Sports Illustrated: One play changed course of Cowboys, brought 'poetry' to Dallas

[Irving Cowboy]

Sports Illustrated: One play changed course of Cowboys, brought 'poetry' to Dallas
SportsDayDFW.com
Published: 13 November 2014 08:42 PM
Updated: 13 November 2014 08:45 PM

The Dallas Cowboys' offensive line has been one of the most-talked about
units in the NFL, paving the way for running back DeMarco Murray as he
flirts with team and league records.

In a recent profile of how the group came together, Sports Illustrated
examined a single play in 2010 that kicked things off for the Cowboys'
resurgent 2014 season:

When Michael Boley broke Tony Romo's left clavicle on Oct. 25 in Arlington
during a 41-35 loss to the Giants. Romo missed the rest of the season, his
injury confirming that the Cowboys needed some serious help protecting their
signal-caller.

"We just said, 'Hey, we've got to start the process,'" Cowboys chief
operating officer Stephen Jones told the magazine.

What followed was a look at how Dallas assembled its current starting
offensive line, which featured four new faces since the 2010 season.
Incumbent Doug Free was moved to right tackle, as Tyron Smith, Travis
Frederick, Ronald Leary and Zack Martin all joined via draft or, in Leary's
case, a free-agent contract when he went undrafted.

That article offers brief vignette's into each lineman's arrival with the
Cowboys.

Offensive coordinator Bill Callahan said Smith was "the hardest-working
lineman I've ever been around" as the Cowboys scooped him up over a few
other touted NFL prospects in the 2011 draft. Leary spoke about going
undrafted and letting that fuel him as the Cowboys outbid several other
teams for his services.

Frederick, selected in the first round of the 2012 draft, is described as
the a brilliant player with all the essential traits as center. And Martin,
who looks like he won't be remembered as the guy the Cowboys took instead of
Johnny Manziel, "didn't look like a rookie for one second of any day," head
coach Jason Garrett said.

Free is described as "the general" by Garrett, though he has missed the past
month with a broken foot. Jermey Parnell has taken over in the meantime.

"They probably love running the ball more than I do," said Murray, who is
the NFL's leading rusher with 1,233 yards.

Murray, in his fifth year out of Oklahoma, eclipsed his season total from
2011 (1,121) after eight games this year.

"It's poetry, man," Murray said.

 

[Midswat]

I just got that in the mail yesterday so I haven't read it. But I have a hard time understanding how a front office Who was largely in place during our dynasty years in the early 1990s under estimated the importance of a quality offensive line. You mean to tell me it took Romo getting killed to realize offense of line was important?

 

[ZeroClub]

I don't know what the front office was thinking at any given point in time, but for a while there it sure seemed like the front office believed that they could acquire a bunch of mediocre linemen, put them in an open competition, and then a quality OL would magically emerge.

That plan didn't work.

 

[Midswat]

Well I guess that makes sense, since back in the day Tony wise did take a bunch of journeyman and cast offs and make them elite.

 

[VTA]

I don't know what the front office was thinking at any given point in time, but for a while there it sure seemed like the front office believed that they could acquire a bunch of mediocre linemen, put them in an open competition, and then a quality OL would magically emerge.

That plan didn't work.

Jerry, for all his business acumen is a football follower and a single minded dupe. He though he could mimic the Rams success by dragging in Joey Galloway, just like he thought he could mimic the mobile QB idea by drafting a loser like Carter. I don’t know what the hell prompted the Chad Hutchinson mess, maybe another baseball player-turned-football inspired that move?

All the while thinking the trenches and special teams positions are simply plug-and-play.

 

[bbgun]

IIRC, the broken clavicle was more the fault of the fullback (Gronkowski)

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Exactly what I was going to say, bb. Romo got planted on that play because our undrafted rookie fullback/h-back blew an assignment, not because some bad O-lineman got beat.

Also, funny how this article didn't mention the Arkin-Livings-Bernadeau-Costa crew that was supposed to be so much better than that 2010 line. Guess they realized they had to get the OC a bunch of first rounders before he could make a decent OL.

 

[Doomsday]

"It was all a plan."

This reads like a WW2 propaganda piece.

 

[Omegasupreme]

Exactly what I was going to say, bb. Romo got planted on that play because our undrafted rookie fullback/h-back blew an assignment, not because some bad O-lineman got beat.

Also, funny how this article didn't mention the Arkin-Livings-Bernadeau-Costa crew that was supposed to be so much better than that 2010 line. Guess they realized they had to get the OC a bunch of first rounders before he could make a decent OL.

But logic also says that if your O-line is so weak, why are you depending on them so much with seven step dropbacks and distance patterns. I would think that a weak line would put your QB at risk every time you tried a play that required extended blocking. Last night in the Bills and Dolphins game the commentators praised both offenses by saying that each of them were handling the impending blitzes and pressure well by quick passes to the flats and especially getting the ball out quickly (not holding on to it). I would think that in order to prevent your weak O-line from getting overrun and your QB (who has quick release and excellent defensive scheme reads) from getting destroyed, that you would turn your passes into high percentage routes and your run game (which can function as formidable even at 3.5 ypc) into more of a constant battering of the defense. Also in the Bills Dolphins game there was mention that in order to truly pass for distance, the TE would need to stay in. In my mind that is one of the most indicting flaws of the Garrett system of having a player like Witten on the team and making him stay in to block just to prove that the team can throw distance routes.

Watching Dez in the Jacksonville game take a crossing pattern and punish the Jags all the way to the endzone; and watching TWilly disappear as a WR but become a downfield powerblocker both just solidifies for me how much this team needs a WCO philosophy of "getting the ball quickly into the hands of the skill position players and let them run". In a way Miles Austin was a perfect WCO WR because he was so strong in his legs, was powerful in traffic and could outrun the secondary once he broke through. But watching Dez move through an otherwise empty middle of the field always points to how stupid the Garrett scheme is: not using the immediate abilities of the large WRs and TEs in the first ten yards to preserve the QB and move the chains is irresponsible.

This team has been beaten down and pummeled more by the ignorance of a naive coach than any combinations of any defenses in the league.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I'm really not that impressed with the Oline. They were confused as hell against the Redskins. Bad coaching or not, you have to be able to spot that stuff.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Dead on, Omega.

I've asked before... But so when you think your OL isn't very good, you can't possibly even *try* to run the ball, but you can put your $100 million QB at risk 50 times a game? How much sense does that make?

And I've always thought the WCO would be great for Tony. In fact some of those bootlegs and rollouts Linehan has put in this year are WCO-like, at least in that way. Too bad Garrett always dropped Tony straight back every time like he was Troy Aikman.