Grading the Cowboys: Offense gets worst grade; coaching too careful

[bbgun]

Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket host Bob Sturm grades the Dallas Cowboys in their win over the Minnesota Vikings:

OFFENSE

D+

There was no chance that the Cowboys were going to play 3 months without a poor offensive effort, but this was the season low for points, yards, and 3rd down conversions. They also tied their season high for giveaways and just did not look right all night long. They also had opportunities to ice the game away on two occasions but did not shove a sword into the Vikings chest. We must recognize that the Vikings have the best defense the Cowboys have played all year, so I recommend nobody over-reacts, but this offense now must face the reality that they were severely slowed down by a championship-caliber defense.

DEFENSE

C-

The defense played reasonably well given the situation as they were actually not protected at all on Thursday night. We must also adjust their performance because of the foe they faced that has not demonstrated any level of success as a unit all season long and certainly had the Cowboys scrambling. Too many 3rd down conversions and longer pass plays were completed and while they did get 3 sacks, they needed blitzes to do that. The grade may have been better had they not caved in on the Vikings final touchdown drive. A fortuitous no-call on the 2-point conversion saved their bacon.

COACHING

B

This is also a mixed bag. There is no doubt that the coaching star of the night was whoever requested the Cowboys challenge the fumbled punt return when Thielen fumbled and Kyle Wilber made his signature play as a Cowboys in the recovery. This was the first successful challenge of 2016 for Jason Garrett and he turned the game with that decision. However, much of the night felt like a cautious Cowboys approach that resulted in a very nervy performance. Also, timeout use before halftime felt equally careful.

OVERALL

B

This is a good time to review a mantra I have followed in covering the NFL for a couple decades now - there are simply no apologies for wins. Especially when playing on the road against teams in the playoff hunt who have Top 3 defenses. The Cowboys did not look like themselves, but lesser teams would have lost this game. They displayed guts, resolve, and perseverance to get this W. The team found an escape route to victory and they don't need to apologize to anyone to leave on an airplane with an 11-1 record and to continue a winning streak that now spans 74 days.

 

[Doomsday]

cautious Cowboys approach

Yep we were playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.

 

[dbair1967]

Yep we were playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.

Playing conservatively on the road against a team that cant score and has a bad offensive line is not a really bad idea. Particularly when said teams feasts off turnovers.

The problem is playing that way combined with making too many mistakes (fumbles lost or nearly lost, the killer fumbled snap on 3rd and 1 etc etc) keeps games closer than they should be.

 

[Doomsday]

Playing conservatively on the road

Trying stupid shit like the end around to Whiteshit isn't conservative, it's getting cute.

Conservatively would have been fine with me - pound the ball, mash 'em up front. We got away from that when our cuteness backfired.

 

[JBond]

It felt like Romo plays. Different dudes.

 

[Doomsday]

It felt like Romo plays. Different dudes.

Yep my biggest fear is they're trying to turn Dak into Romo.

 

[dbair1967]

Trying stupid shit like the end around to Whiteshit isn't conservative, it's getting cute.

Its a play that's worked all year. I'm not sure if its been stopped once. He's averaging nearly 11.0 yds per carry on this play. Last night the played worked for the first down, but Whitehead messed it by fumbling.

Conservatively would have been fine with me - pound the ball, mash 'em up front. We got away from that when our cuteness backfired.

28 rush attempts, 21 pass attempts.

 

[dbair1967]

It felt like Romo plays. Different dudes.

Explain please.

 

[cmd34]

Explain please

I'll help you out.

Romo nailed his wife. His wife constantly throws it in his face. He hates Romo.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

This is hard to imagine I know, but maybe it's just that they actually have a very good defense.

I know people are conditioned to our scoring every other drive, but who you're playing matters.

 

[theoneandonly]

Last night the O Line didnt dominate. Yes the refs had a hand in it but Minny dominated time of posession, ran way more plays than than the Cowboys. Free needs to become either your swing tackle or somebody else's problem. Free had his pants pulled down way too many times last night. I dont know what they are going to do about a blocking TE, Escobar couldnt block me. That being said they are about to see NY and TB next two weeks. Both have good D Lines. I will be interested to see what Linehan does going forward to cover up this weakness.

 

[Omegasupreme]

Trying stupid shit like the end around to Whiteshit isn't conservative, it's getting cute.

Conservatively would have been fine with me - pound the ball, mash 'em up front. We got away from that when our cuteness backfired.

This is exactly right. I would have welcomed conservative. But this was bizarre. Zeke runs for 11 yards on the first play and instead of running again or, as this offense is intended, feign the same play and use play action to give the WRs separation, the offense goes to 5 Wide. This is completely Garrett's theory and the Viking defense loved it. Zeke was essentially punished for running so well and he didn't really get anything until later. Garrett calls it "balanced" but it made no sense and put the offense and the QB at risk.

Then instead of finding ways of running the ball for manageable 3rd downs, the Cowboys offense started attempting these long developing routes, that are not Linehan at all. This was a game from 2012. It got so bad that at one point the offense was max protect, with no running back and only two WRs (really only 1.5 bc it was Dez and TWilly) apparently attempting to force a nonexistent pass first offense. Where was the quick passes, the misdirection? Where was the adjustment to give Dak faster options?
This offense is supposed to build on successes. But for every success the offense would revert to a very flawed passing game that the Vikings were killing.
In 2016, game should have been 34-17 Dallas but this looked as confused as illogical as 2012.

I feel like Garrett is resisting the truth that the offense is a very powerful running system because of the talent of the roster. He says "balanced" but what he means is "we will pass despite the success of the run game."

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

This is exactly right. I would have welcomed conservative. But this was bizarre. Zeke runs for 11 yards on the first play and instead of running again or, as this offense is intended, feign the same play and use play action to give the WRs separation, the offense goes to 5 Wide. This is completely Garrett's theory and the Viking defense loved it. Zeke was essentially punished for running so well and he didn't really get anything until later. Garrett calls it "balanced" but it made no sense and put the offense and the QB at risk.

Then instead of finding ways of running the ball for manageable 3rd downs, the Cowboys offense started attempting these long developing routes, that are not Linehan at all. This was a game from 2012. It got so bad that at one point the offense was max protect, with no running back and only two WRs (really only 1.5 bc it was Dez and TWilly) apparently attempting to force a nonexistent pass first offense. Where was the quick passes, the misdirection? Where was the adjustment to give Dak faster options?
This offense is supposed to build on successes. But for every success the offense would revert to a very flawed passing game that the Vikings were killing.
In 2016, game should have been 34-17 Dallas but this looked as confused as illogical as 2012.

I feel like Garrett is resisting the truth that the offense is a very powerful running system because of the talent of the roster. He says "balanced" but what he means is "we will pass despite the success of the run game."

This is the problem with the popularity with the Cowboys. When they are featured on national television, and the nation is locked onto them... this is when Garrett wants to meddle. That 5-wide is vintage Garrett.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

The 5 wide is a great blitz beater because it takes defenders away from the LOS. It's the design of those routes which is the problem.

That attempted screen to T Willy was just an abomination of lazy playcalling. That play had no chance of success because T Willy isn't a guy who can change directions very well. Had no guys near him to set blocks for him either. T Willy needs a running start.

What happened to putting Dez and T Willy in front of the Bease and letting him go to work??

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Its a play that's worked all year. I'm not sure if its been stopped once. He's averaging nearly 11.0 yds per carry on this play. Last night the played worked for the first down, but Whitehead messed it by fumbling.



28 rush attempts, 21 pass attempts.

I'd say that our O was trying to be too balanced. Run on 1st down, then pass on 2nd.

 

[dbair1967]

I'd say that our O was trying to be too balanced. Run on 1st down, then pass on 2nd.

Maybe, although they were playing the Vikes and I'm sure there had to be some line of thinking of "just don't GIVE them points with some bad ints or sack fumbles etc etc". I bet they went into the game thinking 20 pts from us would be plenty to win the game.

 

[Omegasupreme]

The 5 wide is a great blitz beater because it takes defenders away from the LOS. It's the design of those routes which is the problem.

That attempted screen to T Willy was just an abomination of lazy playcalling. That play had no chance of success because T Willy isn't a guy who can change directions very well. Had no guys near him to set blocks for him either. T Willy needs a running start.

What happened to putting Dez and T Willy in front of the Bease and letting him go to work??

I agree that the 5 wide is a great blitz beater but this was play number 2 of the game after and 11 yard rush. Not exactly blitz time and Dallas sent the personnel for the 5 wide instead of adjusting to a blitz WITH the 5 wide. But there are two problems: the routes are not all designed effectively (as Bob said) but you need speed right off the LOS and this corp of recovers is more like Walsh's Niners than they are Warners Rams.

 

[Dodger12]

This is exactly right. I would have welcomed conservative. But this was bizarre. Zeke runs for 11 yards on the first play and instead of running again or, as this offense is intended, feign the same play and use play action to give the WRs separation, the offense goes to 5 Wide. This is completely Garrett's theory and the Viking defense loved it. Zeke was essentially punished for running so well and he didn't really get anything until later. Garrett calls it "balanced" but it made no sense and put the offense and the QB at risk.

Nice post. I've mentioned this before but it drives me crazy. After the first run for 11 yards they went shotgun which completely negates play action and the benefit of having the #1 rushing attack. Maybe it's because Dak isn't comfortable under center but they've done this with Romo as well. I really feel like teams know when we're going to run and when we're going to pass which makes what Zek has done even more impressive.

But yeah that game was a stinker. I'll take the win but I kept thinking during the game that we're going to face some good defenses in the playoffs and they won't have Bradford or an inept offense. We can't count on this D to hold opponents and win the game. On the flip side, we won a game that we've been known to lose in the past. I also felt some questionable calls from the refs which negated some big gains changed the flow and momentum of the game.

I keep waiting to see a team that can go into the playoffs and make a run. We've seen flashes but it's always "next week we'll see what they're made of." The Giants are more balanced than Minny with a good D and an offense and QB that have some weapons. I just get this feeling, even after a great regular season this far, that D coordinators are going to figure us out and bring us back to earth.

 

[Scot]

Yep my biggest fear is they're trying to turn Dak into Romo.

I hope in the off season once Romo is gone for good that they totally revamp the playbook, remove every single "Romo play" and rewrite that motherfucker and turn this into Dak's offense

 

[yimyammer]

I just get this feeling, even after a great regular season this far, that D coordinators are going to figure us out and bring us back to earth.

mine too, I fear an 07' Giants redo. I wish someone could get a nice clean hit on Eli and knock the shit out of him but he never seems to get hit too hard, slippery MFer