Breaking Down the First Touchdown Drive

It seemed to me that the Cowboys opened the playbook some against the Texans. They used a few more exotic formations, using a bunch twice after not using it once on any of the other plays I’ve broken down. They also used a tight four-wide formation that they hadn’t shown before in the other plays I looked out. I guess it’s possible that they’ve been busting these out after the first team leaves and I just haven’t noticed, but it sure seems like they showed a little more. It worked: in those three exotic formations on the first drive, they netted two 10-yard gains and the Crayton touchdown. Also, after using it a decent amount in the first two games, the Cowboys did not use pre-snap motion once on their first drive.

Barber rush, 10 yards:
The first play is the first example of an exotic formation. The offense lines up with TO on the left and Deon Anderson, Witten, and Crayton in a bunch just to the right of the offensive line. The play is a draw. Romo drops back and looks downfield. Leonard Davis and Marc Colombo pass block and let their men penetrate a little. The rest of the players, though, act as they would in a running play. The receivers are looking to block all the way. The run is to the right, and after the two defensive lineman on that side have taken themselves out of the play by pass rushing, Davis and Colombo seal them off from chasing the play down from behind. Anderson gets out and blocks Demeco Ryans, the middle linebacker. Flozell is left without a defensive lineman to block, so he runs over and takes out linebacker Zach Diles. I think Adams could have been called for a penalty. He basically just shoves Diles in the back, knocking him over. Illegal or not, it’s effective. By this time, Barber has a clear path out in to the secondary. Once there, Crayton and Witten both prevent their man from making a play. Barber cuts inside Crayton’s block, and he’s seven yards downfield without much resistance. From there, he bowls over cornerback Fred Bennett, which gives Will Demps enough time to come in and finish the tackle. This play is a perfect example of a good running play for the Cowboys: they use their effective blockers to give Barber seven yards, then Barber uses his physical style to tack on a few extra.

Romo to Hurd, 11 yards:
The second play is the second fresh formation. Four players are split out wide, two on each side. But they’re not very wide at all, only a few feet away from the offensive line. Romo is in the shotgun with Barber on his left. Both inside receivers, Witten and Crayton, run a few yards upfield before breaking for the sidelines. The two outside receivers, Hurd and Owens, run about seven yards before wheeling around to the outside and facing Romo. What really makes this play, though, is the defense. The Texans opt for a zone blitz, and Romo reads it just about as well as one could. One of the linebackers is on the line of scrimmage, showing blitz. That leaves one linebacker to each side. The linebacker on the left side, the Hurd/Witten side, follows Witten out into the flat. The area he just left is then supposed to be defended by defensive end Anthony Weaver, who is dropping into coverage as part of the zone blitz. Weaver is a 280-pound man coming from a three-point stance who has to turn around and run to get into position. Hurd weighs 75 pound less, plays a position known for having speed, and is starting the play upright. Guess who gets to the area first. Weaver also is playing inside, so when Romo hits Hurd’s outside shoulder, it’s an easy 11 yards. Romo made the decision so quickly that even though there was an unblocked blitzing linebacker, he was under no pressure.

Barber rush, 4 yards:
The Cowboys line up with two tight ends, both to the left side, two wide receivers, and Barber. Gurode and Colombo block to the right. Kosier, Witten, and Curtis block left. Leonard Davis loops around to the space opening up between Kosier and Gurode, cleaning up the hole for Barber. None of the lineman get a particularly great push, but none of them allow penetration. Barber hits the hole so very hard, picks up everything to be had there, and ends up with 4 yards.

Barber rush, 6 yards:
Both tight ends stay in. Crayton is substituted for Deon Anderson. Most of the line blocks left. Colombo loops around the outside. Romo tosses the ball to his right, to Barber. Witten blocks the defensive end on that side. Anderson gets out and blocks the linebacker. Colombo takes out the cornerback, and Barber has a clean corner to run around. As usual, Barber lays a punishment to linebacker Morlon Greenwood once he gets there. Amobi Okoye does blow by Leonard Davis’s block and has the potential to create trouble chasing the play down from the backside. Davis provides resistance just long enough that Barber has time to get upfield so that Okoye is irrelevant.

Crayton rush, 11 yards:
Curtis comes out, and Crayton comes back in. Owens is on the right, and Crayton is on the left. Pre-snap, Crayton begins motioning to the backfield. If you’ll remember, the Cowboys motioned Ownes into the backfield on a Barber rush in the Broncos game, and also ran an end-around later in the game. The entire line just blocks straight forward. It’s the only time I’ve seen them do such a thing. This was about the only example of poor blocking Witten has shown. He whiffs on Diles, and Diles has a chance to blow the play up before it starts. Anderson comes in and blocks Diles before he can even mount a true threat. Okoye again beats his man—this time it’s Flozell—but does so just late enough that the play still succeeds. At the snap, the Texans have five men up at the line, including Diles. Four rush, and Anthony Weaver again drops back. When Romo fakes to Barber, both the remaining linebackers are frozen. By the time they realize the play is going to the outside, they’re trapped in the all the junk created by the lineman just pushing the defenders back. Weaver is the only one who doesn’t commit to stopping Barber. Had he been a real linebacker and not a defensive end playing as one, he might have made the stop. In the real world, though, Crayton outruns him.

Barber rush, 4 yards:
Three wide receivers, two right. Witten is on the left, and Barber is alone in the backfield. The line blocks to the left, and Kosier loops around to outside of Witten. Witten seals his man off, and Barber is supposed to go between Witten and the pulling Kosier. Problem is, Romo fumbles the snap. Without a camera that violates Andre Gurode’s personal space, I have trouble telling who is at fault, but Romo leaves the snap without the ball. Without the fumble, this had the potential to be a touchdown. There was large hole between Kosier and Witten with few defenders in position to make a play. Even with the fumbled snap creating time for it to close, the hole is large enough to allow for a four-yard gain. When going through the line of scrimmage, many defenders get their hands on Barber, which slows him down, but he fights through the arm tackles for four yards. Everyone does a nice job not to give up on the play, from Tony picking up the snap, to Barber staying ready to receive the handoff, to the lineman holding their blocks. Even when bad things happen, good things happen.

Romo to Crayton, 6 yards:
The final example of a non-vanilla formation looks a lot like the first one. TO is left with a bunch to the right. This time Romo is in the shotgun with Barber on his right almost behind the bunch. Martellus Bennett is in the middle of the three receivers with Witten on his left and Crayton on his right. Bennett goes out and smashes into the defender in front of him, cornerback Fred Bennett, before releasing to the inside. Crayton takes off immediately on a crossing route, and Witten hesitates near the line of scrimmage before settling in to the space vacated by the other receivers. TO just basically runs around, clearing space for Crayton’s crossing route. Everything works: Crayton is free to catch a pass, Tony leads him perfectly, and he runs away from Will Demps and into the end zone. Digging deeper, there’s some really mind-blowing defensive ineptness going on here. The four defensive lineman rush, a cornerback covers TO, and Will Demps is the safety on the TO side of the field. That leaves five defenders to stop four players (Witten, Crayton, Bennett and Barber). As far as I can figure, M. Bennett is basically setting a pick. I believe F. Bennett was assigned to cover Crayton. When M. Bennett grabs F. Bennett, he can’t do that. Further, Diles looks to be assigned to M. Bennett. Instead of switching assignments, Diles stands around and looks at Martellus while he mauls Fred. Demeco Ryans runs over to cover Barber coming out of the backfield. Most spectacular of all, however, is strong safety CC Brown. Brown kind of hops around in the end zone before half-assedly chasing after Martellus. DeMarcus Faggins appears to be on the CC Brown plan. He, too, stands around, just sort of drifting. That means of course, that of the four men that these five defenders had to cover, two are wide open. Witten could have scored the TD as well. Martellus Bennett, however, was definitely not scoring, as Houston chose to triple cover a rookie tight end. Part of the hope of a bunch formation is for things like this to happen. When the offense lines up in a non-traditional way, the defenders are at a greater risk of becoming confused about their assignments. If one word can capture the behavior of these defenders, “confused” would be that word. I was very confused, as well, and may have missed some of the nuances. I understand it what makes a play go well. It’s easy to tell what someone’s trying to do when they end up doing it. When they totally fail at their objective, it can be hard to tell what that objective was.

Also, I think it’s worth noting that Bennett played a pretty big role here. Although much of it was because of the defensive confusion, Bennett did do a good job of messing up the coverage. Further, I think it says something that the coaching staff would put Bennett on the field so early in the game in such a critical situation. Yes, Hard Knocks shows a pretty disinterested guy. But this play at least reveals that the coaching staff might not agree with that characterization.

Not only did the Cowboys not need a third down on this drive, they only reached second down twice in traveling 51 yards. Football Outsiders.com deems a play successful if it gains 40% of the yardage needed for a first down (unless it’s third or fourth down, then you have to reach the first down). By that definition, every play on this drive was successful. If this represents what can happen when Garrett opens the playbook a bit, just imagine what’s in store when the full extent is unleashed on Cleveland. It’s also worth noting that this is the second time in the preseason the Cowboys have scored on their opening drive, something they had real problems with last year. Man, I hate to sound like a sheep. If I was seeing bad things, I promise I would say so. But it’s hard to bring a negative slant to a drive with such positive results.