The Kitna Effect? Not Throwing As Much

percyhoward

percyhoward

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Fewest Pass Attempts in a Game by Dallas QB, 2007-10
22 att 11/14/10 @NYG
23 att 10/25/08 Cin
24 att 11/21/10 Det
24 att 9/9/07 NYG
25 att 11/4/07 @Phi

These are the five games with the fewest pass attempts in the Garrett era. His only two games as head coach rank among the top three.

Since becoming head coach, Garrett has seen his offense attempt a total of 46 passes in two games--the lowest two-game total since Garrett was named offensive coordinator in 2007.

Each game featured a return TD, which gives your opponent an extra possession and naturally cuts down on your number of plays from scrimmage. That, plus the fact that you've got a QB who's willing to pull it down and run, will cut down on the number of pass attempts a bit, but the play calling has been decidedly less pass-happy with the backup playing with a lead.

Could we benefit from this kind of play calling when Romo comes back too?
 
percyhoward;3710466 said:
Fewest Pass Attempts in a Game by Dallas QB, 2007-10
22 att 11/14/10 @NYG
23 att 10/25/08 Cin
24 att 11/21/10 Det
24 att 9/9/07 NYG
25 att 11/4/07 @Phi

These are the five games with the fewest pass attempts in the Garrett era. His only two games as head coach rank among the top three.

Since becoming head coach, Garrett has seen his offense attempt a total of 46 passes in two games--the lowest two-game total since Garrett was named offensive coordinator in 2007.

Each game featured a return TD, which gives your opponent an extra possession and naturally cuts down on your number of plays from scrimmage. That, plus the fact that you've got a QB who's willing to pull it down and run, will cut down on the number of pass attempts a bit, but the play calling has been decidedly less pass-happy with the backup playing with a lead.

Could we benefit from this kind of play calling when Romo comes back too?
Click to expand...

Some of it can be attributed to the defense allowing too may plays to the other team too. The Lions had 70 plays (to our 56) today, and last week the Giants had 76 plays (to our 50)

That has alot more to do with it IMO.
 
I think you might have a little bit of a "chicken and egg" scenario, at least with the Giants game. When you throw for nearly 15 yards per attempt, you don't really need as many pass attempts.

Of course, you can't really argue that so much this week. It helps that we've had more discipline as we don't have to worry so much about a stupid penalty putting us into second/third and long.
 
A lot of his attempts have taken place in the redzone and not getting their so it's not surprising.
 
No, we really are throwing less and running more since the coaching change. There have been 61 games in the Garrett era, and only 10 times have we run more than passed. (I didn't count kneel downs as rushes.)

ONLY Games in Which Runs Outnumbered Passes, 2007-2010
10/5/08 Cin 36 runs, 23 passes 61.0
9/21/08 @GB 34 runs, 30 passes 56.7
11/21/10 Det 30 runs, 24 passes 55.6
9/16/07 @Mia 36 runs, 29 passes 55.4
11/22/07 NYJ 34 runs, 28 passes 54.8
9/9/07 NYG 29 runs, 24 passes 54.7
11/22/09 Was 32 runs, 27 passes 54.2
11/4/07 @Phi 29 runs, 25 passes 53.7
11/14/10 @NYG 24 runs, 22 passes 52.2
12/19/09 @NO 35 runs, 34 passes 50.7

Even if you do it by percentages (taking our total number of plays out of the equation) you can see that our last two games are among the only ten in the Garrett era in which we've run more than passed.

The easy explanation is that we only ran more because we've had comfortable leads late in both games. But historically, it's been Garrett's pattern to pass more than run even in those types of games. We've had 24 wins by more than a touchdown in the time period covered, and until Garrett became HC, our runs outnumbered our passes in just 6 of the 24.
 
I think passing less has more to do with the QB change than the coaching change.
 
sadevil;3711005 said:
I think passing less has more to do with the QB change than the coaching change.
Click to expand...
Well, hence the thread title. Maybe keeping it simpler and running a little more than we're used to is just a good idea regardless of who the QB is, though.
 
It would be interesting to contrast the number of passing audibles called with Kitna and Romo at quarterback.
 
wick;3711080 said:
It would be interesting to contrast the number of passing audibles called with Kitna and Romo at quarterback.
Click to expand...
And delay of game's and false starts.

I'll do that if this headache goes away. :laugh2:
 
percyhoward;3711075 said:
Well, hence the thread title. Maybe keeping it simpler and running a little more than we're used to is just a good idea regardless of who the QB is, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think you see more running even if Romo returns this year. Garrett has to be very concerned about the pass protection holding up on the right side of the OL.
 
percyhoward;3710878 said:
No, we really are throwing less and running more since the coaching change. There have been 61 games in the Garrett era, and only 10 times have we run more than passed. (I didn't count kneel downs as rushes.)

ONLY Games in Which Runs Outnumbered Passes, 2007-2010
10/5/08 Cin 36 runs, 23 passes 61.0
9/21/08 @GB 34 runs, 30 passes 56.7
11/21/10 Det 30 runs, 24 passes 55.6
9/16/07 @Mia 36 runs, 29 passes 55.4
11/22/07 NYJ 34 runs, 28 passes 54.8
9/9/07 NYG 29 runs, 24 passes 54.7
11/22/09 Was 32 runs, 27 passes 54.2
11/4/07 @Phi 29 runs, 25 passes 53.7
11/14/10 @NYG 24 runs, 22 passes 52.2
12/19/09 @NO 35 runs, 34 passes 50.7

Even if you do it by percentages (taking our total number of plays out of the equation) you can see that our last two games are among the only ten in the Garrett era in which we've run more than passed.

The easy explanation is that we only ran more because we've had comfortable leads late in both games. But historically, it's been Garrett's pattern to pass more than run even in those types of games. We've had 24 wins by more than a touchdown in the time period covered, and until Garrett became HC, our runs outnumbered our passes in just 6 of the 24.
Click to expand...

We've had 2nd half leads in both weeks, with a backup QB playing.

He's doing what should be done.

But if we had more plays, we might see different results too. We're getting vastly outnumbered in total plays the past two weeks.
 
Fewer passes...we commit less turnovers and win the games. Hmm
 
dbair1967;3711133 said:
We've had 2nd half leads in both weeks, with a backup QB playing.

He's doing what should be done.

But if we had more plays, we might see different results too. We're getting vastly outnumbered in total plays the past two weeks.
Click to expand...
How many offensive plays we've had doesn't have anything to do with the run/pass ratio. Maybe the play calling would've been more pass-heavy if we'd had more plays, but there's no reason to assume this, and it could just as easily go the other way. Our three longest drives today consisted of 21 runs and 16 passes, for example.

Like I posted above, the difference between the last two games and the past 4 years is that historically we've passed more in building leads, and kept passing even with leads (big or small) until very late in the game. We've been in these types of game situations many times, and Garrett is handling Kitna differently.
 
percyhoward;3710878 said:
The easy explanation is that we only ran more because we've had comfortable leads late in both games. But historically, it's been Garrett's pattern to pass more than run even in those types of games. We've had 24 wins by more than a touchdown in the time period covered, and until Garrett became HC, our runs outnumbered our passes in just 6 of the 24.
Click to expand...

Well, it was 19 passes to 13 runs @NY when the Cowboys went up 33-13 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd. Then they ran 15 times to 3 passes from there on in.

Today there were 10 runs versus 1 pass (a screen) after the Cowboys went up 28-19 with 11:15 to go in the 4th quarter.

So the leads definitely had an impact.
 
I just noticed that we posted in the wrong thread. I don't know how. But it happened. :laugh2:
 
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