Wade Phillips Press Conference: 12/3/08
December 3, 2008
Summary of Wade Phillips’ press conference today, discussing DeMarcus Ware’s and Marion Barber’s status, as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Follow the jump to read the press conference.
Mike Jenkins we don’t expect to play, Marion Barber we’re hoping he’ll play, he and DeMarcus Ware didn’t practice. Flozell Adams, Marc Colombo, Greg Ellis, Terrell Owens and Zach Thomas went through the meetings, walk-thru and film study, but didn’t practice today. It’s the time of year some of these guys need rest, keep them off their feet, keep them fresher. Something we also did during bye week. Pittsburgh did the same with Hines Ward and DeShea Townsend. We’re looking forward to the game, Pitt is one of the best teams in the league, they’re playing well. Their defense has dismantled every offense they played. Their stats are Steel Curtain-like, a real test for our offense. Their offense is efficient, they take advantage of their defense in terms of field position, time of possession.
Flozell Adam is OK medically speaking. (Will you give him help on Harrison?) Certainly we’ll help in certain cases, but we have confidence in Flozell. Harrison is good, both their OLB’s are what you need in a 3-4 defense. We’ll double him some.
I’m hoping DeMarcus Ware will play. We’ve gotten nothing but positive word from the training staff and the players, thinking they’ll play. But until they practice or do something we’re not sure. (Do field conditions weigh into that?) Pitt’s field conditions have nothing to do with the decision, it’s just whether the players are ready. I know they re-sodded the field, I hope it will be in good shape.
I don’t know if (Ware or Barber) will practice tomorrow. Friday is the key day for Barber and Ware, how they move around on Friday. They should be able to go, most guys can go without practice at this time of year, if healthy enough to play. They’ve had plenty of practices and games, should be able to come in and play without practicing a lot. You want to make sure they’re ready to go, and also have fresh legs, late in the year.
Tashard Choice works hard and is ready to go. He’s been ready to play, he was last game. He has to know more of the offense now, but we feel comfortable.
Adam Jones will do returns and play on defense. Mostly sub-packages for the first game, like we work in most players who have missed time. (Will that affect Scandrick?) It won’t affect Orlando Scandrick’s playing time, he plays the slot. We like what Scandrick has done and he will be a good player for us. He’s still a rookie but has played well, the defense has played well with him in there. He plays well in the slot and that’s tougher to cover, we haven’t given him a lot of help and he does good job. So no affect on Scandrick with Adam back.
They move Hines Ward around some, they play a lot of bunch stuff, three guys and scatter. We’ll double Ward some, play zones, blitz, different coverages, man and man-with-help, depends on what they do.
Anthony Henry possibly might go inside again on the sub packages.
Tony Romo looks good, throwing well, he did it with the splint on and still is. We didn’t think it would bother him too much, that’s why he could play. If he doesn’t do better without the splint he’ll have to put the splint back on. (laughter) He’s played well, won a lot of games, and not just throwing the football, but being the QB in a lot of wins. Pitt hasn’t given up runs or passes this year, they dismantle teams. New England had 500 yards 2 weeks in row, and Pitt demolished them on the road..
Troy Palamalou plays within their scheme but they give him latitude, he’s very instinctive but they let him do that. He has things he can do, areas he’s responsible for or players he’s responsible for, or they just let him blitz. He jumped over the whole team last week on a short yardage play. He’s a special player.
James Harrison has great pass rush ability, he’s quick off the ball, quick around the corner. He’s like Ware in some ways, but Ware is stronger and quicker, but he is similar. Good on the run, their defense is #1 in everything. Their ILB’s do a great job on the run.
At safety, picked-up Tra Battle who is a safety, that was part of the reason to pick him up. We’re working other people back there, too, like Alan Ball, we think he can do it. You go with who you have and keep working with them. I think they’ve played well overall. No reps back there for Anthony Henry.
Bradie James, I said all along is a really good player. We’ve played him more and more, he’s productive, we played him on third downs now in the last 5 or 6 games. Smart player, very active, anticipates well, doesn’t make mistakes. Nose for the football. He’s having an outstanding year. He’s got more tackles than probably anybody in the league, I would think. Zach Thomas’ presence helps both of them, they play off each other well, that wasn’t the case early on, it was more individual plays, now they know more where each other will be. Turning plays back into each other, Bradie can play more for the cutback because he knows where Zach is going to be out wide. Things like that.
Pitt has lost a couple of division games where they know each other well, they’ve won some close games and lost a few close ones. No one has done anything particular in those wins, no one has made 300 yards on them. They play a close game and in the losses they turned it over more than they normally do.
Pat Watkins had the neck problem, he came back after rest, was OK for a while then had it again. It’s chronic and you have to rest him for longer each time. It’s just something that needs a long rest, he will be fine at some point but that will be after the season is over.
We’ll possibly call up another running back. If Barber can’t go or if there is a question of whether he can go late in the week. We only have one healthy right now, but if Barber is healthy we won’t have to. Depends on if Barber is 100% to go on Sunday.
Film Review: Dallas Cowboys in the trenches (offense)
December 3, 2008
On Thanksgiving Day, the Dallas Cowboys played one of their most-complete games of the year. Both the offense and defense held up their end of the bargain as Dallas romped to a 34-9 win over the hapless Seattle Seahawks. When I reviewed the game for this particular edition of Film Review, I wanted to concentrate on what the Cowboys were doing in the trenches. What kind of blocking schemes were they using, how was Tony Romo allowed so much time, how has the run defense righted itself, how are they attacking the opposing QB? All of these things were on my mind as I took a closer look. So while you’ll hear the names of skill players dropped into the review, they’re mainly there for context or when their involvement was critical to the war in the trenches. Otherwise, it’s all about the dirty work along the line.
Now, for the one-time disclaimer. I’m not going to spend the whole review interjecting the phrase “The Seahawks are a bad football team and the Cowboys were taking advantage of inferior talent.” This is all true. So I’m stating it right up front. You can’t expect the results to be as good against a team like the Steelers, or the Giants, etc. But I was also trying to go for the philosophy of what they’re doing and that will probably carry-over.
This post is for the offense, I’ll post the second-part about the defense later today/tomorrow.
Go on the jump below to read the rest.
Offense
The Cowboys passing offense was in high gear from the very start of the game. The Seahawks had no answer for the array of weapons thrown at them, especially because early in the game they didn’t lay a finger on Tony Romo. While the run game was not clicking, it really didn’t have to as the Cowboys found the pickings so easy in the passing game they hardly bothered with the run in the first 20 minutes or so. It was basically a 7-on-7 practice drill where the offense always dominates. Why? Because there is no pass-rush, just like in this game early.
The Seahawks mistakenly believed that they could rush four and get to Romo before their secondary allowed receivers to get open. They spent the first 20 minutes of the game rushing four guys on most plays. The Cowboys didn’t even bother to hold Marion Barber, Jason Witten or Martellus Bennett in to block, the second the back saw a four-man rush, he was out in the pattern. The Cowboys flooded the secondary with five receivers, a combination of WR/TE/RB and the offensive line had no problems handling the Seahawks rushers. The Cowboys had 8-10 big production plays in the passing game from this scenario. Lesson one: you can’t stop the Dallas offense if you don’t get to Tony Romo. There are just too many weapons that can produce on this offense, defenses have to get production from the four-man rush or they must immediately start blitzing. Otherwise, Romo will carve you up.
After the point when Dallas was up big, scoring 21 easy points, the Seahawks finally succumbed to the inevitable and starting blitzing the Cowboys. They saw better results but not enough to really change the direction of the game. The Cowboys offensive line had an uneven performance against some of the blitzes, but Romo saved their butts when they did mess up. Seattle was blitzing outside and inside linebackers for the rest of the game and in the second-half they starting mixing in blitzes from the corners and safety.
The Cowboys had problems in the following areas. Switching off a block to pick up a free blitzer. This was one of the few mistakes Montrae Holland made (more on him later) in the game. He was slow to leave a double-team for an inside blitz that caused Romo to throw it away. Leonard Davis also didn’t pick up a stunt on a blitz and let a man come free to harass Romo. I’ve seen the Cowboys have problems with this against other teams this year. One of the best ways to attack the Cowboys line is to use stunts and delays on blitzes, causing them to have to disengage and re-engage blocks and pick up free rushers. When the Cowboys line gets a body on the blitzers before they can move, they generally do well. But if the defense uses some trickeration, the Cowboys can be beat on the line. Expect the Steelers to take advantage of this.
They also had problems with outside blitzers in the second-half. The Seahawks brought a corner a few times and that met with success. Once Flozell Adams never saw the blitz and blocked down the line and only a Romo escape saved the Cowboys. On another, both Deon Anderson and Tashard Choice let the corner go free, it looks like they were setting up for a screen, but one of them needed to chip the guy. Also, Jason Witten got beat on an outside blitz. The running backs each had a play or two where their blitz pick-up was questionable, they had a so-so performance. I was encouraged by Tahsard Choice though, he had at least three nice blocks on blitzers that should allay some fears about his pass protection abilities.
Overall, I saw it like this. The Cowboys handled the four-man rush with little problem. They also handled straight-ahead blitzes between the tackles well. Even ones that were perfectly timed by the defense, the Dallas line stood most of those up. They had a little more trouble with the delays and stunts, that caused some confusion on the line but they still handled it pretty well. Blitzes on the outside edge caused them problems late in the game and the blocks from the running backs could improve.
Montrae Holland - I watched Holland on almost every play to get an idea of his play. I came away impressed. Both in the run game and pass protection he was superior to Procter and could actually end up being a good addition to the line. In the running game, he showed great skill in doubling-up with a linemate on the initial block to create a push, then disengaging and getting to the second-level and taking on a linebacker or safety. He had a couple of great blocks for Barber in the redzone. I only saw him pull once and he did it well but the Cowboys were less interested in pulling blockers in this game than usual (more on that below). Holland did get blown up once in the run game, and let in a pass-rusher twice, but overall his performance was very good. In pass protection, he was either singled up where he did well, or was used to help with Andre Gurode in the middle, depending on the defensive alignment. The difference between him and Procter was stark based on this game.
Run game - As mentioned above, the Cowboys ran some in the beginning of the game but rightfully went to the passing game as the main offensive attack mode. Only later in the game did they put a real effort into running the ball. The Cowboys blocking scheme seemed much more straight-ahead in this game with less emphasis on pulling interior linemen. They still run that sweep play where the tackle loops out and the TE/WR block down, but between the tackles they were more physical and less technical. When the run game broke down, it was usually one guy who misses the block. Bigg had one failure, Tony Curtis got blown-up at the goal line, Holland had a bad block, etc. It wasn’t systemic failure but more individual play that limited its effectiveness early on. Later, Tashard Choice got it going by cutting back and also squeezing through some small holes.
Other notes - Tony Romo was moved out of the pocket by design on 4-5 plays; bootlegs and roll-outs. They worked. Keep doing it. The Cowboys got back to using Jason Witten as a regular target. Whether it was injury to Witten, the problems with back-up QB’s or whatever, this offense is always better when Witten get his touches.
Romo for MVP?
December 3, 2008
While some people aren’t sure Romo will make the Pro Bowl, Clarence Hill argues he might have an MVP in his near future.
Romo is first in the league in passer rating at 103.2. He is first in average yards per attempt with 8.5 He is tied for fourth in touchdown passes with 21, just three behind co-leaders Brees and Warner, who have 24.
But the thing that sets Manning, who will not win any statistical awards, apart is the same thing that separates Romo. Manning is 11-1 as a starter on the league’s best team. Well, Romo is 7-2 as a starter.
And if you didn’t know how valuable he was to everything the Cowboys do — offense and defense — then you learned it over the past six games.
Currently, just looking at QBs (because Clinton Portis, James Harrison and Anquan Boldin certainly have a case as well), there are three candidates: Drew Brees, Kurt Warner and Eli Manning. Brees and Warner are having historic years as far as numbers and statistics are concerned. Manning is not. But he’s a Super Bowl MVP that followed that up with an 11-1 record on a team dealing with injuries and Cheddar Bob Burress (all jokes aside, I’m glad he didn’t seriously injure himself).
Romo has a little of both. He’s 7-2 as a starter this year and he’s the highest rated QB in the league. Will it be enough to earn him the coveted award?
Hill makes a good argument that it could.
Shoutout to bloomth and his fanpost here and GloryDayz88 and his fanpost here.
Wins against a 9-3 team without your Pro Bowl QB apparently is not enough for JJT. Neither is winning on the road against a division rival. Winning four out of the last five games? Listen guys, JJT is yawning at you. And don’t even get him on how overrated it is to have more than 200 yards receiving in a game.
But winning at Heinz Field Sunday? Priceless.
Go win in the cold, maybe the snow, on the league’s worst field before a raucous throng waving their Terrible Towels and still peeved about the Cowboys’ win in Super Bowl XXX. Go prove your high-powered, star-driven offense can score enough points to beat the NFL’s most physical defense, a unit that will gladly remove your heart if given the chance.
Go take a significant step toward making the playoffs, because the Cowboys would be on the outside looking in if the postseason started today.
“I’m happy that Waffle House was ok with me talking to ya’ll about my day today. And ya’ll that’s pretty much in a shell what’s it’s like to manage a Waffle House. Ma’am I don’t know what else you want me to say to them and I’m also going to need to know where your commode is at.”
This is a quote from one of my favorite scenes from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (which apparently spawned a dance craze). The kid looks mortified as her weird father. That is until Reese Bobby shows up and steals the show.
Well, on a day that you ride in a limo with Jason Witten to school, there will be no show stealing from anybody. This has to be the coolest thing ever for a young kid.
From the unfortunately named Beaver County Times (I’m assuming this is deep in Steeler country) comes an article about two unstoppable and unmovable forces: the Cowboy offense and the Steeler defense.
Something’s gotta give.
Coach Tomlin is a fan.
“They are an 8-4 football team,” Tomlin said of the Cowboys. “That’s respectable in itself, but they are much better than an 8-4 football team. And they’re a different team when they have their quarterback playing for them.”
So far this season, the Steelers have faced four of the NFL’s top nine offenses — No. 4 New York Giants, No. 5 Houston Texans, No. 7 Philadelphia Eagles and No. 9 New England Patriots. In each instance, the Steelers held those teams to below their averages in total yards per game and points per game.
Should we run more slants to counter the Steelers blitz? Sounds good but he’s the thing: we don’t really run them all that well. Evidence here and here and here. It’s like a cursed play for us for some reason. I’m not saying we can’t run it or haven’t run it. I’m just saying a lot of bad things have happened when we run it. Blame Brad Johnson, T.O. or Romo being rusty when he first came back. I blame the cursed play.
Nick Folk has been a godsend on FGs this year. There isn’t another kicker I’d rather have with the game on the line. Not saying he’s the best kicker in the league. But he’s in my top five.
Folk wants to expand his game with more touchbacks and deeper kickoffs.
Me too.
Charley Casserly is an former general manager and executive I thought would go down in history for this move. Turns out he was right and I was wrong. Reggie Bush is a good player when he’s healthy but Mario Williams is a beast.
Does that mean Casserly’s right about the Cowboys-Steelers matchup? He has some good analysis at CBS Sports about the game. But apparently he doesn’t think we can cover anybody on the Steelers team.
The first thing I want to find out is how healthy Newman is, and I do not believe that will take long to determine. If I were the Steelers I would go right after him and find out.
The Cowboys secondary — even with Newman — will be tested in this game. Anthony Henry — their other corner — will have trouble with either of the Steelers wide receivers: Hines Ward because of his route precision and Santonio Holmes because of his speed and quickness. The other interesting matchup is with the Cowboys safeties and linebackers against Steelers tight end Heath Miller, who will beat the one-on-one coverage of any safety or linebacker of the Cowboys.
The next point I want to watch is the Cowboys’ ability to win the battle at the line of scrimmage. They should do this. I believe the Cowboys will get their share of QB pressures and sacks in this game.
The Steelers offensive line is average, and the Cowboys have some good pass rushers, most notably DeMarcus Ware. The other reason they are going to get their share of pressure and sacks is Ben Roethlisberger will — at times — hold the ball. The key will be on those plays where Roethlisberger has time will the Cowboy secondary hold up?
The Cowboys climb back up to No. 5 in NBC Sports rankings.
Tom Curran sorts out the pretenders and contenders in the league. The Boys? He’s not necessarily a fan of Wade but he had to admit the obvious.
Let’s Talk Numbers Part I: Wade Phillips’ defense
December 3, 2008
Leading up to the heavyweight fight against Pittsburgh, Let’s Talk Numbers will be presented in two parts this week. Part II will be up Friday morning.
In this week’s first installment of Let’s Talk Numbers, we determine if the Dallas Cowboys’ defense has improved after the debacle in St. Louis. Since Wade Phillips took a more “active” role in the defensive playcalling against Tampa Bay, the Cowboys are 4-1 and the defense has started to show signs of just how good they could be.
Are things as good as they seem, or is the defense performing at the same level as they were to start the season? Follow the jump to find out.
The Dallas Cowboys’ defense is an enigma.
Since having the league’s number one defense in 2003, the Cowboys have ranked 16th, 10th, 13th and 9th in the years since. When Bill Parcells was hired as head coach he immediately started to mold the defense into his version of the 3-4 defense, and the transition has not gone as smoothly as hoped. Teams that run successful 3-4 defenses (such as Pittsburgh) have had years to build around the scheme and determine personnel decisions to best fit their goals. The Cowboys are on just their fifth season as a 3-4 defense and despite having some of the top defensive players in the league, have consistently underperformed.
When Wade Phillips was hired prior to the 2007 season, a big part of his allure was his track record with the 3-4 defense. His defenses in San Diego were some the most aggressive in the league, helping propel the Chargers to a 14-2 record in 2006. As coach of the Cowboys, it was hoped that he would be able to fix an ailing 3-4 defense that had been a disappointment the past few seasons. He promised a more aggressive, “one-gap” style of defense that would better utilize the playmakers on the team. More importantly, his defenses would cut down on the big plays that plagued the Cowboys’ defenses of the past.
For the most part, the changes in 2007 worked. After a transitional period to start the season, the Cowboys defense allowed less big plays and half as many 40+ yard pass plays as they did in 2006. The Cowboys also raised their sack total from 34 to 46. Yet things still weren’t as good as hoped, with the Cowboys finishing with the 9th ranked defense in the league. Most concerning was how the Cowboys were susceptible to quick scoring drives with big chunks of yards allowed in the passing game at a time.
In 2008 came more promises of an improved pass defense, with the Cowboys drafting two ranked cornerbacks in Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick and trading for Adam Jones. The Cowboys also added All-Pro linebacker Zach Thomas and nose tackle Jay Ratliff was poised to anchor a dominant defense.
Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. Injuries to key players were a major factor, but at times the defense seemed to play without emotion or intensity. A Cowboys defense built on aggressiveness had lost it’s punch. The whole thing threatened to fall completely apart following a 34-14 loss to St. Louis. Players were frustrated with the schemes and playcalling of defensive coordinator Brian Stewart, and something needed to be done to avoid complete disaster.
Following the loss to the Rams Wade Phillips announced he would be taking a more personal involvement in the defense, in particular the playcalling throughout the game. That week the Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13-9 on the back of the Cowboys best defensive effort in years. Since Wade Phillips stepped in, the team is 4-1 and playing with a newfound level of intensity and emotion. But how much have things changed? Let’s take a look at the defensive numbers before and after Wade’s intervention:
| T.O.P. | Pass Att/G | Net Pass Yds/G | Avg | Rush Att/G | Rush Yds/G | Avg | Sacks/G | TO/G | R.Z. % | |
| First 7 games | 29:39 | 34.14 | 204.5 | 5.9 | 25.2 | 102.1 | 4.03 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 54% |
| Last 5 games | 29:54 | 39.0 | 197.6 | 5.07 | 22.0 | 89.4 | 4.06 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 42% |
At first glance the numbers seem fairly similar, but with a closer look there are several small differences that really stand out and show just how different the Cowboys defense has been playing lately.
Pass defense: I decided to use net yards passing and average yards allowed per dropback to truly gauge the newly aggressive defense and how it has improved the pass defense. Despite teams throwing five more times per game, the Cowboys are allowing less yards passing and nearly a full yard less per pass play. They are also averaging four sacks per game and while the number itself is not much higher than it was, the difference is in who is getting the sacks. Bradie James has four sacks in the past five games, while having just 5.5 sacks in his career prior to 2008.
James hasn’t been blitzing more since Wade stepped in, but the type of blitzes he’s been involved in has changed as well as when he blitzes. This has allowed him to come free to the quarterback more often than in the past, and with the offense already accounting for DeMarcus Ware and company, James has made the most of his opportunity.
The chief complaint earlier in the season was how far off receivers the Cowboys’ cornerbacks were playing, as well as the amount of zone coverage the defense was running. This was allowing teams to consistently find holes in the zone,and while the Cowboys weren’t giving up big plays, offenses were gashing the Cowboys with intermediate and short routes.
After Wade Phillips’ intervention the Cowboys started playing more press coverage, especially after Terence Newman returned from injury. This was a direct result of the Cowboys’ pass rush stepping up, allowing the coaches to have more faith in the secondary. This combined to give the team a newfound self-confidence, and it showed on the field.
Turnovers and red zone efficiency. The most alarming part of the Cowboys’ defensive play to start the season was the lack of turnovers, most notably interceptions. Since Wade Phillips aggressive defense stepped up, the Cowboys have nearly doubled the amount of turnovers forced per game. The team still only has one defensive touchdown this season, but if the cowboys continue to force two turnovers a game then the path to the playoffs will be just a bit easier.
The biggest change has been in the Cowboys play in the red zone. Despite a 5/5 debacle against the Giants, the Cowboys have improved their red zone efficiency by 12%. Goal line stands have come at the most important times as well, not allowing the team to get behind early when things could have gotten out of hand in a hurry.
Bottom line: The final numbers aren’t perfect and are affected by factors outside the defense. When Romo was out the offense consistently put the defense in a bad position. With the return of the star quarterback the entire team was infused with a newfound energy and emotion, not just the offense. It’s tough to tell just how much Wade Phillips’ influence has changed the play of the defense or if the return of Romo sparked the play.
Here are the numbers that matter most. Before the Tampa Bay game the Cowboys defense was allowing 22 points per game. Since then the defense has given up 17 a game, a five point swing. That is what is most significant and the only numbers that count. Whatever Wade Phillips has done, no matter how much or how little, he needs to continue doing it.
Vote for Tony Romo as Player of the Week
December 3, 2008
Vote for Tony Romo as Player of the Week
Tony Romo is once again nominated for the FedEx Air Player of the Week, losing last week to Drew Brees.
This week he is up against Jay Cutler and Donovan McNabb, so that should be motivation enough to vote.
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