FanPost

Fixing the Cowboys Offense - 12 is Always more than 11

I'm at work so I can't rellay elaborate but:


Weeks 1 - 7 we used 12 personnel 33 % of our snaps, which was top 4 in the league.
Week 8 - now we have used 12 personnel 21 % of our snaps, tied for 14 (and right at the league average).
EDIT: It is not a result of bad down and distance either (just looked it up)
Weeks 1 - 7 on 1st down - 12 personnel was used by Dallas 47% of the time.
Weeks 8 - now on 1st down - 12 personnel used 29 % of the time.

I wrote and even made videos about our 12 personnel usage and how well Kellen leveraged the heavy personnel, taking advantage the fact that we were just as prone to throw as we were to run which put defenses in a quandry.

Of particular note was the fact that we lined those two tight ends next to each other more than any other team in the NFL (12 personnel wing formations) which caused alignment issues, not only for the DBs - they'd show their hand often if they were in zone versus if they were in man since no offensive players were split out wide on one side of the field. But the wing formations, in particular also caused issues for the front 7 on defense because lining the TEs up next to each other creates and additional run gap that needs to be accounted for. So an offense can really start to predict the game and "aggresively" take what is given to them.

I noticed just watching that we see it less and I figured we would because we have dangerous 11 personnel..on paper. Our team, whether ir is the defeciences in the OL or the QB or the OC does better with 12 personnel... on the field.

I genuinely hope we use that personnel grouping more as I think having thwe additional blockers helps in the run game and the pass game, but I also think Kellen seems a bit more original when he has 12 personnel out there. A lot of his bland calls (and I have no stats for this, sorry) seem to caome when he is in the more (newly) traditional 11personnel.

Anyway...back to work

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