Sturm: Cowboys' loss shows Brandon Weeden is out of his league

jsmith6919

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By Bob Sturm Follow @SportsSturm bsturm@dallasnews.com
Special contributor
Published: 27 September 2015 03:33 PM
Updated: 27 September 2015 05:31 PM

Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket host Bob Sturm gives his instant analysis on the Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday:

Overall thoughts

They needed to play mistake-free and not give away anything today to have a chance to beat a pretty good football team. Despite a lot of things going well in the early going, it was not close to a clean performance to end the day happy. The defense was disappointing. Most of us expected the offense to be disappointing. The defense had no answer to the Falcons' run game -- that we certainly did not fear entering the day -- and all of the problems Julio Jones causes. And put those together you have what you have: a very disappointing result and a second half where the Cowboys were beat up pretty badly on both sides of the ball.

Brandon Weeden didn't attempt many passes downfield; rate his performance

You can tell either Weeden or the coaches or both don't want him making any throws that would be regarded as medium or high levels of difficulty. He threw 26 passes and I remember (two long ones) -- the seam route to Jason Witten, that was a high pass and a slant to Terrance Williams. Otherwise everything was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, and the Falcons adjusted appropriately. Once that happened, the Cowboys had an offense that had zero explosiveness. They were going to have to run the football right down the Falcons throats, and the Falcons would not have that. They stacked the box and quieted that idea in the second half.

Should the Cowboys have thrown more downfield?

Yes. Oh yes. That was their only chance -- catch the Falcons not taking their passing game seriously. And the time to try that is first down. I am pretty sure they never passed on first and they were pretty clear with their gameplan, which was try to work with a quarterback who can't run an NFL offense very well. The more we think about it, we should have seen that last week when they traded for Matt Cassel. Not that Cassel can do magic tricks. They were pretty sure what Brandon Weeden could not do.

Is there QB controversy now?

I'm not sure it's a controversy as much as it's trying to survive and win a few games between now and Nov. 22 (when Tony Romo is slated to return). There certainly is some hesitancy to be running Weeden out there many more times. You just cant have a 21-7 lead and throw that interception, and you can't slide in the backfield when you're down to your last chance and try to avoid contact. That probably right there, that play where it's third down and short and he's sliding for self-preservation, that will leave the coaches looking quickly into alternatives.

On the Cowboys' defense:

The Falcons, entering the game, decided to challenge the Cowboys defense physically. They lined up with a fullback and wanted some power runs right into the teeth of the Cowboys. As they hop on an airplane and head back to Georgia with a win, that was pretty successful all day long. That of course led to some favorable third down situations where they could use Jones to make the Cowboys secondary look rather hapless. So that two-pronged attack probably led many of us to curb our enthusiasm about the upgrades on the Cowboys defense until they receive help from reinforcements.

What should fans take away heading into a game next week at New Orleans, which might not have Drew Brees?

The takeaway is this is going to be very difficult without Romo and Dez Bryant. It places a massive premium on getting that win next Sunday against New Orleans, if the idea is to try to be near .500 when Romo returns, it's possible the season might depend on next Sunday night. I doubt the Patriots and Seahawks (two future Cowboys opponents) will have a tough time with this offense.
 

Texas Ace

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Yea, no shit Weeden is out of his league.

The guy is awful and he always has been. That's why it's inexcusable that this team made no attempt to get a different backup QB in the offseason and seemed content to go with Weeden again despite him being dumb near worthless.
 

L.T. Fan

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Yea, no shit Weeden is out of his league.

The guy is awful and he always has been. That's why it's inexcusable that this team made no attempt to get a different backup QB in the offseason and seemed content to go with Weeden again despite him being dumb near worthless.
The other side of the coin is if the defense had not collapsed and Dallas had won he would have been looked at as an adequate stop gap for the down time of Romo. Just like a football, circumstances can take a funny bounce.
 

Clay_Allison

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I still don't understand why they don't let Weeden take shots downfield. Why get a guy with a big arm and few other attributes going for him then roll out the Brad Johnson offense?
 

VA Cowboy

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After taking a change on Weeden last year and seeing how bad he sucks, no reason he should've been the backup this year.

Yesterday 28 pts should've been enough to win. But at the same time, Weeden gave away 7 and did absolutely nothing in the 2nd half. It's going to be a long 9 weeks if he continues to start.
 

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This loss is not on Weeden. He made the one bad decision, but followed the direction of his coach and OC in taking the underneath stuff. It is baffling that we ran the ball 5 times in the 2nd half yesterday. I'm sold on Garrett, however, not using the run more was hard to understand.

The energy and momentum this team had...to just completely piss that away was hard to watch.
 

1bigfan13

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I wouldn't say Weeden is out of his league at the NFL level. He just can't be counted on to carry you to wins. He's a bus driver at best. Which is the case for a vast majority of NFL QBs

All the people bitching about his performance yesterday need to ask themselves this. Who else is out there that could have done better?

There's a shortage of good QBs across the league. Out of 32 teams I'd say there are only about 20 QBs out there who are worth a shit. Hell, you can make a strong argument that Weeden is just as good/comparable to the starting QBs in SF, Washington, NYJ, Houston, and Cleveland. That's how dry the talent-bed is for NFL QBs.

There simply aren't enough QBs to go around so when you lose a good starter like we have, it's up to the coaches and the other players on offense to pick up their game. That didn't happen in the 2nd half of yesterday's game.

I'm not absolving Weeden of blame but I thought the coaches did a poor job countering the adjustments that were made by the Falcons.
 
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boozeman

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Stephen Jones: Brandon Weeden has the arm to go downfield; Cowboys should've adjusted


By Jon Machota Follow @jonmachota jmachota@dallasnews.com

Staff Writer


Published: 28 September 2015 01:17 PM

Updated: 28 September 2015 01:31 PM



Taking the underneath throws Atlanta was giving him helped the Cowboys score 28 points in the first half. But the Falcons adjusted at halftime and that didn't seem to change the Cowboys' offensive game plan. Outside receiving threats Terrance Williams, Devin Street and Brice Butler all failed to record a single reception.

"Our game plan was early, and obviously it worked real well, is we thought that we could work the underneath part of their coverage and run the football," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan's G-Bag Nation show [KRLD-FM]. "Of course, the first half we did that real well. I think you got to give the Falcons a lot of credit, they adjusted. We didn't probably adjust as well as we needed to. We probably needed to be going to the outside group [of receivers] as they changed and adjusted there in the second half."

On the second play of the Cowboys' opening possession, Weeden went deep for Williams along Atlanta's sideline. The 40-yard pass sailed about five yards ahead of Williams, but a facemask penalty against the Falcons gave Dallas the ball at Atlanta's 37. The long bomb was never seen again after that.

With Tony Romo sidelined for at least six more games, Weeden will continue focusing on taking care of the ball, but he'll also need to move the chains with some deeper passes.

"I think we can do it," Jones said. "Obviously that's why we're going with Brandon. He certainly has the arm talent and the skill set to go downfield with the ball. I think we just have to have the confidence to do it and adjust and do it."
 

1bigfan13

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This loss is not on Weeden. He made the one bad decision, but followed the direction of his coach and OC in taking the underneath stuff. It is baffling that we ran the ball 5 times in the 2nd half yesterday. I'm sold on Garrett, however, not using the run more was hard to understand.

The energy and momentum this team had...to just completely piss that away was hard to watch.
Honestly this week I don't even blame them for not running the ball more. IIRC, every run was either stuffed for a significant loss or the RB only picked up marginal yardage. But I do blame the coaches for not calling plays to back the Falcons defense off the line. They were sitting on the underneath routes and selling out to stop the run the entire 2nd half and not once did we try to burn them deep.

That was my only real problem with the 2nd half play calling.

Additionally, thanks to the Falcons long, time consuming drives, the Cowboys only had about 3 offensive possessions in the second half. So it's not like they had a lot of opportunities to reestablish the run.
 

L.T. Fan

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I wouldn't say Weeden is out of his league at the NFL level. He just can't be counted on to carry you to wins. He's a bus driver at best. Which is the case for a vast majority of NFL QBs

All the people bitching about his performance yesterday need to ask themselves this. Who else is out there that could have done better?

There's a shortage of good QBs across the league. Out of 32 teams I'd say there are only about 20 QBs out there who are worth a shit. Hell, you can make a strong argument that Weeden is just as good/comparable to the starting QBs in SF, Washington, NYJ, Houston, and Cleveland. That's how dry the talent-bed is for NFL QBs.

There simply aren't enough QBs to go around so when you lose a good starter like we have, it's up to the coaches and the other players on offense to pick up their game. That didn't happen in the 2nd half of yesterday's game.

I'm not absolving Weeden of blame but I thought the coaches did a poor job countering the adjustments that were made by the Falcons.
He had some good games in college throwing to the guys like Justin Blackmon and such. I recall he had a good long ball. Maybe the receivers are being limited.
 

DLK150

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I said it during the game day chatter, the lack of downfield passing is what killed us and that comes down not only on Weeden but the play calling as well. Once it became clear that they were going to stack the box to stop the run and limit the short range passes, there should have been at least a few downfield attempts just to keep them honest.

The lack of adjustments led to this loss as much as the fact that Weeden is barely a bus driver. Well, that and a complete inability to stop their run game. I didn't think this defense was elite by any means but that was a pathetic performance. This was a team loss. The offense and defense were both stymied after a fast start.
 

boozeman

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I said it during the game day chatter, the lack of downfield passing is what killed us and that comes down not only on Weeden but the play calling as well. Once it became clear that they were going to stack the box to stop the run and limit the short range passes, there should have been at least a few downfield attempts just to keep them honest.

The lack of adjustments led to this loss as much as the fact that Weeden is barely a bus driver. Well, that and a complete inability to stop their run game. I didn't think this defense was elite by any means but that was a pathetic performance. This was a team loss. The offense and defense were both stymied after a fast start.
The defense angered me a lot more. I didn't expect a guy in his first career start playing behind a pretty average OL (being generous) be allowed to gash them to the tune of 164 yards. Hitchens especially played like turd.
 

Rev

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Adjustments is just another thing foreign to Garrett.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Honestly this week I don't even blame them for not running the ball more. IIRC, every run was either stuffed for a significant loss or the RB only picked up marginal yardage. But I do blame the coaches for not calling plays to back the Falcons defense off the line. They were sitting on the underneath routes and selling out to stop the run the entire 2nd half and not once did we try to burn them deep.

That was my only real problem with the 2nd half play calling.

Additionally, thanks to the Falcons long, time consuming drives, the Cowboys only had about 3 offensive possessions in the second half. So it's not like they had a lot of opportunities to reestablish the run.
You have to at least attempt some of the intermediate routes and throws. We just never even tried. I put that on the coaches though. I think they got a lead and didn't want to risk anything and by the time it was all said and done they just never adjusted. If you're going to play Weeden you're just going to have to trust him. If you can't trust him you're going to lose anyway.
 

boozeman

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Adjustments is just another thing foreign to Garrett.
It was like the GB game a few years ago. Killing them in the run game then inexplicably back off.

But hey, it's Linehan now, right? If so, fine. He's as gutless and shiftless as Garrett.
 

boozeman

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You have to at least attempt some of the intermediate routes and throws. We just never even tried. I put that on the coaches though. I think they got a lead and didn't want to risk anything and by the time it was all said and done they just never adjusted. If you're going to play Weeden you're just going to have to trust him. If you can't trust him you're going to lose anyway.
That lack of trust was pretty evident. Hell, it was evident by fast-tracking the Cassel trade.

If they don't trust him, then they made a serious miscalculation in having him as a backup QB to a guy like Romo at his age, especially when you rob him of the one thing that kept him from taking as many shots to begin with.
 

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I'm not absolving Weeden of blame but I thought the coaches did a poor job countering the adjustments that were made by the Falcons.
Well, I'm not laying all of the blame on him, because the gameplan (or the lack of being able to adjust it at half) was all on the coaches. Where the Weeden blame lays is because his talent seriously limits what can be done. I think the coaches thought it was their best bet to win. They just limited themselves to about 15-20 total plays on the playsheet and made zero adjustment once the Falcons stacked the box.
 

Cotton

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He had some good games in college throwing to the guys like Justin Blackmon and such. I recall he had a good long ball. Maybe the receivers are being limited.
Yeah, and Johnny Manziel threw well to Mike Evans in college. He hasn't shown he can be reliable at it in the pros just yet. Same with Weeden.
 

boozeman

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He had some good games in college throwing to the guys like Justin Blackmon and such. I recall he had a good long ball. Maybe the receivers are being limited.
A guy playing in a spread system that basically is scripted with a couple of reads is hardly the same as what is run in Dallas.

I think Garrett's system (and yes, that also means Linehan's since they are basically the same) have a high degree of difficulty.
 

Cowboysrock55

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A guy playing in a spread system that basically is scripted with a couple of reads is hardly the same as what is run in Dallas.

I think Garrett's system (and yes, that also means Linehan's since they are basically the same) have a high degree of difficulty.
No but Weeden is physically capable of making the difficult throws. That's not the issue. So when a team is stacking the box Weeden should be fully capable of delivering the ball down field.
 
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