Let's focus on penalties, drive killing mistakes, bone head mistakes, sleeping and letting guys wide open, pass rushers rushing right up the field allowing hurts to have a great pass, stopping swift and the runWell, it's Cowboys and Eagles week round 1. Let's not fool ourselves. Philly is a good team. However, every team has a weakness, and no team this year has been particularly super charged this year. This includes Philly. Therefore, here are some things that the Cowboys should be working on in practice from today until when they travel to Philly.
If the Cowboys can work on these things, then we have a chance to win this game.
- Containing Hurts - if you can contain Hurts, he's beatable. Don't let him break contain. Keep him in the pocket, and let our DLine do their jobs. Prepare for RPOs so that we can send a message that them trying to isolate Parsons won't work like it did last year. Once we establish that, then it'll be easier to keep Hurts in the pocket.
- defending the Brotherly Shove - we all know when it's 4th and short, they're going to do it. So, figure out a way to stop it.
- attack the Philly secondary - their secondary has been a weakness all year. Work on getting Lamb and Cooks the ball more, along with Ferguson. If we can do this, we can take advantage of their defence's weakness.
- protecting Dak's blindsided - we can't be letting Dak get sacked as much as we did the first 3 or 4 plays against the Rams. Protect Dak if we don't want him getting hurt.
- score touchdowns - this is the biggest thing. Philly scores a lot, so we need TDs.
In theory...who are going to waste spying? Micah? No., a safety? No, since then you are short handed in the secondary. Anyone you put into this position won't be able to make a play on the ball. So you want to contain him or force him to pass right? You need someone with speed to catch him but we can't afford to use anyone in the secondary.Excellent post. Too much outside pressure and none inside. QBs just step up and decide if they want a 30yd completion or a 15 yd run.I definitely would employ a "spy".
THIS IS HONESTLY THE GREATEST POST OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad someone else finally sees this, it's a big issue against these style of qb's. I don't watch other games to be honest, I did watch how the Vikings played against them they contained him well at timesThe real problem the Cowboys have with running quarterbacks (even some non-running ones) is they rush outside and the defensive tackle gets blocked to a side leaving a large throwing and/or running lane open right up the middle in front of the quarterback where he can easily see it and react.
The Cowboys need to regularly use a lot of underneath stunts, both early and delayed, to make Hurts think the holes are a trap, and not an opportunity.
You mention containing Hurts, and that's what it is .. containment .. but it doesn't have to be pocket containment .. they just need to keep bodies between him and the field behind the defense.
This would be a good game to have a spy mirroring him the whole game on defense.
Obviously, the goal is to keep them out of shove range. But, they'll undoubtedly get a few opportunities. So, I think it'd be wise to make sure that we actually can find a way to stop it.I think you have a better shot at keeping them OUT of 3rd/4th and 1 than you do actually stopping that push play. It has shown that it is almost impossible to stop and now they are running plays off of it. We have to stop the run and the short quick passes to the outside. If they can get 4 yrs per rush and quick slants or outs, we will not be able to get of the field. This game could snowball out of control very fast if we come out with a couple of 3 and outs.
What I really hope for is we come out sharp and fast. Scoring on our first drive is critical imo. Come out laser focused and ready to play our divisional rival. Show some urgency. Make this a statement game. Beat our NFC leading rival, in their backyard.
Obviously, limiting penalties and mistakes is key too.Let's focus on penalties, drive killing mistakes, bone head mistakes, sleeping and letting guys wide open, pass rushers rushing right up the field allowing hurts to have a great pass, stopping swift and the run
Dak is likely to see a lot of zone with a mix of 2 man press.
Our short passing game is gonna get smothered.