The Thing About Playing Keepaway

[percyhoward]

...is that you have to finish drives. Bad defenses get exposed, no matter how long the offense can hold onto the ball. We won TOP 36:43 to 23:17, so we held the Giants to only 9 drives.

But the points we allowed per drive was 2.22, which would have ranked 28th over a full season last year.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Yes, winning TOP without scoring touchdowns and without playing sound defense by giving up touchdowns will certainly be the losing recipe.

 

[CCBoy]

...is that you have to finish drives. Bad defenses get exposed, no matter how long the offense can hold onto the ball. We won TOP 36:43 to 23:17, so we held the Giants to only 9 drives.

But the points we allowed per drive was 2.22, which would have ranked 28th over a full season last year.

It was a good game, against the Giants...what you present are the parameters to be overturned in the development of this year's team. Down two games, 0-2, has been historically very difficult to come back from and on into the playoffs. But this team has shown the ability to function in a difficult environment, and against a stubborn defense. They definitely can grow.

They showed up well for a first game...and Dez Bryant will be much more dominant as the season evolves as well. That will help.

Twenty points allowed an opponent, is winnable as well.

Offensive results need to improve in the point column, but the offense showed merit to grow with.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It was a good game, against the Giants...what you present are the parameters to be overturned in the development of this year's team. Down two games, 0-2, has been historically very difficult to come back from and on into the playoffs. But this team has shown the ability to function in a difficult environment, and against a stubborn defense. They definitely can grow.

They showed up well for a first game...and Dez Bryant will be much more dominant as the season evolves as well. That will help.

Twenty points allowed an opponent, is winnable as well.

Offensive results need to improve in the point column, but the offense showed merit to grow with.

WE came into this season thinking we'd have to score shootouts and put up 30 a game.........you take this type of performance for your defense. People are giving the coaching staff a hard time but I thought they played a solid game plan. The execution in the red zone was the downfall of today but its what you have when you have a young team and a young quarterback. At this point i'm taking it one game at a time and hoping everyone just gets better as the season goes on.

 

[CCBoy]

Matchup

1st Downs 18 24
Passing 1st downs 11 13
Rushing 1st downs 6 10
1st downs from penalties 1 1
3rd down efficiency 5-10 10-17
4th down efficiency 0-0 0-0
Total Plays 54 75
Total Yards 316 328
Total Drives 9 10
Yards per Play 5.9 4.4
Passing 203 227
Comp-Att 19-28 25-45
Yards per pass 6.8 5.0
Interceptions thrown 1 0
Sacks-Yards Lost 2-4 0-0
Rushing 113 101
Rushing Attempts 24 30
Yards per rush 4.7 3.4
Red Zone (Made-Att) 3-3 1-3
Penalties 4-40 6-50
Turnovers 1 0
Fumbles lost 0 0
Interceptions thrown 1 0
Defensive / Special Teams TDs 0 0
Possession 23:17 36:43

http://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup?gameId=400874574

 

[JohnsKey19]

...is that you have to finish drives. Bad defenses get exposed, no matter how long the offense can hold onto the ball. We won TOP 36:43 to 23:17, so we held the Giants to only 9 drives.

But the points we allowed per drive was 2.22, which would have ranked 28th over a full season last year.

I don't think they played "keep-away", or even tried to. Outside of the few Alfred Morris runs for 6-8 yds, the running game was stopped cold. If the running game is hummin' as we expected, those drives look and feel much different, as you are able to rip off chunks of yardage. But when you are only gaining 2-3 yds a pop, it feels like we're purposely trying to ice the clock. I'm actually encouraged that we were even able to put together drives with no running game whatsoever. With a rookie QB.

But as you said, if Beasley catches the TD and then Dez makes the play like Shepperd did on nearly an identical play, it's a different ballgame.

 

[CCBoy]

Yes, winning TOP without scoring touchdowns and without playing sound defense by giving up touchdowns will certainly be the losing recipe.

Mark Lane ‏@therealmarklane 30m30 minutes ago
Dak Prescott's 104.5 passer rating is the second-best by a #Cowboys rookie on Opening Day and 16th-best in club history for a starting QB.

 

[Alexander]

Didn't they used to have t-shirts with "FINISH" on them? May be time to dig them out of the closet.

 

[AmericanCowboy]

It was a good game, against the Giants...what you present are the parameters to be overturned in the development of this year's team. Down two games, 0-2, has been historically very difficult to come back from and on into the playoffs. But this team has shown the ability to function in a difficult environment, and against a stubborn defense. They definitely can grow.

They showed up well for a first game...and Dez Bryant will be much more dominant as the season evolves as well. That will help.

Twenty points allowed an opponent, is winnable as well.

Offensive results need to improve in the point column, but the offense showed merit to grow with.

Just curious, why do you think Dez will
go back to being this dominant force? We havent seen Dez be anywhere near a dominate force in his last 8 or so games.

He will be shut down again on Sunday.

 

[JDSmith]

Mark Lane ‏@therealmarklane 30m30 minutes ago
Dak Prescott's 104.5 passer rating is the second-best by a #Cowboys rookie on Opening Day and 16th-best in club history for a starting QB.

He had a 69.4 passer rating.

 

[lkelly]

Didn't they used to have t-shirts with "FINISH" on them? May be time to dig them out of the closet.

They are trotting out the "FINISHED" t-shirts for the next home game.

 

[Oh_Canada]

The 6-7 TE they picked in the second round and who scored a bunch of td's a few years back might help but who am I?

 

[percyhoward]

WE came into this season thinking we'd have to score shootouts and put up 30 a game.........you take this type of performance for your defense. People are giving the coaching staff a hard time...

The game plan is why we didn't have to score 30 though. If we hadn't kept the Giants' offense off the field, they'd have had 11-12 possessions (instead of 9) and scored more points.

 

[percyhoward]

I don't think they played "keep-away", or even tried to. Outside of the few Alfred Morris runs for 6-8 yds, the running game was stopped cold. If the running game is hummin' as we expected, those drives look and feel much different, as you are able to rip off chunks of yardage. But when you are only gaining 2-3 yds a pop, it feels like we're purposely trying to ice the clock.

When everything is runs and underneath passes, you are trying to burn clock. Even in 2014 when we weren't afraid to throw downfield with Romo, we still ran on 1st down 70% of the time, trying to burn clock to protect our defense.

It's no secret that this is the offensive philosophy, but the offense either has to finish the drives, or the red zone defense has to be better.

 

[Stash]

...is that you have to finish drives. Bad defenses get exposed, no matter how long the offense can hold onto the ball. We won TOP 36:43 to 23:17, so we held the Giants to only 9 drives.

But the points we allowed per drive was 2.22, which would have ranked 28th over a full season last year.

It sure seems like a repeat of the same pattern that this team has been in. They move the ball well up and down the field but fail to score touchdowns, end up settling for field goals, and it ultimately comes back to haunt them in the form of a loss.

 

[Stash]

WE came into this season thinking we'd have to score shootouts and put up 30 a game.........you take this type of performance for your defense. People are giving the coaching staff a hard time but I thought they played a solid game plan. The execution in the red zone was the downfall of today but its what you have when you have a young team and a young quarterback. At this point i'm taking it one game at a time and hoping everyone just gets better as the season goes on.

I don't think the "young team" and "young quarterback" had anything to do with it. Beasley - a veteran - makes his catch, it's 7 points instead of 3. If Bryant - a veteran - does the same, that's another 7 points instead of 3.

 

[darthseinfeld]

...is that you have to finish drives. Bad defenses get exposed, no matter how long the offense can hold onto the ball. We won TOP 36:43 to 23:17, so we held the Giants to only 9 drives.

But the points we allowed per drive was 2.22, which would have ranked 28th over a full season last year.

I think we score 14 points in the first quarter against a weaker defense. The Giants defense could wind up in the 10 to 5 range this year. They hare going to be very hard to run to with that althletic 700 pounds in the middle

 

[jobberone]

Prescott finished 25 of 44 for 227 yards and a 70.9 passer rating. A few dropped passes and a few throwaways. But no mistakes. Also no TDs. So a C-B.

 

[ufcrules1]

I don't think the "young team" and "young quarterback" had anything to do with it. Beasley - a veteran - makes his catch, it's 7 points instead of 3. If Bryant - a veteran - does the same, that's another 7 points instead of 3.

Bingo. This game was lost by 1 point. Either of those 2 plays could have made the difference. It's about execution. Catch the dang ball.

 

[chicago JK]

The offense looked similar to the beginning of last season. Long drives to get into red zone but a missed play, penalty, or a good defensive play stopping a drive to make a field goal attempt.

The thing about these long drives is it can wear down a defense and you control the tempo but if a team holds you to a field goal they almost feel like the won the drive. For instance, the Cowboys have two long drives and get 6 points and then the Giants take four plays to get a TD and get a lead. If the Cowboys get a TD and Field goal to go up 10-0, I think the feeling on the other side of the field is much different.