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Cowboys @ Browns Preview, Part III

When Dallas Throws the Ball

The Cowboys run many of the same sets the Browns do, because the OC pedigrees are similar. Follow the bouncing ball: Jason Garrett played for Norv Turner and Ernie Zampese last decade and uses many of their aggressive, timing plays. Browns OC Rob Chudzinski was San Diego’s TE coach when Cam Cameron ran the Chargers’ offense under Marty Schottenheimer. Cameron runs the same schemes Turner does. When Chudzinski and Cameron both left last season, Chargers GM A.J. Smith hired Turner back because he would keep the same offensive fundamentals, allowing for a smooth transition to the new regime.

The bottom line is that you’ll see many of the same personnel packages from each team. A look at Dallas’ passing breakdown shows patterns similar to those we saw from the Browns in Part I of the preview:

Targets	Att.	% of Romo’s Att.	YPA
Terrell Owens	139	26	9.7
Jason Witten	141	27	8.2
Patrick Crayton	80	15	9.5
Totals	360	68

Look at the Cowboys’ table and look at the Browns. The percentages to the first three targets are almost uncanny. Dallas also uses its #1 WR and TE as options 1 and 1A. The second receiver also gets 15% of the passes.

The wideouts will be playing an underrated set of Browns corners. Last season Cleveland lined up Eric Wright and Leigh Bodden and got very good play from both. Wright was superb out of the collegiate box, posting a 6.1 YPA. He was very good against red-level wideouts and is Cleveland’s top cover man.

The Browns lost Bodden in free agency and are confident that nickel and dime backs Daven Holly and Brandon McDonald can step up. Both had YPAs under 7 last year, which is red-level, but have struggled in the ‘08 pre-season games.

The key to Dallas’ success will be getting T.O. away from Wright. Garrett was excellent at this last year, motioning Owens into the slot and working him on shallow crosses and seams over the middle, where he was matched up on linebackers and safeties. Nearly half of Owen’s ‘07 attempts came against these coverages.

The Browns use a lot of zone so look for more of the same. Don’t be surprised if Patrick Crayton has a strong game. He had a strong 9.5 YPA in ‘07, which ranked 11th overall. Crayton’s downfall is red-level corners. He posted a lousy 2.6 against top tier corners, so look for the Cowboys to line him up away from Wright as much as possible. Crayton was 9.2 or better against mid and low-level corners, so he may put up some big numbers working the rest of the Cleveland secondary. He had a Bob Hayes-esque 19.4 YPA against non-rated CBs.

If Isaiah Stanback can stay on the field and flash some deep speed (getting his hands on a deep ball will suffice, to keep the Browns corners honest) Crayton could get the favorable matchups he’s destroyed in the past.

It will be interesting to see how many times Jason Witten plays the F-back, motioning into the backfield and how often he lines up on the line of scrimmage and can run deeper routes up field. Deon Anderson’s health should see Dallas playing more two back sets, putting Witten outside an OT or in the slots, usually on the same side as Owens. This puts the safety on that side in the difficult position of trying to choose which option to cover deep.

When Tony Romo drops back to pass, he’ll be protected by one of the best units in the game. The Browns get a lot of ink because their starting five only allowed 10 sacks last year but Dallas’ starters only gave up 11. Flozell Adams allowed a league best one sack at left tackle and Andre Gurode was stellar inside. Mark Colombo is a bit weaker on the right side, giving up 5 sacks last year, but was gritty against top rushers.

The Cowboys line is dinged, with LG Kyle Kosier out with an injured foot. After shuffling several interior linemen into the LG slot, backup C Cory Procter will get the start. There’s some concern that Procter could have trouble with massive NT Shawn Rogers, the Browns big offseason acquistion on defense.

Procter will likely get help from his center and his offensive coordinator. Last year, Jason Garrett ran a 56/44 pass/run blend. What’s more, he skewed his play calling heavily towards the pass early and the run late. This tactic was very effective at wearing out defensive lines early, as it’s taxing for 330-340 lb. DTs to run several sprints in heat, especially when they’re chasing an active QB like Tony Romo.

Garrett used this strategy to perfection in week two last year against the Dolphins, when he had Miami’s DTs worn out before the half. I expect him to try the same tactic Sunday. Rogers is very talented, but is also very overweight and wears out quickly. I think Dallas will make him rush a lot the first two to three series, and send him to the oxygen tank as quickly as possible.

Dallas will be facing a Browns front that could muster only 28 sacks last year. Kamerion Wimbley led the team with 5 sacks. Cleveland’s top four rushers combined for 17 sacks. Demarcus Ware, by comparison, had 14 all by himself. The Browns rush may be further weakened by OLB Antwaan Peek’s knee injury. Watch his status as game time approaches.

Cleveland’s weak rush may be the deciding factor in the game. The Browns were criticized last year for sitting in zones and playing it safe early on. Their rush came on down the stretch and they have the talent to be troublesome when they’re healthy, but right now they’re not at full strength. Peek appears hurt, as is safety Brodney Pool, who recently suffered a concussion. He has not been practicing and may not play.

Romeo Crennell was Bill Belichick’s DL coach and he’ll try some creative ways to get his guys to Romo. If they fail early, he may call on heavy blitzing, which is exactly what Dallas is hoping for. Cleveland has talent in its secondary, but its young and somewhat erratic. If the Cowboys can prevent leaks at left guard, Romo will get some chances for big plays.

Now We’re Gonna Remember “the Other Guy’s” Name

Remember that old Seinfeld joke about The Three Tenors, where the cast members could all recall Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo but couldn’t remember, “the other guy?”

Kyle Kosier has been “the other guy” on the Cowboys Five Redwoods line. People know Flozell Adams, Leonard Davis and Andre Gurode. They’re Pro Bowlers. We even mention Marc Colombo’s name, since tackles are visible on the edge and since he’s had a good camp.

People tend to ignore Kosier, except to rip him for being the guy who succeeded Larry Allen. When he was signed some folks posted links to YouTube clips of him getting beaten in his 49ers days, when he played out of position at tackle.

Come draft day, he’s always a whipping boy, whom some people are itching to bench. Last year there was a special section of bloggers here just dying to draft Texas’ Justin Blalock and drop him into Kosier’s spot, though Blalock was unproven.

In the meantime, Kosier has become the steady Eddie of the line, playing a solid, consistent left guard. He’s this decade’s John Gesek, the “other guy” from the ’90s,who toiled alongside bigger names like Erik Williams, Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei and Mark Stepnoski.

Last week, I mentioned that the Cowboys’ weakness is their interior offensive line depth. That fact could be rudely demonstrated next week against the Vikings because Kosier has suffered an apparent foot sprain and has an MRI scheduled for this afternoon to learn its severity.

Pray it’s not serious because the team needs him. The backups in the interior line, Joe Berger, Cory Procter and James Marten has been consistently underwhelming. Procter and Marten have looked just awful thus far and a source I spoke to this week, one who has seen game tape of the San Diego and Denver games, seconded that opinion. He also said Joe Berger had a poor performance against Denver.

I watched their games last night, brief as they were — the trio did not play until the last two series in the 4th quarter. I’m sorry to report that nothing has improved.

Berger and Procter are consistently being pushed backwards by bull rushes. This is a big no-no for an interior lineman. If you can’t anchor, how can your QB step up in the pocket and throw? Marten has had a lot of trouble handing quick interior rushers.

In short, I don’t trust any of these guys to sub in the absence of Kosier, Gurode or Davis. If Kosier’s injury is serious, I think the team might move RT Pat McQuistan to left guard. He worked at multiple positions in camp, but took most of his reps at RT and LG. He’s bigger and more athletic than any of the other three guys and played guard in college.

The Cowboys can’t afford any interior line leaks. The Vikings have two massive, athletic DTs in Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. They’re probably the best DT duo in football right now. If the Cowboys have to put Berger in at left guard I’m not confident he can keep the Williams boys off Tony Romo without center help. If Kosier isn’t around for the season opener, new Brown and former Lion Shaun Rogers will be lined up over Berger a lot.

It’s said you often don’t know what you have till it’s gone. If Kosier is gone for any appreciable amount of time, Cowboys fans may learn what he’s really worth — the hard way.

Update: Kosier is out up to six weeks. This is bad news, though the big brains at the DMN think Isaiah Stanback’s injury, which will cost him two weeks, is “the biggest blow.” I’ll refer you again to the title of my post.

Dallas Is Not On the Schedule: Cowboys Camp Afternoon Report, August 1st

The ghost of Bum Phillips descended on Oxnard today, and Bum is still very much alive.

When he coached the Oilers in the ‘70s, Phillips the elder was often questioned by the Houston media for holding training camps which were very light on hitting.

“Houston is not on our schedule,” was always Bum’s reply.

Wade Phillips seems to be applying his daddy’s philosophy. Just one day after telling the media that the next few practices would be some of the most important of the summer, the Cowboys emerged in shorts for both morning and afternoon workouts.

That does not mean the mental intensity of the workouts diminished but it’s probably not what most fans and press members had in mind.

The afternoon session resembled a mini-camp, with the emphasis on technique and on learning assignments in each package. The session continued themes the team began to explore earlier in the week – red zone play; kickoff coverage and returns and the hurry-up offense were again practiced, in stripped down 1-on-1 WR-on-CB drills and in 11-on-11 sessions later. Here are some notes from the various sub-sessions.

1-on-1s:

• T.O. beats everybody – still. Repeat after me – T.O. beats everybody. He’s still unstoppable, but Adam Jones is slowly eating away at T.O.’s margin for error. Jones jockeyed for every matchup he could obtain with Owens, but Owens keeps on winning. Owens ran a stop-and-go route on the first matchup and got a step behind Jones. The corner once known as Pacman rushed to recover but could never make up the step. Owens caught a perfect Tony Romo pass in stride and made the score.In their last matchup, Jones blanked Owens but the receiver caught the pass on an out and up, route. Jones had a chance to bat the ball down but it got past his outstretched hand. Owens laughed at Jones, patted him on the shoulder and said, “I like that work, baby. I like that work.”
• Adam Jones beats everybody not named T.O. He blanked Sam Hurd on a couple of passes.
• Mike Jenkins looked like a rookie today. He didn’t give up any deep passes, but gave up deep ins, out routes and was kept off-balance all drill by various receives. These are the rookie growing pains.
• Sam Hurd had a tough drill. The corners seemed to dial him in. Jones gave him fits and Anthony Henry cut underneath him to make a pick.
• Anthony Henry can cover anything from the numbers out but any deep in route gets him.
• Evan Oglesby was flagged by a referee covering the drill. The officials are available to the corners to discuss the rules interpretations and the corners asked a lot of questions, learning what was permissible and what won’t be this year.
• Mike Jefferson earned Ray Sherman’s ire after Oglesby outfought him for a deep pass. “Stack him, Mike! Stack him!” Sherman yelled this three times at his rookie and gave him a withering stare.
• Isaiah Stanback shows the best deep speed besides T.O. He got behind Orlando Scandrick for one catch but bobbled another pass after beating his man.

11—on—11 notes:–

• Patrick Crayton ran a reverse at the beginning of the next to last drill and Jay Ratliff, playing at LE, was waiting for him.
• Marcus Spears blew up a Marion Barber draw one play later, getting into the backfield.
• Dallas ran several effective tight end screens the last couple of days. Today, Andre Gurode got to the perimeter to lead a Jason Witten screen.
• Bobby Carpenter was again around the ball on passes into his area. He’s making all the calls for the second unit.
• T.O. ended this phase of practice by catching a post on Mike Jenkins for a TD. Any questions?

Other Notes:

– Sports Celebrity watch: Michael Strahan was on the sidelines today, as was CNNSI’s Peter King.

– Dallas ended its practice with several two minute drills. Evan Oglesby had his defensive mates cheering when he picked off Tony Romo on the second play of the 1^st offense’s first series.

– Danny Amendola is making strides as a receiver, but he needs to add some special teams skills to his resume in order to win one of the last spots on the team.  He was working as a gunner on punt coverage teams today.

Getting a Push: Cowboys’ Camp, July 29th

On the first day of full pad contact the defense whipped the offensive line, charging into the backfield numerous times and catching backs before plays could get started.

Since then the offense line has been slowly edging into control. Today, with the offensive and defensive lines again squaring off in one-on-one pass rush drills, as they did on Sunday, we got another look at an offensive line that is gaining its collecting legs and cutting out those from the defense.

Hudson Houck worked his guys hard again on handling spin moves, switching on stunts and on sliding laterally to drive rushers past the edge.

When the offensive players went to blocking defensive players rather than offensive ones, the stalemates continued. Marc Columbo locked up Jay Ratliff, who was lined up at RE and later stopped Jason Hatcher. Leonard Davis handled Tank Johnson. Flozell Adams was a brick wall against Demarcus Ware.

Whatever Houck is putting in their water and in their training sessions is working. When the team played 11-on-11, the quarterbacks faces little pressure unless the defense blitzed heavily. I told you yesterday that the offensive line appears to be blocking better and today offered more evidence to support that claim.

Notes from the Scrimmage

Dallas worked on its three WR and nickel packages today.

Welcome to the NFL, rookie: Martellus Bennett flexed into the backfield and was hammered back into his running back by Demarcus Ware.

Hello Rookie II — Zach Thomas blew up Tashard Choice on another run, zipping into the backfield.

The defense didn’t get much pressure on the offense in that last session but Bobby Carpenter did break clean on an inside blitz.  However, Tony Romo was able to hit Sam Hurd in the area Carpenter vacated.  Romo’s reads and delivery are as quick as ever.

Keon Lattimore shows surprising elusiveness for a fullback. He pulled an olé move on Ware one play later, giving Ware a target and then hopping backwards before running around Ware to the outside. The juke was positively Emmitt-like. But can he block? And play special teams? His roster spot will depend on it.

Mike Jenkins got several reps against Terrell Owens and held his own. He had to do some clutching and grabbing and might have drawn a flag on one deep route but was not outrun or overpowered. He needs more work but he’s got promise.

Isaiah Stanback finally is getting some passes his way, catching a comeback from Brad Johnson. He also made a significant gain on a reverse.

Note: Marcus Spears is getting more reps inside in the Cowboys’ fronts and will continue to get more.

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