Cowboys News: Ex's In XLVI, Tony Romo Air Yards, Safety Valves And More

by KD Drummond on Jan 30, 2012 10:00 PM CST in Dallas Cowboys News

The news round-ups are coming at a slightly slower pace since the offseason arrived. Mostly because, with no games remaining on the schedule for the Dallas Cowboys, things that are considered newsworthy are few and far between. That will pick up once the new league year opens up and the Cowboys start hosting draft prospects and potential free agents. Also, some of the 'lack of news content' for us to link to has to do with... well, regurgitation.

This is the time of year when many media outlets simply regurgitate story ideas that they've seen elsewhere (cough, here at BTB, cough). But no matter, all's fair in the interwebs.

Onto the news that isn't a form of rehash. Here's the latest and greatest in Cowboys on the wire.

Four ex-Cowboys part of Super Bowl XLVI | ESPN Dallas

Who knew? Well, we all know about Chris Canty and his spot in the New York Giants defensive line rotation. Some are even aware that former Dallas fullback Lousaka Polite makes his home with the Patriots. But did you know that CB Nate Jones and WR Isaiah Stanback are still in the NFL, much less playing in the Super Bowl? Jones is a backup for New England while Stanback works with the Giants practice squad. Good for them.

Air Yards 2011 | Advanced NFL Stats

ANS' Brian Burke tracked a metric that basically finishes the other half of the equation to a receiver's Yards-After-Catch. Air Yards measures how many yards the pass travels before it gets to the catcher. Now, offenses are certainly constructed in different ways; some are more deep-threat oriented than others, others are more timing based and dependent on hitting receivers with fortuitous angles on defenders to keep matriculating down the field.

Whatever merit you give this metric, Dallas' Tony Romo ranked 11th overall in AirYPA; 5th in the NFC and 3rd in the NFC East, with 4.2 Air yards per attempt.

More...

Did the move to extend Sensabaugh inhibit the Cowboys? | DMN

The writer wonders if the signing resigns Dallas to stick with the status quo, considering Abe Elam's familiarity with Rob Ryan and Jerome Henderson. Not much substance, but I'll counter that even though it's an option that Elam stays because of his familiarity, it's not a foreign situation for coaches to coach without former players.

Cowboys P McBriar Having Surgery To Remove Cyst | ESPN Dallas

Beyond football, hopefully this is what Aussie punter Mat McBriar needs in order to regain a fully functional life. The soon-to-be free agent is also targeting getting back on the field this summer.

DeMarcus Ware Only Cowboy On Sporting News All-Pro Team | Star Telegram

Ware: With Ryan, D Will Pan Out In 2012 | NBC DFW

Roger Staubach: Garrett Right Coach To Work With Jerry Jones | DMN

"I believe that you got to get the coach and, in this case, Jerry Jones the owner and general manger in-sync," Staubach said Monday on Colin Cowherd's ESPN radio show. "And I think the formula’s there again. It was there for a while with Jimmy Johnson . Jason Garrett I really think can deal with having an owner that wants to be involved. I think Bob Kraft is involved. Not as much as Jerry, but he still has a great relationship with Bill Belichick. I think Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones are going to continue to develop a relationship that’s going to make a difference here."

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Not surprising on the Air Yards

I’ve lamented, for some time now, the lack of a deep passing game. It’s been missing since T.O. left.

Stanback is the poster child for why you don’t invest too much in name-your-position to WR conversions.

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

by 5Blings on Jan 30, 2012 10:25 PM CST reply actions

I think you need something we don't have for a deep passing game

An Offensive Line..

by bevomav on Jan 30, 2012 10:50 PM CST up reply actions

TO went from the Cowboys to the Bills...how did he help the Bills long game?

Stanback’s in the Superbowl…seems like other teams still value our scrubs…go look at the Patriots if you want to see a team miss on a lot of picks…

When only 7 other QB’s have a better AirYPA number of 4.2 per attempt…this might indicate that our deep passing game isn’t at the bottom of the league…

Even with our “rag tag” O Line we were one of the better Offenses in the league…perhaps you should save your criticism for our useless Defense…

by CaliFanInTx on Jan 30, 2012 11:18 PM CST up reply actions

Our useless defense was almost as good as our offense.

The offense wasn’t top 10 in either yards or scoring, so personally wouldn’t call them one of the better offenses in the league. They were 11th in yards and 15th in scoring.

Likewise, our defense wasn’t bottom 10 in either yards or scoring, so I wouldn’t call them one of the worst defenses in the league. They were 14th in yards and 17th in scoring.

Both units were pretty mediocre, with the offense a little less so.

by Baked Potato Soup on Jan 31, 2012 12:09 AM CST up reply actions

No question our Offense trended down the last part of the season...

…if memory serves, it began in the 1st Giants game. I think right after that game we were still near the top 5 in yards and a respectable 10th or 11th in scoring. It was mostly downhill after that game. Was it because the O couldn’t move the ball? I don’t think that was the main problem…I look at the position groups on O and only see 1 glaring hole…I can point out more than a few on D.

With the O…we could considerably improve their production with just 1 correct interior lineman…I don’t see the D being just 1 player away…

by CaliFanInTx on Jan 31, 2012 12:59 AM CST up reply actions

Improve the interior Oline and you'll see a deep passing game return.

"The tone is business," Garrett said. "Let's get to work. The Giants are going to be at the Meadowlands on Sunday at 4:15. They're an awfully good football team. We have to get ready for them."

by Rohpuri on Jan 31, 2012 1:03 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

I won't complain if we're stuck with average safety play

If we were stuck with average corner play, the Giants wouldn’t be in the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.

Our secondary may also be inflating that air yards stat. 11th in the league doesn’t translate to 3rd in the division unless your division is throwing against a terrible secondary. Improving our secondary will improve our rank in air ypa by virtue of lowering the production of our opponents (rankings are relative, after all).

My most recent fanpost:
The Weekly Chessmatch: Cowboys @ Eagles

by CotySaxman on Jan 30, 2012 11:37 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Actually Romo is tied for 8th in AirYPA

And Rodgers who had the highest AirYPA is 4.9 and Romo is 4.2. The differences are pretty insignificant. I don’t think that stat tells you anything.

Matt Moore by the way ranked 4th with 4.6 higher than Brees(5th) and Brady (13th). Is Matt Moore better than Brees, Brady, and Romo?

Seems like a pretty useless stat.

Sean Lissemore = The next Bruce Smith

by Lissyyyyy on Jan 30, 2012 11:58 PM CST reply actions

All it tells me

Is that Matt Moore threw off of playaction more as they’re a ground and pound team.

"The tone is business," Garrett said. "Let's get to work. The Giants are going to be at the Meadowlands on Sunday at 4:15. They're an awfully good football team. We have to get ready for them."

by Rohpuri on Jan 31, 2012 1:02 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Happy to hear that Nate Jones has a job in the NFL, but he's got to be a little embarrassed that he was beat out at corner by the WR Edelman.

"Rob [Ryan] is like Houdini with hella swag." -T. Newman

by Yoko Romo on Jan 31, 2012 1:26 AM CST via mobile reply actions

The only hope for the Cowboys

is that Garrett can work with JJ and that Stephen is keeping Jerry from making those impulsive moves that have kept us from a playoff win for 15 years.

I agree that the corner back play was putrid but not haveing a good pass rush made it worse.

In my opinion we need a little more than one player on offense.Ryan needs tons of help to fix this D.First priority replace Newman.Next get a LB to replace James and Brookins.Then we need another edge rusher.

The lockout really hurt us because Ryan had little time to install his D.Sometimes our players were out of position because they didn’t know the defensive calls.

by TCB Orange Dino on Jan 31, 2012 4:06 AM CST reply actions

The Air Yards bit reminds me of a discussion posted a few weeks ago by FiTaT. He saw that the number of long sacks Romo was taking (where he has more than 3 seconds to throw the ball) were up compared to years prior. Fan thought it meant Romo was taking less chances downfield, and taking more sacks as a result. Playing it safe.

The low Air Yards per Attempt would support that. I couldn’t find a year-by-year comparison, but in 2006, Romo was #1 in the league in this stat (5.5 Air Yards per Attempt, per http://www.advancednflstats.com/2007/08/2006-qb-air-yards.html). We could explain it away by the shaky line play (and I’d definitely agree with that), but perhaps it’s a combination of line play and Romo taking fewer chances.

by Nassau Cowboy on Jan 31, 2012 8:29 AM CST reply actions

I think one leads to the other

it’s a combination of line play and Romo taking fewer chances.

If Romo doesn’t think he has the time to throw deep, he won’t. He knows how much time his blocking scheme can buy him. If it isn’t giving him much time, he’s going to throw the short stuff.

I want to see Laurent Robinson back, I want two new starters on the offensive (Nicks and DeCastro), and then the rest of the Cowboys free agent money/draft picks can go to the defense Both the Giants and Patriots have proven you don’t need great defenses to make it to the big game. However, you need to keep your franchise QB healthy and upright.

by Conn Cowboy on Feb 2, 2012 9:20 AM CST reply actions