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Posted by Rafael at Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Yesterday, I started a series on the Cowboys running plays with a demonstration of an outside zone run. The Cowboys have several zone runs, the press strong-side outside zone, the slant, a weak-side outside zone, the belly inside zone, toss plays and the bend plays, which are mis-direction plays with zone blocking.
I'll get through the rest of the zone plays later this week, but I wanted to jump to the counter series of plays, to show a broken play that looks even worse on review.
The counter plays are mis-direction plays with man blocking. They hint at a run in one direction, but send the action the other way. As their name states, the plays runs counter to the initial feint, which is intended to lure the linebackers into false steps and give the blockers better angles on them.
Dallas runs a variety of counters, but the best known is simply called power. It's a strong-side counter, where Dallas lines up in either a straight I or in a jack formation, with the fullback offset on the tight end's side. The back takes a jab step away from the call, then runs behind the fullback and the pulling weak-side guard. This is the play the Cowboys ran over and over again for Emmitt Smith on their decisive touchdown drive in the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl 28.
It's another bread-and-butter Cowboys run, and on Sunday, Tashard Choice bungled it so badly he never re-entered the game.
The situation: 1st-and-10 near mid-field. DeMarco Murray has just ripped off a long run to give the Cowboys momentum on their initial 2nd half drive. Dallas has called two effective runs and wants to build rhythm. On the next play Jason Garrett puts his heavy 22 set on the field, with Tony Fiammetta the fullback, Choice the halfback and Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett the tight ends.
The formation is very strong left, with both TEs flanking LT Doug Free and the backs in a straight I:
The call is power left. The tight ends block down on the Rams right end and outside linebacker, Fiammetta angles left and right guard Kyle Kosier pulls left. He and Fiammetta are going to lead Tashard Choice around the left end, if Witten, Bennett and Free can seal the perimeter:
Somebody forgot to give Tashard Choice the memo. Or perhaps he didn't read it; on power left, the back is supposed to take an initial step right and then follow the guard and fullback. As you can see in the second still, he's made a feint to the left instead.
Tony Romo manages to execute a smooth handoff to his confused running back, who takes one step and then tries to correct his path:
Choice's mis-steps have put him on the wrong side of the play, and he's too far behind his interference to break the play outside for positive yardage. He's instead run down from the back side by Rams safety Quintin Mikell. What's worse, Choice fumbled the ball away, giving the Rams a chance to climb back into a 17-7 game.
Fumbling is a cardinal sin for a running back. Fumbling on a play where you ran the wrong way? That's a recipe for benching, and Choice did not return to the game after this play.
Coaches preach the need to know what they have, to know that the players they put on the field will carry out their assignments correctly. When a fourth year veteran is this far adrift on a play that was probably installed on the very first day of his very first mini-camp, what can you say? Can Jason Garrett and Skip Peete count on him? Should they?
Yesterday, I started a series on the Cowboys running plays with a demonstration of an outside zone run. The Cowboys have several zone runs, the press strong-side outside zone, the slant, a weak-side outside zone, the belly inside zone, toss plays and the bend plays, which are mis-direction plays with zone blocking.
I'll get through the rest of the zone plays later this week, but I wanted to jump to the counter series of plays, to show a broken play that looks even worse on review.
The counter plays are mis-direction plays with man blocking. They hint at a run in one direction, but send the action the other way. As their name states, the plays runs counter to the initial feint, which is intended to lure the linebackers into false steps and give the blockers better angles on them.
Dallas runs a variety of counters, but the best known is simply called power. It's a strong-side counter, where Dallas lines up in either a straight I or in a jack formation, with the fullback offset on the tight end's side. The back takes a jab step away from the call, then runs behind the fullback and the pulling weak-side guard. This is the play the Cowboys ran over and over again for Emmitt Smith on their decisive touchdown drive in the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl 28.
It's another bread-and-butter Cowboys run, and on Sunday, Tashard Choice bungled it so badly he never re-entered the game.
The situation: 1st-and-10 near mid-field. DeMarco Murray has just ripped off a long run to give the Cowboys momentum on their initial 2nd half drive. Dallas has called two effective runs and wants to build rhythm. On the next play Jason Garrett puts his heavy 22 set on the field, with Tony Fiammetta the fullback, Choice the halfback and Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett the tight ends.
The formation is very strong left, with both TEs flanking LT Doug Free and the backs in a straight I:
The call is power left. The tight ends block down on the Rams right end and outside linebacker, Fiammetta angles left and right guard Kyle Kosier pulls left. He and Fiammetta are going to lead Tashard Choice around the left end, if Witten, Bennett and Free can seal the perimeter:
Somebody forgot to give Tashard Choice the memo. Or perhaps he didn't read it; on power left, the back is supposed to take an initial step right and then follow the guard and fullback. As you can see in the second still, he's made a feint to the left instead.
Tony Romo manages to execute a smooth handoff to his confused running back, who takes one step and then tries to correct his path:
Choice's mis-steps have put him on the wrong side of the play, and he's too far behind his interference to break the play outside for positive yardage. He's instead run down from the back side by Rams safety Quintin Mikell. What's worse, Choice fumbled the ball away, giving the Rams a chance to climb back into a 17-7 game.
Fumbling is a cardinal sin for a running back. Fumbling on a play where you ran the wrong way? That's a recipe for benching, and Choice did not return to the game after this play.
Coaches preach the need to know what they have, to know that the players they put on the field will carry out their assignments correctly. When a fourth year veteran is this far adrift on a play that was probably installed on the very first day of his very first mini-camp, what can you say? Can Jason Garrett and Skip Peete count on him? Should they?
