BlueHeffner
Veteran
Fish is speculating DQ to the Broncos
Hard Knocks Life Vol. 3-Will the Defense be up to Par(sons)- ‘21 Cowboys Season Thread
- Thread starter BlueHeffner
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BigE214
Future GOAT
I’m at Ascension Coffee with Zeke momma’s hair dresser lol
She say she’s gonna get me tickets
She say she’s gonna get me tickets
He's been saying that for 2 months now.
My boy is a die hard Broncos fan.
He think Denver hires Green Bay’s OC because they want Rodgers.
backup plan is DQ and try to hire Shanahan’s OC from the 49ers and give him an assistant head coach title.
He think Denver hires Green Bay’s OC because they want Rodgers.
backup plan is DQ and try to hire Shanahan’s OC from the 49ers and give him an assistant head coach title.
duckbutta
eienaar van mans
Been preaching this for a few years now. I say that as I loved Zeke coming out of college but that pick should have been Ramsey. Oh well.
As much as I have been shytting on Zeke, he was probably the right move at 4. Remember, Zeke was drafted for Romo, not Dak. We were trying to recreate the Demarcco Murray offense. It just turned out Romo got hurt and Dak got the job. Had we known Dak was the qb going in the we probably don't take a running back at 4. And Zeke absolutely carried the offense his rookie year. If Rodgers doesn't make an all time throw we go to the NFC championship game that year.
Also...have you seen Ramsey play? He gives up his fair share of touchdowns as well.
The REAL killers for us are drafting Taco, All Lives Backer, and Cleared Eyed View...2 are out the league now and LVE not going to be nothing but a league minimum player for another year or to.
Spade
Superstar
I am mostly always against taking a running back high in the draft. Especially inside the top 10. I don't think the position equals the value and even the Giants are seeing that with Saquon now. A top 5 pick needs to be a player that will contribute solidly for at least a decade. You're not getting that with running backs nowadays. You will get that with corners though. I understand why they took Zeke but I just think the smarter pick was taking Ramsey and drafting Henry in the 2nd. Taking Henry there and we wouldn't have wasted our time with Jaylon. That's me though.
Also does even the best corners get beat time to time? Yes. But could you imagine Ramsey and Byron Jones in 2018 or Ramsey and Diggs now?
duckbutta
eienaar van mans
I agree, you should not be taking a running back with that high of a pick. But at least for his rookie year he was worth it. I do not think we go 13 - 3 that year if we take Ramsey over Zeke. An d the team has changed so much, and Zeke has changed so much, that it would be hard to predict he would be the back he is now. But yeah we would be a much better team now if we had Ramsey and Diggs and replaced Zeke with literally anybody.
Sturm's new article: Cowboys offense reveals tactical wrinkles as they head to the playoffs: Decoding Kellen Moore
The regular season has been completed. There is very little that the Cowboys can now say about this 2021 season that they haven’t had every opportunity to say. Narratives have been written and opinions have been heard. But the only thing that can change where they have been stuck for years upon years will happen in the days and (possibly) weeks to come.
This is a very good offense. Is it the best offense? Probably not, but there are very few teams that are more dangerous with the ball than the Cowboys. They have nearly all of their pieces left, which almost every other playoff team cannot say. What is even better, the piece they lost (WR Michael Gallup) appears to have an understudy (Cedrick Wilson) who is incredibly capable at the moment.
We are quick to admit there is very little that can be learned from a mauling of the Eagles practice-squad defenders, so we will spend more time today on a larger macro-level view of this season and turn our attention to the task on Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers. Now, we can look at the league rankings for the first two years of the Mike McCarthy/Kellen Moore partnership. If you are a reader of this series, you don’t need to be reminded that the injuries explain much of 2020, but the 2021 offense is top 11 in every single offensive “important metric” that we consistently track.
The offense is very good and at its best can be lethal. It hopes it can capture that from here on in.
We can assure you that playoff games are often filled with two things: Defenses that put up a fight and extra emphasis on the conversion rates on third down and in the red zone.
If you want to travel far in this tournament, you have to move the chains and end drives in touchdowns. To do so, you have to fool some of the best defensive minds and personnel that you have faced all season.
We should already know this, but it is worth pointing out that San Francisco is a very strong team that has top-10 stats in many of the most important defensive stats. And, as you might expect, the 49ers are bad at none of them. Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and the 49ers will be well prepared and a very worthy adversary on Sunday.
While there is little value in diving too deeply into the Eagles performance, we should offer a few items for thought as to what we have liked recently from the tactical department that should be a concern for anyone playing Dallas. The Cowboys have shown three things that I wanted to highlight down the stretch and then show you examples in our film study.
1. Using Connor McGovern as FB to find big pass plays
1Q – 3:34 – 1st and 10 – DAL 44 – D.Prescott pass deep left to A.Cooper pushed ob at PHI 29 for 27 yards (K.Wallace).
Several elements to the offense have been emphasized down the stretch and for me, the best way to open things up when Dallas is having a hard time finding plays down the field is to pass the ball out of running formations and in running downs. First-and-10 is the most ideal situation for that and with Connor McGovern (66) in front of Ezekiel Elliott and with seldom targeted TE Jeremy Sprinkle (87) up on the line, you are screaming to them that this is a run-heavy posture and you better get ready for a hard power run right at you. The play-action throws the Eagles coverage out of shape, but it looks like they are playing Quarters. Regardless, the Cowboys have CeeDee Lamb on a post and Amari Cooper on an over-route behind it, which we call the Yankee concept. Lamb clears out the defenders and Cooper is behind everyone and a solid recovery is needed by K’Von Wallace (42) to make sure it doesn’t do even more damage. Great use of the run bluff and fake to open up a nice play down the field.
2. Hard counts and free plays
We really love this because it has been an Aaron Rodgers cheat code for a decade with Mike McCarthy. The irony here is that Rodgers can seldom pull it off anymore because teams have basically taught courses on not falling for it when you play Green Bay. The beauty is that in McCarthy’s new location, he can reset the process because teams have not really seen Dak Prescott do this — until this month. Twice in the Washington game and now twice more in the Eagles game, we have seen this exact thing where Dallas gets the most precious gift you can receive on offense — the right to make a very aggressive throw into the teeth of the defense with none of the normal ramifications of danger that are normally present. A free play should always result in a big play attempt and now Dallas is hitting on them. It has run “four verticals” each time it has caught a defense, which is certainly no coincidence and part of the teaching of the concept (despite the fact that I only have just caught on to these route concepts being paired with it as an improvisational adjustment). Twice on Sunday.
2Q – 2:00 – 2nd and 3 – PHI 28 – D.Prescott pass deep right to A.Cooper pushed ob at PHI 2 for 26 yards (A.Chachere). Penalty on PHI-Ta.Jackson, Defensive Offside, declined.
They catch Tarron Jackson (75) leaning over the line and they got him. Fascinating that the Cowboys actually pair the tactic of four verts with cadence with a particular play, but we keep seeing it. When it works, Prescott is ready to let it rip and he goes outside to Cooper here and puts the pass right on the money. Great job in finding the free play and now they are making teams pay big.
This leads to the next idea just two snaps later …
3. Rub routes in the red zone!
2Q – 1:48 – 2nd and Goal – PHI 2 – D.Prescott pass short right to D.Schultz for 2 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This one is probably not a completely new concept in the Dallas playbook, but it was on display Saturday night and I can’t tell you how many of you guys immediately tweeted me. Inside the 5-yard line, most everyone has to play man coverage, so it is a matter of a quick moment where you can create an opening and then the confidence that you can uncover. Look at them motion Cooper (19) to the side of Dalton Schultz (86). This shows who gets shifted in coverage down to Schultz and then Cooper just runs a very short slant/stop right in the path of Wallace (42) and now a decent throw to the pylon is a pitch and catch. Touchdown and it was not even difficult. You can also see this has a run paired with it, so Prescott can decide on the look what he prefers. Nice design.
So these three things — using play-action in more creative ways, the hard-count for big opportunities and rub routes along the goal line all are telling us that Dallas seems to be gearing up with some new layers that are putting this offense in a better position without changing the general foundations. Just some tweaking … and I love to see it all.
Lots of green numbers and if we are honest, lots of stat-padding. Nothing helps the red zone and third-down numbers for a season like a full game of success stories. If the idea was to build a positive state of mind at just the right moments, let’s see where this leads them.
The Cowboys got their work in and played very well. And while they should like their chances in these playoffs, we assume they will tip-toe a bit on Sunday through their first few drives and will need to deal with a little doubt until they see success. Once that happens (assuming it does), they could be off and running.
Just look at the deep shots and the efficient passing day. I think everyone will agree that when Dallas takes shots, it is a much different offense. At the same time, it is much easier to take shots when you can barely name a single member of the opposing secondary.
The big development here is that Blake Jarwin returned and now the Cowboys can actually get out of 11 personnel a bit. Again, we weren’t going to see much of that in this game, but moving ahead to next week, it will be a lot more two tight-end looks with Schultz and Jarwin and getting back to what they like to do with balanced play calling out of two tight ends which unlocks plenty.
Film study
2Q – 11:34 – 2nd and 10 – DAL 26 – D.Prescott pass deep middle to C.Lamb to PHI 43 for 31 yards (S.Bradley).
Look at the personnel. Same exact look with McGovern and Sprinkle, so surely the Eagles are sniffing a play-action. It is second-and-10, so the likelihood of a pass is higher. Dallas wants to try it anyway, so it is play-action fake with Cooper on the over-route with a Lamb dig route behind it into a Cover 3 look. Usually don’t see those two routes together with Elliott in the right flat behind it, but Cooper does drag the defense to him (remember the Eagles went to him last time) and that leaves a window to hit Lamb between the corner and safety. It again works and now Prescott is starting to feel great.
2Q – 3:37 – 2nd and 10 – DAL 25 – E.Elliott up the middle to PHI 49 for 26 yards.
Is this Elliott’s most impressive run of the season? Second-and-10, Cowboys in 11 personnel — this tells us they are probably passing here. Again, so much of play calling is showing one thing and doing the other. They motion in Schultz and then this is blocked up well as left guard Connor Williams (52) and center Tyler Biadasz (63) double team defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway (98). On the backside, there is another double from right guard Zack Martin (70) and right tackle La’el Collins (71), with Schultz coming through the hole to get LB Patrick Johnson (48) and then Biadasz moves from his double to the other LB (54). In doing so, it looks like he also gets DB Josiah Scott (33) and now Elliott is off to the races. Some very nice cuts from Elliott help him into the secondary where Lamb (88) and Wilson (1) are working hard to dig out the secondary. This is what a great interior run can look like.
2Q – 0:24 – 1st and 10 – PHI 43 – D.Prescott pass deep middle to C.Wilson to PHI 15 for 28 yards.
Right before halftime, Dallas got the ball back after a shanked punt. Dallas started driving and it started here with a nice idea against Cover 2. Again, the Cowboys are attacking with Lamb and Cooper on the outside both attracting multiple defenders. That allows Wilson down the middle with leverage on his side and Prescott makes no mistake. Huge gainer and a great example of how much easier things are for the third receiver in this offense when deployed correctly. Wilson is a nice fit here, but boy it is an easier job in this setting with those outside threats.
3Q – 3:32 – 3rd and 7 – DAL 32 – D.Prescott pass deep middle to C.Wilson to PHI 31 for 37 yards
And one more for good measure, another free play on another hard count with the four-verts special. This time Wilson is the No. 3 to the left with Jarwin and Cooper. Prescott gets his back foot in the ground and fires it and hits Wilson in stride. From there he demonstrates that chasing him down is not an easy thing to do. He is going to make some money in March and good for him. He paid his dues.
We will stop there and look ahead to the 49ers from here. Look for the full breakdown and preview on Friday morning. This should be an excellent matchup and test for all involved.
Spade
Superstar
This in bold I am very sure that was their thinking as well. Yes you are right, we do not go 13-3 that year. But you don't draft in the top 5 basing it off of a one or two year decision. Especially since Dallas rarely drafts that high to begin with. If you're drafting in the top 5, it needs to be a ten year decision. That type of decision Dallas made usually sets your franchise back years. Want a good example, look at the Giants. Luckily we had talent at other positions and a good offensive line to counter that. I'm saying, I would have taken 9-7 in 2016 with Ramsey and Henry or Buckner and Henry if it meant that we would build a consistent dominant year in and year out later on in 2018, 2019, 2020 and so forth.
who_better_than_me
Time to go!!
Had we known Romo wasn’t goin to be available for the season do you believe we would’ve still drafted Dak?
This has to be 
right?
right?
duckbutta
eienaar van mans
Nah. We would have risked it all for Paxton Lynch. shyt that is what we tried to do before drafting Dak
Cowboys wanted Paxton Lynch, settled for Dak Prescott -- but it worked out
Dude is in the CFL right now and Jerry was down to trade two picks for him. We owe Denver a favor
If our offense comes out and does what they’re supposed to, no way we lose this game
Deebo and their random RBs are going to make a mixtape on us
Deebo and their random RBs are going to make a mixtape on us
I have a feeling Ceddy is going to have a huge game this week
