What happened to the offense we saw vs Denver?

[honyock]

yup, you hit the nail right on the head. Setting the protection and blitz pickup has been the problem for the cowboys. The issue isn't so much that there aren't enough blockers against the blitz, it's that the protection gets totally confused by disguised blitzes and the line never adjusts to where the extra rusher is coming from.

I really hate using the eagles site for reference, but they did an incredibly good job of highlighting this:

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/n...usionist/16009842-8e1a-4436-869d-16b17b230cbb

romo should conceivably have tons of time to scan the field and take shots if the protection can ever get this sorted out.

Yep, that's what I saw vs the Eagles. We looked confused by their blitzes and didn't adjust to their schemes and it led to too many unblocked rushers in the first half. Whatever we changed at halftime, those problems pretty much disappeared in the second half, and we started sustaining drives.

I went back last night and did a quick look at the offensive snaps vs Denver (I was traveling and missed the game live). They were also blitzing pretty heavily after the first couple of series, but we made them pay. They did get some sacks and disruption, but we burned them badly as well. It looked like Philly was much more creative than Denver in disguising their blitzes, throwing a different look almost every snap, etc. Philly reminded me of how Washington has been attacking our offensive line in that regard. It was a pretty good game plan and they got away with it for a half. I'd expect we'll see lots more of that until we start handling it better.

 

[Sarge]

Denver has the worst pass defense in the league....

...and Washington and Philly are right near the bottom as well.

 

[reddyuta]

I think this is one game Garrett actually will be aggressive from the get go and not trot out that lame slow and cautious road game plans,i will be shocked if can keep the Lions below 24.

 

[StarBoyz83]

If they dont bring an explosive offense Sunday and they play conservative they are going to lose.

 

[KJJ]

The Cowboys entered the Denver game with the mindset they were going to have to score a lot of points to have a chance and attacked which created some big plays plus the Broncos pass defense ranked lower than the Cowboys. Denver currently ranks last in pass defense.

 

[Red Dragon]

If the Cowboys could combine the explosive offense they showed against Denver with the stingy defense they showed against the Eagles, they'd be a 12-4 team.

 

[KJJ]

If the Cowboys could combine the explosive offense they showed against Denver with the stingy defense they showed against the Eagles, they'd be a 12-4 team.

The explosive offense the Cowboys showed against Denver was due partially to how bad the Broncos pass defense has been. The stingy defense the Cowboys showed against Philly was primarily due to how dreadful Foles and Barkley were. Foles missed open receivers all day he was so off he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Not trying to take anything away from the Cowboys but Denver's pass defense has been worse than the Cowboys and Foles and Barkley flat out stunk last week.

 

[Red Dragon]

The explosive offense the Cowboys showed against Denver was due partially to how bad the Broncos pass defense has been.

I think one reason for the Broncos' bad pass defense, statistically, has been the fact that Peyton Manning and the offense have been on such a scoring rampage that their opponents were often in deep deficits and had little choice but to throw and throw the ball,

 

[Blackspider214]

It baffles me how incompetent this coaching staff seems to be in designing plays to beat blitzing..

This is all on Garrett. He never adjusts during the game and basically designs one gameplan. If you exploit it, you will have our offense looking flat the whole game. It gets sickening after awhile.

And the fact we don't attack on our own. It's subjective on how the other team's offense is playing. When we saw the Skins and Eagles were not going to be scoring a lot of points, we got very conservative on offense. Is this smart at times? Yes. Don't want to force anything. But my point is we let the other team dictate the game, never us.

 

[iceman117]

Division games, when you're playing 2 teams back to back that you play 2 times every year they pretty much know where to attack you. They know your hot routes, they know the progression of the QB and they know the tendencies of the players. Dallas played it safe and got 2 big wins. I'm happy about it and not too worried that the offense is "flat" I think they were playing situational football (a little conservative) against two tough division opponents. Washington has played much better the last 3 weeks and Philly looks like their defense is coming around and when you add that with a pretty good offense I expect them to get better as the year goes on and consider them a pretty tough out,especially in-division. So I love the way this team is playing and in my heart of hearts knows that Dallas of 11' and 12' would not have won both those games back to back. So we are making progress. Also another sign of a good team is being able to win some games when not scoring a bunch of points.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Just as I predicted, Romo's offense has come back to the usual under 25ppg.

We are the 3rd highest scoring team in the NFL. Only Denver and Chicago have our scored us.

 

[cowboys1981]

Facing two rivals back to back will do that to you. They know our tendencies and have a better feel of our personnel. With that they knew how to attack us.

 

[Bungarian]

Dallas has not been able to run a screen in 10 years

 

[honyock]

Dallas has not been able to run a screen in 10 years

It may have been even longer than that. Troy admitted that the 90's teams were so bad at it that they just stopped trying. The last time I remember them being really good at it, Staubach was throwing those double fake jump screens to Preston Pearson.

 

[KJJ]

I think one reason for the Broncos' bad pass defense, statistically, has been the fact that Peyton Manning and the offense have been on such a scoring rampage that their opponents were often in deep deficits and had little choice but to throw and throw the ball,

That's definitely a big part of the reason but their pass coverage has been suspect with Champ Bailey out all season until last week and they were missing the pass rush of Von Miller who just returned. Denver ranks dead last against the pass but #1 against the run mainly because opponents have to abandon the run and throw to overcome the deficits and to try and keep up with them.

 

[Gameover]

D

We are the 3rd highest scoring team in the NFL. Only Denver and Chicago have our scored us.

Misleading.

 

[Red Dragon]

Dallas has not been able to run a screen in 10 years

In the 2009 season, I remember the Cowboys using a play that involved Romo throwing a screen pass to Austin; that play went for touchdowns against the Raiders and Eagles. Haven't seen much of similar plays since though.


It's really baffling that the Cowboys don't seem to use screen passes effectively. It's a rather basic and elementary play in football, isn't it? Even a college football team should be able to use screen passes very well?