By Jonathan Bales
jonathan@thedctimes.com
3:03 pm on September 5, 2012
The Cowboys utilized a two-tight end set on 45 percent of their snaps in 2011, ranking them fifth in the NFL. With the loss of Martellus Bennett to the opposition and Jason Witten’s presumed absence tonight against the Giants, you might think the Cowboys will use fewer two-tight end personnel groupings.
I’m not sure that’s the case. The two-tight end set is Jason Garrett’s bread-and-butter. He loves to run the ball out of “22” personnel—two running backs and two tight ends. The Cowboys lined up with 22 personnel on 14 percent of their 2011 snaps, running the ball 88 percent of the time. Even with Witten out, I think you’ll see both John Phillips and James Hanna quite a bit tonight when the ‘Boys want to play smash-mouth football.
Of course, most people expect one or both tight ends to come off of the field when the ‘Boys want to pass, but again I think that’s unlikely. First of all, the Cowboys utilized no tight ends on just two percent of snaps last year. Plus, it isn’t like you can continually run from certain formations and pass from others. You have to throw from your “running” formations often, and vice versa, in an effort to fool defenses. Knowing that, Garrett loves to throw from “12” personnel—one running back and two tight ends—doing so 68 percent of the time in 2011.
Yet another reason you could very well see plenty of two-tight end sets tonight is that, as I explained in my article on how the Cowboys can take down the Giants, the G-Men will likely play a lot of Cover 2 (and variations of it). The weakness of Cover 2 is the middle of the field, meaning an explosive pass-catching tight end can be a killer to the coverage. That doesn’t exactly describe Phillips, but Hanna could very well play that role for Dallas tonight.
jonathan@thedctimes.com
3:03 pm on September 5, 2012
The Cowboys utilized a two-tight end set on 45 percent of their snaps in 2011, ranking them fifth in the NFL. With the loss of Martellus Bennett to the opposition and Jason Witten’s presumed absence tonight against the Giants, you might think the Cowboys will use fewer two-tight end personnel groupings.
I’m not sure that’s the case. The two-tight end set is Jason Garrett’s bread-and-butter. He loves to run the ball out of “22” personnel—two running backs and two tight ends. The Cowboys lined up with 22 personnel on 14 percent of their 2011 snaps, running the ball 88 percent of the time. Even with Witten out, I think you’ll see both John Phillips and James Hanna quite a bit tonight when the ‘Boys want to play smash-mouth football.
Of course, most people expect one or both tight ends to come off of the field when the ‘Boys want to pass, but again I think that’s unlikely. First of all, the Cowboys utilized no tight ends on just two percent of snaps last year. Plus, it isn’t like you can continually run from certain formations and pass from others. You have to throw from your “running” formations often, and vice versa, in an effort to fool defenses. Knowing that, Garrett loves to throw from “12” personnel—one running back and two tight ends—doing so 68 percent of the time in 2011.
Yet another reason you could very well see plenty of two-tight end sets tonight is that, as I explained in my article on how the Cowboys can take down the Giants, the G-Men will likely play a lot of Cover 2 (and variations of it). The weakness of Cover 2 is the middle of the field, meaning an explosive pass-catching tight end can be a killer to the coverage. That doesn’t exactly describe Phillips, but Hanna could very well play that role for Dallas tonight.
