Plankton
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No man is an island – John Donne, 1624
In a team sport, such as football, the above statement rings true more often than not. In football, even more so than other sports, the 11 members on the field at any time need to work together as one, with full knowledge of its plays, responsibilities, and knowing when they need to lend assistance to others. Some players are transcendent in that they can be left on an island, and excel. The overwhelming majority, however, will show weakness at some point, and break under the pressure.
In yesterday’s 27-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the island theory was laid bare for all to see. The concept of being on an island, of being singularly responsible for an area and left to do it, cost the Dallas Cowboys dearly, and has raised the stakes for the already big matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s more than fighting back into the divisional race, and casting doubt as to whether the Eagles are truly battle tested and ready to take the divisional crown from the Cowboys. It’s about the survival of the Cowboys’ playoff hopes.
Following the defeat yesterday, I’m not sure that the playoffs can even be considered a realistic thought. The Cowboys showed enough warts on the field yesterday to cast doubt into even the most ardent and optimistic thinkers. Whether it’s due to suspension, injury, lack of depth, or just plain incompetence, the Cowboys exited yesterday’s game looking less like a contender, and more like a ham and egger that lacks the fortitude and discipline to grind out a victory when they are less than whole.
Going into the game, it was known that the Cowboys would be without their best offensive weapon, Ezekiel Elliott, for at least the next four games, and more probably six. The belief of many was that the backup stable of running backs, Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Rod Smith, would be able to provide enough production to lessen the blow of Elliott being out of the lineup. When you couple the loss of Elliott with the injuries to All-Pro LT Tyron Smith, who missed the game, as well as underrated blocking TE Geoff Swaim, the Cowboy offense was minus a few key cogs in their running attack.
It was believed that Chaz Green would be a competent fill in for the missing Smith. After all, Green had the confidence of the coaching staff, having started the first three games at LG, and having filled in for Smith last season in a solid manner. The belief of the coaching staff in Green was such that they left him on an island in pass protection, and trusted that he would be able to hold up his end of the bargain.
As mentioned before, some can thrive on an island, but most will fail. To be blunt, Chaz Green failed.
Green was victimized, dare I say abused, by Falcon DE Adrian Clayborn for five sacks. Once the weakness in Green was noted, the Falcons continued to attack it. Lining up in a wide nine stance, Clayborn consistently took the outside shoulder on Green, and made mincemeat of his attempts to ward him off with his hands. Dak Prescott wore Clayborn like a jacket, and was never able to gain any measure of comfort in the pocket. Clayborn ended up with six sacks, and eight quarterback hits on the game. If a quarterback is getting hit that consistently from behind, the offense has no chance to be functional.
And, despite Green showing no ability to slide and cut off the outside rush, the coaching staff continued to leave him out on an island, and not provide him with help. TEs were not lined up on his side. Chips from running backs were few and far between. It was as the coaching staff didn’t believe their eyes, and continued to leave Green isolated. It was to the detriment of the offense, and it’s no wonder the offense was impotent from the first drive onward. Make no mistake – Green was hideous and utterly incompetent on the field. Clayborn admitted after the game that he has only one move. The problem was, Green was incapable of handling that one move, and the coaching staff made no adjustment to prevent it from happening.
Over and over again.
With no ability to throw the football due to protection issues, you would think that the Cowboys would ride the run attack that much harder. But for a nice sequence on their only possession of the third quarter, they continued to pound their head against the wall and throw the ball despite Prescott being a sitting duck. He ultimately paid for it, with eight total sacks, 11 quarterback hits and a fumble. Prescott was running for his life for a good portion of the game, and there was one sequence when he was unable to get himself out of bounds late in the first half due to being out of breath.
With the offense out of sync, out of breath and largely, out of hope, the defense came out hitting hard, but was unable to hold up. Again, a person who is left on a figurative island on the defense, physically broke down again, and pulled the plug on the confidence of the unit to do their job.
Sean Lee is widely regarded as the brains of the Cowboy defense, and one of the most instinctive and capable playmakers in the NFL. When he is in the lineup, the Cowboy defense plays greater than the sum of its parts. He is left on an island, figuratively, by holding that responsibility to get guys in the right place, and provide cover for the average players surrounding him.
But, when he is out of the lineup, suddenly, the defense goes from competent to disastrous, and the players on the field know it.
Lee pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the second quarter, with the Cowboys leading 7-3. Once he left the field, you could see a collective sagging of the shoulders on the Cowboy defense. The Falcon running attack, throttled early on, came to life. Matt Ryan, pressing a bit in a must win game for the Falcons, found his groove, hitting 11 consecutive passes, and blowing the game wide open. Without Lee on the field, the Falcons went as follows: touchdown, end of half, touchdown, touchdown, field goal. From 7-3 down, the Falcons coasted to a 27-7 lead, and never looked back.
It's not as if Lee’s injury issues are a new thing. The Cowboys have done precious little to bolster the defense to make up for the possibility that he is out of the lineup, and they continue to pay the price for it. Countless second round picks have been spent on injury and character related defensive gambles (Bruce Carter, Randy Gregory, Jaylon Smith), and the holes on defense still remain. Lee has been left on an island to make up for the many shortcomings elsewhere on the defense, and his body continues to break down under that pressure.
People have declared that we will see what Dak Prescott is made of with Elliott being out. It’s hard to see what that is when he’s getting hit constantly, and running for cover when he isn’t. Prescott was left on an island yesterday, and was provided with precious little help in getting the job done.
Donne was right – no man is an island.
And, for the Cowboys to rebound and have a shot at getting back in the playoff chase, the rest of the team needs to pull together and get the job done.
Other notes from yesterday’s game:
In a team sport, such as football, the above statement rings true more often than not. In football, even more so than other sports, the 11 members on the field at any time need to work together as one, with full knowledge of its plays, responsibilities, and knowing when they need to lend assistance to others. Some players are transcendent in that they can be left on an island, and excel. The overwhelming majority, however, will show weakness at some point, and break under the pressure.
In yesterday’s 27-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the island theory was laid bare for all to see. The concept of being on an island, of being singularly responsible for an area and left to do it, cost the Dallas Cowboys dearly, and has raised the stakes for the already big matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s more than fighting back into the divisional race, and casting doubt as to whether the Eagles are truly battle tested and ready to take the divisional crown from the Cowboys. It’s about the survival of the Cowboys’ playoff hopes.
Following the defeat yesterday, I’m not sure that the playoffs can even be considered a realistic thought. The Cowboys showed enough warts on the field yesterday to cast doubt into even the most ardent and optimistic thinkers. Whether it’s due to suspension, injury, lack of depth, or just plain incompetence, the Cowboys exited yesterday’s game looking less like a contender, and more like a ham and egger that lacks the fortitude and discipline to grind out a victory when they are less than whole.
Going into the game, it was known that the Cowboys would be without their best offensive weapon, Ezekiel Elliott, for at least the next four games, and more probably six. The belief of many was that the backup stable of running backs, Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Rod Smith, would be able to provide enough production to lessen the blow of Elliott being out of the lineup. When you couple the loss of Elliott with the injuries to All-Pro LT Tyron Smith, who missed the game, as well as underrated blocking TE Geoff Swaim, the Cowboy offense was minus a few key cogs in their running attack.
It was believed that Chaz Green would be a competent fill in for the missing Smith. After all, Green had the confidence of the coaching staff, having started the first three games at LG, and having filled in for Smith last season in a solid manner. The belief of the coaching staff in Green was such that they left him on an island in pass protection, and trusted that he would be able to hold up his end of the bargain.
As mentioned before, some can thrive on an island, but most will fail. To be blunt, Chaz Green failed.
Green was victimized, dare I say abused, by Falcon DE Adrian Clayborn for five sacks. Once the weakness in Green was noted, the Falcons continued to attack it. Lining up in a wide nine stance, Clayborn consistently took the outside shoulder on Green, and made mincemeat of his attempts to ward him off with his hands. Dak Prescott wore Clayborn like a jacket, and was never able to gain any measure of comfort in the pocket. Clayborn ended up with six sacks, and eight quarterback hits on the game. If a quarterback is getting hit that consistently from behind, the offense has no chance to be functional.
And, despite Green showing no ability to slide and cut off the outside rush, the coaching staff continued to leave him out on an island, and not provide him with help. TEs were not lined up on his side. Chips from running backs were few and far between. It was as the coaching staff didn’t believe their eyes, and continued to leave Green isolated. It was to the detriment of the offense, and it’s no wonder the offense was impotent from the first drive onward. Make no mistake – Green was hideous and utterly incompetent on the field. Clayborn admitted after the game that he has only one move. The problem was, Green was incapable of handling that one move, and the coaching staff made no adjustment to prevent it from happening.
Over and over again.
With no ability to throw the football due to protection issues, you would think that the Cowboys would ride the run attack that much harder. But for a nice sequence on their only possession of the third quarter, they continued to pound their head against the wall and throw the ball despite Prescott being a sitting duck. He ultimately paid for it, with eight total sacks, 11 quarterback hits and a fumble. Prescott was running for his life for a good portion of the game, and there was one sequence when he was unable to get himself out of bounds late in the first half due to being out of breath.
With the offense out of sync, out of breath and largely, out of hope, the defense came out hitting hard, but was unable to hold up. Again, a person who is left on a figurative island on the defense, physically broke down again, and pulled the plug on the confidence of the unit to do their job.
Sean Lee is widely regarded as the brains of the Cowboy defense, and one of the most instinctive and capable playmakers in the NFL. When he is in the lineup, the Cowboy defense plays greater than the sum of its parts. He is left on an island, figuratively, by holding that responsibility to get guys in the right place, and provide cover for the average players surrounding him.
But, when he is out of the lineup, suddenly, the defense goes from competent to disastrous, and the players on the field know it.
Lee pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the second quarter, with the Cowboys leading 7-3. Once he left the field, you could see a collective sagging of the shoulders on the Cowboy defense. The Falcon running attack, throttled early on, came to life. Matt Ryan, pressing a bit in a must win game for the Falcons, found his groove, hitting 11 consecutive passes, and blowing the game wide open. Without Lee on the field, the Falcons went as follows: touchdown, end of half, touchdown, touchdown, field goal. From 7-3 down, the Falcons coasted to a 27-7 lead, and never looked back.
It's not as if Lee’s injury issues are a new thing. The Cowboys have done precious little to bolster the defense to make up for the possibility that he is out of the lineup, and they continue to pay the price for it. Countless second round picks have been spent on injury and character related defensive gambles (Bruce Carter, Randy Gregory, Jaylon Smith), and the holes on defense still remain. Lee has been left on an island to make up for the many shortcomings elsewhere on the defense, and his body continues to break down under that pressure.
People have declared that we will see what Dak Prescott is made of with Elliott being out. It’s hard to see what that is when he’s getting hit constantly, and running for cover when he isn’t. Prescott was left on an island yesterday, and was provided with precious little help in getting the job done.
Donne was right – no man is an island.
And, for the Cowboys to rebound and have a shot at getting back in the playoff chase, the rest of the team needs to pull together and get the job done.
Other notes from yesterday’s game:
- It wasn’t just Green that was awful on the offensive line. Jonathan Cooper struggled a lot yesterday, committing two holding penalties, and having one instance where he was trying to cut block Dontari Poe, but fell on his face instead. Zack Martin was victimized for a sack by Poe. When Prescott needed the most help, he got the least.
- Credit Anthony Hitchens for his aggressive hitting in the run game. He was forceful in support, especially early on, but got worn down as the game went on. On the Taylor Gabriel end around, he did not get to the edge at all, and it opened up a 15-yard gain.
- Anthony Brown continues to be an enigma. He made a strong, aggressive play early on Mohamed Sanu, and tipped a pass that led to an Xavier Woods interception. But, there were countless other plays where in zone coverage, he left enough cushion for literally anyone to get open on a route. The coaches need to work hard with him on technique, because it has been a struggle for him this season.
- The combo of David Irving and DeMarcus Lawrence continues to be active making plays behind the line of scrimmage. Irving had 2.5 tackles for loss in the game, and Lawrence had a tackle for loss as well as yet another sack. The play of these two has overshadowed a general lack of production from the rest of the unit.
- We have seen Chris Jones excel at having his punts downed inside the 20, as well as reducing return yardage. We have seen him be flawless holding for field goals. We have seen him lay out returners. We have also seen him show some pretty good wheels on fake punts. But, who knew that he had an arm on him? Jones snapped off a perfect spiral to Brice Butler on a fake punt, but it didn’t hold up due to a pass interference call on Butler. Jones is a veritable swiss army knife.
- There have probably been few more awkward moments pre-game between owners than the figurative force field between Jerry Jones and Arthur Blank on the field. Think yesterday’s game was a sweet reward for Blank?
- The Cowboy defensive line seems to be immune from having holding calls made on them. Some of it is scheme induced, with the Cowboys tightly running twists, which can make it harder to see infractions. But, with the volleys against the league by Jones, don’t expect the benefit of the doubt on flags for quite some time.
- What was Jason Garrett thinking having Dak Prescott remain on the field with the game out of reach, yet still having him pass? It was clear that they weren’t protecting the passer well, and it was even more obvious that the competitive phase of the game was over. Why risk the injury? They were very fortunate that he didn’t end up hurt.
- With Smith still a question mark for next week’s must win game against the Eagles, the Cowboys are going to have to think long and hard as to how to provide support on the edge. The Eagles are another proponent of using the wide nine alignment, and will provide a lot of pressure from those spots. Green can’t be entering the game with a lot of confidence, and if Byron Bell was considered competent, he wouldn’t have been on the bench until the game was out of reach.
