Twitter: What was Kellen thinking on 3rd & 10?

[MizzouCowboy4]

Funny how I dont ever here you compliment the play designs that work. Only cry about the ones that dont.

If it doesnt work, it was a bad call. LOL

Gallup was one on one, why didnt he get open? Thats all you can do as a coordinator is get your guys 1 on 1.

You play smart. Run the ball.

 

[JustChip]

It was a calculated risk to go for the win. I can get behind that. What I can’t support is that idiotic play call.

That’s where I am at. Fist priority is to get the 1st down. The 2nd priority is to not stop the clock if the 1st priority isn’t attained.That play call had a low chance of success on both priorities.

Also, if you’ve decided that getting the first was most important, approach the entire series that way. They run 1st and 2nd down with the priority of making them burn their timeouts and then abandon that on 3rd down

It was the same issue in the OT drive in GB. If the decision is to go for it on 4th down when it’s 3rd and 4, then run the damn ball on 3rd down, especially after they had been running the ball extremely effectively on that drive up to that point.

 

[JustChip]

Km draws up 80% plays, he clearly needs help with the fine details to make them work a little better. And yes he should have called a fake to zeke and thrown the ball or have dak run on 2nd down. Having said that what he did worked, brown was open enough that the ball hit his arms and chest. It wasn't perfect but Brown should have caught that pass and the boys likely win that game. Km needs to not hold anything back the rest of the games. No saving anything for the playoffs. And these wide receivers need to play much angrier than they have, attack the ball like Dez used to. They lack that dog mentality, they are way too happy to be failures.

I’m not sure you can say Brown was open, but there was an opportunity to complete that pass. The DB was hanging with Brown, but Brown had position in front of him. The problem was the ball was thrown too far to the outside. I don’t think there’s any way Brown comes down inbounds even if he catches the ball.

But none of that changes the fact that the play call was wrong. Yes, it would effectively end the game if successful, but it failed to accomplish the 2nd priority if the the first priority wasn’t met.

 

[Daillest88]

What’s crazy. Both the balls brown had thrown to him should have been caught. That was his time to shine and he blew it.

 

[BigD_95]

What is this??????? We chose THIS over making them use their timeout? This is on Kellen and McCarthy.

so much wrong with this play/call

I would have been ok running and making them use their last TO
But if you want to throw it has to be a safe completion throw - how about a screen pass
But to throw it deep which has the least % chance to get a completion is a joke
Throwing it to the worst WR on the field is a joke - I mean seriously Brown?
This should be a play to the TE or a design to get CeeDee open on a 10-15 yard pass

as long as Moore is here this team will never win - I was praying the guy would get a HC job in the offseason
he cant design plays to get his best players the ball - his calls are awful

I mean MM should have called a TO when he heard this play call go in. How can anyone think this is a good call?

When was the last time Dak even completed that throw? I cant remember

Its a joke

 

[zrinkill]

To answer OP's question

"Wonder what Jerry is gonna buy me for supper?"

 

[beware_d-ware]

Let me say that #1, I liked throwing it to try and win the game. I've seen enough of Garrett's conservative, playing to not lose BS for a lifetime.

#2, just looking at the play art, I would guess that Gallup was the first read. KM's offense is built around playing numbers games, and he has Gallup 1 on 1 with a DB and no second defender in the same county. That's the kind of look he likes manufacturing.

#3, I wonder if any of those routes had options.

 

[Cowboys1966]

Yeah terrible call. You HAVE to run it there and take their last TO. It’s ballsy and everyone applauds it if it works but single call changed the outcome of the game from a w to an L

Or you run a higher percentage pass…play. A low percentage big play, in that situation made no sense to me at all.

 

[RonnieT24]

As of a month ago (I can't find updated stats), our WR group ranked dead last in separation in the entire NFL. Guys like Lamb are too good for that. That's 100% on play design.

A lot of analysts have recently observed that the Cowboys route combinations tend to be man-specific. As in designed to beat man coverage. They are not as effective against zone. Probably because of the lack of spacing. How many times have we seen two and sometimes three receivers in the same general area? That's poor play design and route concepts. So either our receivers are all idiots and they keep doing the wrong things or they are doing what they are being coached to do and sometimes what they are told to do stinks.

For the better part of 15 years opposing defenses have recounted how predictable the Cowboys offense is. In certain down and distances you can set your watch by the routes that are coming. That has been an artifact of this offense since Garrett was first made the OC. As I have mentioned many times.. it's because of the formulaic approach to play calling he used and obviously passed on to Moore. The play sheet literally says on 3rd and 5-10 from this part of the field run these routes. Every good DC in the league can watch film and discern these patterns.. and it's what makes our offense easy to defeat IF you have decent talent on the defensive side of the ball and a smart DC. It isn't going to change until we get a new OC with a new philosophy. We just happen to have such a person at head coach right now.. but for whatever reason we won't let him take the reins.

We all know this offense can move the ball and score at will against bad defenses and can even sometimes defeat good defenses. Because it's talented. Dak is a good bordering on great QB.. Zeke and TP are a good bordering on great RB tandem.. CD is a good bordering on great receiver. The tight end group is good bordering on great as a unit. The offensive line is good bordering on great. So sometimes they are just going to defeat the other guy and make the OC look good. In my opinion they make him look better than he is. What's deflating is that they literally have to get boat raced in multiple games before Jerry will even think about replacing him. But they're probably too good for that to happen. It's a classic catch-22. Nod to Emmitt... and Bullet.. my first football hero!

 

[charron]

I’m not sure you can say Brown was open, but there was an opportunity to complete that pass. The DB was hanging with Brown, but Brown had position in front of him. The problem was the ball was thrown too far to the outside. I don’t think there’s any way Brown comes down inbounds even if he catches the ball.

But none of that changes the fact that the play call was wrong. Yes, it would effectively end the game if successful, but it failed to accomplish the 2nd priority if the the first priority wasn’t met.

He was open enough the defender never touched the ball while the ball bounced off his arms and chest. I'm not saying it was a perfect play call or pass but you tell me the ball hits the receivers arms and chest without the defender touching it and i'll say on this play the OC and QB did enough, the receiver has to finish this play and he failed. The play call worked so it isn't wrong. You can say you'd do it different but the receiver was open enough, the qb was able to throw it, that play should have worked. The receiver needed to catch the ball and they win. Running for a 3rd time doesn't guarantee victory....a 1st down does.

 

[jsb357]

Hero moment for KM & Dak...

 

[RonnieT24]

Or you run a higher percentage pass…play. A low percentage big play, in that situation made no sense to me at all.

Yeah it was yet another of those "let me show how aggressive I am" calls.. I can certainly understand why you would not want the defense that gave up 3 TDs already in the second half to have to go back out there but if you're going to call a pass play you move the pocket.. give Dak the option to make a safe throw or run and slide if it's not there. Under no circumstances do you throw an incomplete pass. Or like I said in the post game thread.. Put Turpin in, direct snap it to him and tell him to run around for 20 seconds until somebody tackles him. I don't care if you lose 15 yards.. the time and forcing them to use that last timeout was what was important.. not gaining any yardage. Or impressing anybody with your damn aggressiveness.

 

[RonnieT24]

What’s crazy. Both the balls brown had thrown to him should have been caught. That was his time to shine and he blew it.

Yeah he has no room to be butt hurt about the Cowboys looking to upgrade at his position after this. He literally blew not one but TWO chances to clinch the game on balls that hit him in the hands. You gotta make both those catches.. but certainly after blowing the first one you catch the second? Right?

 

[SultanOfSix]

I dunno, I didn't see the play nor the formation, but no one is open according to the drawing.

If you have five defensive backs blanketing three receivers, that means you have six defenders (four or three on the line, two or three LBs, respectively) against eight in the backfield on offense. Dak probably could've run it for the first down or checked down to a back if he wanted to. What he shouldn't have done was throw a low percentage pass to non-open receivers to risk an incompletion and not keep the clock running.

Edit: Just watched the play.

The offensive line blew blocking on a stunt, so Dak had to get rid of it and not run with it as he would've been sacked. The only other options to keep the clock running and make the Jags burn a timeout were the check down to the TE from the backfield who only had the LB guarding him, or to ironically take the sack.

 

[John813]

Watching that clip, #33 would of stuffed Dak even if the DE/defense had to respect the QB run. The LB was watching Dak's movement the entire play

It was a well called defensive play by the Jags. Almost like they knew that play was coming. Curious if we do that presnap motion a lot on that running play.

 

[RonnieT24]

Watching that clip, #33 would of stuffed Dak even if the DE/defense had to respect the QB run. The LB was watching Dak's movement the entire play

It was a well called defensive play by the Jags. Almost like they knew that play was coming. Curious if we do that presnap motion a lot on that running play.

The thing about that play is that it would have worked were it not for the jab step Zeke takes to try and sync up with Tyron pulling. #91 immediately reads Tyron pulling and follows him as any good DC teaches. Took him right to the play. It's why I hate the delay handoff plays in general and especially with Zeke .. You make him wait for the ball and basically telegraph to the end where the play is going. It's horrible play design and I have been screaming about it for as long as we've been running this style of offense. Run that same play from the I, hand Zeke the ball with a head of steam and with Dak between him and the DE and it's a 10 yard gain. We've had these plays blown up by unblocked backside DEs so often it seems like they are calling the "let's lose some yards" play on purpose. I can't for the life of me figure out why we keep calling it. Well I mean actually I know why. It's because Zeke and TP are so good that sometimes they turn this crap play into a big gain by sheer talent and effort which fools the OC into thinking the play worked.

 

[Kevinicus]

Go back and watch it.

I have, many times. He was covered.

 

[817Gill]

Watching that clip, #33 would of stuffed Dak even if the DE/defense had to respect the QB run. The LB was watching Dak's movement the entire play

It was a well called defensive play by the Jags. Almost like they knew that play was coming. Curious if we do that presnap motion a lot on that running play.

Just no need to get cute there. Our duo block runs are our bread and butter, have no idea how you don’t go to those plays there.

My biggest issue with Moore is he seems to just call plays for the sake of calling them. He doesn’t have a good feel for situational playcalling and it hurts us.

 

[nhcowboysfan]

As of a month ago (I can't find updated stats), our WR group ranked dead last in separation in the entire NFL. Guys like Lamb are too good for that. That's 100% on play design.

Agreed. Notice that in the one game where Lamb was put in pre-snap motion, that turned out to be one of his better games. It allowed him to get better separation. We are the worst team in the league when it comes to pre-snap motion, misdirection, rub routes, etc.

 

[RonnieT24]

Just no need to get cute there. Our duo block runs are our bread and butter, have no idea how you don’t go to those plays there.

My biggest issue with Moore is he seems to just call plays for the sake of calling them. He doesn’t have a good feel for situational playcalling and it hurts us.

None whatsoever.. Been complaining about this aspect of his "game" for years. A lot of people have taken note of his tendency to just be out there running a mishmash of plays with no rhyme or reason. I don't trust him man.. not even a little bit. Ever since "yards are yards" I have considered that to be confirmation that the dude has no idea how to manage a football game.. or to exploit matchups or stick to what is working.. or to even set up plays for later. When was the last time our receivers ran slant slant slant slant SLUGGO!! Touchdown?