By the Numbers -- The Running Game

That stat line to me indicated that we ran an awful lot on 1st and 2nd downs. We can’t do that all the time, sometimes we need the passing game to open up the run. I would like to see us use some play action in week 2, maybe even more throws to Julius in the flat.

I totally agree. Dallas ran a bit too much on first down and seemed that we put are selves in 3 and 5 or more situations alot throughout the game. I think throwing on first down also takes a bit more pressure of of bledsoe becouse he would then not be facing the type of all out blitz on first down as he would on third down, and given the amount of sacks given up Sunday that might be something else that needs to be addressed

I equate a good running game to a boxer’s left jab – keeps the opponent at bay, softening him up for power shots later. Not every run will result in positive yards, but the play action opens up the middle of the field for Crayton, Johnson and Witten to do their magic.

Plus, the accumulated pounding their defensive line absorbs will be all good in the 4th quarter for us. Our big uglies must love beating up on their D line rather than taking the abuse.

No doubt, teams will game plan us, requiring adjustments. However, Parcells has created an offense capable of sustaining a strong running game against most teams while mixing in a proficient passing game. Good combination to have.

I’m betting Parcells / Payton will not get too cute with the play calling, staying patient with the running game, jabbing away while our defense stays fresh and hungry.

OK stat man,

Here’s my predicament. Our offense ranks 22nd after week 1. Not even above average. However, we’re 5th in points, tied with the mighty Whiners.

There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Are we a pitiful offense with a balanced, average running game…heck no. SD is a good team. Our red zone effectiveness was perfect. And our D setup a few short fields for us.

Great offensive showing, if you ask me. The stats sure don’t say it.

Here’s a nice little stat: The Cowboys made an 11 position jump in the ESPN power rankings. HOW BOUT THEM MEDIOTS!!!

Here’s a nice little stat: The Cowboys made an 11 position jump in the ESPN power rankings. HOW BOUT THEM MEDIOTS!!!

I’m not doubting our running game. I just feel that running on first down contunually is bad for all points of an offense. I agree a running game should be used as a “jab” in a football game. But to keep the chances of Bledsoe getting “knockout” we need to run on first down

I mean pass on first down…damnit

I wouldn’t be shocked if Marion Barber gets more carries on Monday night. Parcells used Leo Carson as FB in the preseason, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Shanle or Fowler line up there with Witten motioning into the backfield to have 2 lead blockers. Also, look for the boys to set up a Patrick Crayton WR screen/option pass. If they can get Washington’s safeties biting on the short passing game and the running game, Crayton’s arm becomes a weapon.

Parcels has intimated that big changes are coming on special teams…glad to hear that because as I think we will all agree that is our achilles heel right now!Tighten up that ST coverage units,reduce some of the silly penalties,and get Ware to stop being sucked into the middle(you must always maintain outside containment)steer them back into the middle where there is help!get Bledsoe to stop those 5-7 step drops and stay in the pocket and also step up when he feels the rush,but overall we did very well,we will have growing pains but things are looking good!Hey Philly already has an “L” and Carolina too with key injuries and New England up next so things are shaping up nicely!

Eric:
I don’t know about Barber… TT is right there with him, if he shows that his inconsistency last week is gone, Parcells’s gonna play him.

For next game I think that the game plan will consist of a bunch of 2 and 3 count passes, a bunch of running plays and a real short amount of 20-40 yards passes, Washington’s going to stack the line to stop the running game and they’ll blitz in passing plays, obviously, Parcells’s known as a coach that can exploit those schemes. :D

Eric I thought about that too,with Crayton being an ex QB that could work well,also possibly TT on a reverse using that speed…..just some thoughts….GO COWBOYS!

Chandus,

True, it might be Tyson Thompson. I was going to say either Thompson or Barber. These two may run a little better than Jones with a FB.

sharkz:
As far as I heard and been hearing Willie Pile is a pretty good special teamer, he’s just new on our schemes, the same can be said from Fujita, and you can also realize that there’s Bradie James, a pretty good ST’s player last year, that right now isn’t playing all the ST plays because he’s a starter. And Burnett will be back. I think that the loss of Coakley is tougher there on KR’s than his play at OLB.

Chandus you are right on…things in that respect should start getting better in a hurry!

A better subject than kick coverage (better subject because I believe that the issue will get solve in a matter of time) is realizing a way to take 5 wides to next game…

Inactives this Sunday were: RB 28 T.Thompson, LB 57 K.Burnett, G 60 B.Noll, DE 66 J.Ratliff, G 72 S.Peterman, WR 81 P.Price and DT 92 T.Johnson.

And Parcells already mentioned out loud that he wants to take with him more than the 7 OLineman he took to the field, he would be happy with 8.

And what’s going to happen when Burnett’s back?

I’ll say it again, I think that Coleman’s time on the roster is getting shorter and it all depends on Spears progress.

I’m sure of the inactivity of one of the TT/Barber pair, Noll, Burnett (still recovering his knee), Ratliff and Johnson. And then my maths become fuzzy…

And now you can think what’s going to happen next year if we have a draft half as good as what this one seems to be… Tougher decitions, yeah…

I agree,even if Price hasn’t digested the playbook yet,any NFL reciever can run a deep slant,that would take out the corner and the safety(having to come over the top) and clear out the middle for a 20 to 30 yard gain across the middle..example: 4 wides,Terry Glenn runs a “fly” pattern and takes one corner and safety deep,(otherside of the feild)Price runs a deep slant and takes out the corner to that side and that safety,leaving Crayton to cross the middle on an intermediate slant….Keyshawn runs a 15 yard and out pattern to occupy linebackers……..

There are more than one coverage scheme in he NFL. Alot of the schemes, zones, call for the transfer of coverage, so if a guy goes deep, the CB releases him to the safety and stays with the underneath WR. You can’t just say that this guy or that one will be open because we run a 4 WR set. The 4 WR sets would also make us more susceptible to a blitz. A couple of plays here and there might do something for you, but we would get killed running that all the time.

So I hear that this Monday night game will be the lowest rated-ever, cuz EVERYBODY is gonna switch to espn and follow the saints game…

i find this hard to believe. I mean, it the freak’n Cowboys and Redskins, Parcells vs. Gibbs. Both teams are coming off wins.

any thoughts on this?

Alter……..that’s something you might run twice a game,only an idiot would run that all the time…lol….on a more serious note….Cowboys ranked #8 now by ESPN and NFL.com……and CBS sportsline has the Cowboys now ranked #1……..

Whoever said that is an idiot. The combination of the hype that the Cowboys are gtting after week 1, the Cowboys and skins rivalry, and the Tripletts getting inducted into the ROH, this will at worst be an average week. I honestly think it’ll be a pretty good rating for ABC. You also have to realize that the Saints game will at or near halftime by the time our game starts. If it’s out of hand, or uninteresting, noone will watch it.

Cowboys have made definate improvements but it’s only been one game guys,with that said I feel confident that we are on the road to bigger and better things……

Ratings? Who cares? I wish no one else watched the Cowboys. It would make ticket prices much easier on my pocketbook.

1. Rivalry in sports vs. feel good story of the year…they’ll be over the feel good stuff by half time. Game should be a very high draw, though the mediots are probably right about the overall ratings, because the NY and LA markets are so heavily weighted by Nielsen (got a friend who works for their IT department).

Who cares, as long as I don’t get jobbed by our local affiliate (who by the way are complete idiots…Tampa might have the worst media in the country).

I was reading one article where carl Banks told BP that he thought Burnet was our best linebacker,he should be back soon and Fujita should be getting up to speed,we can only get better and more formidable…..GO COWBOYS!!!

I think “#1 Rivalry in sports” is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps, it could be argued, the Cowboys vs. the Redskins is the number one rivalry in the NFC East. There was much more of a rivalry when George Allen coached Washington.

sharkz,

I wouldn’t say best LB just yet … we do have a guy that looks like the real deal at that OLB position. Burnett can be a huge factor though. I think he is the type of player that can learn 3 of the LB positions and play well at all three. … He reminds me a lot of Ray Lewis, when Lewis first came into the league, because he gets to the ball carrier and makes explosive hits. If his work ethic is that of a Ray Lewis, the Cowboys have found a gem.

Rich,

Altercall and Fighter 15 are right. The person who said this is an idiot. If anything, the tiered game might make for the best rated MNF in a while. Why?

1. The Cowboys/Redskins gets a lead in. From the time the 6:30 news ends, which is often the highest rated show in a local market, the NFL will come on. No Wheel of Fortune. No Simpsons reruns. This is the kind of flowthrough programmers dream about. Anybody who is either interested in football or the Saints’ story or both will be there, cause they get to satisfy their football jones 90 minutes early. You can bet that every sports bar in America is loving this, cause the crowd comes in that much sooner;
2. When the switch is made at 8:00 CT, remember some points:
      A. As Fighter 15 said, if fans are there for the feel good story, they’ll
           have their fill by halftime, which is when the game will switch,
            being that most first halfs run 80 to 90 minutes. Unless the game
            is the greatest game ever, only the die hard New York and
            New Orleans folks will stay;
       B. A lot of the country will not be able to make the switch, even
            if they wanted to. Cable penetration is only about 70% of the
             households in the US. So, anybody who doesn’t have cable
             and wants to keep feeding the football jones will start watching
             the Dallas game;
3. When they are good, Dallas is consistently the top rated team on MNF, or any network for that matter. Given that they’re off to a good start, and that a lot of the country got to see them already because they were Fox’ first national game, and this is a traditional rival, who is also 1-0, and you’ve got the makings of a turbocharged rating. The only thing working against this is:

4. The New York market ratings are going to be crap, since all Giants fans will want to see that game.

5. Hey Fighter 15, is the LA market going to be kept with the Giants game? Because they will get much higher ratings carrying the Cowboys.

In any event, this was going to be a highly rated game anyway. Adding the staggered starts (which is an experement the NFL probably wanted to try out at some time anyway) should enhance the ratings the Cowboys game would get, not hurt it.

A year or so back, ESPN held a poll on the greatest rivalries. OSU vs. Mich, UT vs. OU, Yankees vs Red Sox, etc. They also did it by sport, including Bears vs. Packers (oldest), KC vs. Denver, etc.

Cowboys vs. Indians won both, hands down, although NY/Bos gave ’em a run overall.

I’ve seen several other polls, commentators, etc. say the same thing. It’s why two 6-10 teams are playing on Monday night…think about it.

They also head the class for most valuable franchises…these teams that haven’t won squat in more than a decade. Yes, it used to be better…no, it’s not going away.

The other short yardage running situation that might be included would be the goal-line situation after Jones had run on the quick snap down to the 1.5 yd line, the next snap was probably the purest short-yardage situation we had all game. One where we lined up two tight ends and a blocker in the backfield and ran — and it was pretty ineffective. That led to Keyshawn’s second TD catch on 3rd, but essentially, we couldn’t run it in on two downs from the 1. Either SD’s run defense is really good (and I suspect they are pretty good), or we’ve still got work to do (which I think is also true). Sure still a long way from the 92 Cowboys short running game. Promising, but still a lot of work to do, IMO.

Chandus,

Why on earth would the team cut Coleman? The guy plays better than Ellis in the 3-4. Right now, the Cowboys have a perfect six man rotation, using two three man units, in the way that Hubie Brown used to rotate whole 5 man sets for basketball game. They start Ellis-Glover-Coleman and then bring in Canty-Ferguson-Spears. Until Jay Ratliff shows he’s better than Coleman, and he’s not right now, they’re not going to touch this. Maybe they swap Coleman’s and Spears places, but they were 3-4 around 70% of the game. There’s no way they cut/trade him.

GG,

The Cowboys had two goal line situations, which I probably should add. On the first, they were first and goal from the 5 and scored in one play, with a Jones run off a quick set.

The second time, they had first and goal from the 8. They got 6 running on first down, and had no gain on second and goal.

That’s 5 yards, 6 yards and 0 on three plays for 1 TD. That’s not bad at all.

Hey we all should go vote for Drew Bledsoe on NFL.com for the Fed-Ex air and ground player of the week.

Rafael,

Don’t know about the LA market. As I painfully found out last week, each television station has it’s own choice to make. The imbeciles here (and really, every single media outlet in this town is so piss poor…) decided that since Tampa was once part of the NFC Central, they should show that game instead of the “national” game.

My wife says no new wood floors, no DirectTV…I’m truly in hell.

Hey Fighter … where do you live ?? I do wood floors for a living!!!! Need some advice???? I’ll try to save you some dolars …. help you buy wholesale …. maybe give info on how you can DIY the job etc …. What do ya say? I hate to think of anyone here in this room not able to watch this and especially next season unfold for themselves ….

i think al johnson and andre gurode need some reconigtion for what they did to the charges all world nose tackle, look at the stats of running plays up the middle

jeff24

your right on about that. Hats off to our centers