Redskins Insider Blog from Washington Post - Cowboys Breakdown
Posted by Skins beat writer Jason La Canfora, who is really good imo.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/
Posted at 2:43 PM ET, 11/14/2007
Practice\Cowboys Stuff
Most of the guys who missed practice were as expected.
During the portion we get to watch, no Santana Moss, Randy Thomas James Thrash, Sean Taylor. Marcus Washington was in pads but we'll have to wait to find out how much work he actually did.
Pete Kendall was not practicing eithe. He has the arthritic knee condition and we're guessing this will be termed a "veteran's day off" as it has in the past.
Other than that, had a few thoughts after getting to watch several hours of game film on the Cowboys with a veteran player the other night. We watched most of the Dallas games against the Giants, New England and Philadelphia, getting to see plays from the overhead view and from the end zone view - the coaches tape - and you came away very impressed with that the Cowboys are doing on offense.
We we watching the Dallas O specifically, and I'm not sure there is a more aggressive O coordinator in the NFL than Jason Garrett right now. Even against teams playing a Cover-2 shell, and even when backed deep in their own territory, the Cowboys are taking shots.
They repeatedly had TO run deep go routes to the end zone, sometimes 2-3 plays in a row, and even when they didn't throw the ball there, it left an impression. As a defense you had to respect the bomb all the time, and when Dallas gets between the 40s, look out. Then they really go for the throat.
Several times during drives they sent TO deep and drew attention from the deep safety on his side of the field and threw screens to Barber on the weak side for big gains. A few plays looked similar to the one Westbrook broke on the Skins last week.
Romo is fearless. He sliced up the Giants secondary with outs to the sideline from the opposite hash mark - tough throws to make - and if the Skins ends don't contain Romo and prevent him from planting his foot when he rolls out of the pocket it could be a very long day.
New England had good success against Dallas with a 3 man rush, as their linebackers were outstanding in underneath coverage and at times Belichick actually ended up in a Cover-4, with two linebackers taking halves underneath and two deep safeties. The Pats corners also sloughed off quite a bit and while Dallas put up some points they weren't going to get the big plays against them.
With no Sean Taylor, and an ailing Smoot, this is going to be a tough task. The Skins corners know they will be tested heavily and it's going to be tough to see the Skins D Line getting a whole lot of pressure on their own against this beefy O Line (Leonard Davis is thriving as a guard; I thought he would be a bust). So what do you do? If you bring the blitz and go Cover-0, Romo is too athletic and squirms away and kills you. If you sit back, Whitten and Barber can gut you underneath. (Whitten is having a tremendous season and excelling at disengaging from a blocker at the line, getting out into 20 yard routes and wreaking havoc with the safeties. That dude is much quicker than he looks when you slow down the tape and really see how ground he covers. As for Barber, there was a play against New England where he broke 7 tackles to avoid a safety and covered the length of the end zone from one side to the other, breaking away from Rodney Harrison and then working right to the opposite pylon. It was pretty sick. Not having Taylor deep to step up and hammer him is not good, because he will flat out run over most corners in this league.)
As London Fletcher told me today, "There aren't a whole lot of weaknesses there for you to really pick on." And given the fact Dallas is about to get Terry Glenn back and is essentially healthy on O, and the Skins could be without Marcus and Taylor, it's a little crazy to expect Dallas isn't going to score 28 points.
The Skins have to open it up offensively. I don't think there's any other way. They have some talent there - banged up or not - and have to give the players more of a stake in the attack, stick with the no huddle stuff, keep it simplified and show more go-for-the-throat mentality. Because there's no doubt that's how Dallas is going to come at the Skins D.
I asked Campbell today if he was impressed with the way Garret calls a game. He smiled a little nervously, kind of tried to talk around the question, then said: "All I'll say is their exciting to watch." It was pretty obvious what he was thinking, and I know a lot of the veterans around here feel like if the Skins keep with their ball control, grinding style, then this season is gonna' slip away. They have to put pressure on these defenses, stretch them vertically and horizontally and play to win, rather than hoping merely not to lose a close game
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/
Posted at 2:43 PM ET, 11/14/2007
Practice\Cowboys Stuff
Most of the guys who missed practice were as expected.
During the portion we get to watch, no Santana Moss, Randy Thomas James Thrash, Sean Taylor. Marcus Washington was in pads but we'll have to wait to find out how much work he actually did.
Pete Kendall was not practicing eithe. He has the arthritic knee condition and we're guessing this will be termed a "veteran's day off" as it has in the past.
Other than that, had a few thoughts after getting to watch several hours of game film on the Cowboys with a veteran player the other night. We watched most of the Dallas games against the Giants, New England and Philadelphia, getting to see plays from the overhead view and from the end zone view - the coaches tape - and you came away very impressed with that the Cowboys are doing on offense.
We we watching the Dallas O specifically, and I'm not sure there is a more aggressive O coordinator in the NFL than Jason Garrett right now. Even against teams playing a Cover-2 shell, and even when backed deep in their own territory, the Cowboys are taking shots.
They repeatedly had TO run deep go routes to the end zone, sometimes 2-3 plays in a row, and even when they didn't throw the ball there, it left an impression. As a defense you had to respect the bomb all the time, and when Dallas gets between the 40s, look out. Then they really go for the throat.
Several times during drives they sent TO deep and drew attention from the deep safety on his side of the field and threw screens to Barber on the weak side for big gains. A few plays looked similar to the one Westbrook broke on the Skins last week.
Romo is fearless. He sliced up the Giants secondary with outs to the sideline from the opposite hash mark - tough throws to make - and if the Skins ends don't contain Romo and prevent him from planting his foot when he rolls out of the pocket it could be a very long day.
New England had good success against Dallas with a 3 man rush, as their linebackers were outstanding in underneath coverage and at times Belichick actually ended up in a Cover-4, with two linebackers taking halves underneath and two deep safeties. The Pats corners also sloughed off quite a bit and while Dallas put up some points they weren't going to get the big plays against them.
With no Sean Taylor, and an ailing Smoot, this is going to be a tough task. The Skins corners know they will be tested heavily and it's going to be tough to see the Skins D Line getting a whole lot of pressure on their own against this beefy O Line (Leonard Davis is thriving as a guard; I thought he would be a bust). So what do you do? If you bring the blitz and go Cover-0, Romo is too athletic and squirms away and kills you. If you sit back, Whitten and Barber can gut you underneath. (Whitten is having a tremendous season and excelling at disengaging from a blocker at the line, getting out into 20 yard routes and wreaking havoc with the safeties. That dude is much quicker than he looks when you slow down the tape and really see how ground he covers. As for Barber, there was a play against New England where he broke 7 tackles to avoid a safety and covered the length of the end zone from one side to the other, breaking away from Rodney Harrison and then working right to the opposite pylon. It was pretty sick. Not having Taylor deep to step up and hammer him is not good, because he will flat out run over most corners in this league.)
As London Fletcher told me today, "There aren't a whole lot of weaknesses there for you to really pick on." And given the fact Dallas is about to get Terry Glenn back and is essentially healthy on O, and the Skins could be without Marcus and Taylor, it's a little crazy to expect Dallas isn't going to score 28 points.
The Skins have to open it up offensively. I don't think there's any other way. They have some talent there - banged up or not - and have to give the players more of a stake in the attack, stick with the no huddle stuff, keep it simplified and show more go-for-the-throat mentality. Because there's no doubt that's how Dallas is going to come at the Skins D.
I asked Campbell today if he was impressed with the way Garret calls a game. He smiled a little nervously, kind of tried to talk around the question, then said: "All I'll say is their exciting to watch." It was pretty obvious what he was thinking, and I know a lot of the veterans around here feel like if the Skins keep with their ball control, grinding style, then this season is gonna' slip away. They have to put pressure on these defenses, stretch them vertically and horizontally and play to win, rather than hoping merely not to lose a close game
posted by The Gryphon at 6:57 PM
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