Will the running game finally get on track?

[Bizwah]

II have a friend who is a missionary in Africa. He's kinda bummed about missing the Cowboys' games, so I have been burning all of them to DVD for him to watch.

Anyway, I noticed a number of things while rewatching the game. One of them is how inconsistent our running game is. There hasn't been one game that we really ran the ball from start to finish well.

Yes, we've put up some yardage, but most of it came after we had huge leads. We never really moved the ball early with our running game. This, to me, is why we've struggled early in games. We've been trying to establish a running game, but can't.

I was looking at the Bills' roster. They really are an undersized unit. I know this played to our strengths in the nineties, but we also had a ton of depth. Our OL is huge in the middle. On the surface, it looks like a huge mismatch for us.

I'd love to see us finally get the running game on track. I'd love to see us dominate the LOS from start to finish. If we could move the ball on the ground early, we'd get easy scores in play-action.

Is this the game we finally see the run-blocking potential of our OL come to fruition?

 

[jobberone]

Nice post` I would bet it is on the agenda but the running game along with the softness of the inside of the DL and the secondary is what is keeping Dallas in the second tier right now

 

[parchy]

I think a lot of our early struggles with the run game revolve around Julius starting.

I'd much rather have MBIII battering the D first and then slip in JuJo for a huge gamebreaker in the second or third possession. Because I can't recall Julius looking good on any first drive all year, and he always starts.

It's kind of ticky tack, but when it comes to big games like the Pats, we're going to want to start off fast, because they will. Especially with our defense. So Barber needs to start.

 

[InmanRoshi]

This is nothing unusual. Even if you watch the teams of the early 90's, there was tough sledding in the 1st half and got the bulk of their yards late in the game after the defense has been worn down.

 

[parchy]

This is nothing unusual. Even if you watch the teams of the early 90's, there was tough sledding in the 1st half and got the bulk of their yards late in the game after the defense has been worn down.

But if you can fix it, why not try? We're going to wear teams down anyway. That's just a natural by-product of having talented players and a group that is big enough to control the line of scrimmage. But against teams like the Patriots and possibly the Packers (who still don't scare me), when we might get down and out early, it'd help not to go into halftime with three points.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

This is nothing unusual. Even if you watch the teams of the early 90's, there was tough sledding in the 1st half and got the bulk of their yards late in the game after the defense has been worn down.

good point, we passed alot in the 1st half, and ran alot in the 2nd in the glory years

what's great about this O, is that even when the running game isn't going, we pass enough, and successfully enough, in that it sets up the running game, which is only natural

 

[InmanRoshi]

But if you can fix it, why not try? We're going to wear teams down anyway. That's just a natural by-product of having talented players and a group that is big enough to control the line of scrimmage. But against teams like the Patriots and possibly the Packers (who still don't scare me), when we might get down and out early, it'd help not to go into halftime with three points.

What are we trying to fix? This is the way it's supposed to work. It's like a boxer going to the body ... you don't do it because you're expecting a knock out in the first round on a body punch, you do it because it will wear your opponent down as the fight goes on.

 

[Idgit]

Once we get the running game working, we can concentrate on the passing game. With both sides firing, this offense could really be something special.

 

[Da Hammer]

Once Jones stops getting significant carries we will get the run game on track...