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Rob Ryan Pops a Cowboys Meme on the Nose, Part I
Posted by Rafael at Friday, February 18, 2011
Rob Ryan introduced himself to the press and the Cowboys faithful yesterday, and displayed the Ryan family confidence. He referred to himself as a superlative coach (I've taken the liberty of paraphrasing his colorful self-descriptions) and had higher praise for new assistants Brian Baker (defensive line) and Matt Eberflus (linebackers).
Ryan quickly cut down a meme which had metastasized in Cowboys circles, the notion that he would move nose tackle Jay Ratliff to defensive end.
I've pointed out on a couple of occasions that the Ryan system relies on a dominant player over the nose. Ratliff represents one of the best interior rushers in the game, and is a novelty not seen in close to 20 years -- a rush nose tackle. Let's take a look at some arguments given for moving Ratliff wide, and why Ryan and Bakers have resisted them.
1. Ratliff is too small, and gets worn down on double teams inside.
I find this one puzzling. Nose guards get a lot of double team work on inside runs, but the nature of run blocking in the NFL these days is to create double-teams at the point of attack. Defensive ends get double-teamed too; if a direct run or trap is going to the edge of a 3-4, the DE will find himself with two blockers in his face. Look at this series of stills from a piece I wrote on the Denver trap, a running play the Eagles used very effectively in their win over Dallas in Cowboys Stadium. Look in particular at stills 3 and 4, where Stephen Bowen is engaged by a guard and tackle.
If NFL OCs perceive you as a weakness in the run game, they'll run at you, no matter where you line up. And when they run at you, they're going to double-team you.
I did some research on NFL linemen and am convinced that Ratliff would wear down faster if he were move to the edge. I looked at every starting NFL center and every starting NFL left tackle and averaged their weights. Keep in mind that Ratliff lists at 303 lbs.
Avg. weight for NFL starting Centers -- 303 lbs.
Number of starting Cs who outweigh Ratliff by 10+ lbs. -- 4 (5 if you count Andre Gurode)
Most of the guys Ratliff faces weigh roughly the same as he does. Maybe one in ten poses a size mismatch. Look at the better centers in the league and you find Ratliff measures up well with them:
Dan Koppen -- 296 lbs.
Nick Mangold -- 305
Maurkice Pouncey -- 304
Shaun O'Hara -- 303
Matt Birk -- 310
If you look at the LTs, it's an entirely different story. Where the percentage of opposing centers who outweigh Ratliff by 10 lbs. is somewhere in the 12% range, that number balloons to near 80% when you look at left tackles. Ratliff would be butting heads for hundreds of downs with guys roughly 20 lbs. heavier than the guys he's facing right now. And he's guaranteed to see double-teams from guards or tight ends on plays to his edge. I don't see any physical benefits from this move.
2. He'll be better next to Demarcus Ware. Teams would not be able to double team him off that edge.
Ratliff already lines up next to Ware a lot when the Cowboys go to their nickel, and Ratliff lines up as a DT in a four man line, with Ware putting his hand down as the DE. It didn't produce any great benefits last season. Moreover, offensive coordinators can negate this when the Cowboys are in a 3-4 base front.
Let's go back to 2006, when Bill Parcells was the coach. Parcells ran the closest thing the NFL has to a a ''pure'' 3-4, in that he two-gapped his linemen, putting them all head-up over the C and the two OTs all the time. Parcells rarely blitzed from this package, using a four-man rush as his default. Nearly all the time, especially on 1st and 2nd downs, that rush consisted of the three-man line, and the weakside outside linebacker.
Teams became aware that Demarcus Ware was the only edge rusher who could threaten the quarterback. Greg Ellis had been solid, bagging 4.5 quarterbacks early on, but he tore his Achilles tendon in game nine. Afterwards, Al Singleton took most of the reps, with Bobby Carpenter rotating in at times. Opposing coaches would simply flop their TE to Ware's side, knowing this would make him the strong side-backer and give him drop responsibility. Teams passed a lot on first down, figuring Singleton would not hurt them. He didn't, getting one sack in his six starts.
Teams would do this again if they saw Dallas running a lot of four-man base rushes. Wade Phillips countered this by having Ware and Anthony Spencer flop with a motioning TE, so that Spencer always had strong side duties and Ware lined up weakside. If Ryan does this, motioning a TE to Ratliff's side would put Spencer next to him and Ware opposite, taking any Ware-next-to-Ratliff benefit away.
The skinny -- it's not as easy to get that dream double as you might think.
Where's the Beef?
The Ratliff to DE argument assumes that Ratliff will maintain his 5-7 sack a year totals working farther away from the quarterback. Where's the proof? He has, by my notes, played so few snaps at DE that you can count them on the fingers of one hand. Ratliff did nothing notable in those plays. DE in the 3-4 requires a different skill set from NT on pass downs.
Let's say Dallas is in a base 3-4, and Ratliff is at RDE, across from the left tackle. If the play is a pass and the call is for a four-man rush, and the
B opposite Ratliff is rushing, Rat will have to beat the LT, likely to the outside. He doesn't possess the burst and cornering speed of a Bruce Smith or a Shaun Ellis. He's a quickness and power guy. That combination works well against the 300 lb. centers, but is a tougher sell against the 325 lb. LTs, who usually have the best feet on their respective lines.
Anthony Spencer described the problems he and Demarcus Ware face trying to win around the edge when I interviewed him last year, saying that college tackles were beaten once you were one step past them but that pro tackles had superior recovery speed and could frequently negate your rush even when you gained that initial step. A scout I spoke to seconded Spencer's assessment, saying of Ratliff, ''[he] has a better chance against inside players he can out-quick. OTs are used to blocking his types.''
And that represents the risk in moving Ratliff wide. He has 20 sacks in the four seasons that he's been a starter. The Cowboys line's rush production dropped 60% last year, a subject I'll cover in more detail in part II. The goal is regaining that '09 swagger and push. It's been 25 years since an NFL nose produced the type of push Ratliff generates. Take that away, replace him with an inferior nose, put him out of his element, and you've made two positions worse.
Rob Ryan isn't taking that bet.
Next: I look at the rarity of rush NTs, and the ways Ratliff -- and his line mates -- can improve their games.
Posted by Rafael at Friday, February 18, 2011
Rob Ryan introduced himself to the press and the Cowboys faithful yesterday, and displayed the Ryan family confidence. He referred to himself as a superlative coach (I've taken the liberty of paraphrasing his colorful self-descriptions) and had higher praise for new assistants Brian Baker (defensive line) and Matt Eberflus (linebackers).
Ryan quickly cut down a meme which had metastasized in Cowboys circles, the notion that he would move nose tackle Jay Ratliff to defensive end.
I've pointed out on a couple of occasions that the Ryan system relies on a dominant player over the nose. Ratliff represents one of the best interior rushers in the game, and is a novelty not seen in close to 20 years -- a rush nose tackle. Let's take a look at some arguments given for moving Ratliff wide, and why Ryan and Bakers have resisted them.
1. Ratliff is too small, and gets worn down on double teams inside.
I find this one puzzling. Nose guards get a lot of double team work on inside runs, but the nature of run blocking in the NFL these days is to create double-teams at the point of attack. Defensive ends get double-teamed too; if a direct run or trap is going to the edge of a 3-4, the DE will find himself with two blockers in his face. Look at this series of stills from a piece I wrote on the Denver trap, a running play the Eagles used very effectively in their win over Dallas in Cowboys Stadium. Look in particular at stills 3 and 4, where Stephen Bowen is engaged by a guard and tackle.
If NFL OCs perceive you as a weakness in the run game, they'll run at you, no matter where you line up. And when they run at you, they're going to double-team you.
I did some research on NFL linemen and am convinced that Ratliff would wear down faster if he were move to the edge. I looked at every starting NFL center and every starting NFL left tackle and averaged their weights. Keep in mind that Ratliff lists at 303 lbs.
Avg. weight for NFL starting Centers -- 303 lbs.
Number of starting Cs who outweigh Ratliff by 10+ lbs. -- 4 (5 if you count Andre Gurode)
Most of the guys Ratliff faces weigh roughly the same as he does. Maybe one in ten poses a size mismatch. Look at the better centers in the league and you find Ratliff measures up well with them:
Dan Koppen -- 296 lbs.
Nick Mangold -- 305
Maurkice Pouncey -- 304
Shaun O'Hara -- 303
Matt Birk -- 310
If you look at the LTs, it's an entirely different story. Where the percentage of opposing centers who outweigh Ratliff by 10 lbs. is somewhere in the 12% range, that number balloons to near 80% when you look at left tackles. Ratliff would be butting heads for hundreds of downs with guys roughly 20 lbs. heavier than the guys he's facing right now. And he's guaranteed to see double-teams from guards or tight ends on plays to his edge. I don't see any physical benefits from this move.
2. He'll be better next to Demarcus Ware. Teams would not be able to double team him off that edge.
Ratliff already lines up next to Ware a lot when the Cowboys go to their nickel, and Ratliff lines up as a DT in a four man line, with Ware putting his hand down as the DE. It didn't produce any great benefits last season. Moreover, offensive coordinators can negate this when the Cowboys are in a 3-4 base front.
Let's go back to 2006, when Bill Parcells was the coach. Parcells ran the closest thing the NFL has to a a ''pure'' 3-4, in that he two-gapped his linemen, putting them all head-up over the C and the two OTs all the time. Parcells rarely blitzed from this package, using a four-man rush as his default. Nearly all the time, especially on 1st and 2nd downs, that rush consisted of the three-man line, and the weakside outside linebacker.
Teams became aware that Demarcus Ware was the only edge rusher who could threaten the quarterback. Greg Ellis had been solid, bagging 4.5 quarterbacks early on, but he tore his Achilles tendon in game nine. Afterwards, Al Singleton took most of the reps, with Bobby Carpenter rotating in at times. Opposing coaches would simply flop their TE to Ware's side, knowing this would make him the strong side-backer and give him drop responsibility. Teams passed a lot on first down, figuring Singleton would not hurt them. He didn't, getting one sack in his six starts.
Teams would do this again if they saw Dallas running a lot of four-man base rushes. Wade Phillips countered this by having Ware and Anthony Spencer flop with a motioning TE, so that Spencer always had strong side duties and Ware lined up weakside. If Ryan does this, motioning a TE to Ratliff's side would put Spencer next to him and Ware opposite, taking any Ware-next-to-Ratliff benefit away.
The skinny -- it's not as easy to get that dream double as you might think.
Where's the Beef?
The Ratliff to DE argument assumes that Ratliff will maintain his 5-7 sack a year totals working farther away from the quarterback. Where's the proof? He has, by my notes, played so few snaps at DE that you can count them on the fingers of one hand. Ratliff did nothing notable in those plays. DE in the 3-4 requires a different skill set from NT on pass downs.
Let's say Dallas is in a base 3-4, and Ratliff is at RDE, across from the left tackle. If the play is a pass and the call is for a four-man rush, and the
B opposite Ratliff is rushing, Rat will have to beat the LT, likely to the outside. He doesn't possess the burst and cornering speed of a Bruce Smith or a Shaun Ellis. He's a quickness and power guy. That combination works well against the 300 lb. centers, but is a tougher sell against the 325 lb. LTs, who usually have the best feet on their respective lines.Anthony Spencer described the problems he and Demarcus Ware face trying to win around the edge when I interviewed him last year, saying that college tackles were beaten once you were one step past them but that pro tackles had superior recovery speed and could frequently negate your rush even when you gained that initial step. A scout I spoke to seconded Spencer's assessment, saying of Ratliff, ''[he] has a better chance against inside players he can out-quick. OTs are used to blocking his types.''
And that represents the risk in moving Ratliff wide. He has 20 sacks in the four seasons that he's been a starter. The Cowboys line's rush production dropped 60% last year, a subject I'll cover in more detail in part II. The goal is regaining that '09 swagger and push. It's been 25 years since an NFL nose produced the type of push Ratliff generates. Take that away, replace him with an inferior nose, put him out of his element, and you've made two positions worse.
Rob Ryan isn't taking that bet.
Next: I look at the rarity of rush NTs, and the ways Ratliff -- and his line mates -- can improve their games.
