My Statistical Analysis on the Dallas 2 TE set and why the coaching staff wants it
Great stats breakdown of posted by Yakuza Rich from a sports forum:
I looked at some of the stat splits provided by STATS, Inc and here’s what I noticed and the conclusions I came up with.
From a passing perspective, I can see why the Cowboys are looking to go to the 2 TE set.
- Terry Glenn put up some very good numbers in a 0 TE set (19.5 yards per catch). However, out of the two TE set, Glenn’s numbers were astounding (31.0 yards per catch and 3 TD’s)
Glenn was even more astounding out of the lone setback formation (45 catches, 19.4 yards per catch and 7 TD’s)
- Jason Witten put up his best numbers out of the 2 TE set (15.4 yards per catch in 2005 and 16.8 yards per catch in 2004)
And again, he put up solid numbers in lone back sets (49, 13.0, 3 TD’s in 2004 and 44, 11.4, and 4 TD’s in 2005)
- Bledsoe’s QB rating reflected this as well. When operating out of the 2 TE set, he completed 61% of his passes for a whopping 10.49 yards per attempt and a 111.8 QB rating.
When Bledsoe was operating out of the loneback set, he completed 63.2% of his passes and had a 94.7 QB rating
However, here’s where it gets a bit tricky.
- Julius Jones runs very well out of the loneback set. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 2005 and 5.9 yards per carry in 2004. However, in the 2 TE set he averaged only 3.1 yards per carry in both 2004 & 2005
- Marion Barber runs very well out of the loneback set as well, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. But, he only average 2.0 yards per carry in the two TE set
I think the coaching staff said “hey, we need to find ways to protect Drew against the blitz and improve our running game.”
From looking at the stats, the offense did well in 2 TE sets and 3 WR sets. The problem was with the O-Line problems, teams could just keep 8 in the box and blitz. That would cause problems for Bledsoe as the game wore on and made it harder for the O-Line to make holes for the RB’s.
I think they were looking at Fasano and thinking he was a pretty good blocker and better than Campbell was last year. Furthermore, he’s a far bigger receiving threat than Campbell.
Now with the 2 TE sets with Fasano and Witten, my guess is that they feel a lot better about their passing game since both Glenn and Bledsoe excelled at passing out of the formation. And that was with Campbell, so if Fasano is a sizeable upgrade, the passing game should be better.
As far as the running game goes, they probably feel that Fasano is better than Campbell was last year at blocking. Now that they have threats at TE and Owens (who averaged 21.3 yards per catch against the blitz last year)….teams will be punished for blitzing the Cowboys and/or eventually stop blitzing altogether.
That should hopefully open up holes for the RB’s and cause Bledsoe to get cleaner throws in the pocket.
I looked at some of the stat splits provided by STATS, Inc and here’s what I noticed and the conclusions I came up with.
From a passing perspective, I can see why the Cowboys are looking to go to the 2 TE set.
- Terry Glenn put up some very good numbers in a 0 TE set (19.5 yards per catch). However, out of the two TE set, Glenn’s numbers were astounding (31.0 yards per catch and 3 TD’s)
Glenn was even more astounding out of the lone setback formation (45 catches, 19.4 yards per catch and 7 TD’s)
- Jason Witten put up his best numbers out of the 2 TE set (15.4 yards per catch in 2005 and 16.8 yards per catch in 2004)
And again, he put up solid numbers in lone back sets (49, 13.0, 3 TD’s in 2004 and 44, 11.4, and 4 TD’s in 2005)
- Bledsoe’s QB rating reflected this as well. When operating out of the 2 TE set, he completed 61% of his passes for a whopping 10.49 yards per attempt and a 111.8 QB rating.
When Bledsoe was operating out of the loneback set, he completed 63.2% of his passes and had a 94.7 QB rating
However, here’s where it gets a bit tricky.
- Julius Jones runs very well out of the loneback set. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 2005 and 5.9 yards per carry in 2004. However, in the 2 TE set he averaged only 3.1 yards per carry in both 2004 & 2005
- Marion Barber runs very well out of the loneback set as well, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. But, he only average 2.0 yards per carry in the two TE set
I think the coaching staff said “hey, we need to find ways to protect Drew against the blitz and improve our running game.”
From looking at the stats, the offense did well in 2 TE sets and 3 WR sets. The problem was with the O-Line problems, teams could just keep 8 in the box and blitz. That would cause problems for Bledsoe as the game wore on and made it harder for the O-Line to make holes for the RB’s.
I think they were looking at Fasano and thinking he was a pretty good blocker and better than Campbell was last year. Furthermore, he’s a far bigger receiving threat than Campbell.
Now with the 2 TE sets with Fasano and Witten, my guess is that they feel a lot better about their passing game since both Glenn and Bledsoe excelled at passing out of the formation. And that was with Campbell, so if Fasano is a sizeable upgrade, the passing game should be better.
As far as the running game goes, they probably feel that Fasano is better than Campbell was last year at blocking. Now that they have threats at TE and Owens (who averaged 21.3 yards per catch against the blitz last year)….teams will be punished for blitzing the Cowboys and/or eventually stop blitzing altogether.
That should hopefully open up holes for the RB’s and cause Bledsoe to get cleaner throws in the pocket.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:56 PM
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