The Deep Ball

[Apollo Creed]

I watched Washington and Houston yesterday and I noticed that both teams were constantly taking shots down the field.

While I haven't seen Tony throw a ball deeper than 40 yards in the air all season.

I'm not bringing up another 'does Tony not have the arm strength' debate, but I'm concerned as to why we aren't taking shots down the field with such physically gifted WRs.

Teams may be scheming us by keeping everything in front of them but at some point you have to take deep shots to keep them honest.

Any clue as to why we aren't airing the ball out?

 

[Don Corleone]

I watched Washington and Houston yesterday and I noticed that both teams were constantly taking shots down the field.

While I haven't seen Tony throw a ball deeper than 40 yards in the air all season.

I'm not bringing up another 'does Tony not have the arm strength' debate, but I'm concerned as to why we aren't taking shots down the field with such physically gifted WRs.

Teams may be scheming us by keeping everything in front of them but at some point you have to take deep shots to keep them honest.

Any clue as to why we aren't airing the ball out?

I don't know. It would sure help keep the defense honest. Perhaps Romo is hurt and no one has come out and said anything. Seems like he is allergic to throwing it deep.

 

[FLcowboy]

The Oline doesn't give Tony enough time to let the receivers run 40 yards.

 

[03EBZ06]

Lack of protection by O-Line and lack of confidence in them.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The Oline doesn't give Tony enough time to let the receivers run 40 yards.

^^This^^ at least in the first game. It was quite obvious.

 

[dguinta1]

The Oline doesn't give Tony enough time to let the receivers run 40 yards.

Bingo! Though the Bears pass protection wasn't good either and they still went DEEP! Johnny Knox you basticle!

 

[casmith07]

I watched Washington and Houston yesterday and I noticed that both teams were constantly taking shots down the field.

While I haven't seen Tony throw a ball deeper than 40 yards in the air all season.

I'm not bringing up another 'does Tony not have the arm strength' debate, but I'm concerned as to why we aren't taking shots down the field with such physically gifted WRs.

Teams may be scheming us by keeping everything in front of them but at some point you have to take deep shots to keep them honest.

Any clue as to why we aren't airing the ball out?

You can't keep them honest with a deep ball until you first force them to play up by keeping them honest with the run. That's when play action opens up the possibility of getting the safeties to bite and getting a WR like Miles or Dez 1-on-1 down field against a CB.

Don't look for it to happen at all as long as Jason Garrett is the coordinator, because he refuses to run the ball with any kind of consistency to set up the play action pass.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

The thing is "attempts" to go deep need to be made.

Otherwise: when you dumpoff in the flat or throw 2-3 passes in a row to Dez when he is a few yards away WONT WORK

 

[Jarv]

You can't keep them honest with a deep ball until you first force them to play up by keeping them honest with the run. That's when play action opens up the possibility of getting the safeties to bite and getting a WR like Miles or Dez 1-on-1 down field against a CB.

Don't look for it to happen at all as long as Jason Garrett is the coordinator, because he refuses to run the ball with any kind of consistency to set up the play action pass.

Bingo, Red locks us into the 5 -20 20 yard routes because of this and the D can play them tight in this range.

:bang2:

 

[basstapp]

The Chicago O-line didn't protect Cutler and he still went deep. Not to mention their run game was as good as ours. Romo has the speed at receiver to let them go deep. Its all play calling. We wont throw deep because Garrett is anti Martz. Not saying Matz is the best cordinator in the world becaus he also avoids the run, but he does go for the kill 2-5 times a game.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I agree that Garrett is punching the Donkey, but the o-line is looking atrocious right now. Seems like Felix and Barber were getting met in the beckfield by defenders every time they ran in the second half.

 

[Dhragon]

The Chicago O-line didn't protect Cutler and he still went deep. Not to mention their run game was as good as ours. Romo has the speed at receiver to let them go deep. Its all play calling. We wont throw deep because Garrett is anti Martz. Not saying Matz is the best cordinator in the world becaus he also avoids the run, but he does go for the kill 2-5 times a game.

We chucked it downfield all the time in 2007, when our offense was actually scary and effective. It might result in a few more INTs, but sure wish we could go back to that.

 

[Apollo Creed]

It'd be nice to take shots off play action, but when everyone knows that you aren't running the football it becomes a waste of motion.

Great play callers set up opportunities.

For example.

We kept running that smoke screen against Washington. Several people on here alluded to it, that maybe we were setting them up for a pump and go. Get the corner to bite on the fake and you have a walk in TD.

Not in RJ's offense. Nope, its almost like he's hitting random buttons on the Madden play select screen.

 

[casmith07]

The thing about the deep ball too is this: I'm actually not expecting us to get a big gain or a score on it every time. As a matter of fact, I don't really expect it at all. But what those near-misses and scares do to a defense is they instill intimidation and force them to really think if they can pin their ears back and play "keep-in-front" defense.

And when they DO work? The confidence gets completely shattered or confusion sets in, a la Mike Jenkins yesterday getting beat on the deep pass, and then beat for the TD. There isn't a cornerback in the league that would have been able to recover their confidence from that kind of back-to-back burning, and it's not a knock against Jenkins at all because I still think he's one of the league's best...but even the best can get knocked back on their heels from time to time.

 

[EPL0c0]

I thought Miles Austin was supposed to be the deep threat...y'know, stretch the field. I thought Dez, with his speed, was gonna be a deep threat.

I can think of only one deep shot they've taken in 2 games really.. and it was to Roy?

 

[craig71]

I think the lack of a deep passing attack has to do more with the lack of faith in the o-line at this time. If Romo was to drop back and take 4-5 shots down the field and take some good shots from the defense in the process alot of folks would be screaming bloody murder. Besides, the strength of Miles and Dez is running after the catch. If you have that strength in your receivers why take the chance of losing your QB? Now if down the road they can get the o-line to become cohesive, maybe then they can establish some semblance of a running game and get into some play action. Play action is a good thing to use, but the running game has to be somewhat effective and effective running games are born in the trenches.

Craig

 

[Jarv]

I think the lack of a deep passing attack has to do more with the lack of faith in the o-line at this time. If Romo was to drop back and take 4-5 shots down the field and take some good shots from the defense in the process alot of folks would be screaming bloody murder. Besides, the strength of Miles and Dez is running after the catch. If you have that strength in your receivers why take the chance of losing your QB? Now if down the road they can get the o-line to become cohesive, maybe then they can establish some semblance of a running game and get into some play action. Play action is a good thing to use, but the running game has to be somewhat effective and effective running games are born in the trenches.

Craig

I thought Dez, Roy and Austin were some of the best at winning the jump ball, did they lose their mojo ?

 

[casmith07]

I think the lack of a deep passing attack has to do more with the lack of faith in the o-line at this time. If Romo was to drop back and take 4-5 shots down the field and take some good shots from the defense in the process alot of folks would be screaming bloody murder. Besides, the strength of Miles and Dez is running after the catch. If you have that strength in your receivers why take the chance of losing your QB? Now if down the road they can get the o-line to become cohesive, maybe then they can establish some semblance of a running game and get into some play action. Play action is a good thing to use, but the running game has to be somewhat effective and effective running games are born in the trenches.

Craig

I would agree with that, but the offensive line did a good job of protecting Romo yesterday. You don't need 7 seconds to prep for play action. You fake the handoff, turn, find your target, and fire. You throw so that the receiver can run under the ball, you don't throw it ONCE he's 40 yards downfield...

But I digress. The offensive line is not the problem - it's the play calling. Notice how the Garrett apologists are noticeably absent. They'll wait and then they'll come in and say it was because of the "overreaction" on the board and the "post-game meltdown." Real reason? They're wrong, and they're starting to realize it. Even T-RO has been criticizing Garrett, and he's the guy that would pass the ball 65 times a game if he could.

 

[superpunk]

We took a couple shots in week 1.

Unfortunately we took them to Roy Williams.

 

[craig71]

I thought Dez, Roy and Austin were some of the best at winning the jump ball, did they lose their mojo ?

I would say that Dez is most likely the best at the jump ball out of that group. However, I still the think the strongest part of both Miles and Dez's game is running after the catch. Does it not make sense to play to a players strength?

Craig