Zone Coverage vs Eagles

[xwalker]

I keep seeing people complain about the Cowboys playing Zone coverage in the 1st game against the Eagles; however, in reviewing that game, they played a significant amount of man-coverage. The CBs were in man often.

The problems in that game were:

1. The offense only scored 10 points. I don't care how many points the Eagles had already scored, when the Cowboys offense has the ball it needs to score points.

2. The offense needs to maintain a good time of possession. In many drives they neither had a good TOP or scored points.

3. The defense got gashed by big runs. IMO, this was a bigger issue than what they gave up in the passing game.

4. Finally, the pass defense. It was not great, but it was not the primary reason for the loss.

Here are some drives where the offense failed to have a good TOP or TD. The drive with a field goal was the result of a turnover by the Eagles. The offense couldn't get a TD despite the gift by the defense:
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 3 plays, 7 yards, 1:52, Punt
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 1 play, 9 yards, 0:16, Fumble
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 4 plays, 3 yards, 2:09, Field Goal
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 6 plays, 38 yards, 1:34, Failed 4th down
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 3 plays, 7 yards, 1:29, Punt
DAL DRIVE TOTALS: 4 plays, 46 yards, 0:39, INT

 

[Sydla]

Yes but as pointed out in another thread, the Cowboys defense was getting gashed right from the start so any implication that short, failed drives led to the Eagles scoring points on a depleted/tired/gassed Dallas D is misguided.

Eagles opened with a 9 play, 80 yard, 4 minute drive and went up 7-0.

Dallas had an 11 play, 35 yard, 6 minute drive and punted.

Eagles then had a 7 play, 88 yard, 2 minute drive and scored. Now up 14-0. On that drive, we played a lot of zone.

Dallas then had a 7 play, 67 yard, 4 minute drive to make it 14-7.

Eagles got the ball and went 8 plays, 67 yards in 2 and half minutes and scored again to make it 17-7. On that drive, in a deep soft zone, Maclin slid down the sideline, was totally wide open and turned a 2nd and 19 into a 58 yard gain.

The reality is the defense sucked from the very first drive and trying to pin their issues on the offense failing is a stretch when you see that in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Eagles racked up 240+ yards in about 8-9 minutes of possession time.

 

[Cebrin]

This was a team fail. The whole team stunk. Dung rolls down hill. It starts from the top with Garrett, Linehan and Marinelli. The team played to the beat of their drum and didn't execute. Partially from error and partially from the other coaches and players having our number. This year, we seem to respond well after a loss. As indicated against Chicago. I hope they watched tape on the Seahawks game. We should be better prepared this go round and a lot healthier offensively. I just hope the defense learned from its mistakes in not keeping the edge against 2 of the fastest RB's in the game.

 

[jobberone]

Defense got dunked but the offense was putrid, too. Was there a worse game overall this year?

 

[TheFinisher]

If you have good safeties you should be playing more zone defense against that kind of scheme, but we don't.

 

[cowboys2233]

The reality is the defense sucked from the very first drive and trying to pin their issues on the offense failing is a stretch when you see that in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Eagles racked up 240+ yards in about 8-9 minutes of possession time.

Yes, this is the one detail that's still nagging at me, one that is not as easy to explain away as the offensive troubles (90% of which I put on Romo's shoulders (and by extension, his lack of recovery time. He just did not have a good game). It is going to be interesting to see how they address this small detail. LOL. If I recall, the Eagles had a number of 3rd and longs, many of which they converted. If the Cowboys are able to get them in 3rd and long, they have to stop them. You cannot let opportunities like those slip away.

 

[DandyDon1722]

I've been seeing replays all week of Eagles highlights from that game and come away just wanting to grab Wilcox and ask him, "What the hell are you biting on those inside run fakes every single time. Stay in your area and keep your damn containment!

Geesh!

 

[jobberone]

If you have good safeties you should be playing more zone defense against that kind of scheme, but we don't.

You need decent pressure to play any scheme but a bit more so zone than man. Nobody can cover forever.

 

[JohnsKey19]

I've said it before. The Cowboys must wrestle control of this game early and get into the 3rd quarter hopefully ahead or within 3 points. You have to force Sanchez to play under some game pressure. Regardless of their uptempo offense, you can their limit possessions with the strong running game and really control the game at that point. We absolutely will not win if Philly scores 14 points again before anyone can blink.

 

[Crown Royal]

the first drive there were two run plays where we got gashed for breaking contain, and because of that we bit HARD on play action that lead to simple pitch & catch on crossing routes. Remove those issues + Carr inexplicably releasing maclin, and it looks a lot different.

I personally think the defense will play a lot better this weekend, if only because I expect they will be more steadfast in their assignments.

 

[blumayne38]

I've been seeing replays all week of Eagles highlights from that game and come away just wanting to grab Wilcox and ask him, "What the hell are you biting on those inside run fakes every single time. Stay in your area and keep your damn containment!

Geesh!

if he could do that he would be a darn good safety