Video: Cooley's TD catch with Replay

[superpunk]

Someone asked James Washington what was wrnog with Roy Williams, and he offered his critique of this particular play.

He said that when you're in that "Cover 8" look (not sure what this means) and they run two vertical routes to your side of the field as the safety, you KNOW that the TE on the inside is your man, and there is absolutely no reason to break to the outside no matter what. He said Roy is a phenomenal athlete and he applauded getting him in that "nickel LB role", as he called it, but said he clearly has trouble opening his hips in coverage.

FWIW....

 

[Hostile]

So Bradie being fooled by play action isn't an issue?

No, not at all.

[/sarcasm off]

 

[khiladi]

If it is a zone, Bradie the ILB is not responsible for going to the outside with the back. That is the corner's job. The corner is supposed to chuck his receiver and then remain underneath on the outside. None of that excuses Roy for biting on a quick outside fake by Cooley. It just shows that James did not do his job, either.

The point is that Bradie did not go outside with the back. When Bradie saw the back break outside, Bradie dropped back. He left Cooley for the help, as he should have.

Roy is suppose to provide help OVER THE TOP. That is what your suppose to do in zone coverage.

And yet, people complain that Roy, being a SS, shouldn't be expected to cover a TE one-on-one.

 

[khiladi]

Well the DE has the back out of the backfield and Bradie bumps Cooley and stands and looks around, Roy sees Cooley coming looks and decides to run at him when it's too late! Not good from start to finish! Do they ever communicate about this situation, who's gonna take the TE when he runs up the hash marks! Either the LB runs down the field with him or the SS steps up and takes the coverage duty. Everyone talks about how "complex" these coverage schemes are but when a play or plays is broken down it looks pretty simple in common sense to me and not difficult at all to understand.

Of course he stood to look around. Portis ran straight, and then broke outside. He could have just as well broke inside, and it would have been Bradie's responsibility to cover Portis. As soon as Portis broke outside, and Bradie no longer had responsibility for Portis, then Bradie RAN BACK.

That is why it is called help. Roy is suppose to help on those type of plays.

 

[Wood]

What does that mean? You say a guy that was 15-20 yards away. It was a 19 yard TD. Does that resolve the issue? The back of the endzone was 29 yards away. I think that puts Roy Williams right where he should be to make the play.

Without question, this one is on Roy. Bradie James was playing zone underneath. Roy Williams was playing the deep zone. I'm sure as hell not going to believe the Roy should have been playing the underneath zone and James should have been covering the endzone and it's just plain crazy for someone to actually think it was James' play to make.

Finally another human being who was watching the same game as me.

 

[TheCount]

Of course he stood to look around. Portis ran straight, and then broke outside. He could have just as well broke inside, and it would have been Bradie's responsibility to cover Portis. As soon as Portis broke outside, and Bradie no longer had responsibility for Portis, then Bradie RAN BACK.

That is why it is called help. Roy is suppose to help on those type of plays.

Bradie could have still done all this by dropping 5-10 yards deeper.

 

[Real1st]

lol another Roy Williams thread come on guys we know he sucks do we need to be reminded everyday???

 

[Royal Laegotti]

Of course he stood to look around. Portis ran straight, and then broke outside. He could have just as well broke inside, and it would have been Bradie's responsibility to cover Portis. As soon as Portis broke outside, and Bradie no longer had responsibility for Portis, then Bradie RAN BACK.

That is why it is called help. Roy is suppose to help on those type of plays.

Not at all defending Roy, just saying that when a TE gets on both of these guys this happens alot, I can certainly tell that Roy wasn't any help at all.

 

[joseephuss]

The point is that Bradie did not go outside with the back. When Bradie saw the back break outside, Bradie dropped back. He left Cooley for the help, as he should have.

Roy is suppose to provide help OVER THE TOP. That is what your suppose to do in zone coverage.

And yet, people complain that Roy, being a SS, shouldn't be expected to cover a TE one-on-one.

Some people. Some expect him to do it and at times he will get beat. He won't win the match up every single time especially against some of the better TEs in the league such as Shockey and Cooley. They aren't winning the match ups every single time against him, either. He gave up 1 TD pass yesterday. We all prefer it did not happen, but considering they threw it 55 times yesterday I would say that it is not the worst thing in the world. With that many passes and Roy as bad as some make him out to be it would seem that Washington had 3 TD passes all on Roy yesterday or he gives up that many every game. It is like the myth that Flozell has 3 false start penalties a game.

 

[khiladi]

Bradie could have still done all this by dropping 5-10 yards deeper.

And we all know that they were playing soft-zone, precisely to target Portis... Bradie did his responsibility, Roy did not...

 

[pugilist]

can someone post the 10+ videos of Jacques Reeves getting abused by Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El?

 

[Royal Laegotti]

Some people. Some expect him to do it and at times he will get beat. He won't win the match up every single time especially against some of the better TEs in the league such as Shockey and Cooley. They aren't winning the match ups every single time against him, either. He gave up 1 TD pass yesterday. We all prefer it did not happen, but considering they threw it 55 times yesterday I would say that it is not the worst thing in the world. With that many passes and Roy as bad as some make him out to be it would seem that Washington had 3 TD passes all on Roy yesterday or he gives up that many every game. It is like the myth that Flozell has 3 false start penalties a game.

You make good points here, I agree. I guess folks, like me, who complain about Roy are worried he'll cost us big in a big game, playoffs maybe SB.

 

[Rack]

Don't know how it can be when Roy is in deep contain on the outside and Bradie James chucks him and lets him go.

But oh well, it is what is, yet another lesson in no concept of assignments, just blame the guy who is closest when the play ends.

Oh, and I'm not blaming Bradie James in case anyone wonders.

The ignorant fans tend to do that.

 

[joseephuss]

You make good points here, I agree. I guess folks, like me, who complain about Roy are worried he'll cost us big in a big game, playoffs maybe SB.

That is very well possible. Same concerns with the coverage teams on punts and kick offs. Or Gurode's snaps. Or the lack of a consistent running game. And there are few more things that could cost Dallas a game in the post season.

 

[dallasfaniac]

I think Roy was at fault on this TD, and yes I am one that defends him quite often. He was in position to see that Brady did not drop deep enough into the middle of the field and should have come up to stop the TD.

However, that's what happens in zone coverage.

Roy may have had an outside zone since the corner was one on one with a WR that broke toward the middle of the field before cutting it inside. If Roy had vacated his zone to cover Cooley and the WR cut inside to where Roy was, we'd probably have this conversation about Roy trying to do too much and should just stick to his zone. Heck, Cooley could have kept running to the other side of the field, at what point should Roy break off his coverage?

Brady should not have been paying attention to a RB that was already covered and 15 yards from the endzone when he just allowed a TE to run almost unimpeded toward the endzone.

In zone coverage like that, the middle of the field is wide open as demonstrated by Owens' TD. But this doesn't remove blame from the defense. Roy should have trusted that Newman could cover his man one on one and taken Cooley. Brady should have dropped into the middle instead of covering a RB that would have to break a tackle and still run 15 yards to the endzone.

While I think both Roy and Brady were responsible, they weren't the only ones having problems. If what some say is true, that Wade said they didn't prepare for a passing game, then I put alot of blame on Wade and Stewart. It shouldn't be that hard to call different coverages, just say, run these plays that you ran against the Eagles earlier this year.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

These are the same plays that did us in last year. Same freakin crap. Although on this play Bradie doesn’t run with Cooley down the seam, looks like a zone. Well for most of the game we played that 6 DB package. For some reason the entire middle of the field is always open with that scheme. I don’t know if any of this is fixable, just something we might have to learn to live with.

 

[khiladi]

Brady should not have been paying attention to a RB that was already covered and 15 yards from the endzone when he just allowed a TE to run almost unimpeded toward the endzone.

One more time:

Look at Portis again. Portis had not broken outside until a few yards after the line. He could have gone outside or inside. Bradie was waiting to see if Portis would break inside. As soon as Portis broke outside, and the OLB took him, than Bradie fell back in coverage.

The back was NOT already covered. When the back became covered after Portis made his break, than Bradie dropped back.

 

[Rack]

One more time:

Look at Portis again. Portis had not broken outside until a few yards after the line. He could have gone outside or inside. Bradie was waiting to see if Portis would break inside. As soon as Portis broke outside, and the OLB took him, than Bradie fell back in coverage.

The back was NOT already covered. When the back became covered after Portis made his break, than Bradie dropped back.

Just watched the replay again... sorry, but you're full of it. James dropped way too late. That's not even debatable.


Roy did screw up on the play though. But if James does his job that's not an "easy" TD for the skins.

 

[dallasfaniac]

One more time:

Look at Portis again. Portis had not broken outside until a few yards after the line. He could have gone outside or inside. Bradie was waiting to see if Portis would break inside. As soon as Portis broke outside, and the OLB took him, than Bradie fell back in coverage.

The back was NOT already covered. When the back became covered after Portis made his break, than Bradie dropped back.

That doesn't make sense. If he was waiting for the runningback to go inside, why stay so close to the line? Why not wait in the intermediate middle (his zone) and wait for the runningback to come to him? Instead, he chooses to allow a huge hole in the middle with Cooley running full speed into it. He should get into his zone first and foremost and worry about stopping a runningback catching the 5 yard pass when he comes into his zone.

 

[khiladi]

Just watched the replay again... sorry, but you're full of it. James dropped way too late. That's not even debatable.

Actually, your full of it. Roy is at the 10 yard line, and Bradie hits Cooley at the 15 yard line. Do the math, instead of making such subjective statements in the context of definitiveness.

Considering they were also playing soft-zone and key-ing in on Portis, Bradie did just fine.