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Branching Out
Ellis: Short Yardage Offense Must Utilize All Its Options
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
Email | Follow DCStarJEllis on Twitter
SAN ANTONIO - Sitting in the press box on Monday, between two of my favorite Texas Longhorns fans, I had a vision of how the Cowboys can solve one of the more troubling problems they ran into offensively last season.
Or, at the very least, the column idea that was eluding me.
The team was down on the field practicing, maybe 50 yards away, installing their short-yardage offense and defense. They were just about to move onto the goal line portion of things when Jon Kitna, behind a two tight end set, dropped back to pass, perhaps a surprise to the defense, though everyone was moving at about 75 percent speed, so that much is debatable. What surprised me was how familiar it looked.
It's probably because I was 10 years old when the game was played and incorrectly thought it took place in the Alamodome, but Kitna's pass to John Phillips instantly reminded me of the 1996 Big 12 Championship game, a 37-27 Texas win over Nebraska, which the Longhorns sealed on a surprise play-action bootleg throw from James Brown to tight end Derek Lewis. "Roll Left," the burnt orange devil to my right called it.
Not that John Mackovic invented the short-yardage pass or anything, but little fourth grade Josh was just as shocked as the Cornhuskers were. "Roll Left" was absolutely better than "Load Left," Barry Switzer's infamous fourth-and-inches disaster at Philadelphia the fall prior. With the Eagles knowing exactly what was coming, Emmitt Smith was twice sent into the teeth of the defense, and didn't get it.
The ironic thing after all these years is that "Load Left" was a huge part of the Cowboys winning those Super Bowls during my elementary school years. Troy Aikman handed to Smith, who fell in behind Daryl Johnston and Mark Tuinei and Nate Newton, over and over and over again. It was cake, as hard to put down as the dessert Nate has since given up.
For the modern Cowboys, "Load Left" is Marion Barber up the middle, most often behind right guard Leonard Davis. They've had too much success to just go away from it and change backs on short yardage. In his career, Felix Jones has never had a carry inside the five-yard line. Tashard Choice has five career touchdowns - Barber, by contrast, had five as a rookie. He's not a home-run hitter, but he can get the bunt down when you've got to have it.
"His percentages are real high," Wade Phillips said, stressing the running back over the offensive line. "It seems like to me over the years the back has a lot to do with it. Some guys are better short-yardage, make that yard players than other players, and I think we're lucky to have one like Marion. … He's a natural, powerful, if he gets hit he's still got a chance to make that one yard. Not every back is like that. You can throw the ball when you have that threat."
Short yardage was a problem for the Cowboys in two games last year, the December loss at home against San Diego and the road shutdown a couple weeks later at Washington. In the first instance the Chargers changed up their scheme down on the goal line to keep Barber out on four straight runs in the second quarter, throwing something at the front five they didn't expect. And in D.C., well, Albert Haynesworth just whipped them in the middle.
"We played 16 other games," running backs coach Skip Peete said. "It depends on the situation. It depends on the scheme of the defense of the team you're playing, finding a weak spot and trying to exploit it. It kind of changes week to week. I don't think you can just line up and run the same play every week. Defenses are too good, they'll stop it."
Overall last season, the Cowboys had success handing off to Barber and letting him pound, and have had that same success for a while. Starting in 2005 when Barber arrived, the chains-moving conversion percentage on runs of third-and-two or shorter has hovered around two-out-of-three or greater. And two-out-of-three ain't bad, right? It was the same 66.7 percent in '05, '06 and '08, and 68 percent last year. It spiked to 75 percent in 2007.
My doubt that the success rate will hold up into perpetuity comes from the fact that four of the Cowboys' five linemen are 31 or older, and Doug Free, the youngest of the line bunch, isn't really a mauler. On Monday the offense worked on short yardage plays of all sorts - inside handoffs, pitches to Jones, passes, play-action passes. There's a lot in the package. We might even see the unit spread defenses out with three wide receivers and run the shotgun draw more often this year. There are a lot of weapons, which gives coordinator Jason Garrett a lot of options.
"It's the classic 'willow and oak' thing," Garrett said in burn-the-boats fashion. "You need to make sure you have a little 'oak' on your team, which means we're going to do what we do. And you have to have a little 'willow,' which means if they're going to do this, we're going to come back and do this. You're always doing that when you're putting an offense together, and really in every situation - regular down and distance situations, certainly the third down and red zone stuff and the short yardage and goal line stuff as well.
"You've got to be able to do what you do, but you don't want to do it to the point you're putting your players in a difficult situation. But you have to believe in something. … We're going to need to run the ball sometimes when they're playing run defense, and we're going to need to throw the ball sometimes when they're playing pass defense."
In my estimation, the offense can start shading toward the willow. This team has a greater depth of talent at the skill positions on offense than any other in the league, and there are more ways to get in the end zone than running Barber behind Davis, who let unknown backup linebacker Tim Dobbins through to Barber on three straight plays during the Chargers' goal line stand.
Obviously the Cowboys want to run behind Davis, but they also need to make other teams respect the pitch to Jones, the jump ball to Martellus Bennett, the fade to Roy Williams, Dez Bryant coming across the middle, Jason Witten on an out, Tashard Choice off tackle and Tony Romo running the bootleg. Too many times last year, with the Cowboys knocking on the door for a touchdown, those guys either didn't have their number called or the play wasn't executed when they got the opportunity. If they can't all somehow start to convert, the offense will have to go back to what it knows - Barber behind Davis more often than not.
As my Longhorn-fan friends are quick to remind, the Texas backfield for "Roll Left" included both Ricky Williams and Priest Holmes. Simply handing off to one or the other would've made perfect sense.
But the willow can grow just as shady as the oak, if it gets enough water. I say it wouldn't hurt this offense to start branching out.
Ellis: Short Yardage Offense Must Utilize All Its Options
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
Email | Follow DCStarJEllis on Twitter
SAN ANTONIO - Sitting in the press box on Monday, between two of my favorite Texas Longhorns fans, I had a vision of how the Cowboys can solve one of the more troubling problems they ran into offensively last season.
Or, at the very least, the column idea that was eluding me.
The team was down on the field practicing, maybe 50 yards away, installing their short-yardage offense and defense. They were just about to move onto the goal line portion of things when Jon Kitna, behind a two tight end set, dropped back to pass, perhaps a surprise to the defense, though everyone was moving at about 75 percent speed, so that much is debatable. What surprised me was how familiar it looked.
It's probably because I was 10 years old when the game was played and incorrectly thought it took place in the Alamodome, but Kitna's pass to John Phillips instantly reminded me of the 1996 Big 12 Championship game, a 37-27 Texas win over Nebraska, which the Longhorns sealed on a surprise play-action bootleg throw from James Brown to tight end Derek Lewis. "Roll Left," the burnt orange devil to my right called it.
Not that John Mackovic invented the short-yardage pass or anything, but little fourth grade Josh was just as shocked as the Cornhuskers were. "Roll Left" was absolutely better than "Load Left," Barry Switzer's infamous fourth-and-inches disaster at Philadelphia the fall prior. With the Eagles knowing exactly what was coming, Emmitt Smith was twice sent into the teeth of the defense, and didn't get it.
The ironic thing after all these years is that "Load Left" was a huge part of the Cowboys winning those Super Bowls during my elementary school years. Troy Aikman handed to Smith, who fell in behind Daryl Johnston and Mark Tuinei and Nate Newton, over and over and over again. It was cake, as hard to put down as the dessert Nate has since given up.
For the modern Cowboys, "Load Left" is Marion Barber up the middle, most often behind right guard Leonard Davis. They've had too much success to just go away from it and change backs on short yardage. In his career, Felix Jones has never had a carry inside the five-yard line. Tashard Choice has five career touchdowns - Barber, by contrast, had five as a rookie. He's not a home-run hitter, but he can get the bunt down when you've got to have it.
"His percentages are real high," Wade Phillips said, stressing the running back over the offensive line. "It seems like to me over the years the back has a lot to do with it. Some guys are better short-yardage, make that yard players than other players, and I think we're lucky to have one like Marion. … He's a natural, powerful, if he gets hit he's still got a chance to make that one yard. Not every back is like that. You can throw the ball when you have that threat."
Short yardage was a problem for the Cowboys in two games last year, the December loss at home against San Diego and the road shutdown a couple weeks later at Washington. In the first instance the Chargers changed up their scheme down on the goal line to keep Barber out on four straight runs in the second quarter, throwing something at the front five they didn't expect. And in D.C., well, Albert Haynesworth just whipped them in the middle.
"We played 16 other games," running backs coach Skip Peete said. "It depends on the situation. It depends on the scheme of the defense of the team you're playing, finding a weak spot and trying to exploit it. It kind of changes week to week. I don't think you can just line up and run the same play every week. Defenses are too good, they'll stop it."
Overall last season, the Cowboys had success handing off to Barber and letting him pound, and have had that same success for a while. Starting in 2005 when Barber arrived, the chains-moving conversion percentage on runs of third-and-two or shorter has hovered around two-out-of-three or greater. And two-out-of-three ain't bad, right? It was the same 66.7 percent in '05, '06 and '08, and 68 percent last year. It spiked to 75 percent in 2007.
My doubt that the success rate will hold up into perpetuity comes from the fact that four of the Cowboys' five linemen are 31 or older, and Doug Free, the youngest of the line bunch, isn't really a mauler. On Monday the offense worked on short yardage plays of all sorts - inside handoffs, pitches to Jones, passes, play-action passes. There's a lot in the package. We might even see the unit spread defenses out with three wide receivers and run the shotgun draw more often this year. There are a lot of weapons, which gives coordinator Jason Garrett a lot of options.
"It's the classic 'willow and oak' thing," Garrett said in burn-the-boats fashion. "You need to make sure you have a little 'oak' on your team, which means we're going to do what we do. And you have to have a little 'willow,' which means if they're going to do this, we're going to come back and do this. You're always doing that when you're putting an offense together, and really in every situation - regular down and distance situations, certainly the third down and red zone stuff and the short yardage and goal line stuff as well.
"You've got to be able to do what you do, but you don't want to do it to the point you're putting your players in a difficult situation. But you have to believe in something. … We're going to need to run the ball sometimes when they're playing run defense, and we're going to need to throw the ball sometimes when they're playing pass defense."
In my estimation, the offense can start shading toward the willow. This team has a greater depth of talent at the skill positions on offense than any other in the league, and there are more ways to get in the end zone than running Barber behind Davis, who let unknown backup linebacker Tim Dobbins through to Barber on three straight plays during the Chargers' goal line stand.
Obviously the Cowboys want to run behind Davis, but they also need to make other teams respect the pitch to Jones, the jump ball to Martellus Bennett, the fade to Roy Williams, Dez Bryant coming across the middle, Jason Witten on an out, Tashard Choice off tackle and Tony Romo running the bootleg. Too many times last year, with the Cowboys knocking on the door for a touchdown, those guys either didn't have their number called or the play wasn't executed when they got the opportunity. If they can't all somehow start to convert, the offense will have to go back to what it knows - Barber behind Davis more often than not.
As my Longhorn-fan friends are quick to remind, the Texas backfield for "Roll Left" included both Ricky Williams and Priest Holmes. Simply handing off to one or the other would've made perfect sense.
But the willow can grow just as shady as the oak, if it gets enough water. I say it wouldn't hurt this offense to start branching out.