Yakuza Rich's Dallas vs. Carolina Game Charting Notes - DEFENSE

[Yakuza Rich]

The defense was in for a tough task, facing one of the best WR tandems in the league, especially with the almost uncoverable Steve Smith. The Panthers O-Line was a bit banged up, but they had enough depth to comfortably move some O-Lineman around and still be able to pass protect. After the 2nd TD, it seemed like the defense was going to continue to struggle to hold teams when the offense gave away the ball. And that perhaps will be a problem all season long for the defense. But as the game kept going along Dallas’ defense gave up less and less yards on first down. Footballoutsiders.com recently showed that Dallas is superb on 2nd and 3rd down defense. The problem has been with the yardage they give up on first downs. With Keith Davis and Marcus Coleman taking over for Pat Watkins, Carolina still made it clear that they wanted to attack Dallas on first down. However, they only had moderate success instead of overwhelming success. And from there, the defense had no issue with containing the Carolina offense.


CHRIS CANTY (0 EXCELS, 1 BAD)

He maintained his gap responsibilities pretty well, but he wasn’t shedding blocks and making the tackles either.


KENYON COLEMAN (3 EXCELS, 0 BADS)

His excels came near the end of the game. He’s used sparingly by Parcells and Zimmer, but he’s been playing pretty well so I have to think that they may start giving him more playing time soon.


JASON FERGUSON (1 EXCEL, 0 BAD)

Like Canty, he held his gap responsibilities, but didn’t do much outside of that.


MARCUS SPEARS (3 EXCELS, 2 BADS)

Spears played entirely better than he did in the Giants game and I’m sure he heard about his poor play last week from the coaching staff. This is one of those games where Spears frustrates me. As a 3-4 DE he’s not going to put up big stats. But, there are times where he’ll flash some real greatness then he’ll look terrible at other times. Consistency will be his main issue from here on in.


DEMARCUS WARE (1 EXCEL, 2 BADS)

After the Giants game and how he played against Carolina last year, the Panthers certainly took note of it. When going one on one with Jordan Gross, they would often resort to 3 step drops. When it was a 5 or 7 step drop, they made sure to either double him or go to a 3 WR formation and put the slot WR on his side which forced Ware to line up on slot WR and bump him off his pattern. One bad came on a offsides penalty and the other came on the end around to Steve Smith. Ware didn’t contain properly, but it was a well designed and executed play. Still, Ware’s presence was felt by how Carolina schemed against him and it allowed for Greg Ellis to have a big day.


GREG ELLIS (5 EXCELS, 1 BAD)

His only bad play came on a 5 yard run where Keyshawn had no issue blocking him. But he turned it up a notch on Sunday in both his run and pass defense. Very nice game.


BRADIE JAMES (2-3, 23 yards, 0 EXCELS, 0 BADS)

Was hardly noticeable on Sunday. I like some things that Bradie brings to the table, but he’s not playing as well as he was last season and seems a tad slow in pass coverage.


AKIN AYODELE (1-2, 22 yards, 3 EXCELS, 0 BADS)

When I first watched the Giants game, I thought he played poorly. Then I charted the game and found out that he played pretty well. The Carolina game was his best game in a Cowboys uniform. He also had a “JACKED UP” type of hit on Deshaun Foster. Foster could’ve gained 6-8 yards on the play, but Ayodele annihilated him and stopped him right at the point of contact, for only a 4 yard gain. It appears he’s getting much more comfortable in the 3-4.


TERENCE NEWMAN (1-7, 11 yards, 2 excels, 0 bads)

At one point during the telecast, NBC listed Newman for giving up 3 catches. I’m not sure where that came from. I could see having him give up 2 catches as Steve Smith caught a 22 yard pass. Newman originally had Smith and it would look like he was the defender on the play. But in reality, Newman had dumped Smith off as the Cowboys were in zone and Smith found the soft spot and it was probably Akin Ayodele or Keith Davis’ responsibility, certainly not Newman’s. Either way, Newman shutdown everybody and just played a great game.


ANTHONY HENRY (7-11, 48 yards, 2 excels, 2 bads)

One bad came on the Keyshawn drop and the other came on the pass interference on Keyshawn. Henry is a nice player and all, but it’s frustrating to see him get beat on the double move on a consistent basis. I think if he played on a team with a great pass rush, he’d be a Pro Bowler since teams would have time to use a double move on him. He played his typical game with teams focusing on throwing at him and only having occasional success at doing so.


ROY WILLIAMS (0-1, 0 yards, 1 INT, 1 EXCEL, 0 BADS)

Unless his play falls off, you can bristle at people claiming Roy Williams is a liability in coverage. In the games I’ve charted he’s rarely thrown at and teams very seldom have success throwing his way. He’s also on pace to have 7 INT’s this year. If he’s a liability in coverage then I wish we had more liabilities like Roy on our squad.


KEITH DAVIS (0-0, 0 yards, 0 EXCELS, 0 BADS)

He really didn’t do anything, but my guess is that was because he was doing everything right. Parcells seemed very happy with his play afterwards and that’s probably because he didn’t make mental errors.



PASS DEFENSE STATS PER DIRECTION OF PASS

Passes to the left – 8-14, 62 yards, 4.43 YPA
Passes to the middle – 4-4, 35 yards, 8.75 YPA
Passes to the right – 6-15, 77 yards, 5.13 YPA


RUN DEFENSE STATS PER DIRECTION OF RUN

Runs @ Right DE – 2 carries, 26 yards, 13.0 ypc (yardage skewed by Steve Smith TD Run)
Runs @ LT – 1 carry, 3 yards, 3.0 ypc

Runs @ MID/GUARD – 4 carries, 17 yards, 4.25 ypc

Runs @ RT – 5 carries, 17 yards, 3.4 ypc
Runs @ Left DE – 3 carries, 12 yards, 4.0 ypc


STATS PER DALLAS OFFENSIVE FORMATION

3-4 base – 19 plays, 116 yards, 6.11 ypp
3-4 w/Ware on WR – 8 plays, 23 yards, 2.88 ypp
3-4 w/Ellis on WR – 3 plays, 13 yards, 4.33 ypp
Nickel – 11 plays, 14 yards, 1.27 ypp
4-3 – 1 play, 11 yards, 11.0 ypp
Quarters – 4 plays, 27 yards, 6.75 ypp


STATS PER CAROLINA OFFENSIVE FORMATION

3 WR Formation (Normal) – 18 plays, 77 yards, 4.3 ypp

Split Back Formation (Normal) – 8 plays 54 yards, 6.8 ypp

4 WR formation (Normal) – 5 plays, 31 yards, 6.2 ypp

Splitback w/3 WR’s – 4 plays, 13 yards, 3.3 ypp

3 WR formation w/Hoover as WR – 2 plays, 11 yards, 5.5 ypp

H-Back Formation w/Gaines as H-Back – 2 plays, 10 yards, 5.0 ypp

Split Back w/3 WR’s Hoover as FB, Gaines as WR – 1 play, 3 yards, 3.0 ypp

Shotgun w/2 RB’s – 1 play, 2 yards, 2.0 ypp

Splitback w/3 WR’s Gaines as FB, Hoovers as WR – 1 play, 0 yards

Trips 3 WR – 1 play, 0 yards

Shotgun 4 WR – 1 play, -10 yards, -10.0 ypp

Shotgun 5 WR – 1 play, 14 yards, 14.0 ypp



YAKUZA

 

[canters]

thanks again. you always pick up on things I miss.

 

[Zaxor]

that is the same thing I have been saying about Ware...they schemed him out of the game...one of the other inside guys has to step it up when that happens

 

[EMMITTnROY]

great job as always Rich.. love your stuff..

 

[AdamJT13]

At one point during the telecast, NBC listed Newman for giving up 3 catches.

I didn't see that, but my guess is they just counted his tackles on pass plays as catches allowed.

 

[superpunk]

Rich, how much did you notice Newman manned up on Smith, or did we roll safety help like last year. I'm sure he got some help, just wondering if it was constant.

 

[baj1dallas]

I don't think you gave Henry enough credit for the run game tackles he made. He does a much better job at that than Newman, imo that's where his size makes the biggest difference. Not in defending receivers.

Also, maybe you can't see what Davis is doing, but how many long passes did we give up in previous weeks, and how many did we give up this week? It's not like Carolina didn't want to go deep. For all the geniuses around here that were desperate to get rid of Davis, he sure doesn't get beat deep for TDs real often.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

BRADIE JAMES (2-3, 23 yards, 0 EXCELS, 0 BADS)

Was hardly noticeable on Sunday. I like some things that Bradie brings to the table, but he’s not playing as well as he was last season and seems a tad slow in pass coverage.

What is this?

 

[Zaxor]

What is this?

that is a hyphanated 23

 

[WAREWOLFE94]

He also had a “JACKED UP” type of hit on Deshaun Foster. Foster could’ve gained 6-8 yards on the play, but Ayodele annihilated him and stopped him right at the point of contact, for only a 4 yard gain. It appears he’s getting much more comfortable in the 3-4.

Yeah it was a good solid hit..right after the play Keith Davis and co. came running up to Ayodele with congrat's on the brick wall of a stop.

 

[dmq]

Greg Ellis is just about stunning me with how well he is playing. He was going for the ball the whole game. His leadership skill are showing up too. Props from a guy that doubted you would be effective in the transition to LBer.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

What is this?

James had 3 passes thrown that were his responsibility (at least from what I could tell)...2 of them were completed.



YAKUZA

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Rich, how much did you notice Newman manned up on Smith, or did we roll safety help like last year. I'm sure he got some help, just wondering if it was constant.

Often times it's tough to tell since the Safeties aren't always on the TV screen. But it appeared to me that Newman was on Smith w/o help at least 50% of the time that he lined up across from him.



YAKUZA

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Me, too.
Props to a re-energized Ellis.
I've always thought Ellis was an overrated DE for the 'Boys. The fact that he was picked by Dallas so early (i.e. Moss) has not helped his image, at least to me.
Now he's in a new role and thriving. Hecks, props to Zimmer and Parcells who mandated the change.
You the man, Ellis!