Through 13 games (Drives and TD: 2014 v 2015)

[percyhoward]

Length of average drive (time)
2014: 3:01
2015: 3:06

Length of average drive (plays)
2014: 6.1
2015: 6.1

Length of average drive (yards)
2014: 35.8
2015: 31.9

Drives resulting in TD
2014: 38
2015: 20

Drives that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 21
2015: 20

Drives NOT following a takeaway that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 17
2015: 18

TD scored from inside 10-yard line
2014: 17 (6 rushing, 11 passing)
2015: 11 (7 rushing, 4 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line
2014: 21 (5 rushing, 16 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line, Dallas NOT leading by 2+ TD in 2nd half
2014: 17 (2 rushing, 15 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

 

[Beast_from_East]

Good stuff bro.

Drives resulting in TDs is basically half what it was last year (dropped from about 40 to 20).

That is the entire problem right there, we are kicking FGs instead of scoring TDs. One factor causing this is that we are the worst team in the entire NFL at converting 3rd and 1. So instead of getting that first down and having several more plays to reach to endzone, we have to settle for 3.

This is one area where Murray is missed, he would lower his head and move the pile to get that 1 yard on 3rd down. We do not have a power back on the roster that can do that this year, we have speed backs like DMac that are great in the open field but cant move the pile.

And this is not me saying we should have signed Murray, we offered $6 million a year and he said no. However, I think we all need to realize that Murray had a skill set that was a very, very good fit for this offense and that we should have got a RB that was similar in ability to Murray and had a similar skill set. We basically went and got speed backs and tried to use them as power backs and it has failed miserably. Yes, our rushing totals are still pretty good, but it is the situational stuff like converting 3rd and 1 that is really missing from this offense.

 

[Idgit]

Ouch.

 

[dragon_mikal]

 

[Sportsbabe]

Length of average drive (time)
2014: 3:01
2015: 3:06

Length of average drive (plays)
2014: 6.1
2015: 6.1

Length of average drive (yards)
2014: 35.8
2015: 31.9

Drives resulting in TD
2014: 38
2015: 20

Drives that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 21
2015: 20

Drives NOT following a takeaway that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 17
2015: 18

TD scored from inside 10-yard line
2014: 17 (6 rushing, 11 passing)
2015: 11 (7 rushing, 4 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line
2014: 21 (5 rushing, 16 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line, Dallas NOT leading by 2+ TD in 2nd half
2014: 17 (2 rushing, 15 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

I've seen it...you don't have to put it in black and white. Just playing.

Lord I hope we can show up tomorrow.

 

[percyhoward]

Good stuff bro.

Drives resulting in TDs is basically half what it was last year (dropped from about 40 to 20).

That is the entire problem right there, we are kicking FGs instead of scoring TDs. One factor causing this is that we are the worst team in the entire NFL at converting 3rd and 1. So instead of getting that first down and having several more plays to reach to end zone, we have to settle for 3.

About short yardage. Despite ESPN's "league's worst on 3rd and 1" comment on MNF that was later picked up by other outlets (and no doubt brought them a lot of clicks), we're really about average in short yardage, at least by the run (we rank 18th, not 32nd). And that's with being the most run-heavy team by far in short yardage without Romo. We were top 10 for most of the season until everybody knew our tendencies.

Our TOP is better than last year, and we've actually reached the opponent's 10-yard line more often this year than last year, if you remove the effect of 2014's takeaways that set us up with great field position. Once we're there, we've even scored more rushing TD this year than last year at this time.

The big difference, touchdown-wise, between the two seasons so far is in passing touchdowns. We've been better at ball control and TOP than we were last year, but we're missing the passing TD, both inside and outside the red zone.

 

[nalam]

Passing TDs , hmmm who is the responsible ones - QB and WR .... Isn't it ?

Sounds about right , no Romo , Bryant for partial time not there , still not fit/ head not right/whatever ... Looks we have it , zoners.

The team's think tank rolled the Dice with Weeden ,smoking Weed (pun intended ) , go figure

 

[plasticman]

Good information. Here's a few more comparisons

Average yards gained when running on 1st down:
2014 4.92 (1st place)
2015 4.55

3rd and 1 passing and running
2014 2-3 66.7%
2015 1-4 25.0%

Any down and goal, passing and running, percentage of plays that were TD's
2014 19-46 41.3% (1st place)
2015 11-43 25.6%

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

So, we basically miss a healthy Romo and a healthy Dez.

 

[percyhoward]

Good information. Here's a few more comparisons.

Average yards gained when running on 1st down:
2014 4.92 (1st place)
2015 4.55

The story of the season has been the limitations of our backup QB, and resulting inability to stretch defenses. Those numbers you posted have a lot to do with this...

Average yards gained when passing on 1st down
2014 8.76 (1st place)
2015 7.08
Our average gain on a 1st-down pass has dropped almost 20%. Defensive coordinators know this, have adjusted accordingly, and are loading up on the run. Even so, our average gain on a 1st-down run is only down 8% -- with a featured back who doesn't fit our scheme, and without a QB who could check into or out of runs based on pre-snap reads.

Any down and goal, passing and running, percentage of plays that were TD's
2014 19-46 41.3% (1st place)
2015 11-43 25.6%

I broke down those numbers by play type.

2014
pass 11 of 22 50.0%
run 8 of 24 33.0%

2015
pass 5 of 28 17.9%
run 6 of 15 40.0%

We're much worse in goal-to-go this year, but it's not so much a goal-to-go issue as it is a passing game issue. 3 of our 5 passing TD in goal-to-go were thrown by Romo. Without him, defenses are daring us to pass inside the 10 (where it's easier to play defense anyway), and we can't take advantage. Most of our run TD in goal-to-go were early in the season (when it can be assumed that defenses were still playing us honest), although we did "scheme" a 7-yard TD run in GB with some creative play calling leading up to it.

 

[Staubacher]

Man we miss Romo

 

[percyhoward]

Man we miss Romo

Tonight we face the league's #1 run defense. Imagine if we'd had to play the Lions (#1 run D in 2014) in the first round last year with Weeden at QB.

 

[mahoneybill]

Length of average drive (time)
2014: 3:01
2015: 3:06

Length of average drive (plays)
2014: 6.1
2015: 6.1

Length of average drive (yards)
2014: 35.8
2015: 31.9

Drives resulting in TD
2014: 38
2015: 20

Drives that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 21
2015: 20

Drives NOT following a takeaway that reached opponent 10-yard line
2014: 17
2015: 18

TD scored from inside 10-yard line
2014: 17 (6 rushing, 11 passing)
2015: 11 (7 rushing, 4 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line
2014: 21 (5 rushing, 16 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

TD scored from outside 10-yard line, Dallas NOT leading by 2+ TD in 2nd half
2014: 17 (2 rushing, 15 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

Great analysis. The danger of this is that JG and SL will think we are just a play/player away from fixing things. Its frustrating to watch other teams move the chains, have wide open receivers with a quicker hitting passing game, and of course getting some turnovers.... Sad to state it but we may set an NFL record for least
amount of Ints by CB's in a season.

 

[big dog cowboy]

TD scored from outside 10-yard line
2014: 21 (5 rushing, 16 passing)
2015: 9 (1 rushing, 8 passing)

Dez.

 

[Doomsay]

We've gone from 2nd to 26th in 3rd down conversion %. That has a lot to do with with the QB, but equally the play calling that gets us to those 3rd downs. We have been ranked 29th in 3rdC (23.7%) in our last 3 games.

 

[percyhoward]

Dez.

Dez had 11 TD from outside the 10-yard line in 2014, but 7 of those were intermediate-to-deep targets. Those are the kinds of passes that our backups have struggled with.

 

[DandyDon1722]

My guess is the TOP is skewed a bit because of the conservative nature of play calling - lots of safe short passes.

It can't be because we have a lot of long time consuming drives.

 

[percyhoward]

My guess is the TOP is skewed a bit because of the conservative nature of play calling - lots of safe short passes.

It can't be because we have a lot of long time consuming drives.

We average the longest time-consuming drives in the NFL, because we can run the ball, and Witten knows how to get open for the kinds of passes our backup QB can handle.

What's missing this year (at least with regard to TOP) is the ability to score quickly. More quick scores would win more games, but lower our TOP.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Good stuff bro.

Drives resulting in TDs is basically half what it was last year (dropped from about 40 to 20).

That is the entire problem right there, we are kicking FGs instead of scoring TDs. One factor causing this is that we are the worst team in the entire NFL at converting 3rd and 1. So instead of getting that first down and having several more plays to reach to endzone, we have to settle for 3.

This is one area where Murray is missed, he would lower his head and move the pile to get that 1 yard on 3rd down. We do not have a power back on the roster that can do that this year, we have speed backs like DMac that are great in the open field but cant move the pile.

And this is not me saying we should have signed Murray, we offered $6 million a year and he said no. However, I think we all need to realize that Murray had a skill set that was a very, very good fit for this offense and that we should have got a RB that was similar in ability to Murray and had a similar skill set. We basically went and got speed backs and tried to use them as power backs and it has failed miserably. Yes, our rushing totals are still pretty good, but it is the situational stuff like converting 3rd and 1 that is really missing from this offense.

Can we please stop talking about Murray. Wow.