Reports: Cowboys to make a change at offensive line coach

p1_

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I love how we axe a guy and have NO plan in place for his replacement.
 

UncleMilti

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I love how we axe a guy and have NO plan in place for his replacement.
That PT Barnum wagon sure looks pretty though.
 

boozeman

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Thank God they settled on Paul Alexander. He at least knows the ZBS and is an accomplished assistant coach.
 

boozeman

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Wow, that's borderline positive out of you. And I agree.
The only negative is that he is not a strict fundamentalist in terms of the ZBS. He is a little like Callahan in that he has switched between zone and power blocking schemes. This is a little concerning as they will be going away from what they have been doing for the last five years or so.
 

Cowboysrock55

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The only negative is that he is not a strict fundamentalist in terms of the ZBS. He is a little like Callahan in that he has switched between zone and power blocking schemes. This is a little concerning as they will be going away from what they have been doing for the last five years or so.
I really liked Callahan as our O-line coach so I'm totally ok with it. I wish we could have him back if anything. Plus I think it's good to implement some power blocking principals in our scheme. We have some really physical O-lineman that should be able to do an excellent job at that.
 

boozeman

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In Paul Alexander, Cowboys hope fresh ideas bring more results
5:23 PM ET

Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- In all of his years as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones had not made a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals until last September when the team acquired cornerback Bene Benwikere.

In effect, the Cowboys have made their second trade with the Bengals, swapping offensive line coaches.



According to a source, the Cowboys have hired Paul Alexander, who had been with the Bengals for 23 years, to replace Frank Pollack, who took Alexander’s job with the Bengals.

Alexander has a multi-faceted background as the Bengals' line coach since 1995. While Pollack came from the Bill Callahan school of zone blocking, Alexander uses a combination of zone, power and trap schemes.

Since 2014, the Cowboys have not had a running game rank outside the top 10. DeMarco Murray led the NFL in rushing in 2014. Darren McFadden finished fourth in 2015 even though he did not become the lead back until the sixth game of the season. Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing in 2016.

Elliott nearly became the first Cowboys runner to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons top open a career since Tony Dorsett in 1977-78, finishing 17 yards short despite playing in just 10 games because of a suspension.

The strength of the Cowboys’ roster is their offensive line, led by Pro Bowlers Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin. Smith has been named to the Pro Bowl each of the last five years. Frederick and Martin have been named the last four seasons.

La'el Collins moved from left guard to right tackle in 2017 and improved as the year went on. The two questions the Cowboys have are at left guard, where 13-game starter Jonathan Cooper is set to become a free agent, and at backup offensive tackle, where things fell apart in Smith’s absence from three-plus games due to injury.

The Bengals did not have success in 2017, finishing ranked last in yards offensively and 31st in rushing. Andy Dalton was sacked 39 times after getting sacked 41 times in 2016.

But Alexander will undoubtedly have the most talented group of linemen he has had in his career in Dallas. He oversaw the development of Willie Anderson, a first-round pick in 1997, who became a five-time Pro Bowler. He also saw Andrew Whitworth become a Pro Bowl left tackle. Kevin Zeitler left the Bengals after the 2016 season for the richest free-agent deal ever given to a guard. Martin should top that figure this offseason or next.

The Cowboys felt they needed to move on from Pollack even though the rushing numbers in the six games without Elliott were still good enough to rank in the top 10. Pass protection was an issue. Dak Prescott was sacked 32 times, including 22 times in the final eight games of the season. The passing game took a major hit with Prescott not throwing for at least 200 yards in eight games.

Even with Smith on the field, there was a belief among some in the building that the pass protection was the biggest reason for the slide of the pass-game numbers, especially in the second half.

The Cowboys don’t need to overhaul their running game. However, they can add to the scheme with the addition of Alexander. Where Alexander needs to have the biggest impact is protecting Prescott.

The Cowboys believe if they can do that, they won’t be far off from playing in games like this weekend's.
 

UncleMilti

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Sooooo we got rid of Pollack because of the sack numbers, and replaced him with a coach whose OL line have up 80 sacks in 2 seasons?? Okkk.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Sooooo we got rid of Pollack because of the sack numbers, and replaced him with a coach whose OL line have up 80 sacks in 2 seasons?? Okkk.
You do see the talent difference right? And half of sack numbers are the QB and getting the ball off.
 

UncleMilti

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You do see the talent difference right? And half of sack numbers are the QB and getting the ball off.
Well, everyone likes to talk about the talent...but the Cowboys OL did give up 32 sacks. Theres no promises that Tyron will get back to being dominant, and theres obviously issues outside of Fredrick and Martin that need addressed based on the line play this season.
 

L.T. Fan

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Well, everyone likes to talk about the talent...but the Cowboys OL did give up 32 sacks. Theres no promises that Tyron will get back to being dominant, and theres obviously issues outside of Fredrick and Martin that need addressed based on the line play this season.
Yep. The media likes to hype the OL of Dallas but the stats don’t agree.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Well, everyone likes to talk about the talent...but the Cowboys OL did give up 32 sacks. Theres no promises that Tyron will get back to being dominant, and theres obviously issues outside of Fredrick and Martin that need addressed based on the line play this season.
Have you looked at the talent on the Bengals Oline? Shit can you name one of their starters on the Oline without google?
 

Rev

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Well 1 game skewed those sack numbers. How many does Claiborne get if Smith is playing? How many were because of Dak holding onto the ball too long?
 

Cowboysrock55

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Well 1 game skewed those sack numbers. How many does Claiborne get if Smith is playing? How many were because of Dak holding onto the ball too long?
The funny thing is if that Atlanta game doesn't happen Dak's sack numbers between 2016 and 2017 don't look all that different. When in reality Dak's pass protection in 2017 really wasn't as good. But QB's make all the difference with those sack numbers. When the pressure comes some QB's find ways to avoid sacks while others do not. In general Dak does a pretty damn good job of avoiding the sack, the only problem is that pressure forces him into either dumb throws or really shitty mechanics. He started to panic this year and his accuracy fell as a result.
 

Cujo

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The funny thing is if that Atlanta game doesn't happen Dak's sack numbers between 2016 and 2017 don't look all that different. When in reality Dak's pass protection in 2017 really wasn't as good. But QB's make all the difference with those sack numbers. When the pressure comes some QB's find ways to avoid sacks while others do not. In general Dak does a pretty damn good job of avoiding the sack, the only problem is that pressure forces him into either dumb throws or really shitty mechanics. He started to panic this year and his accuracy fell as a result.

Perhaps that will be a point of emphasis this off season. As disappointing as he was at times, I still think he's smart enough to learn from this and come back stronger.
 

boozeman

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Line coach Paul Alexander a teacher at heart, according to Willie Anderson
8:00 AM ET

Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- If the Dallas Cowboys' offensive linemen want to know about their new coach, Paul Alexander, they would be wise to study Willie Anderson.

They will see a lot of Anderson whenever they get around Alexander. Anderson has not played since 2008, but he is still a fixture on the tape Alexander shows his linemen each year.


In 1996, Anderson was the first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals, the 10th overall selection. He was named a Pro Bowler four times. He was an All-Pro pick three times. He started every game he played from 1997-2006. If not for Anthony Munoz, a Hall of Famer, he would be the best offensive tackle in Bengals history.

“Great coaches learn that teachers teach,” Anderson said. “A teacher should never say, ‘I teach math.’ You should say, ‘I teach John math. I teach the student.’ That’s an important of teaching. Don’t say, ‘This is my scheme and we do this.’”

In 23 years as the Bengals' line coach, Alexander adapted. Anderson said he changed based on the personnel he had. He is not just a power-blocking line coach. He is not just a zone-blocking coach. He teaches it all, according to Anderson.

The Cowboys have had success with a zone-blocking scheme since Bill Callahan came in as line coach and continued with Frank Pollack, whom Alexander will replace, the last three seasons. The Cowboys have not had a running game ranked outside the top 10 over the last four seasons. But in truth, the Cowboys ran all sorts of run plays.

“It’s a mix,” Anderson said. “Every O-line coach in football, that’s the biggest misconception. If you’re a line coach, you’re teaching everything. We run power. We run zone. It’s all the same stuff. It’s about how that individual guy can get it taught to those five guys on the line.”

Through the years, the Bengals running game had success. From 2000-02, Corey Dillon had at least 1,300 yards rushing each season and 24 rushing touchdowns. From 2003-06, Rudi Johnson had at least 1,300 yards rushing each season and 36 rushing touchdowns. From 2009-11, Cedric Benson had three straight 1,000-yard seasons and 19 rushing touchdowns. In 2012, BenJarvus Green-Ellis had a 1,000-yard season. In 2014, Jeremy Hill had 1,124 yards rushing and in 2015 he had 11 rushing touchdowns.

“Corey Dillon was the best at what we called 16 and 17 Chase,” Anderson said. “He would chase my inside leg however I took the guy and he felt the inside guard, but you have to have the players to do that. Corey was a great zone runner because he was great at cutting back, great vision. He can press the line and at the last second allow for the blocker to set up the block. Why did Terrell Davis run for 2,000 yards running nothing but zone? Denver was the smallest line. They’d run zone and cut the back side. That’s all they did. So Corey loved Chase but at the end [of his time with the Bengals] he wanted to run straight ahead. That’s because our line changed. We didn’t have the guys that could get movement, so he felt like he could get more yards just running straight ahead. With Rudi, he ran the power game. He ran the counter game. He ran zone.”

Alexander had top talents like Anderson, Levi Jones and Andrew Whitworth. He also helped Kevin Zeitler earn the biggest contract for a guard in free agency last year when Zeitler joined the Browns.

With the Cowboys, Alexander inherits three Pro Bowlers in Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin. He has a young right tackle in La’el Collins. The left guard and backup tackle spots are in flux, but he has a group that is the envy of just about every team in the league. He will also have Ezekiel Elliott, who led the NFL in rushing in 2016 and finished 17 yards short of 1,000 in 2017 despite missing six games because of a suspension.

“It’s all about players you have and what you’re good at and what you’re back is great at,” Anderson said. “Zeke can do a plethora of things. … Paul’s going to assess Zeke, assess the offensive line and they’re going to put scheme together that’s best for them.”


Anderson, who runs a linemen academy for professional, college and high school players as clients, hopes to come down in the spring and work with Alexander, like he had done in Cincinnati, to help. He knows of the Cowboys’ linemen but doesn’t know them personally. But he knows how good they can be, which he sees as good as the group of the 1990s that won Super Bowls right before he entered the league.

“You take Zeke and Dak Prescott, their rookie year and that line was hailed up there with the Cowboys’ from the 1990s,” Anderson said. “Those guys were dominant. That group brought a lot of attention. As an O-line, we want attention. We want people to see how important that group is to show everybody why they were successful as a team. That’s what these guys have. Now you move Collins out to right tackle, I think he’s still learning but he’ll be better in his second year at the position. You have a dominant center and guard that can get overlooked because of how dominant Tyron is. But that’s a real good group of guys. I know Paul is ecstatic to get his hands on to them.”
 

boozeman

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boozeman

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