YR's My Meaningless Thoughts Week 6...

[Yakuza Rich]

- I was speaking to a friend of mine who is also another ‘football stats nut’ like I am and here was an interesting analysis he made about the team:

Dallas has had 40 offensive drives through 4 games. They average 39.42
yards per drive, second in the NFL to IND (40.37). They average 1.85
points per drive (12st, NE at 2.67). That's because of poor field position
(25.35, 31st in average LOS/drive) and turnovers (.175, 24th).

The DAL defense had 41 drives, is 19th in yds/drive allowed and 24th in pts.

The real issue is the 40 drives/game. That's the lowest total in the NFL.
Yes, they've had one of the 8 byes but pro-rated to 50 still leaves them
23rd (without pro-rating the other 7 byes). They have less opportunites
to score and allow scores due to game pace, and that makes their offense
look worse (and their defense look better) in total stats.

So a big reason why we don’t score is that we simply do not get good starting field position and that’s partly caused by our inability to get turnovers. We still don’t score much for the yards we gain, but the defense really needs to get in gear and for those who are anti-Phillips and pro-Garrett, they could point to this. If anything, the team needs to start getting interceptions and I would suggest to Jerry that Dave Campo isn’t cutting it so far.


- I have to say that I think Favre may be a genius/mastermind when it comes to the media. It reminds me a bit of playing baseball as a kid and when pitchers would suddenly complain that their arm hurt when they were getting rocked. But if they were pitching well, they could throw until next week. Suddenly Favre is involved with a major controversy dealing in sexual harassment and all of the sudden his arm hurts. He plays the press and the fans like Vic Mackey in The Shield played the law enforcement, political and judicial systems.

- 34-3 last year and for some reason the Vikings felt they needed to run up the score. If there’s one thing that really irritates me with this team is that you’d think that they’d be geared up to kick some arse and get into top gear for this game. Instead they somehow buy into their own hype after losing 34-3 and getting the score ran up on them and have gone into this game looking awful.

- I will say that I still love Brooking though. Old Cowboys teams would’ve just taken the beating and never get worked up over it. It’s something I think this team needed, unfortunately most of the other parts of the roster just seem to easily forget about it.

- Dallas needs to get back to play ’09 Dallas football.’ They led the league last year in opposing team starting field position. And they didn’t give up a lot of big plays on defense. So opponents really had to work to score points and we had a capable enough offense to score 20+ points a game and win those games. We’ve gotten away from that as our kickoff coverage has stunk and we are turning the ball over too much in our territory and giving up way too many big plays on defense.

- I expect the defense to play much better against Minny because they seems to always play much better on the road. Which has become really frustrating when they stink up the joint at home.

- I expect the Vikings to target Jenkins again. The Skins targeted him and lost. The Bears targeted him and won. The Texans sort of targeted him and didn’t do much. The Titans targeted him and won. When teams target a corner game after game, you know that they think he’s the weak spot in the secondary.

- Here’s what frightens me on defense, only 3 players have recorded a sack so far…Ware (6), Spencer (3), Brooking (1). We need to get more people involved, like Ratliff and maybe the safeties because the safeties sure don’t get INT’s.

- I get the feeling that Brewster and Hamlin were waived to send a message. I think some of the younger guys were probably not as focused as they should be and didn’t have the work ethic that they should have so they probably waived those guys to send a message to the rest of the younger guys that are not getting that much playing time.

- Y’know, I just want to have fun watching this team. This year hasn’t been much fun watching them so far because the play has been so uninspired, sloppy and undisciplined. I have come to watch games in a bad mood because I’m more or less waiting for the team to screw up. I could actually live with losing with lesser talent and injuries than I can with careless and sloppy play but lots of talent. Hopefully this team will become fun to watch and root for again.




YR

 

[AbeBeta]

- I get the feeling that Brewster and Hamlin were waived to send a message.

The only message there is "we are really bad at drafting OL and S"

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The only message there is "we are really bad at drafting OL and S"

I could give you O-Line, but when's the last time we really drafted a safety? We got 3 really good years from Roy Williams, but the game changed and he couldn't adapt physically to it. After that, we've had Lynn Scott (UDFA), Keith Davis (UDFA), Pat Watkins (4th rounder), Michael Hamlin (5th rounder), Alan Ball (drafted as CB and in the 7th round).

Not exactly drafting high there.

O-Line we really haven't drafted guys high either. I also think part of the problem was the Parcells era because he's a hard guy to draft O-Linemen for as he is a big technique and smarts guy and a lot of the O-Linemen in this league get by an physical ability. People tend to rave about the Eagles O-Line, but those guys are far from technique and smarts guys by any mean. They're just physical, mobile guys who have had discipline instilled in them. Thus, under Parcells we keep a Procter around and draft a Jacob Rogers instead of taking a Marcus McNeill.

We need to draft these positions a bit higher or get better FA safeties.





YR

 

[Apollo Creed]

As angry as everyone gets at Garrett, the playcalling, and the penalties...

This defense has got to start forcing some turnovers or making some big plays eventually. Hiding behind a stat sheet worked for a few years, but we need them to be more than good enough to get by. Especially if we're gonna get out of this 1-3 hole.

 

[burmafrd]

To get turnovers you have to gamble more and not just on blitzes. Wade is not doing that.

 

[RS12]

- I get the feeling that Brewster and Hamlin were waived to send a message. I think some of the younger guys were probably not as focused as they should be and didn’t have the work ethic that they should have so they probably waived those guys to send a message to the rest of the younger guys that are not getting that much playing time.

Only message I see is that the 09 draft resembles the 95 "draft for depth", a real stinker.

 

[Hoofbite]

Is that supposed to be 12th or 21st?

 

[AdamJT13]

Is that supposed to be 12th or 21st?

We're 12th in points scored per possession.

 

[Coakleys Dad]

Y’know, I just want to have fun watching this team. This year hasn’t been much fun watching them so far because the play has been so uninspired, sloppy and undisciplined. I have come to watch games in a bad mood because I’m more or less waiting for the team to screw up. I could actually live with losing with lesser talent and injuries than I can with careless and sloppy play but lots of talent. Hopefully this team will become fun to watch and root for again.

Couldnt have said it better myself.

 

[casmith07]

Y’know, I just want to have fun watching this team. This year hasn’t been much fun watching them so far because the play has been so uninspired, sloppy and undisciplined. I have come to watch games in a bad mood because I’m more or less waiting for the team to screw up. I could actually live with losing with lesser talent and injuries than I can with careless and sloppy play but lots of talent. Hopefully this team will become fun to watch and root for again.

We share a similar sentiment, my friend.

 

[Idgit]

Sounds like the moves being made this week are to improve starting field position (or at least to push back our opponents' starting field position). The special teams slippage has hurt us.

I'm curious to see what we do on defense to improve the TO ratio.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

Rich, if all you are looking for is some fun...Do not look into the stats too much. They do not tell the whole story. It is more than stats. And talent is not talent without the big wins. This talent word is thrown around entirely too much with your fanbase. It is potential talent.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Rich, if all you are looking for is some fun...Do not look into the stats too much. They do not tell the whole story. It is more than stats. And talent is not talent without the big wins. This talent word is thrown around entirely too much with your fanbase. It is potential talent.

1. stats can be fun in their own way.

2. I look at stats to try to understand the story better. For instance, last season the team's stats showed a team that would force the other team to really earn their points by giving opponents poor field position, not giving up the big play and stiffening up in the red zone. One of the things that the stats showed me was the defense needed to make more turnovers and it was interesting to see if they could do that. This year they are not making opponents 'work for it' to score points.

3. There's definitely a lot of talent on this team. Miles Austin is off to an outrageously great season. Roy Williams is off to a really good season but since Miles is playing out of this world, it goes unnoticed. We've got Romo and Witten. Ware, Spencer, Ratliff, Newman, Jenkins.

The potential has been realized or closed to realized with many of these guys. The problem is that they buy into their own hype to easily and stop focusing on paying attention to detail.

There's no reason for Witten to have 15 penalties in is last 21 games. I honestly feel a coach like Parcells would handle that with ease by needling him with a remark about his penalties. It's not that Witten is lazy, overrated or undisciplined, but players will lose that attention to detail if the coaching staff doesn't have that attention to detail themselves.

It's not like I'm keeping stats when watching a game. Or that I think that because we have better stats we should automatically win. It's when you see players with far better athleticism and skills who throw it away on undisciplined, uninspired and unfocused play.

And it's a team effort for the most part, although I'll give Miles, Felix and Roy a pass right now becaue they are the only ones that seemingly don't screw up on a consistent basis.

And it's not like Cowboys fans are throwing around talent either. I think most experts, coaches and scouts see Dallas as one of the most talented rosters in the league.

I know it's hard for Commanders fans to give Jerry credit for having an eye for players, but the talent is there.




YR

 

[Idgit]

Rich, if all you are looking for is some fun...Do not look into the stats too much. They do not tell the whole story. It is more than stats. And talent is not talent without the big wins. This talent word is thrown around entirely too much with your fanbase. It is potential talent.

Talent is talent without big wins. It takes more than talent to win games. Cowboy fans, generally, understand this, and we don't throw the talent word around too much. This is a very talented team right now.

When Parcels was here, he used to make a point of distinguishing between talent and skill. That's probably what you're seeing when you see a preoccupation with the talent level on this team.

We've done a great job assembling talent through the draft and FA. It's up to our coaches to translated that talent into skilled players. For the most part, they've done a good job of that, too, with some notable exceptions. Then it's up to the talented and skilled players to perform on Sundays. That's where we're struggling right now.

But the season is long, and we're not going to end up at 1-3. There's plenty of time yet for more big wins.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Yea, I find myself watcing the games nowdays thinking we are going to lose somehow or someway. I have seen so many fluke ways a team can give a game away, nothing surprises me anymore.

Its like alot of fans are starting to get used to losing.

 

[morasp]

I was looking at team offensive stats this week and we are 16th in points per game.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

I was looking at team offensive stats this week and we are 16th in points per game.

Which is a lot more important than yards per game.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

1. stats can be fun in their own way.

2. I look at stats to try to understand the story better. For instance, last season the team's stats showed a team that would force the other team to really earn their points by giving opponents poor field position, not giving up the big play and stiffening up in the red zone. One of the things that the stats showed me was the defense needed to make more turnovers and it was interesting to see if they could do that. This year they are not making opponents 'work for it' to score points.

3. There's definitely a lot of talent on this team. Miles Austin is off to an outrageously great season. Roy Williams is off to a really good season but since Miles is playing out of this world, it goes unnoticed. We've got Romo and Witten. Ware, Spencer, Ratliff, Newman, Jenkins.

The potential has been realized or closed to realized with many of these guys. The problem is that they buy into their own hype to easily and stop focusing on paying attention to detail.

There's no reason for Witten to have 15 penalties in is last 21 games. I honestly feel a coach like Parcells would handle that with ease by needling him with a remark about his penalties. It's not that Witten is lazy, overrated or undisciplined, but players will lose that attention to detail if the coaching staff doesn't have that attention to detail themselves.

It's not like I'm keeping stats when watching a game. Or that I think that because we have better stats we should automatically win. It's when you see players with far better athleticism and skills who throw it away on undisciplined, uninspired and unfocused play.

And it's a team effort for the most part, although I'll give Miles, Felix and Roy a pass right now becaue they are the only ones that seemingly don't screw up on a consistent basis.

And it's not like Cowboys fans are throwing around talent either. I think most experts, coaches and scouts see Dallas as one of the most talented rosters in the league.

I know it's hard for Commanders fans to give Jerry credit for having an eye for players, but the talent is there.




YR

1. Stats are not fun, they are interesting.
2. You can win the turnover battle and still lose the game. It happens.
3. Roy is going unnoticed ? By who ?

I agree about the hype theory somewhat. To me sometimes the Cowboys because of (as you say) their realized talents, expect to win with little to no effort.

Nice jab at the end. Jerry has an eye on the prize and sometimes ignores the road to victory.

Talent is talent without big wins. It takes more than talent to win games. Cowboy fans, generally, understand this, and we don't throw the talent word around too much. This is a very talented team right now.

When Parcels was here, he used to make a point of distinguishing between talent and skill. That's probably what you're seeing when you see a preoccupation with the talent level on this team.

We've done a great job assembling talent through the draft and FA. It's up to our coaches to translated that talent into skilled players. For the most part, they've done a good job of that, too, with some notable exceptions. Then it's up to the talented and skilled players to perform on Sundays. That's where we're struggling right now.

But the season is long, and we're not going to end up at 1-3. There's plenty of time yet for more big wins.

Good point about talent and skill. But we used to say he has the skill set to do yada, yada, yada... If that talent does not win games it is still potential talent. Not realized talent as Rich said, and not talent that will matter at all.

Have you ever heard the saying "you are only as good as your weakest link" ?

The weakest links are shining right now but because of the hype of "talent", many people think this team is all of a sudden going to turn it on. They could, and I expect them to be better also. So to me right now that talent is on paper, not on the field.

 

[notherbob]

Neither talent nor skill have much value if they are not accompanied by a positive attitude, determination, hard work and the motivation to do whatever it takes to win and never give up. So far this year I haven't see as much of that as I would like to from this undisciplined mob passing itself off as a team.

You play like you practice; after all, practice is preparation for play. If you practice hard, you play hard; if you practice soft, you play soft. If you practice full speed, you play full speed.

You can't be overly concerned about injuries, that'll only slow you down and sends the wrong message to the team. Football is all about asserting yourself and not cowering in fear of injuries. Coaches need to instill confidence not timidity.

Good luck on the field is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

</tired hackneyed phrases>

JMO.

Life is good, anyway.