was something not quite right with that offense last year. I know Romo played hurt for much of the time, but it was more than that. The system they had was not smooth, and the play calling didn't allow them to get into a rhythm as much as they should have...imo.

What was wrong with the offense is that for whatever reason, they never ran the ball effectively. Sure, Murray had a good year, but they never ran the ball when they needed to run the ball. Hopefully, Martin will give the coaches enough confidence in the running game so that it can be used as it's supposed to be used.

 

[DFWJC]

What was wrong with the offense is that for whatever reason, they never ran the ball effectively. Sure, Murray had a good year, but they never ran the ball when they needed to run the ball. Hopefully, Martin will give the coaches enough confidence in the running game so that it can be used as it's supposed to be used.

T Smith has taken the next step
T Fred will improve a ton in year 2
add Martin to the mix

I'm pretty pumped about the oline.

When's the last time we were able to say that?!

 

[gimmesix]

Dallas actually improved in rank by 6 spots because of the defense, second only to KC who saw a bump of 11 spots in the ranking all the way to #6 even though they have an average passing offense.

But all this isn't to say that the offense wasn't better last year. You can see they scored a couple extra points than previous years but they did this with about 70 less plays than they had averaged over 2009 to 2012. Right around 1 game less in snaps and the team scored a little more than it had been. Dallas actually had the fewest snaps on offense last year so while not all that improved in terms of raw production, they were significantly improved in terms of getting the most out of the opportunities they had. That said, being 25th in the NFL in 3rd down conversions really shackled the offenses ability to create more opportunities for itself and being near the bottom on defense allowed other teams to eat the clock.

The offense was more efficient, not necessarily more prolific. The defense is pretty much what boosted the team up to the top of the scoring list.

Well done, and far more detail that I was willing to go into. I do think the improved line play made Dallas a better scoring team overall, but also that a lot of points were left on the field by the offense because of poor play-calling and a lack of creativity. I also think Dallas could have ran more plays, if it had been more effective on offense. Can't remember the particularly game, but I do remember Dallas having an inordinate number of three-and-outs in it.

IMO, execution overall was better than it was the previous year (especially in the receivers running less wrong routes), but execution can only take you so far, and that's why a change in coordinators was needed. And that's not a slight on Callahan, who was stuck running Garrett's plays while Linehan won't be.

 

[percyhoward]

They also had a ridiculous number of drives that started inside the opponents 5 yard line.

2013: 4 drives starting inside the opponents 5 yard line
2009-2012: 4 drives starting inside the opponents 5 yard line

Just guessing that more often than not if a defender or returner gets that far, they go all the way. From 2009 to 2013 there's only been 91 such drives in the entire league, which basically comes out to about 23 drives per season.

In total the team had 10 scoring drives in which the total yardage gained was 5 yards or less. .

When you count all drives in 2013, Dallas ranked 6th in TD percentage. Taking out all drives that were 5 yards or less, Dallas still ranked 6th in TD percentage. If you filter out all drives that covered 10 yards or less, Dallas moves up to 5th.

If you look at all drives in the league last year that began inside teams' own 35-yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the NFL in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD. That's an average starting field position of the 20-yard line, and that's where more than 75% of all the league's drives started.

 

[percyhoward]

Football Outsiders has them 4th in the league with 2.25/drive behind Denver-1, SD-2,NO-3. Not bad company. Theres an egg and chicken thing goin on depending on how you look at it. Either the def couldn't get off the field and give the offense more opportunities which were at a league low or the offense couldn't maintain enough drives. I lean more toward the defense being the largest chicken or egg.

For that, check out TOP per drive on that same page. Offense ranked 15th, defense 21st.

That said, there isn't a strong correlation between TOP and wins.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Because we need a real OC....

This

Garrett can't do both jobs.

And the OC last year was just as unlikely to go with what was working and just start chucking the ball all over the field. That isn't what this team needs. I still wish at some point we would have brought Norv back as the OC.

 

[Hoofbite]

When you count all drives in 2013, Dallas ranked 6th in TD percentage. Taking out all drives that were 5 yards or less, Dallas still ranked 6th in TD percentage. If you filter out all drives that covered 10 yards or less, Dallas moves up to 5th.

If you look at all drives in the league last year that began inside teams' own 35-yard line, Dallas ranked 3rd in the NFL in the percentage of drives that resulted in a TD. That's an average starting field position of the 20-yard line, and that's where more than 75% of all the league's drives started.

That fine.

I said they were more efficient and this would back that up.

 

[percyhoward]

There was something not quite right with that offense last year. I know Romo played hurt for much of the time, but it was more than that. The system they had was not smooth, and the play calling didn't allow them to get into a rhythm as much as they should have...imo.

Last year's offense was out of character from what we were used to seeing. Like CL says, we've always been good at piling up yards. Last year, we were just "okay" yardage-wise, but we scored a ton of points for the yards that we did gain. This was the fundamental change in the offense, and I think the switch to Linehan is an indicator that Callahan probably wasn't the driving force behind the scoring surge.

The person responsible for that was whoever made improving red zone passing a priority following the 2012 season. That project was a huge success.

 

[percyhoward]

That fine.

I said they were more efficient and this would back that up.

What I meant was, the offense was more prolific, and the defense had nothing to do with it.

 

[Hoofbite]

What I meant was, the offense was more prolific, and the defense had nothing to do with it.

I guess we'll disagree then.

I can't see how they are more prolific when the raw output wasn't much different than previous years.

Were they more efficient given the opportunities they had? Sure, but as a consequence of a horrible 3rd down conversion rate their opportunities were limited so the total production of points really wasn't much different than previous years.