Offensive Series; Five Basic Plays that the Cowboys should keep and expand on this season
Originally posted by cowboyjoe from a sports forum:
Single-wing punt formation similar to Pop Warner's playbook.
Single-wing teams used both a standard punting formation and a quick punt, often kicking on
1. Single Back Toss to the Weak Side, which is a play off of the single wing formation of today. This play was first designed off of Pop Warner’s offensive style. Traditionally, the single-wing was an offensive formation that featured a core of four backs including a tailback, a fullback, a quarterback (blocking back), and a wingback. Linemen were set "unbalanced," or simply put, there were two linemen on one side and four on the other side of the center. This was done by moving the off-side guard or tackle to the strong side. The single-wing was one of the first formations attempting to trick the defense instead of over-powering it Single-wing formation similar to Pop Warner's playbook.
Pop Warner referred to his new offensive scheme as the Carlisle formation because he formulated most of the offense while coaching the Carlisle Football Indians team. The term single-wing came into widespread use after spectators noticed that the formation gave the appearance of a wing-shape.
Although the Single-wing has lost much of its popularity since World War II the scheme for today with its characteristic features are still prevalent in all levels of modern football. They include pulling guards, double teams, play action passes, laterals, wedge blocking, trap blocking, the sweep, the reverse and the quick kick. Many current offenses, such as that of the Florida coach Urban Meyer use Single-wing tendencies for running plays, while using wide receivers instead of wingbacks. Once a strong running formation, the single wing has been replaced by formations that facilitate passing, while minimizing the running aspect of the game. Today the single-wing has evolved in what coaches call the spread offense or shotgun, with the emphasis on passing. The most noticeable feature that remains of the powerful Carlisle formation is the long toss from center to the main ball-handler. The main talent and field general has become the quarterback instead of the tailback. The other single-wing backs have moved close to the line of scrimmage and are split farther from the main line. Wide receivers are called split-ends, flex ends, slots, and flankers. Also, linemen spacing has increased in distance. Moving offensive players farther apart serves the purpose of also spreading the defense. The goal is to make defenses cover the whole field on every play.
The current incarnation of the Wildcat offense which has been adopted by many college, NFL, and high school teams utilizes many elements of the single-wing formation.
Which leads us to the Cowboys usage involving Felix Jones; with a single back toss to the weak side. Hopefully this year Felix will have an unwarranted injury season, so that Felix Jones will light up the field with his explosiveness causing Dallas Cowboys fans to rejoice, hoot and holler. As you know Felix too the opposition by storm last year, rushing for 266 yards on only 30 carries, for an unprecedented unheard of 8.9 yards per carry. So without the deep threat of T O, but with the usage of Miles Austin with his deep speed catching teams off guard, forcing teams to take a safety out of the box to stop the run. The running game will be or should be a more prominent role in the Cowboys offense this year, allowing Felix Jones to be a huge part of that role in the running game.
With breathtaking speed and pure athletic outstanding agility, Jones is more dangerous to the opposing defenses when he can get into the open space. A halfback toss to the weak side with a tackle leading the way allows Felix to be very explosive doing just that. If the opposing defense is playing man, which most teams will do sometimes, then Felix will have less defenders on that side of the field to beat with Felix’s outstanding agility and speed burning opposing defenses, while getting more room in open field to gain speed, which in afterthought will lead to more scores and touchdowns by Felix for the Cowboys.
We all know how Jason Witten is Romo’s security blanket, Witten can and most usually 90 percent of the time catch anything thrown his way by Romo. Just like when big time plays are needed by the Cowboys on passing routes, Witten generally is the answer with Romo looking his way. I havent seen any particular play that Witten is exceptionally great at, because Witten generally catches everything thrown his way from Romo. Witten can catch the football, block, show heart, intelligence, and toughness as a superior TE. So, you can say Witten is the best all around TE in the NFL today. Yet, one particular play where Witten is superior at is the seam route. While the seam route is mostly effective in zone coverage, Witten can also exploit man to man coverage too. With deceptive speed and quickness, along with his great size as a TE, linebackers are too old to cover him, while most cornerbacks and safeties can be overpowered by his size. Thus if Witten is left in single coverage, he will generally beat that coverage in a seam route 9 times out of 10.
2. Seams Simple
What do Jason Witten, Billy Miller, and Gonzalez have in common? Besides the fact that they are tight ends, smart guy?
The answer: They were among the best tight ends in the league at running the seamer last year.
The seamer (or seam route) is a deep pass pattern up the middle of the field, usually run by the tight end or a slot receiver. The receiver's goal is to attack the lane between two zone defenders. Even if the receiver doesn't get open, he creates space over the middle of the field by forcing the deep safeties to cover him.
You'll often read that a tight end possesses the "speed to stretch the seam," but there's no real way to measure how good a tight end is at running this particular route
3. Roy Williams: Shotgun Formation- 10-Yard Stop at the Sideline
Roy Williams' greatest strength is most certainly not his speed, although he is by no definition a slow man. His true advantage comes with his great size and tremendous hands.
While Williams has certainly not done anything in Dallas as of yet to prove that he is a legit No.1 receiver, he has already made some highlight reel worthy catches.
Although not exactly similar in the way they play the game, Williams shares a certain likeness with ex-Cowboy and Hall of Fame receiver, Michael Irvin. Like Irvin, Williams is the kind of receiver that can flat out move the chains.
He is at his best when he is able to run quick, short stop routes near the sideline to pick up first downs. This route allows him to almost always have only one man on him, whom he will most certainly have the advantage against in both size and hands.
Without Terrell Owens opposite Williams next season, the Cowboys will most likely have to run more of a ball control offense, and these kinds of routes will help them to do just that.
4. Marion Barber: Three Wide, Two Back Set- Delayed Hand-Off
Of the three promising running backs in the Cowboys' young stable, Marion Barber is the bruiser of the bunch.
As good as Felix is on the outside, Barber is equally as good running between the tackles. He has a knack for breaking tackles and almost never loses yardage. If the defense gives him an inch, he will take a mile.
By spreading the field with a three wide receiver set, the opposing defense is forced to account for the Cowboys great pass catchers, and the extra deception added by showing pass gives Barber just a little more space to work with.
While this play typically is not the kind of game breaking play that will go for 25-plus yards, Barber has shown in the past that he can consistently pick up 10-15 yards.
5. Martellus Bennet: Two Tight End, One Back Set- Catch In the Flats
The formation shows run, and then the ball is snapped and the defense sees pass. But with perennial Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten and sure-handed Roy Williams on the field, it is easy to forget about young Martellus Bennett.
When his rookie season started, Bennett was widely considered to be a lazy, albeit talented, rookie that would probably have little impact in his debut season, particularly when considering who was above him on the depth chart.
By the end of the season, however, Bennett proved that he can be a legitimate play maker for the Cowboys. Not only can he catch the ball, but he can do some damage after he does.
With his size, he has the ability to run people over, but he can also make a few nice plays with his feet in the open field. When left open in the flats, Martellus can flat out make the opposing defense pay.
Single-wing punt formation similar to Pop Warner's playbook.
Single-wing teams used both a standard punting formation and a quick punt, often kicking on
1. Single Back Toss to the Weak Side, which is a play off of the single wing formation of today. This play was first designed off of Pop Warner’s offensive style. Traditionally, the single-wing was an offensive formation that featured a core of four backs including a tailback, a fullback, a quarterback (blocking back), and a wingback. Linemen were set "unbalanced," or simply put, there were two linemen on one side and four on the other side of the center. This was done by moving the off-side guard or tackle to the strong side. The single-wing was one of the first formations attempting to trick the defense instead of over-powering it Single-wing formation similar to Pop Warner's playbook.
Pop Warner referred to his new offensive scheme as the Carlisle formation because he formulated most of the offense while coaching the Carlisle Football Indians team. The term single-wing came into widespread use after spectators noticed that the formation gave the appearance of a wing-shape.
Although the Single-wing has lost much of its popularity since World War II the scheme for today with its characteristic features are still prevalent in all levels of modern football. They include pulling guards, double teams, play action passes, laterals, wedge blocking, trap blocking, the sweep, the reverse and the quick kick. Many current offenses, such as that of the Florida coach Urban Meyer use Single-wing tendencies for running plays, while using wide receivers instead of wingbacks. Once a strong running formation, the single wing has been replaced by formations that facilitate passing, while minimizing the running aspect of the game. Today the single-wing has evolved in what coaches call the spread offense or shotgun, with the emphasis on passing. The most noticeable feature that remains of the powerful Carlisle formation is the long toss from center to the main ball-handler. The main talent and field general has become the quarterback instead of the tailback. The other single-wing backs have moved close to the line of scrimmage and are split farther from the main line. Wide receivers are called split-ends, flex ends, slots, and flankers. Also, linemen spacing has increased in distance. Moving offensive players farther apart serves the purpose of also spreading the defense. The goal is to make defenses cover the whole field on every play.
The current incarnation of the Wildcat offense which has been adopted by many college, NFL, and high school teams utilizes many elements of the single-wing formation.
Which leads us to the Cowboys usage involving Felix Jones; with a single back toss to the weak side. Hopefully this year Felix will have an unwarranted injury season, so that Felix Jones will light up the field with his explosiveness causing Dallas Cowboys fans to rejoice, hoot and holler. As you know Felix too the opposition by storm last year, rushing for 266 yards on only 30 carries, for an unprecedented unheard of 8.9 yards per carry. So without the deep threat of T O, but with the usage of Miles Austin with his deep speed catching teams off guard, forcing teams to take a safety out of the box to stop the run. The running game will be or should be a more prominent role in the Cowboys offense this year, allowing Felix Jones to be a huge part of that role in the running game.
With breathtaking speed and pure athletic outstanding agility, Jones is more dangerous to the opposing defenses when he can get into the open space. A halfback toss to the weak side with a tackle leading the way allows Felix to be very explosive doing just that. If the opposing defense is playing man, which most teams will do sometimes, then Felix will have less defenders on that side of the field to beat with Felix’s outstanding agility and speed burning opposing defenses, while getting more room in open field to gain speed, which in afterthought will lead to more scores and touchdowns by Felix for the Cowboys.
We all know how Jason Witten is Romo’s security blanket, Witten can and most usually 90 percent of the time catch anything thrown his way by Romo. Just like when big time plays are needed by the Cowboys on passing routes, Witten generally is the answer with Romo looking his way. I havent seen any particular play that Witten is exceptionally great at, because Witten generally catches everything thrown his way from Romo. Witten can catch the football, block, show heart, intelligence, and toughness as a superior TE. So, you can say Witten is the best all around TE in the NFL today. Yet, one particular play where Witten is superior at is the seam route. While the seam route is mostly effective in zone coverage, Witten can also exploit man to man coverage too. With deceptive speed and quickness, along with his great size as a TE, linebackers are too old to cover him, while most cornerbacks and safeties can be overpowered by his size. Thus if Witten is left in single coverage, he will generally beat that coverage in a seam route 9 times out of 10.
2. Seams Simple
What do Jason Witten, Billy Miller, and Gonzalez have in common? Besides the fact that they are tight ends, smart guy?
The answer: They were among the best tight ends in the league at running the seamer last year.
The seamer (or seam route) is a deep pass pattern up the middle of the field, usually run by the tight end or a slot receiver. The receiver's goal is to attack the lane between two zone defenders. Even if the receiver doesn't get open, he creates space over the middle of the field by forcing the deep safeties to cover him.
You'll often read that a tight end possesses the "speed to stretch the seam," but there's no real way to measure how good a tight end is at running this particular route
3. Roy Williams: Shotgun Formation- 10-Yard Stop at the Sideline
Roy Williams' greatest strength is most certainly not his speed, although he is by no definition a slow man. His true advantage comes with his great size and tremendous hands.
While Williams has certainly not done anything in Dallas as of yet to prove that he is a legit No.1 receiver, he has already made some highlight reel worthy catches.
Although not exactly similar in the way they play the game, Williams shares a certain likeness with ex-Cowboy and Hall of Fame receiver, Michael Irvin. Like Irvin, Williams is the kind of receiver that can flat out move the chains.
He is at his best when he is able to run quick, short stop routes near the sideline to pick up first downs. This route allows him to almost always have only one man on him, whom he will most certainly have the advantage against in both size and hands.
Without Terrell Owens opposite Williams next season, the Cowboys will most likely have to run more of a ball control offense, and these kinds of routes will help them to do just that.
4. Marion Barber: Three Wide, Two Back Set- Delayed Hand-Off
Of the three promising running backs in the Cowboys' young stable, Marion Barber is the bruiser of the bunch.
As good as Felix is on the outside, Barber is equally as good running between the tackles. He has a knack for breaking tackles and almost never loses yardage. If the defense gives him an inch, he will take a mile.
By spreading the field with a three wide receiver set, the opposing defense is forced to account for the Cowboys great pass catchers, and the extra deception added by showing pass gives Barber just a little more space to work with.
While this play typically is not the kind of game breaking play that will go for 25-plus yards, Barber has shown in the past that he can consistently pick up 10-15 yards.
5. Martellus Bennet: Two Tight End, One Back Set- Catch In the Flats
The formation shows run, and then the ball is snapped and the defense sees pass. But with perennial Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten and sure-handed Roy Williams on the field, it is easy to forget about young Martellus Bennett.
When his rookie season started, Bennett was widely considered to be a lazy, albeit talented, rookie that would probably have little impact in his debut season, particularly when considering who was above him on the depth chart.
By the end of the season, however, Bennett proved that he can be a legitimate play maker for the Cowboys. Not only can he catch the ball, but he can do some damage after he does.
With his size, he has the ability to run people over, but he can also make a few nice plays with his feet in the open field. When left open in the flats, Martellus can flat out make the opposing defense pay.
posted by The Gryphon at 2:47 PM
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