Gosselin: Cowboys need NFL's best offensive line to live up to reputation

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Gosselin: Cowboys need NFL's best offensive line to live up to reputation

Published: 30 September 2015 11:56 AM
Updated: 01 October 2015 12:14 AM

Having the best offensive line in the NFL is a definite plus for the Cowboys. But only if that group plays like the best offensive line in the NFL.

And right now, it's not.

The Cowboys were up, 28-17, at halftime last Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. When the Cowboys were up by two scores at halftime a year ago, everyone in America knew what was coming. The Cowboys were going to run the ball down your throat in the second half, winding down the clock and grinding down the opposition.

Up 21-10 against Philadelphia at halftime last season, the Cowboys ran the ball 22 times in the second half and controlled the clock for 21 minutes in a 38-27 victory. Up 16-0 against Tennessee at the half, the Cowboys ran the ball another 22 times in the second half and controlled the clock for almost 20 minutes in a 26-10 victory. Up 24-0 at halftime against New Orleans, the Cowboys ran the ball 20 times in the second half and controlled the clock for 17 minutes in a 38-17 victory.

That's the script we've come to expect from the Cowboys -- get the lead, then unleash the NFL's best offensive line on a defense.

But last Sunday against the Falcons, the Cowboys lost that script. They ran the ball just five times in the second half, held onto it for less than 10 minutes and were chased out of their own building by the Falcons, 39-28.

That capped a miserable first month of the season for the best offensive line in the NFL. In the three games of September, the offensive line was penalized 11 times and failed to keep franchise quarterback Tony Romo out of harm's way. He suffered a fractured clavicle on a sack in the second game at Philadelphia that landed him on the eight-week injured reserve list.

The Cowboys also have tumbled from the most run-obsessed team in the NFL to a middle of the pack unit, ranking 16th with an average of 105 yards per game. That's 42 fewer yards than a year ago.

Right tackle Doug Free, left tackle Tyron Smith and left guard Mackenzy Bernadeau have all been penalized three times this season and right guard Zack Martin has been penalized twice. But Martin also had a holding call against Philadelphia that was declined. Add it all up and that's 75 lost yards in penalties. And that doesn't even count the four penalties on tight ends -- the three false starts by Jason Witten and the holding call on Geoff Swaim.

On the first down of the Cowboys' first possession of the second half against the Falcons, Witten was flagged for a false start. That made it first-and-15. The Cowboys then ran Joseph Randle on a sweep of right end. But Falcons linebacker O'Brien Schofield fought through a block by Free to tackle Randle for a one-yard loss. On the next snap, Free was penalized for holding Schofield.

That doomed that possession.

The next time the Cowboys got the ball, they ran another first-down sweep of right end by Randle. But rookie guard La'El Collins missed his down block and Atlanta's 345-pound defensive tackle Paul Solai waddled untouched into the backfield to toss Randle for a four-yard loss.

For all practical purposes, the Dallas running game was done for the day.

Romo was sacked three times by the Eagles and Weeden twice by the Falcons. Vic Beasley beat Smith for the first sack of Weeden. A strong outside speed rush by both ends forced Weeden to scramble on the second sack into the arms of Adrian Clayborn. Free allowed a sack to Cedric Thornton in the Philadelphia game and the Eagles sacked Romo the other two times on stunts, each time blasting a rusher untouched past a guard.

Smith, Martin and center Travis Frederick all performed at a Pro Bowl level last season and Free staged a resurgence of his career as the Cowboys won the NFC East, finished second in the NFL in rushing and led the NFC in time of possession at 32 minutes, 22 seconds per game.

The alleged weak link up front was left guard Ronald Leary, and the Cowboys addressed that by signing the LSU All-America Collins this offseason. But without Leary these last two weeks because of a groin injury, the best offensive line in the NFL has struggled. Bernadeau started in Leary's place against the Eagles and Collins against the Falcons.

There have been too many penalties, too many hits on the quarterback and holes not wide enough for the running backs these last two weeks. Maybe we've underrated Leary. Maybe he's the glue that holds this line together. That's the way it looks heading into October, anyway.

The Cowboys need to get Leary back -- and his pals need to start performing once again like the best offensive line in the NFL
. With Romo and Dez Bryant out, the unit on this football team with the greatest financial investment and the most talent is the offensive line.

If they want to be considered the best blocking front in the NFL, they must start playing like it. Very, very soon. The Cowboys need to win some games in Romo's absence -- and they'll need better blocking to do that.
 
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Travis Frederick: Doesn't matter if QB is back there making a sandwich, we have to hold our blocks
By Jon Machota Follow @jonmachota jmachota@dallasnews.com

Published: 30 September 2015 05:03 PM
Updated: 01 October 2015 12:12 AM

IRVING -- Whether it's Tony Romo or Brandon Weeden behind center, not much changes for the Cowboys offensive line.

"For us, we try to hold our blocks for as long as it takes to win," Cowboys center Travis Frederick said. "So for us, that means if the quarterback is scrambling around or if he's sitting back there making a sandwich, or whatever he's doing, we need to continue to hold our blocks until the ball's downfield."

Does it matter what kind of sandwich is being made?

"I prefer Bologna," Frederick said, "but it doesn't matter."

The group considered by many to be the league's best offensive line, wasn't able to create much running room in the second half of Sunday's loss to Atlanta. According to Frederick, they weren't much better in the first half when Dallas' backs combined for 131 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries.

If the Cowboys are going to win games without Romo and Dez Bryant, the offensive line needs to be better than they were against Atlanta.

"They come to practice, they work hard, they play well together, they're tough, they run block well, they pass block well," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "But the standard is really high for everybody and they have a really high standard for themselves. We're certainly not satisfied with their play, and they certainly aren't, either."

Frederick said there wasn't a single exceptional game that stood out last season as they paved the way for DeMarco Murray's record-setting season. But Frederick could tell that the unit progressively got better as the season went along.

"I think that we've shown some good things," Frederick said. "I think we've improved a little bit from last year in certain areas and we've showed areas that we need to continue to improve on. We just need to continue to work together and continue to set the bar higher and higher.

"You saw in the first half of that game, things were going well. To be honest, we weren't really playing that well as an offensive line, the way things were working out. We weren't clean on things, but things were working.

"That came down to the guys outside doing really well blocking their guys down the field. It comes down to the tight end blocking the extra guy. It comes down to the running back making a guy miss. We just need to continue to improve on what we're doing on the little things and I think things will continue to move forward."

Through three games last year, the Cowboys rushed for 470 yards and three touchdowns on 95 carries. This season, they have 316 yards and four touchdowns on 77 carries.

"I think we can get better," Jones said. "And we'll continue to just stick with it and hopefully improve.

"We're still a work in progress. Obviously we've still got some unique challenges and opportunities here over the next couple of weeks, but we feel good about it."
 
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Smitty

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I doubt it's that we underrated Leary.... Martin and Smith are committing penalties, getting beat, and missing blocks. They just aren't playing well.
 

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I doubt it's that we underrated Leary.... Martin and Smith are committing penalties, getting beat, and missing blocks. They just aren't playing well.
you may be right, but I wonder if we overrated Collins' ability to step in right away and be as effective as Leary.
 

townsend

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I think our lack of consistent running and deep passing has hurt the line. I think they've had to contend with much more certain front 7s. I don't know where that 2014 offense went, but even with Romo and Dez in the lineup, we have not looked like any kind of similar offense.

We need to get vertical and hard running so that the line can play the part of the hammer more often than the nail.
 

Smitty

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Well if the OL was underperforming even with Romo and Dez in the lineup, that would still be hampering performance... So I'm not sure about your point there.
 

Jiggyfly

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Good stuff here.

This is what I was talking about as the difference in what Murray last year did than what Randle is doing. Murray was much more decisive in reading that DE and then going out the back door.




This is a weak outside zone that is blocked OK. Doug Free gets knocked too far into the backfield, and Travis Frederick is behind his block (and also too far in the backfield), but Randle screws up his read and misses the hole.

On this play Randle has a pretty simple read. He looks at the defensive end; if it doesn't look like Free has him absolutely hooked early on, then Randle needs to get his eyes to the defensive tackle. If the center is covering him up (like he should be), you have a two-way go off the center's block, if you see color to the play side, you stick your foot in the ground and cut right off his ass. That's what Randle needed to do, stick his foot in the ground and explode right off Frederick's block.
It looks congested in there, but you have to have faith that your left tackle is going to get the backside defensive tackle cut down or covered up. Here, the left tackle (Smith) does a fantastic job of getting flat down the line of scrimmage, running his ass off, and throwing his backside shoulder through the defender's play-side thighboard. That's a perfect block, and if Randle trusts it, he gains 4 to 6 yards on the low end (if the guy Smith cuts trips him up, or the linebacker Collins is blocking makes an arm tackle), and he's one-on-one with the safety if he steps through those tackles.
 
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ravidubey

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Frederick blocks that play exactly the same way in each gif. Once McFadden bursts for good yardage. Another time Randle dances to the right until he runs into Free's guy who gets off his block.

The OL isn't supposed to hold blocks for a year until the QB or RB finally makes a decision. It's supposed to be a punch, hold, release, move, and punch again at another level. You're supposed to rely on the back's vision to find the hole and adjust.

If the RB isn't there, there's not much a line can do.

If the QB can't force 8 defenders out of the box, run-blocking will be much harder because six can't block eight consistently.

If the defense can't get the opposing offense off the field, there will be limited opportunities to even try.

If the offense gets behind, there will be even fewer runs.

Bottom line, don't lose your QB, like ever.
 

townsend

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Well if the OL was underperforming even with Romo and Dez in the lineup, that would still be hampering performance... So I'm not sure about your point there.
We never passed down field, or ran up the gut. We've seen a drastic shift in the offense since last year that is not because of injuries.
 

Smitty

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We never passed down field, or ran up the gut. We've seen a drastic shift in the offense since last year that is not because of injuries.
You've only seen about 5 possessions with the whole offense... Too early to say that.
 

boozeman

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Randle gets a lot of blame too.
But...but...anybody can run behind this line!

All in all, it is like I said before. Last year was a perfect storm.

Murray had synergy with the OL, they knew how to block for him and what he would do.

Randle is too low rent to develop that kind of relationship with them, so what worked for Murray, who sat in the OL meetings, doesn't work for him.

There has to be a sense of what your teammates are doing.

Sorry, I just don't see Randle as the kind of guy that would take that extra step.

We all laugh at Murray, but he did work at it to develop the little things.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Good stuff here.

This is what I was talking about as the difference in what Murray last year did than what Randle is doing. Murray was much more decisive in reading that DE and then going out the back door.




This is a weak outside zone that is blocked OK. Doug Free gets knocked too far into the backfield, and Travis Frederick is behind his block (and also too far in the backfield), but Randle screws up his read and misses the hole.

On this play Randle has a pretty simple read. He looks at the defensive end; if it doesn't look like Free has him absolutely hooked early on, then Randle needs to get his eyes to the defensive tackle. If the center is covering him up (like he should be), you have a two-way go off the center's block, if you see color to the play side, you stick your foot in the ground and cut right off his ass. That's what Randle needed to do, stick his foot in the ground and explode right off Frederick's block.
It looks congested in there, but you have to have faith that your left tackle is going to get the backside defensive tackle cut down or covered up. Here, the left tackle (Smith) does a fantastic job of getting flat down the line of scrimmage, running his ass off, and throwing his backside shoulder through the defender's play-side thighboard. That's a perfect block, and if Randle trusts it, he gains 4 to 6 yards on the low end (if the guy Smith cuts trips him up, or the linebacker Collins is blocking makes an arm tackle), and he's one-on-one with the safety if he steps through those tackles.
And if Fredbeard makes the block like he usually does Randle is in the perfect spot to gash it for a massive gain. I agree if he would have cut back a second sooner he could have gotten yards but that doesn't look like the the spot anyone else is blocking for it intended to be run. Randle is expecting Frederick to get the hook there, which is where a massive hole would have opened up. That backside cut had defenders coming. It would have been for a minimal gain at best based on the blocking here.
 

L.T. Fan

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The first thing that has to happen in a running play is for the OL to sufficiently execute their assignments. If that happens a RB will have at least two options to pick from. If there is a breakdown the only thing a RB can do is find the next best option. All of this happens in about 2 seconds so vision is critical. It was said that Murray didn't have good vision but he did have it on the line execution. If he was faulty it was in the second tier vision.
 

Jiggyfly

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And if Fredbeard makes the block like he usually does Randle is in the perfect spot to gash it for a massive gain. I agree if he would have cut back a second sooner he could have gotten yards but that doesn't look like the the spot anyone else is blocking for it intended to be run. Randle is expecting Frederick to get the hook there, which is where a massive hole would have opened up. That backside cut had defenders coming. It would have been for a minimal gain at best based on the blocking here.
Murray did a lot with that exact thing last year but Randle has a chance to get better reading this.

I am not knocking Randle just noting how in sync Murray was.
 

boozeman

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Seemed like they blamed most of it on Randle not trusting his blocks
I don't view him as an especially smart runner. Murray was smart. He would dive it in there when the window opened.

But hey, that must have left "meat on the bone" or whatever.
 

boozeman

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Murray did a lot with that exact thing last year but Randle has a chance to get better reading this.

I am not knocking Randle just noting how in sync Murray was.
All in all, I think Randle was doomed after the snit he had last year after his underwear debacle.

I don't think he is very respected.

RBs are like QBs. If they don't get the OL behind them, they can have a miserable existence.

Either on or off the field, they need to forge relationships with those five. If they don't, well, you get a lack of synergy.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I don't view him as an especially smart runner. Murray was smart. He would dive it in there when the window opened.

But hey, that must have left "meat on the bone" or whatever.
The funny thing is I remember an awful lot of people on this very message board bitching about Murray missing the holes last year. Or being too slow. Or a combination of both. No RB is perfect on every play. Just like no offensive line is perfect on every play.
 
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