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How Cowboys' 3-4 D differs (slightly) under Paul Pasqualoni
08:40 PM CST on Thursday, November 18, 2010
Column by TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
tarcher@dallasnews.com
Column by TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News | tarcher@dallasnews.com
Todd Archer
Archive | E-mail
IRVING – The hours have not changed for Paul Pasqualoni.
He is at Valley Ranch before the sun comes up most days and leaves after it goes down, but that's the life of just about every NFL coach. For the last two weeks Pasqualoni has added defensive coordinator to his defensive line coach tag following Wade Phillips' dismissal.
"Everything is the same," Pasqualoni said. "My responsibilities are greater, but there are only a certain amount of hours in the day."
If he could squeeze in three or more a day he would like it, but he is not overhauling what the Cowboys did under Phillips. It is still the same system Phillips built and tweaked over 30 years of coaching.
"It's a good system," Pasqualoni said. "It's an excellent system. The kids on this team know the system very, very well, and we're just trying to push forward and use what we have."
Pasqualoni has put different toppings on Phillips' scheme.
Under Phillips, the Cowboys brought more pressure, leaving their secondary exposed to bigger plays. DeMarcus Ware said Pasqualoni called about three blitzes against the New York Giants last week. Phillips had his corners play mostly man-to-man. Pasqualoni chose to play more zone coverage.
"In this league, you want to present as many looks as you possibly can for a quarterback," Pasaqualoni said. "You'd like for the quarterback to try to make some decisions after the ball is snapped, so we're trying to do that. We've always tried to do that, and we'll continue to work on that. Now, it's hard to do. You can't always do it."
He only needs to look at the Giants' performance to know that. He understands it was not close to perfect. Too many yards (480). Too many first downs (25). Too many third-down conversions (40 percent). Too many pass plays of 20 or more yards (six).
But there were good things. The Giants ran for 93 yards less than they did at Cowboys Stadium when they trampled Dallas for 200 yards last month. The Cowboys created three turnovers, including a 101-yard interception return for a touchdown by Bryan McCann. They limited New York to just one score in four red-zone trips after allowing points on 13 of the previous 15 possessions inside their 20.
Detroit, Sunday's foe, poses a different threat because of a lack of familiarity.
The Lions do not have New York's power running game, gaining only 81.1 yards a game on the ground. They do have the NFL's seventh-ranked passing game even with starter Matthew Stafford out most of the season. Five players have at least 30 receptions led by Calvin Johnson's 49 for 679 yards and nine touchdowns.
"It's week to week with us," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "It depends on the opponent, what their strengths are, what our weaknesses are defensively and trying to eliminate the opposing offense exposing our weaknesses."
If they can do that successfully again Sunday, then the scenes from Sunday when Jay Ratliff put Pasqualoni in a huge hug on the field and Terence Newman walked up the tunnel with him arm in arm will be repeated.
"I think competitive people like to prepare," Pasqualoni said. "We like to think we're trying to get these players on the team to be as prepared as possible, trying to leave no stone unturned. Every competitor wants to play well, and everybody wants to win. I think the guys responded to that."
• • •
08:40 PM CST on Thursday, November 18, 2010
Column by TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
tarcher@dallasnews.com
Column by TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News | tarcher@dallasnews.com
Todd Archer
Archive | E-mail
IRVING – The hours have not changed for Paul Pasqualoni.
He is at Valley Ranch before the sun comes up most days and leaves after it goes down, but that's the life of just about every NFL coach. For the last two weeks Pasqualoni has added defensive coordinator to his defensive line coach tag following Wade Phillips' dismissal.
"Everything is the same," Pasqualoni said. "My responsibilities are greater, but there are only a certain amount of hours in the day."
If he could squeeze in three or more a day he would like it, but he is not overhauling what the Cowboys did under Phillips. It is still the same system Phillips built and tweaked over 30 years of coaching.
"It's a good system," Pasqualoni said. "It's an excellent system. The kids on this team know the system very, very well, and we're just trying to push forward and use what we have."
Pasqualoni has put different toppings on Phillips' scheme.
Under Phillips, the Cowboys brought more pressure, leaving their secondary exposed to bigger plays. DeMarcus Ware said Pasqualoni called about three blitzes against the New York Giants last week. Phillips had his corners play mostly man-to-man. Pasqualoni chose to play more zone coverage.
"In this league, you want to present as many looks as you possibly can for a quarterback," Pasaqualoni said. "You'd like for the quarterback to try to make some decisions after the ball is snapped, so we're trying to do that. We've always tried to do that, and we'll continue to work on that. Now, it's hard to do. You can't always do it."
He only needs to look at the Giants' performance to know that. He understands it was not close to perfect. Too many yards (480). Too many first downs (25). Too many third-down conversions (40 percent). Too many pass plays of 20 or more yards (six).
But there were good things. The Giants ran for 93 yards less than they did at Cowboys Stadium when they trampled Dallas for 200 yards last month. The Cowboys created three turnovers, including a 101-yard interception return for a touchdown by Bryan McCann. They limited New York to just one score in four red-zone trips after allowing points on 13 of the previous 15 possessions inside their 20.
Detroit, Sunday's foe, poses a different threat because of a lack of familiarity.
The Lions do not have New York's power running game, gaining only 81.1 yards a game on the ground. They do have the NFL's seventh-ranked passing game even with starter Matthew Stafford out most of the season. Five players have at least 30 receptions led by Calvin Johnson's 49 for 679 yards and nine touchdowns.
"It's week to week with us," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "It depends on the opponent, what their strengths are, what our weaknesses are defensively and trying to eliminate the opposing offense exposing our weaknesses."
If they can do that successfully again Sunday, then the scenes from Sunday when Jay Ratliff put Pasqualoni in a huge hug on the field and Terence Newman walked up the tunnel with him arm in arm will be repeated.
"I think competitive people like to prepare," Pasqualoni said. "We like to think we're trying to get these players on the team to be as prepared as possible, trying to leave no stone unturned. Every competitor wants to play well, and everybody wants to win. I think the guys responded to that."
• • •