The defense will be better with Zeke

[AdamJT13]

And it wasn't because the offense had fewer plays. The offense couldn't score, but it controlled the ball just as successfully as the 2014 offense.

Plays per Drive
Defense
2014 5.7
2015 6.0

Offense
2014 6.0
2015 6.0

And our average offensive possession was a whopping 1 second less in 2015 than it was in 2014.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Those aren't official. We had two overtime games, and the Steelers had none. The Steelers officially finished No. 1 in time of possession at 32:24. We finished second at 32:22. The official numbers adjust for overtime.

Incorrect we finished at 32:50 above the Steelers, sorry, NFL.com is not a spam site.

The overtime numbers pose no problematic to the thrust of the point regardless.

 

[Rogerthat12]

And our average offensive possession was a whopping 1 second less in 2015 than it was in 2014.

Difference was in scoring points and winning games with a balanced attack.

 

[AdamJT13]

Show me what play action %'s were for Romo because of the threat of Murray and the running game.

I posted this earlier. Our play-action passing was actually slightly WORSE in 2014 than it was in 2013 (38.6 DVOA in 2014, compared with 39.0 in 2013).

Play-action passes work based more on game situation, formation, execution and (especially) the QB and receiver than they do based on rushing success or who is in the backfield.

 

[AdamJT13]

Incorrect we finished at 32:50 above the Steelers, sorry, NFL.com is not a spam site.

Like I said, NFL.com's numbers are not official. We *officially* finished second.

The *official* NFL statistics are kept by Elias Sports Bureau, not NFL.com. NFL.com's stats are *unofficial.*

The *official* NFL statistics are published each year in the Official NFL Record & Fact Book, not on NFL.com. The stats posted on NFL.com are *not official.*

You can find the *official* NFL statistics for time of possession on pages 252 (AFC) and 254 (NFL) of the Official 2015 NFL Record & Fact Book.

And you can find the *official* leaders for team statistics on page 257 of the 2015 NFL Record & Fact Book.

Here is the link ... http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2015/07/21/0ap3000000502939.pdf

See for yourself on pages 252, 254 and 257. (Make sure you are using the numbers on the pages, not the PDF page numbers.)

THOSE are the official numbers. But feel free to pretend they're not.

 

[AdamJT13]

Difference was in scoring points and winning games with a balanced attack.

You score more points than the opponent by passing the ball better than the opponent, not by having a "balanced attack." You can be "balanced" all you want, but if the other team passes better than you do, you'll almost always lose the game.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Like I said, NFL.com's numbers are not official. We *officially* finished second.

The *official* NFL statistics are kept by Elias Sports Bureau, not NFL.com. NFL.com's stats are *unofficial.*

The *official* NFL statistics are published each year in the Official NFL Record & Fact Book, not on NFL.com. The stats posted on NFL.com are *not official.*

You can find the *official* NFL statistics for time of possession on pages 252 (AFC) and 254 (NFL) of the Official 2015 NFL Record & Fact Book.

And you can find the *official* leaders for team statistics on page 257 of the 2015 NFL Record & Fact Book.

Here is the link ... http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2015/07/21/0ap3000000502939.pdf

See for yourself on pages 252, 254 and 257. (Make sure you are using the numbers on the pages, not the PDF page numbers.)

THOSE are the official numbers. But feel free to pretend they're not.

I will look at these numbers on this site but why would nfl.com and other publications have false or unofficial numbers?

Do they not have access to these numbers for some odd reason?

Further, regardless even if Dallas was in the top two for the regular season of TOP, this changes little with respect to my comments.

If you are not counting OT, then you are limiting part of their regular season body of work, that is probably why nfl.com has 32:50 and Dallas with the lead in TOP.

 

[Rogerthat12]

You score more points than the opponent by passing the ball better than the opponent, not by having a "balanced attack." You can be "balanced" all you want, but if the other team passes better than you do, you'll almost always lose the game.

Not with this team, the Cowboys win more games when Romo has a dynamic running game as in 2014, instead of throwing constantly and relying on him primarily to win the game.

We will simply have to agree to disagree.

 

[AdamJT13]

Not with this team, the Cowboys win more games when Romo has a dynamic running game as in 2014, instead of throwing constantly and relying on him primarily to win the game.

We will simply have to agree to disagree.

We won in 2014 when we passed better than the opponent, regardless of how well we ran the ball.

We lost in 2014 when we passed worse than the opponent, regardless of how well we ran the ball.

It's not about "throwing constantly" or how much you throw it or run it. It's about how WELL you throw it when you do throw. How well you run it when you choose to run has almost no impact on whether you win or lose, nor does how well you stop the run when the opponent runs. It doesn't matter whether you want to

And Romo actually threw MORE in the first half of games in 2014 than he did in the previous three seasons. He threw less overall in 2014 because we were SO good at throwing the ball (regardless of how well we ran it) -- and our defense was effective enough at stopping the pass -- that we usually had the lead late in games, so we could run the ball instead of having to pass to catch up.

 

[Rogerthat12]

We won in 2014 when we passed better than the opponent, regardless of how well we ran the ball.

We lost in 2014 when we passed worse than the opponent, regardless of how well we ran the ball.

It's not about "throwing constantly" or how much you throw it or run it. It's about how WELL you throw it when you do throw. How well you run it when you choose to run has almost no impact on whether you win or lose, nor does how well you stop the run when the opponent runs. It doesn't matter whether you want to

And Romo actually threw MORE in the first half of games in 2014 than he did in the previous three seasons. He threw less overall in 2014 because we were SO good at throwing the ball (regardless of how well we ran it) -- and our defense was effective enough at stopping the pass -- that we usually had the lead late in games, so we could run the ball instead of having to pass to catch up.

Yes but the passing game was assisted by the threat of and the actual dynamic running game, look at the rushing yards and limited overall pass yards as compared to the other years.


Better at throwing because the attack was balanced by a better running game, keeps the defense honest and allows Romo options to pick them apart.

We will simply have to agree to disagree, this is simply running in circles.

 

[AdamJT13]

Yes but the passing game was assisted by the threat of and the actual dynamic running game, look at the rushing yards and limited overall pass yards as compared to the other years.

Except that Romo was also much better when the running game was not a factor at all -- on third-and-long, in the two-minute offense, with an empty backfield and when Murray wasn't even on the field.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Except that Romo was also much better when the running game was not a factor at all -- on third-and-long, in the two-minute offense, with an empty backfield and when Murray wasn't even on the field.

The disinction is that the running game was a factor all season or the threat of it accordingly which allows for greater options.

Sure Romo was excellent on third down with his signature spread but I have never argued Romo was not a factor, quite the opposite but I am also honest enough to realize the running game assists him as a player as evidenced in 2014.

We are getting nowhere and simply disagree on the interpretation of the data.

Thank God we drafted Zeke and the front office had enough brains to do so.

 

[KJJ]

Neither of those guys were wrong, and I think you didn't understand their arguments. Then you went off on tangents re: things that were related, but not the same. I don't want to have those discussion, because there's no point if the fundamental point isn't understood. It leads to trying to shovel the ocean and I have no interest in that. I just wanted to pop in and register my opinion that they were correct, and that the thread was reading like you just didn't understand why.

I'm sure there are posters who'd agree with your take, too, and that's fine. They're free to chime in to that effect. But don't mistake the fact that you reply to every post with the idea that you're actually right about the points you're trying to make. Those two things are not the same.

I'll let you have the last word on it now, so we're not just going round and round. Either way, Elliot's here, now, so we might as well enjoy it.

Once you realized there are posters who agree with me you wanted out of this discussion because you saw no potential of forming an alliance of rock throwers to come after me. I know your game! lol Anytime you show up claiming I'm getting roasted by one of the stat guys you admire it's all in an attempt to incite others to pile on me. You managed to incite one poster to try and wage an attack but as soon as he realized I have some support he bailed quick because he was already getting toasted by at least 2 other posters. Few understand the arguments the others have because they're not only ridiculous but they're all based on some stats they come up with to try and make things look better than they are. All they prove is that stats don't tell the entire story.

Anyone who would say the running game has little effect on winning and losing doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. Practically everyone who gets paid to talk NFL football have said the Cowboys need to get back to running the ball like they did in 2014 but according to Percy and his stats the Cowboys actually had a better running game in 2015 despite over 400 fewer rushing yards, 8 fewer rushing TD's and despite being the worst team in the league on 3rd and one as of the second week in Dec.

 

[AdamJT13]

Anyone who would say the running game has little effect on winning and losing doesn't have a clue what they're talking about.

Except that how well you run the ball or stop the run has almost no effect on winning and losing. Anyone who doesn't realize that is simply ignoring the facts.

 

[KJJ]

Except that how well you run the ball or stop the run has almost no effect on winning and losing. Anyone who doesn't realize that is simply ignoring the facts.

It's almost like you're on a mission to ruin your credibility. I've never agreed with you in the past but some of your comments have gotten so ridiculous lately I'm beginning to wonder if someone hacked your account. lol

 

[Idgit]

Once you realized there are posters who agree with me you wanted out of this discussion because you saw no potential of forming an alliance of rock throwers to come after me. I know your game! lol Anytime you show up claiming I'm getting roasted by one of the stat guys you admire it's all in an attempt to incite others to pile on me. You managed to incite one poster to try and wage an attack but as soon as he realized I have some support he bailed quick because he was already getting toasted by at least 2 other posters. Few understand the arguments the others have because they're not only ridiculous but they're all based on some stats they come up with to try and make things look better than they are. All they prove is that stats don't tell the entire story.

Anyone who would say the running game has little effect on winning and losing doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. Practically everyone who gets paid to talk NFL football have said the Cowboys need to get back to running the ball like they did in 2014 but according to Percy and his stats the Cowboys actually had a better running game in 2015 despite over 400 fewer rushing yards, 8 fewer rushing TD's and despite being the worst team in the league on 3rd and one as of the second week in Dec.

You're fundamentally misunderstanding the argument you're trying to counter *again* here. Which is, of course, the real reason I'm not seriously engaging in the thread.

Nobody ever says the running game has no effect on winning and losing. How is this difficult? It's literally been years we've been discussing the topic.


Oops! Forgot I'd said I'd let you have the last word here. My bad.

 

[AdamJT13]

It's almost like you're on a mission to ruin your credibility. I've never agreed with you in the past but some of your comments have gotten so ridiculous lately I'm beginning to wonder if someone hacked your account. lol

All I've done is state the facts, which you conveniently ignore because they prove you wrong.

You ignore the truth, make claims that are patently false, then claim victory. Oh, and let's not forget resorting to childish insults when you have nothing meaningful to contribute -- which is all of the time, come to think of it.

 

[KJJ]

Nobody ever says the running game has no effect on winning and losing. How is this difficult?

Adam says the running game has little effect on winning and losing in the NFL now have fun twisting and turning trying to defend it.

The "inefficient" running game didn't cause us to lose either of those games, did it? Obviously not, because the running game has little effect on winning or losing in the NFL.

 

[KJJ]

All I've done is state the facts, which you conveniently ignore because they prove you wrong.

You ignore the truth, make claims that are patently false, then claim victory. Oh, and let's not forget resorting to childish insults when you have nothing meaningful to contribute -- which is all of the time, come to think of it.

The only one who's ignoring the truth is you and a few others because the truth came out on draft day with the Cowboys picking Zeke and the reasoning they gave for picking him.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

It is amazing....what people will ignore...