Top 3 you would keep...

[Cotton]

So you're saying the difference in production is the OL then?

His best YPC average of his career was in 2011 when we didn't have Frederick or Martin. Hard to pick up what you're laying down here.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

So, LP is in your top 3... noted.

Could you imagine not having a long snapper on the roster? That would be craziness.

 

[Cotton]

Could you imagine not having a long snapper on the roster? That would be craziness.

You figure the team has someone ready as a backup?

 

[boozeman]

You figure the team has someone ready as a backup?

Charley Hughlett is just a phone call away.

 

[Deuce]

Charley Hughlett is just a phone call away.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Charley Hughlett is just a phone call away.

I was told you couldn't sign a replacement as part of this game...

 

[Cotton]

I was told you couldn't sign a replacement as part of this game...

I suppose you can but good luck finding a decent skill position player at this time of year.

 

[Rev]

Dez, Romo, Tyron. That's my three but like stated there are probably 3 or 4 others that could be interchanged in there.

 

[NoDak]

Dez, Romo, Tyron. That's my three but like stated there are probably 3 or 4 others that could be interchanged in there.

Agreed. Although, I'd be tempted to include Fred. He ties that line together and shuts down pressure up the middle. The line took a big step forward when he arrived. Imo, he's the best center in the league already.

 

[ravidubey]

Romo, Murray, Martin

 

[Rev]

I might could even be persuaded to include Terrance Williams into the mix (to a smaller extent). He has added that extra threat down the field and has taken advantage of the opportunities. Allowing Dez better opportunities. Of course I'm a Williams mark so it really wouldn't take much for me to include him.

 

[BipolarFuk]

A rookie might be playing the best on the OL right now.

Dude looks like the second, smaller coming of Larry Allen at times already.

 

[Smitty]

Or the team continuing to run instead of just thinking of it as something to do to break the monotony.

Well obviously the number of carries directly correlates to the amount of yardage; you can't rush for 900 yards if you only have 100 carries through this point of the season.

I don't think you get this same production simply by giving Murray the same amount of carries in, say, 2011 (I'll stay away from citing last year because of disagreement as to improvement in the OL from last to this year).

So that means either Murray is playing better, or the OL is. Or some combination of both.

It's clearly a combination, but it's more the OL.

 

[Smitty]

They are producing because they are committed to and believe in running the ball. Any statistical way you look at it, the raw average numbers are the same.

We went from a running less than 40 percent of the time on first down to running it nearly at 60 percent.

That's not because Leary and Frederick got better after their first season.

I don't have numbers in front of me but there is no way the raw data for running averages are the same across the board now as in 2010 or 2011.

We constantly and consistently lost yardage on routine running plays those years, and it was a major reason why we shied away from it so often.

It's revisionist history to say that this team was always good at run blocking and we just ignored it. We *may* have ignored it more than we should have, but this team was a poor run blocking team in the not too distant past. Raw averages don't necessarily tell the whole story because we constantly were in second and third and long situations after attempting to run.

When we do it now, we get a lot of third and 5s and third and 4s.

 

[ravidubey]

I don't think you get this same production simply by giving Murray the same amount of carries in, say, 2011

2011 164 897 5.5
2014 187 913 4.9

 

[Smitty]

2011 164 897 5.5
2014 187 913 4.9

I know his career ypa was in 2011, but there's no way with the attention that is getting paid to the run now that he duplicates it in 2011. We simply were not a dominant run blocking team. It's a situation where stats don't tell the whole story, unless you are attempting to argue that Holland, Costa and Kosier were in any way comparable to our interior line now.

We weren't even close.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Well obviously the number of carries directly correlates to the amount of yardage; you can't rush for 900 yards if you only have 100 carries through this point of the season.

I don't think you get this same production simply by giving Murray the same amount of carries in, say, 2011 (I'll stay away from citing last year because of disagreement as to improvement in the OL from last to this year).

So that means either Murray is playing better, or the OL is. Or some combination of both.

It's clearly a combination, but it's more the OL.

Care to explain how its clear so all of us can understand it? The part about its more the OL.

 

[Smitty]

The bottom line is this: we are dominating teams up front now, on a weekly basis. If you're trying to argue we did the same in 2011, well, then there's no point in continuing the conversation.

WHY we are dominating might be up for debate (talent vs commitment/play calling) but nonetheless we are.

Murray as well as all the skill position players are a huge beneficary of that. And we've seen him when the OL isn't so dominating. Still good... But not like this.

 

[Smitty]

Care to explain how its clear so all of us can understand it? The part about its more the OL.

What I said is "clear" is that it's a combination.

But the reason why it's more the OL is we have 3-4 guys playing at ridiculously high levels right now.

 

[ravidubey]

I know his career ypa was in 2011, but there's no way with the attention that is getting paid to the run now that he duplicates it in 2011. We simply were not a dominant run blocking team. It's a situation where stats don't tell the whole story, unless you are attempting to argue that Holland, Costa and Kosier were in any way comparable to our interior line now.

We weren't even close.

You said "I don't think you get this same production simply by giving Murray the same amount of carries in, say, 2011".

Murray was just as good, if not better.

The difference between now and then was a complete lack of trust in the running game. That lack of trust can never be justified.

Bill Parcells knew just how valuable it was to hand the football off, even if the play was stuffed-- even if it was likely to be stuffed. He rode that attitude to the playoffs in 2003 behind Troy Hambrick, a man who managed to tackle himself the instant he grazed a defender, and Quincy Carter, a really awful QB.

Parcells knew it was the best way to keep his OL into the game, punish the defense while keeping them guessing enough to give his QB the best chance to make plays.

Garrett refused to do that for years. At times this refusal (Detroit, Green Bay) became comical.

DeMarco Murray was averaging 7.7 YPC against the Packers an the Packer defenders themselves called the zone-blocking scheme the leagues' best.

Why did they refuse to run in that game? It wasn't because they didn't have Zach fricking Martin.