Archer: Cowboys' identity in 2016 must center around passing game

boozeman

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Cowboys' identity in 2016 must center around passing game


1:11 PM ET
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer




IRVING, Texas -- So what is the Dallas Cowboys' identity offensively?

The other day Jean-Jacques Taylor wrote the Cowboys have to get back to the formula that worked so well in 2014 when they ran it 50.1 percent of the time and took pressure off Tony Romo. In 2015, the Cowboys ran it 42.1 percent of the time and that was with Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore starting 12 games.

Jacques and I will just have to agree to disagree on this subject.

The offense didn't suffer in 2015 because the Cowboys did not run it enough. They lost because the passing game was stale.

A healthy Tony Romo and an expanded passing game would be the shots in the arm the Cowboys' offense needs. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Darren McFadden ran for 1,089 yards, with all but 129 of those coming in the final 11 games. The Cowboys finished the year with 1,890 rushing yards, which was ninth best in the league. The quicker everybody realizes the 2,354 yards the Cowboys ran for in 2014 was an anomaly, the better.

What has to change in 2016 for the Cowboys to regain a top offensive form is the passing game. A healthy Tony Romo helps. A healthy Dez Bryant helps. A more expansive passing attack will help.

The Cowboys could run the ball fine in 2015. They couldn't score any points. They went four games without an offensive touchdown. They went four more games with just one offensive touchdown.

What made the Cowboys so good in 2014 wasn't just DeMarco Murray's 1,845 yards on the ground. It was Romo making the crucial plays at the critical moments on third down and the red zone. Over and over, Romo delivered at the key moments and he had his best season with 34 touchdown passes and nine interceptions while leading the NFL in completion percentage.

The New England Patriots' running backs carried the ball seven times in last week's divisional round win against the Kansas City Chiefs. As a team they ran 14 times for 38 yards.

The Patriots were simply not going to be bullheaded in their approach and try to run the ball against the Chiefs' stout front. So they spread them out and Tom Brady dissected them. In all likelihood the Cowboys would have attempted to "do what we do best" and tried to ram the running game down Kansas City's throat.

Maybe it would have worked to a degree but it would have kept possessions at a minimum, execution at a premium and points low.

The notion that a running game leads to championships is an old one.

Teams need to run the ball well situationally. They need to be good on third and short. They need to be good in the tight red zone. They need to be good in four-minute offense.

But it's the passing game that matters most. That's why New England has been successful. The Carolina Panthers went 15-1 because Cam Newton had his best passing season. The Arizona Cardinals are a pass-first team as well.

The Cowboys have to find a way to get chunk plays again. In 2014 the Cowboys had 53 pass plays of 20 or more yards. They had just 40 in 2015 and eight came in the final game with Moore slinging it around.

The Cowboys have a great offensive line and they showed they can run the ball well enough with a good running back.

The Cowboys' identity in 2016 has to be about getting the passing game going again.
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Um, yeah.

Let's go back to the 8-8 formula and away from the 12-4.

Seems legit.

And if Archer thinks for a damn second the Panthers are a "passing team", he's an effing idiot.
 

Cotton

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This is the stupidest fucking idea I have ever heard.
 

Cotton

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I think I agree with Archer's assessment. The passing game for Dallas was dismal.
That's not what he said. He said the offense should center around the passing game. That got us 8-8 three years in a row. So, yeah, let's go back to that blueprint. Brilliant.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I think I agree with Archer's assessment. The passing game for Dallas was dismal.
Yeah, he is absolutely right. It's not like he was saying Dallas needs to pass the ball more. He said the Cowboys need to pass the ball well. Which is correct. The running game clearly doesn't mean shit if we can't pass the ball effectively. It's pretty common sense.
 

Cotton

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Yeah, he is absolutely right. It's not like he was saying Dallas needs to pass the ball more. He said the Cowboys need to pass the ball well. Which is correct. The running game clearly doesn't mean shit if we can't pass the ball effectively. It's pretty common sense.
Which is idiocy unless you also follow that thought process up with getting rid of every QB on this team minus Romo. Oh, and the coaching staff that organized all those gameplans.
 

boozeman

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Yeah, he is absolutely right. It's not like he was saying Dallas needs to pass the ball more. He said the Cowboys need to pass the ball well. Which is correct. The running game clearly doesn't mean shit if we can't pass the ball effectively. It's pretty common sense.

This is like saying we need to score more points to win games.

Or that you need a good to great QB to be successful and win.

Please go fuck yourself with that level of "common sense" and quit wasting everyone's time.

An identity has nothing to do with that notion.

An identity means having a core foundation of what you do. Whether running or passing there is going to have to be something that at the end of the day you hang your hat on.

It was pretty clear to me what the identity of this team was over the first few games. It was passing, "doing it well", with Romo.

That concept is going to fail if they try it again.
 

L.T. Fan

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This is like saying we need to score more points to win games.

Or that you need a good to great QB to be successful and win.

Please go fuck yourself with that level of "common sense" and quit wasting everyone's time.

An identity has nothing to do with that notion.

An identity means having a core foundation of what you do. Whether running or passing there is going to have to be something that at the end of the day you hang your hat on.

It was pretty clear to me what the identity of this team was over the first few games. It was passing, "doing it well", with Romo.

That concept is going to fail if they try it again.
Notwithstanding the identity that needs to be established, the Dallas team couldn't compete last season because the passing game could not be relied on.
 

Cowboysrock55

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An identity means having a core foundation of what you do. Whether running or passing there is going to have to be something that at the end of the day you hang your hat on.
Our identity has always been passing. Even in 2014, it was our passing game. That's the point. That also doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to run a balanced offense. Just means we ride or die based on the passing game.
 

boozeman

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Notwithstanding the identity that needs to be established, the Dallas team couldn't compete last season because the passing game could not be relied on.
And that's like saying we lost because of no Romo.

That is obvious.

But I am talking more about like what we were doing, even when he was healthy.

We were not running the ball as a core foundation as we did under Murray.

We were farting around with short passes and rotating running backs because we didn't have a decent one.

The worst thing about this past season is that the Romo injury made what likely was that miscalculation be resumed as our direction in 2016.

I feel pretty safe in saying even if Romo stays healthy, we don't have the same level of strength as we did in 2014.

I think we lose a couple more games, go into the wildcard round and lose.

It seems right now, they are fine and dandy with McFadden as the starter, bringing back Dunbar on a scholarship and maybe they will get a guy in the middle rounds.

That's another mistake waiting to happen.
 

boozeman

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Our identity has always been passing. Even in 2014, it was our passing game. That's the point. That also doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to run a balanced offense. Just means we ride or die based on the passing game.
In 2014, the foundation was the run game. It is what we did to control games. It is what we did to close out games.

The passing game was more effective and efficient as a result.
 

L.T. Fan

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And that's like saying we lost because of no Romo.

That is obvious.

But I am talking more about like what we were doing, even when he was healthy.

We were not running the ball as a core foundation as we did under Murray.

We were farting around with short passes and rotating running backs because we didn't have a decent one.

The worst thing about this past season is that the Romo injury made what likely was that miscalculation be resumed as our direction in 2016.

I feel pretty safe in saying even if Romo stays healthy, we don't have the same level of strength as we did in 2014.

I think we lose a couple more games, go into the wildcard round and lose.

It seems right now, they are fine and dandy with McFadden as the starter, bringing back Dunbar on a scholarship and maybe they will get a guy in the middle rounds.

That's another mistake waiting to happen.
I agree the offense system is broke or it simply isn't sophisticated enough to adjust to situational need. You are correct that it is a dismal failure without Romo plus the coaches couldn't find any way to tweak it to fit the changing circumstances.
 

boozeman

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I agree the offense system is broke or it simply isn't sophisticated enough to adjust to situational need. You are correct that it is a dismal failure without Romo plus the coaches couldn't find any way to tweak it to fit the changing circumstances.
Not even concerned any longer about the cause of death of the 2015 season. We already know what that was.

I just hope they are capable of performing a thorough autopsy that looks for everything, not just the obvious cause of death, which was the QB situation.

The run game was not enough of a foundation. It was good enough to get empty stats, but nobody feared it even when it was clear it was our only way to move the ball.

The pass game was a ridiculous comedy which we already know about. It is just as much about the system itself as the players in it. Yes, Weeden, Cassel and Moore sucked. But our design was just as much of a handicap.

The receivers themselves are poor fits for the offense and we either need to tailor our scheme to them or get some new ones to pair with Bryant. And we still aren't even using him right.

And that is just the offense.
 

L.T. Fan

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Not even concerned any longer about the cause of death of the 2015 season. We already know what that was.

I just hope they are capable of performing a thorough autopsy that looks for everything, not just the obvious cause of death, which was the QB situation.

The run game was not enough of a foundation. It was good enough to get empty stats, but nobody feared it even when it was clear it was our only way to move the ball.

The pass game was a ridiculous comedy which we already know about. It is just as much about the system itself as the players in it. Yes, Weeden, Cassel and Moore sucked. But our design was just as much of a handicap.

The receivers themselves are poor fits for the offense and we either need to tailor our scheme to them or get some new ones to pair with Bryant. And we still aren't even using him right.

And that is just the offense.
Again I agree. The outcome for last season was the result of bad decisions at the RB position in my view. Even though McFadden did over 1000 yards he couldn't deliver on the hard yards which resulted in squandered drives in the red zone. Not having a back who could deliver the payload was compounded when the passing game was nipped. The thing that concerns me more is whether the organization will decide to fix the RB problem first t and secondly will they pull the trigger for a QB this season? In my view both have to be done to ensure an identity of run first system again. I think we are on the same page about this.
 
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Genghis Khan

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In 2014, the foundation was the run game. It is what we did to control games. It is what we did to close out games.

The passing game was more effective and efficient as a result.
Exactly right.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It's funny that in todays NFL people consider a balanced attack a run based offense. In 2014 we were balanced. But people are so used to 60 or 70 percent pass that it doesn't seem that way.
 
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That's not what he said. He said the offense should center around the passing game. That got us 8-8 three years in a row. So, yeah, let's go back to that blueprint. Brilliant.
Hey why not, maybe then Garrett will get fired after no more than an 8-8 season again. He seems dumb enough to actually believe that the passing game is the way to go anyway.
 

Clay_Allison

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We'll come out planning to play 40 snaps a game from the shotgun and when Romo goes down in week 3, Garrett won't get the same pass he got this year.
 

ravidubey

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The running game keeps teams honest and punishes the defense in the four minute offense. But in order for it to work you must have a healthy pass offense.

Cowboys need improv Romo because the defense still really sucks and our WR's aren't good route runners.

The Patriots have both, which allows them to lean on the pass more.
 

VA Cowboy

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Our system or lack of a system is our biggest problem. We can't even get Dez open half the time. Next is receivers. Other than Dez no one else is much of a factor. T. Williams can make some plays but he's not consistent and disappears for long stretches at a time. Compare it to the Steelers. They have Antonio Brown, Martavias Bryant, Markus Wheaton, Heyward-Bey, and now rookie Sammie Coates. Brown is more reliable and much better at YAC than Dez. T Williams is much like Wheaton. A 3rd rounder who shows some promise but unreliable. But Bryant, Heyward-Bey, Coates are all much better than our remaining WRS, Beasley, Street, Butler.

We basically have a #1 WR, a #3 and three #4-5's. Steelers have two a #1, two #2's and two #3's. Of course when you draft guys like Devin Street, Danny Coale and then rely on Undrafted FA's like Beasley and other teams scrub like Butler it's no wonder we don't have much receiving talent. But we have no problem throwing 2nd round picks at backup TE's. Unreal. But it's a self-imposed problem.
 
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