Digging Deeper into the Box Score: Week 7
by orang3b on Oct 29, 2009 3:55 PM EDT
11 comments
Cowboys... ugh.
Offense
It was a pretty ugly game offensively, and I don’t think we want to re-live all the gory details, so here’s some of the lowlights:
Matt Ryan – 5.7 Yards per Attempt, 2 Interceptions, the 4 Sacks, plus 2 Fumbles (only 1 Lost)
Michael Turner – 2.8 Yards per Carry on 18 Attempts (at least he didn’t fumble again)
Roddy White – 8.3 Yards per Catch, only 55% Catch Rate (6/11)
Tony Gonzalez – 9.3 Yards per Catch, 57% Catch Rate (4/7)
Their defenders were physical, aggressive, and we had no answer for them.
Defense
The Run Defense was actually pretty solid, except for a stretch in the 3rd Quarter when they had runs of 9, 12, 1, 7, and 13 (with a Romo scramble mixed in). Taking into consideration the Cowboys rushing average coming into the game, holding them to 3.8 Yards per Running Back Carry (excluding Romo’s scrambles) was a good accomplishment. The problem was they were completely unable to slow down the passing game. Romo’s YPA was 10.7 (almost double Ryan’s), and Miles Austin abused whoever happened to be “covering” him at the time (Houston, Grimes, and DeCoud all got beat for big plays).
If you really want to torture yourself, there is a great breakdown of formations, personnel packages, and big plays from a Cowboys perspective here.
Below are the individual stats:
|
Name |
Plays |
Stop Rate |
Defeats |
|
11 |
50% |
1 |
|
|
10 |
50% |
4 |
|
|
5 |
60% |
1 |
|
|
4 |
100% |
0 |
|
|
3.5 |
57% |
0 |
|
|
3 |
100% |
1 |
|
|
Mike Peterson |
2.5 |
80% |
0 |
|
2 |
0% |
0 |
|
|
1.5 |
33% |
0.5 |
|
|
1 |
100% |
1 |
|
|
1 |
100% |
1 |
|
|
0.5 |
100% |
0.5 |
|
|
0.5 |
100% |
0 |
|
|
0.5 |
0% |
0 |
Notice anything yet? The Linebackers weren’t making many plays – the Safeties were. Mike Peterson, in particular, was way below his usual level of production. Keep in mind that these Stop Rates are inflated a bit by the fact that Touchdowns (and when a player runs out of bounds on their own) aren’t counted as “Plays”. The full effect will be seen when I update the coverage numbers.
Special Teams: Coy Wire, Kroy Biermann, Jason Snelling, and Mike Schneck (that’s right, the Long Snapper) each got one tackle. Also, Michael Koenen did a good job on Kickoffs, giving the Cowboys poor starting field position. They only returned one Kick for 16 yards, plus two Touchbacks (his final KO was an onsides kick). Too bad the offense couldn’t score more often. The Punts were generally pretty good, too – but we won’t mention the Punt Coverage.
Reminder:
Successful Play – 45% of yardage needed on First Down, 60% of yardage needed on Second Down, 100% of yardage needed on Third or Fourth Down.
Stop Rate – Percentage of Plays stopping the offense short of a Successful Play.
Defeat – A Stop on Third or Fourth Down, and Interception, or a Play that results in a Fumble (whether the defense recovers or not – that means the defender who causes the Forced Fumble gets the Defeat, not the guy who comes up with a Fumble Recovery).
Don't forget that these aren't my Defensive Stats, I'm just compiling the numbers. They are from Football Outsiders.
This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.
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Rec'd
Even though you bringeth bad news.
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by Dave the Falconer on Oct 30, 2009 12:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Interesting post-mortem, thanks
We’ve got to get a pass rush on D, or the better QBs will tear us up.
by tom slick on Oct 30, 2009 12:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yup
Sadly, I think we’ve seen enough to be fairly confident that the pass rush will not be getting better (unless major schematic changes are made). Abraham needs to be used like a Defensive End, not a Linebacker. I counted 10 of the 34 pass plays against the Cowboys where he was dropping into coverage, not rushing the passer. TEN!! It makes no sense to me.
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein
by orang3b on Oct 30, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i remember scracthing my head
when abraham dropped back to cover witten but i had no idea he pass covered on a 1/3 of his plays. that seems ridiculous. i would rather take a chance on abe providing pressure than on the zone blitz that really never seems to work. do you remember if he was mainly dropping back on the blitzes or was it just random plays?
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that. - Bill Shankly
by armchair quarterback on Oct 31, 2009 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Zone Blitz
Yeah, when Abe drops into coverage, it is on a zone blitz. I counted 12 ZB plays versus the Cowboys total, at least 10 of which had Abe dropping (I say at least because I have one play where I didn’t mark who dropped – maybe I couldn’t tell who it was for sure). The other one had Biermann dropping into coverage (actually, there was one play where both Abe and Biermann dropped). Usually, the ZB is a 5-man pass rush (with one LB and one DB blitzing, and one DE dropping), but against the Cowboys there was one play where I marked ZB when there were only 4 rushers (LB/DB, drop both DE’s), and one with 6 rushers (2LB/DB, drop DE). Here’s the breakdown:
Rush 3: 2 – 5.9%
Rush 4: 14 – 41.2%
Rush 5: 11 – 32.4%
Rush 6: 4 – 11.8%
Rush 7: 3 – 8.8%
Zone Blitzes: 12
This is only the total for the 34 pass plays (I don’t count run plays, but I did notice at least one run play with a ZB, with Abe dropping).
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein
by orang3b on Nov 2, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm only speculating ...
but maybe VanGorder is doing it because it is counterintuitive (i.e., it throws off the tackle and/or TE and/or RB that’d he’d otherwise be trying to run through).
They might be looking to “limit” his reps without having him on the sideline, or something like that.
Not saying either rationale is entirely justified, but if I were making that move, I might be thinking something along those lines.
Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?
Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.
by FrankyWren on Nov 1, 2009 8:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I think both
Are valid reasons to use the Zone Blitz. I’m just upset with how often VanGorder’s using it. The ZB is the main package for his blitz scheme. 11 of 18 “blitzes” were a ZB (one that I counted as ZB actually only had 4 rushers). My rebuttal to your speculation:
A) 2-3 times a game as a surprise would be fine, but 10 times out of 34? Seems excessive to me.
B) They’ve got 5 DE’s on the active (gameday) roster, counting JA98. They’ve been carrying 3 DT’s, and giving Anderson plenty of reps there. Still, there sure seems like there should be enough bodies at DE to give Abe some plays off. He’s not a disaster in coverage, but it’s obviously not his strength.
I know VanGorder’s forgotten more about defensive football than I’ll ever know. And I know if the defense was going lights-out, I probably wouldn’t have any complaints about Abe’s usage pattern. But I just get the nagging feeling that the individual players are not always being put in the best situation to succeed.
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein
by orang3b on Nov 2, 2009 10:33 AM EST up reply actions 5 recs
I can get behind that
Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?
Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.
by FrankyWren on Nov 2, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Rec'd
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by Dave the Falconer on Nov 2, 2009 3:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
thanks for following up
i couldn’t agree more about players not being put in the best position to succeed. decent qb’s definitely pick up the coverage and burn us.
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that. - Bill Shankly
by armchair quarterback on Nov 3, 2009 6:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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