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February 2008
Categories
Movers and Shakers Pre-season Texas Stadium dallasnews.com
Sports Blogs |
Here's the breakdown of the pressure sent by the Cowboy coaches on Tarvaris Jackson's 25 dropbacks during Sunday's win: 3-man pressure: 0 of 25 snaps (0 first half/0 second half) JACKSON NUMBERS WHAT IT MEANT: Like was the case outlined in my previous post about the running game, the Cowboys weren't going to keep going to the well when a better source of water was available. The Vikings consistently had two more blockers in than the Cowboys had rushers. Why? Because it was necessary. The first Cowboy sack, by Bradie James, came with six blocking five. And the two garbage time sacks had the Vikings keep six in to block four. This is a sign of respect from Minnesota for the Dallas pass rush. The next piece comes with coverage. Could the Cowboys have sent the house and gotten to Jackson? Sure. But with the Vikings guarding against it, flooding the field with coverage and forcing Jackson to go through his progressions and read the defense -- instead of giving him easier reads and better matchups by blitzing -- was the smart call. |
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Comments
Posted by JR @ 4:36 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
In other news, Tarvaris Jackson is not good.
Posted by S L @ 4:47 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
is there any chance of getting analysis on the actual personnel involved in coverage vs rush/line play? In other words, how many times does D Ware drop into zone coverage and what are the results, how many times does he rush the passer, how many times does he stay in the box, etc.? same for R Williams, etc. I don't know that we'll accomplish anything, but I swear every time I see Ware out in the flat the QB seems to have time to knit a sweater while waiting for his receiver to get separation from the guy for an 8 yard gain, and it sure seems to these non-coaching eyes that a rush would serve them better any day. or play...
Posted by rolando @ 4:52 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
I think that, aside from some inspired play from Hatcher and Ellis, it was a pretty subpar performance by the defense. Jackson is terrible, and we should have had a field day.
I'm disappointed that our defense is underachieving far below its pedigree. We have like 6 first round draft picks starting, and yet we struggle against the better QBs and line in the league, i.e. Brady and Manning. Anyone else get the feeling we're going to get undressed as the season wears on just like last year defensively?
Posted by Raff Hollister @ 4:59 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
rolando,
You have to consider that Jackson only attempted 19 passes. If I can get 3-sacks for every 19 passes thrown by ANY QB, I'm a happy defensive coordinator. considering he also completed 6-passes, I don't know how you could expect a lot more from the front 7 regardless of the quality of the QB.
I expect with both starting corners back, hopefully with the next game, you are going to see a lot more of those 5 and 6 man rushes that we have been anticipating.
Posted by JD @ 5:30 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
Defense had a good game against the Vikings.
If you look at the numbers, Vikes had the big 1st drive for 69 yards and a touchdown in the beginning. After that the defense held them to a total of 131 yards for the rest of the game. That is pretty good I would said. I think just because the offense did not blow the Vikes out of the water and we were behind 14-7 at half time every one is coming down too hard on the defense.
In fact look at the entire season so far, the defense gave up 83 points against NY Giants & Pats, and only 40 pts total for the other 5 games (a 8 pts per game avg).
Note: special teams and defensive TDs from other teams accounted for 35pts (7 from Rams, 21 from Buffalo and 7 from Vikes). You really can't blame those 35 pts on the defense since they were not on the field.
As I see it, the Giants game could be attributed to their 1st time playing the new 3-4 scheme. Pats are on a different playing field, yes they are that good, and we got smoked. But in the other 5 games, even though they were against bad offense teams, the defense have held up.
Posted by Camrin @ 10:03 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
It isn't like our rantings here will make it to capitol hill, but what the heck. I'm just sick of the play of Roy Williams. If you watch the tape of A.D.'s T.D. run, Roy is in the flat, standing flat footed for far too long. When he does finally get a sense of what is going on, he takes a feeble jog over towards the action. Everyone talks about how he takes bad angles, but if he played with more reckless abandon like he flashed in the past, maybe he could make more plays. He just gets smoked so often in coverages, it is disheartening - because you just KNOW he is going to get burned whenever we run into a decent team that needs to make a big play. Even if he might catch up to someone, he will revert to the horsecollar in his attempt to bring them down, or make a big splash with a lead shoulder (hey ROY - your arms need to come together on the opposite side of the runner!).... damn Roy. Oh - and those weak-ass attempts at coming in on safety blitzs this year - my God. WEAK. Why can't his production IMPROVE???
Posted by Mike @ 10:19 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
Camrin you are citing a handful of plays. 85% of the time Roy is one of the things that took us from 25th to 7th in defense in about 4 weeks.
He is one of the best safeties in the league. You've still got his Oklahoma highlight film on the brain. You and others are like basket cases when it comes to this guy. He's a SAFETY for Christ's sake and still one of the better tacklers in the league no matter what you saw him do on this play and that. I can go through Ronnie Lott's career and show you some stinkers also!
It's funny. In Dallas you have to be Superman every single game or you're a bum.
Posted by Mike @ 10:28 PM Tue, Oct 23, 2007
Let this be a lesson about how a strong running game keeps the pressure off the QB. Notice how the threat of Peterson kept us from sending 6 at even Jackson of all people.
Posted by Gary Hampton @ 10:54 AM Wed, Oct 24, 2007
Albert,
I think your analysis is a wonderful addition to the blog. I look forward to it every week now. One area of analysis that I would like to see reviewed is the Cowboys third down scheme and rush. It seems to me that we are getting alot of teams into third down situations and our percentage of success on third down is not that great. Many of the former great defenses like Philadelphia and Tampa Bay used heavy pressure defenses on third down. I would like to see what scheme the Cowboys are using on third downs.
Posted by mike @ 4:23 AM Thu, Oct 25, 2007
I think Albert likes to be called Bert.
Posted by mike @ 4:24 AM Thu, Oct 25, 2007
I think Albert likes to be called Bert.