FanPost

If I'm Coaching the Rams

If I'm suddenly hired as the Head Coach of the Rams, and given the assignment to prepare for Dallas, here's my plan:

If I'm suddenly hired as the Head Coach of the Rams, and given the assignment to prepare for Dallas, here's my plan:

On offense, I've lost Steven Jackson, but I can't abandon the run altogether. Even if my rookie only gains a yard or two per carry, I've got to grit my teeth and stay with the run. HOWEVER, my team is still strong in the one area where the Dallas D has proven to be...um...less than consistent...and that's the deep pass. I've got Bulger, Bruce, and Holt, a trio a lot of teams would kill for. I'm going to air it out early and often. Much as Dallas approached last season's Indy game, I'm thinking I've got to score early and keep on scoring no matter what. I don't want a shootout but I may not be able to prevent it, so I need to pile on the big plays.

Defensively, I don't believe that the answer for Romo is a constant blitz. I'm not going to be able to get the pass rush on them that the Bears did, and look what good it did them...so, I'm thinking there's nothing to be done about Romo's physical skills, scheme-wise.

He's going to be Tony Romo regardless of what I do. BUT, what he does have is (still) a lack of even one full season of playing time, and the way to exploit that is to keep changing up my Defense. Play coverage on one passing down and then come with the "punt rush" on the next. It can't be the same from one down to the next or from one series to the next. Just when he's sure we're sending the house, we've got to drop back.

Now, all that won't necessarily do the trick. Romo has shown he will spray the ball around and so I can't hope to cover everybody that Garrett will throw into the pattern; and Romo's escaped some of the league's best past rushers. Not only that, but he's embarrassed a couple.

So, the really only sure way of keeping Romo from beating me is to keep him off the field, which brings me back to the running game. If I can win the time-of-possession battle, then I can keep this game close. (But I'm starting the brand new RB behind a line that has played crappy lately, so it's all easier said than done.)

Conclusion: I think we (Dallas) better be prepared to stuff the run, even without S.Jackson. But when the ball isn't being pounded at us, I'm betting it's getting rocketed deep in Holt's direction, which is still an outrageously dangerous play. And if we over-commit to stopping the deep ball, we'll be especially vulnerable to the middle pass...

On offense, I don't expect to see us blitzed all that much. I think they'll do what they can to try and confuse Tony Romo before the snap, by making sure they're constantly changing things up.

PREDICTION: None of the above strategies work for St. Louis, though I'm betting they do get a few big plays downfield. Cowboys 27, Rams 17

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