Why the constant shotgun formation?

[CWR]

Prescott, Career Passer Rating
from shotgun 95.1
under center 103.6

In the face Yappy dog. Lol. Constantly making up your own "facts" to fit your agenda. You just got owned, again.

 

[percyhoward]

Wow he lines up under center about every 5th play? That's a lot more than I thought.

What I posted was just the percentage of his pass attempts after taking the snap from under center. Counting sacks, scrambles, and designed runs, Dak lines up under center 41% of the time.

That's 4 percentage points above the league average.

 

[Techsass]

What I posted was just the percentage of his pass attempts after taking the snap from under center. Counting sacks, scrambles, and designed runs, Dak lines up under center 41% of the time.

That's 4 percentage points above the league average.

Well I'm obviously missing something. I like to focus on the defense before the snap, but it's not like I ignore the offense. 41% is almost every other play. Are we counting the plays where he fondles Frederick then steps back?

 

[percyhoward]

Well I'm obviously missing something. I like to focus on the defense before the snap, but it's not like I ignore the offense. 41% is almost every other play. Are we counting the plays where he fondles Frederick then steps back?

You're probably just thinking of pass attempts. When you include all passes, sacks, scrambles, and all designed running plays, 41% of all Dallas plays from scrimmage start with the QB under center. The league average is 37%.

When you take out designed runs, 30% of those plays start with the QB under center. That's basically league average (31%).

 

[beware_d-ware]

Dak is good at a lot of things, but dropping back from center isn't one of them. Shotgun is definitely his comfort zone for passing.

One of our few passing plays from under center is the Linehan all-hitch call, which actually works pretty well when defenses start cheating up against the run. One-on-one coverage outside, Coop/Gallup turns back for the ball, easy pitch and catch for 8 yards. If you watch Dak on those throws, he often tends to wobble the ball or throw it high, whereas he can just drill that throw without thinking from the shotgun. So I think that 8 yard hitch is about the limit of what he can do from an under-center dropback.

The problem is that Zeke is more comfortable running from under center (as are the vast majority of tailbacks), so that creates one of the most obvious tells in the NFL.

Defenses are free to tee off against Zeke any time we go under center. Probably 3 quarters of the time, it's going to be a run play, and even if it's not, Dak's not going to burn you with a throw. If the DC gambles on it being an inside run play and wins, it's 2nd and 9. If they gamble and lose, worst case, it'll be 2nd and 2. Opposing coaches have been taking that bet all day.

Short term, I think the natural answer to this is to throw out of the shotgun more on 1st down. Use slants, flareouts, and bubble screens to pick up a few easy yards and get the defense moving. Long term, either Dak is simply going to have to get better at dropping back, or we need to quit running on early downs.

 

[Quickdraw]

It's been used for almost 50 years now. Not exactly a new subject. It's used because it's effective. Simple as that.

The point of the topic was not that the Cowboys are the only ones using it or that it is new to the league, but rather that they "overuse" it. They use it in situations that don't require it.

Not sure how I can make that any clearer but hopefully it finally is.