The Cowboys Running game

[Brooksey]

Looked better this week. We were successful running inside, Barber looked good, Felix Looked good, the one drive in the first quarter was great before Barber put the ball on the ground. We had success running the ball especially inside in the first half. POWER Football baby. I would have liked to see a little more in the second half. Garret abandons the run (which was the only thing that was moving the chains) to early because he lacks patience. The lack of points came from a fumble, missed passes and a missed field goal, NOT THE RUNNING GAME. The Running game is all that was working because that is what the cowboys are built for.

The passing game was off and stalled out the drives. What is up with Romo to Witten? I'm not sure but I hope we can fix it. I heard Ditka this morning on ESPN saying our receivers are being handled off the line of scrimmage physically and are just not getting open.

If we can get the passing game going with that inside running game we saw early in Washington... we can make some noise. The defense is playing well, we just need the passing game to make some 3rd down conversions and some big plays when the opportunity's come.

I have a feeling everything will come together for Thanksgiving.

 

[blindzebra]

It was 22-12 run/pass at half.

Romo was 7 of 8 on the TD drive. 3 hand offs after the INT.

We finished 33/27.

So taking out the TD drive and clock killing runs we had:

7 passes, 8 rushes in the second half before the all pass drive.

30 runs, 19 passes going into the TD drive hardly looks like we abandoned the run too soon.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

That's only because Haynesworth was out. [/buckandaikman]

 

[jobberone]

Looked better this week. We were successful running inside, Barber looked good, Felix Looked good, the one drive in the first quarter was great before Barber put the ball on the ground. We had success running the ball especially inside in the first half. POWER Football baby. I would have liked to see a little more in the second half. Garret abandons the run (which was the only thing that was moving the chains) to early because he lacks patience. The lack of points came from a fumble, missed passes and a missed field goal, NOT THE RUNNING GAME. The Running game is all that was working because that is what the cowboys are built for.

The passing game was off and stalled out the drives. What is up with Romo to Witten? I'm not sure but I hope we can fix it. I heard Ditka this morning on ESPN saying our receivers are being handled off the line of scrimmage physically and are just not getting open.

If we can get the passing game going with that inside running game we saw early in Washington... we can make some noise. The defense is playing well, we just need the passing game to make some 3rd down conversions and some big plays when the opportunity's come.

I have a feeling everything will come together for Thanksgiving.

If it doesn't come together for the Raiders then I'll officially start to worry.

 

[gmoney112]

It was 22-12 run/pass at half.

Romo was 7 of 8 on the TD drive. 3 hand offs after the INT.

We finished 33/27.

So taking out the TD drive and clock killing runs we had:

7 passes, 8 rushes in the second half before the all pass drive.

30 runs, 19 passes going into the TD drive hardly looks like we abandoned the run too soon.

I interpreted this as 34 plays at half, compared to the 15 going into the all pass drive meant the run was keeping drives alive. But I didn't get to see the game, i'm sure Washington started stacking the box in the 2nd half.

 

[mmillman]

still not running the ball enough. Averaging 5 yards a carry and a hurt Romo means they should have pounded the rock. 11 touches for Felix is not enough.

 

[Brooksey]

It was 22-12 run/pass at half.

Romo was 7 of 8 on the TD drive. 3 hand offs after the INT.

We finished 33/27.

So taking out the TD drive and clock killing runs we had:

7 passes, 8 rushes in the second half before the all pass drive.

30 runs, 19 passes going into the TD drive hardly looks like we abandoned the run too soon.

I understand your point but look at this. Let's move to 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, we are only down 3-0 and the majority of plays were run out of shotgun including 3-4 of the run plays your talking about. The run plays were the only time we were picking up yards and dominating...do you have a problem running 35-40x for 200 plus yards and winning 17-6? We continued to mix in and force the pass when it was not working, yet they NEVER proved they could stop the run. I'll run it 90% until they prove they can stop it. Anyway that was not the point of the post, the point is the running game looked better. The passing game needs work. When they both come together and our defense plays like it has in the last two weeks we can challenge anyone.

 

[blindzebra]

I understand your point but look at this. Let's move to 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, we are only down 3-0 and the majority of plays were run out of shotgun including 3-4 of the run plays your talking about. The run plays were the only time we were picking up yards and dominating...do you have a problem running 35-40x for 200 plus yards and winning 17-6? We continued to mix in and force the pass when it was not working, yet they NEVER proved they could stop the run. I'll run it 90% until they prove they can stop it. Anyway that was not the point of the post, the point is the running game looked better. The passing game needs work. When they both come together and our defense plays like it has in the last two weeks we can challenge anyone.

The way we ran it Sunday was more fluke than reality. Washington is bad versus the run with Haynesworth.

The simple truth is we stink at power football and have for years. We pounded the ball but got nothing to show for it. That would be the case in most instances.

This team does best, and runs best typically, passing to set up the run.

Romo is a slow starter and by not throwing early we screwed up the passing game. We are much better off passing early, mixing in some runs, get the lead and then unleash Barber late.

In any case as long as we keep missing FGs, fumbling away points, dropping passes and killing drives with penalties it won't matter how balanced we are.

But like it or not our offense does best closer to 60/40 pass to run than 50/50.

 

[chuffly]

I'm still waiting for Felix to break one. It feels like it's been a while since he has broken one for a huge gain. With that being said, he still had a pretty good game. Barber looked like the Barbarian again.

Very encouraging game for the running backs.