The offense was just terrible. Some people want to say it was rust from some key guys not playing in a few weeks - or longer - but I can’t go there. It’s still just playing football, of which all of these guys are capable. To me, the problem comes down to coaching. Scott Linehan seems to be doubling down on last year’s predictability judging from the way CAR sniffed out almost every carry by Ezekiel Elliott before it even got going. At this point I’m beginning to wonder if Jason Garrett isn’t complicit in Linehan’s ineptitude. Last year, he had an excuse, maybe he didn’t know it before 2017 because we didn’t struggle the same; this year, however, it was known going into the season.
I’m frustrated af. Not looking forward to seeing more of the same from Scott Linehan. Can’t even judge the team because of his stink on everything the offense does. Dak Prescott looked like shit tbh, that 10-yard underthrow to Austin mid-game had me fuming. Zeke took what was there and rarely created much more than a yard or two, but he had a full CAR defense on him within seconds too.
Why blame Linehan? Garret is his boss and if JG had any better ideas he could/ would demand a different approach to play calling. This is on JG. Period. And no, I’m not just talking about the 2018 season opener. I’m talking 50+ losses under his reign. We’ve changed players and coaches throughout his tenure. There shouldn’t be any doubt at this point who the responsibility falls upon.
The only real solace I’m taking from the game is 2 throws would have drastically changed the way it looked.
If Dak gets the ball out to Jarwin instead of lame ducking it (we’ve seen him make that throw, no idea why he didn’t this time) it’s a TD.
If he gets the ball out in front of Gallup on that crossing route it’s a huge gain, if not also a TD.
If you throw in the very first play of the game, where Collins should have passed the DE off and gotten up on the LB, Zeke would have had a huge gain right off the bat.
This game was just a very few, and very small execution problems away from looking a lot more positive.
I do think rust played a lot into Lee’s terrible game. I have to believe if he got more than 12 preseason snaps he doesn’t end up with 4 missed tackles. They don’t practice tackling right in practice, it’s always just thump, to protect the players from injury (which, most of us believe actually does the opposite, but I digress…).
There does need to be some changes, this game showed that we need to spread the defense out more, and probably get Dak into shotgun more, and get him some confidence back. If we come out again looking to force the offense under center, power football, it’s going to be extremely frustrating. Dak has to play a lot better.
I would recommend that anyone who really wants to know what is going on get gamepass. For perspective I decided to watch Tom Brady work in the all 22. The difference I see is that his offense is designed to take 5 yards any time they want it. By alignment they dictate to the defense. When the want to match Gronk one on one they create that match up by alignment. Tom seems to know before the snap where he is going with the ball. Conversely. Dak has no clue and the play is called seemingly with no rhyme or reason. Just a play among other plays. Tom doesn’t hold the ball either. This is why they can put anyone out there on the oline. Brady is great no doubt but the play design helps him too.
Coach’s Film is definitely a huge help and well worth the $100 a year (less if you wait).
Dak definitely seemed to struggle with the plays, but I don’t put that on him because he hasn’t struggled like that in 2 prior seasons. To me, it’s more about the plays being called, as @Radio2344 points out. I still think execution will get better over the next week or two, however.
bit the bullet and bought game pass. At the very least I don’t have to worry about finding a crappy stream when the Cowboys are out of market for me, just have to avoid social media until the game is released, lol.
Also loving being able to watch the full game in a nominal 45 minutes (which also makes the wife a lot happier…).
A couple things after reviewing the game last night, Dak seemed to sharpen up a bit in the second half, so we might see him better this week, hopefully. Taco has definitely been working on his spin move this offseason, it’s pretty dang potent now. Gallup might very well be our leading receiver by the bye week.
Also, I saw a number of different things in the offensive play calling, despite so many claiming that it was the same old thing. Most of it centered around screen plays though, which is good, but hopefully we can get some new stuff for the intermediate game as well.
Did like them at the very least looking to figure out how to run that RPO boot play out of shotgun instead of feeling like it can only be run from under center.