The Jason Garrett Play Calling Thread *Merged*

[Sarge]

The run/pass ratio from yesterdays game means nothing.

:signmast:

 

[Bleu Star]

The run/pass ratio from yesterdays game means nothing.

It speaks directly to our ability (or in this case our inability) to control the clock. This is something we might want to improve on if we would like to not only make the playoffs but also do something in the playoffs.

 

[RoadRunner]

That's okay, you can think that. You'd be wrong, but you can think that.

Why don't you explain why exactly he is wrong rather than just proclaiming it?

 

[RoadRunner]

The run/pass ratio from yesterdays game means nothing.

Is this your opinion, or are you trying to pass it off as fact? Its my opinion that the ratio means quite a bit, and tells us a lot about our offensive philosophy and what may need to change.

 

[kramskoi]

Well, we haven't exactly been running the ball very well lately. Deion pointed this out a couple of weeks ago. It was one of his main concerns about the Cowboys going forward. Running game has not been great. We can debate if this is because the OL has been sucking or because Garrett refused to allow the run game time to establish itself, but there have been a lot of plays where our backs are getting thrown for a loss in the backfield by an unblocked defender.

...the numbers for this offense continue to slide with each passing week, particularly the running game...this is the same slide we've seen for the past few seasons...shotgun goes up and the running game goes down...

 

[Gaede]

It seems to me that, against the better D-coordinators of the league, Garrett's offense is pushed around and is reactive rather than proactive. When things don't go according to his plan, Garrett panicks and dials up the same old ineffective plays. For example, the Cowboys aren't getting anything going in the passing game against the Packers. So he tries something that worked very well against the Eagles--the WR screen. The problem was, that screen worked against the Eagles because it was not seen before. It's not going to be as effective anymore because good DCs plan for it and sniff it out. You have to constantly change and adapt--you can't go into the Packers game with the same gameplan as the Eagles game.

Remember when Zimmer was the DC and we played Spurrier that first time? Someone told Zimmer at half that you can't let Spurrier dictate the way things go, you have to be aggressive and dictate what he does. Well, I get the feeling that Garrett is too often pushed around by better, more experienced coordinators. They push him until he panicks and goes back to the same old familiar plays--plays that worked once for him and he finds comfort in (ie., shotgun draws). DC too often are able to force Garrett into doing what they want him to do. He's gotta learn to adapt, change, and catch the next team off guard. You can't play every team with the same formation.

 

[McCordsville Cowboy]

Garret sucks and has the intensity level of a 7 year old.

 

[CATCH17]

I guess what I'm asking is, how many games like the Packer game are we going to go through before Garrett realizes to just adjust and take what the defense gives him? That's really the only thing that bothered me. You'd think that experiencing something 4 or 5 times, you would learn right? Not really pissed about the Packer loss in general. It's just these kind of games that have me confused.

I definetely saw a different game than you guys because I saw players put in a position for success and they did nothing but drop the ball.

Austin and Romo had a TD and missed it. Folk misses a field goal.

There were so many opportunities and I think that all you can ask. Is opportunities.

Did Garrett call a perfect game? No... But even if he had it looked like our players just were having one of those days that they couldn't get it right anyways.

 

[bayeslife]

Just in terms of game break-ability. Injury or not he doesnt have great speed and has weak kick returns. Ray Rice is better and was had in the 2nd.

Im starting to think Choice should carry a little more and Felix should get the screens.

And the MB3 to closer argument is dumb, but I would redistribute his touches in that way. Same amount of touches though

Right, because rushing the ball = kick returns.

Why do people always make this comparison? They are two totally different things.

 

[CATCH17]

Just in terms of game break-ability. Injury or not he doesnt have great speed and has weak kick returns. Ray Rice is better and was had in the 2nd.

Im starting to think Choice should carry a little more and Felix should get the screens.
And the MB3 to closer argument is dumb, but I would redistribute his touches in that way. Same amount of touches though

See thats where I think we are screwing up.

We always try to get Felix to the outside. We need to get him more involved in just the base offense because teams know that when hes in there we are trying to get him on the edge.

 

[DallasDomination]

Well looks like Wade is starting to jump on the more balanced bandwagon now. Hopefully He gets in Garretts ear and forces a more a balanced game.

Sometimes I feel like I'm playing Madden when I watch the playcalling...Where are the regular old fashion Running plays? All this fancy crap and HB draws are ridiculous. Shotgun formation in the redzone just to waste 3 plays on passes. Just run the ball RED!.

 

[SkinsHokieFan]

I don't understand why Red Jesus doesn't use Choice more

Seems to me, anytime Marion goes in, your offense stalls.

I'd be running the ball 30+ times a game with the RBs you have, with Choice getting the bulk of those carries

 

[Kilyin]

Garret sucks and has the intensity level of a 7 year old.

Brady Quinn stat line last night:
13/31 99 yards and 2 int.

 

[Dodger]

I can see both sides of this argument. Yes, there were times Sunday that the players could have capitalized on situations to put the team in a better position to win the game, but I think what the OP is trying to say is, putting that aside for a minute, it's just hard to fathom why the Cowboys only ran the ball 11 times all afternoon, especially since the game was still very much undecided until that terrible call that gave the Packers the ball and allowed them to score, going up 17-0.

39 passes and only 11 running plays? I'd understand it better if we were down by 17 early in the game, but that just wasn't the case. I also understand that Barber was not 100%, but is 11 running plays really a large enough sample to suggest that the ground game isn't working, that they needed to go to the pass so much? How would you know unless you give it at least some effort, a better effort than what we witnessed anyway?

Now, I'm not going to citicize the Cowboys and Garrett heavily for this because, in all honesty, I don't have the entire picture. I don't know if there was a good reason to lean that heavily on the passing game, but what I do know is that Garrett has done this before, and for the most part the results were not that good. I don't have to be an expert to tell you that if you pass about 78% of the time in a game, chances are you're going to lose.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I'd like to see us use Felix more in the passing game, to be honest. I'm not talking as a blocker either. Get him some screens, throw him stuff over the middle when they've got LBers trying to cover him. Utilize his speed and quickness.

I still think, to be perfectly honest, that we give up far to quickly on the running game a lot of times as well. I just don't think you can know rather the run game, especially in a tight game like this, is going to work in the long run if you're only running the ball 13 times all night.

 

[cowboyjoe]

I was thinking about this earlier. Jason Garrett. He's been a OC for 3 years now. He's pretty much been through every kind of game. He's been through weeks where the offense can't be stopped. He's been through weeks where it's stalement. How many stalemate weeks does he have to go through to realize that what he is doing is wrong?

07 Bills game. Romo spraying the ball around everywhere. Clearly is not his night. He abandons the run when the game is still in hand. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust.

okay that's the first game where he has to adjust. No problem.

08 Commanders game. Felix has shown he can set the NFL on fire. Get's no touches the entire game. Garrett panicks and turns to spraying the ball around everywhere when the game is still in reach and the pass game is clearly not working. Run game non existant. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust


okay. He must have clearly learned from his mistakes right? wrong.

08 Cardinals game. Just a few weeks later. Same thing as the Commanders game. Passing game isn't working. O-line is playing like ****. Garrett decides to dial up pass plays. Why? He abandons the run game and panicks. Game is clearly in reach. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust.

alright it's been a few weeks where the passing game just isn't there. By now he should realize it right? He should know how to handle these situation now right? wrong.

09 Broncos game. Running game started off great. Where'd it go? Broncos are dialing up blitzes and pressuring Romo. Why not pound the ball to take the pressure off? Game is still in reach. His gameplan didn't work. Shades of Cardinals game. Didn't adjust.

So this is the 3rd or 4th game where it's been mirror images of each other. But now he should be mastering this OC position. wrong.

09 Packers game. See Bronco game.

These are just a few games for example.

I guess what I'm asking is, how many games like the Packer game are we going to go through before Garrett realizes to just adjust and take what the defense gives him? That's really the only thing that bothered me. You'd think that experiencing something 4 or 5 times, you would learn right? Not really pissed about the Packer loss in general. It's just these kind of games that have me confused.

First i agree with you on some of your points; but the players must execute when they should; example-
austin and witten run into each other;
roy williams fumbles a ball he shouldnt have, drops a big time reception
felix jones isnt running like he should, he must execute, no more excuses
romo threw the ball behind witten, he must not do that
austin has a sure td, he has to catch them

where we or the cowboys messed up lays at jerry jones doorstep
if we had gotten dan reeves for consultant, he could have helped jason garrett and helped him by being up in the press box calling plays

jerry jones forgets that what helped the cowboys be top scoring in 2007 was tony sparano

jason garrett im afraid is like the rams ex coach and andy reid that likes to throw the footballl, forget running, in goingto prove to you that we can throw

that can get you beat

another thing to think about, when garrett plays coaches or defenses he has played against before, he does pretty good because he has tape on them how they beat jason before, but when he has to play superior defenses or excellent defensive coordinators, he is out of his league, thats where you need an experienced offensive coordinator

right now we need dan reeves or jon gruden badly as an consultant on offense

 

[gbrittain]

I was thinking about this earlier. Jason Garrett. He's been a OC for 3 years now. He's pretty much been through every kind of game. He's been through weeks where the offense can't be stopped. He's been through weeks where it's stalement. How many stalemate weeks does he have to go through to realize that what he is doing is wrong?

07 Bills game. Romo spraying the ball around everywhere. Clearly is not his night. He abandons the run when the game is still in hand. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust.

okay that's the first game where he has to adjust. No problem.

08 Commanders game. Felix has shown he can set the NFL on fire. Get's no touches the entire game. Garrett panicks and turns to spraying the ball around everywhere when the game is still in reach and the pass game is clearly not working. Run game non existant. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust


okay. He must have clearly learned from his mistakes right? wrong.

08 Cardinals game. Just a few weeks later. Same thing as the Commanders game. Passing game isn't working. O-line is playing like ****. Garrett decides to dial up pass plays. Why? He abandons the run game and panicks. Game is clearly in reach. His gameplan didn't work. Didn't adjust.

alright it's been a few weeks where the passing game just isn't there. By now he should realize it right? He should know how to handle these situation now right? wrong.

09 Broncos game. Running game started off great. Where'd it go? Broncos are dialing up blitzes and pressuring Romo. Why not pound the ball to take the pressure off? Game is still in reach. His gameplan didn't work. Shades of Cardinals game. Didn't adjust.

So this is the 3rd or 4th game where it's been mirror images of each other. But now he should be mastering this OC position. wrong.

09 Packers game. See Bronco game.

These are just a few games for example.

I guess what I'm asking is, how many games like the Packer game are we going to go through before Garrett realizes to just adjust and take what the defense gives him? That's really the only thing that bothered me. You'd think that experiencing something 4 or 5 times, you would learn right? Not really pissed about the Packer loss in general. It's just these kind of games that have me confused.

I can't say you don't have some valid points. My issue is though too many times us fans in general look at things in a vacuum.

If you did the same type of analysis of the other 31 teams, you will find many of the same issues over and over.

Go to any teams message board after a loss and see all the threads saying "the coaching was pure genius today too bad we lost". Exceptions to that I am sure, but normally not the case.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

It seems to me that, against the better D-coordinators of the league, Garrett's offense is pushed around and is reactive rather than proactive.

Crayton had a quote after the game that sometimes he wished we could be proactive rather than reactive on offense. That almost sounds like the first Washington game last year where we never ran the ball because they basically figured out that by showing certain looks, they could make us check into passing plays -- and maybe even certain pass plays we'd shown in the past.

I dunno, I still think the offense needs an identity. A team can't be completely one-dimensional, but most good coordinators have a certain core philosophy they build around and then work out from there. Wade Phillips' defense is based around pressuring the passer. Bill Parcells' defense was based around one-on-one matchups and then being bigger and stronger than the man you're facing. The Patriots and Colts offenses are based around the belief that they have the best QB in the game, so they're going to put the ball in their hands as much as possible.

Whatever it is, there's some foundation you believe in and build toward, and I don't know what Garrett's is.

All I can gather from the tiny bit we hear from Garrett and the players is that we want to "take what the defense gives us". Well, that sounds great in theory, but the problem is that it's too hard to be great at everything. It's the old "jack of all trades, master of none" problem. You just can't be equally adept at every aspect of the game. It's simply not possible.

And then the other problem is that you're letting the other team dictate what you do, and that just doesn't seem like what a great team does. Sure, you have to be able to adjust if they, say, sell out to stop the run. But you also have to have something you decide to be great at and then build off that. And I don't think Garrett has figured that out yet.

 

[CF74]

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Dallas Cowboys:

Just Run the Ball, Stupid
by Chad Hensley

And when I say "Stupid", I mean Jason Garrett.

A week after calling one of the best games since he became the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator, the "Red Headed Jesus" called one of his worst.

Fans and media can blame the players and referees all they want. This one lays squarely on the back of the "head coach in waiting".

Yikes, that is scary to even think about.


A Little History

It's been about a year since I wrote the first of many articles on his incompetence as an offensive coordinator, and really nothing has changed.

I thought that last week's Eagles game was the big turn-around that the Cowboys and their fans have been hoping for in Garrett's gameplans and play calling.

For the first time in a really long time, the Cowboys had a protection scheme and incredible play calling against a team that had a great secondary and blitzed like crazy.

Garrett wasn't able to run the ball against the Eagles because of the defensive scheme, but he used the jailbreak screen, and other screens that took the place of the Cowboys running the ball.

Garrett was the architect behind that victory over the Eagles, and deserves much of the credit. This past Sunday—a week after that Eagles game—the Cowboys laid an egg to the Green Bay Packers. Garrett deserves almost all of the blame.


Just run the ball

Fans and media like to point to quarterback Tony Romo for the Cowboys not having success in December and in the playoffs, but what everyone seems to forget is that unless you have Payton Manning or Tom Brady, you better establish the run.

Many believe that the Cowboys have established the running game this year because of the 130 yards per game average on the ground. Unfortunately, that just isn't true.

Despite averaging 5.1 yards per carry, the Cowboys remain a pass-first offense.

The Cowboys rush the ball 25.6 times per game, good for 24th in the NFL.

Against the Packers, the Cowboys rushed the ball 14 times. Tony Romo had the same amount of rushes as Felix Jones and Tashard Choice—three .

That means Garrett called 11 rushing plays—give or take a couple, because of audibles by Romo.

The first three rushing attempts went for 13, seven, and five yards. There were only three more attempts the rest of the half, and eight more the rest of the game.

Even if the Cowboys would have gotten 10 yards-per-rush on all 11 attempts, that isn't "establishing the run".

On Sunday, the Packers realized the Cowboys weren't going to run the ball, pinned their ears back, and basically set up camp in the Cowboys backfield.


What happened to the great protection scheme?

Against the Eagles, Garrett called a great game against their blitz-happy defense.

When the Packers decided they were going to blitz on almost every play, Garrett completely forgot what he did in the week prior.

After the first drive or so, there were no short drops for Romo, no quick slants to the wide receivers, and there were very few screens.

And when they did decide to call the jailbreak screen to receiver Kevin Ogletree, that worked so well against the Eagles, it was in the exact same sitiuation—3rd-and-long.

Does Garrett not realize that the Packers probably had film from the Eagles game?

How much more predictable can an NFL offensive coordinator be?


What can Garrett do?

The Cowboys are built as well as any team in the NFL to run the ball effectively.

They have one of the largest offensive lines, the best trio of running backs in the NFL, and great blocking tight ends and wide receivers. That's why they have a 5.1 yards-per-rush average.

What they really need to do is "establish the run".

Establishing the run means that the defense believes and respects that you may run the ball at any time.

Contrary to popular belief, getting one and two yard gains early in the game isn't terrible. Those small gains turn into much larger gains in the 4th-quarter as the defense wears down, and it also opens up play action.

Opening up play action is good both from the protection standpoint and getting the linebackers and secondary to bite on the fake, creating separation for the receivers.

Like establishing the run, an effective protection scheme should be a staple of the Cowboys offense.

The offensive line is starting to get banged up, and unless Garrett wants to see Romo get hurt, he should limit the amount of plays that Romo must wait to develop. When the defense blitzes, there should always be an outlet, whether it be a running back in the flat, or the receivers breaking off their routes.

I also believe it is time to let Felix Jones and Tashard Choice begin games and let Marion Barber III end them. Let Barber return to the role in which he was a Pro Bowler, and let the young guys establish the running game early.

With a home game against Washington Commanders and another over Thanksgiving with the Oakland Raiders, there is no time like the present to do these things.

If Garrett and the Cowboys can't establish the run and protect Tony Romo against these two teams, fans might as well start looking to 2010.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:37 AM

 

[Kevinicus]

Why don't you explain why exactly he is wrong rather than just proclaiming it?

See the 4th post in this thread. Also take a glance at the play-by-play and it's pretty obvious when we abandoned the run, and it's exactly when I said it was, approximately 10 min. to go down 17-0.