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Cowboys @ Giants Preview, Part I
by Rafael
Some of these things are not like the others. Part one of Cowboys Nation's breakdown considers if the newcomers in Dallas' secondary will make a positive difference for the Dallas Cowboys Wednesday night?
I. Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants offense have strafed the Cowboys defense the last three years. New York has amassed a 5-1 record in six contest, despite strong play by Tony Romo and the Cowboys offense. Dallas has topped 24 points in five of the six contests and topped 30 points in four of those games but has only taken Jason Garrett's debut, a 33-20 stunner in the middle of the dismal 2010 season.
Dallas biggest shortcoming has come in the secondary, which has not matched up against the Giants quartet of Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Mario Manningham and Steve Smith. Take a good look at the unit which tried to slow the Giants last fall:
LCB -- Terence Newman
SLB -- Orlando Scandrick/Frank Walker
RCB -- Mike Jenkins/Alan Ball
Jenkins started the 37-34 shootout in Cowboys Stadium last December and left the contest twice after injuring a trick shoulder which required off-season surgery. In the 3rd and 4th quarters, when Eli Manning overcame a 12-point Cowboys lead with two late TD drives, Newman, Walker and Ball were entrusted with stopping Nicks, Cruz and Manningham.
None of them are with the Cowboys any longer, which tells you all you need to know about Rob Ryan's faith in his 2011 secondary.
Dallas invested heavily in cornerbacks, signing Brandon Carr to a big-money free agent deal in March. Dallas then shipped its 2nd round draft pick to St. Louis on draft day, jumping up into the 6th slot to select LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne.
Football is a game of matchups, and it will be interesting to see how Ryan deploys his new cornerback toys in this game. In the January rematch, Ryan used Jenkins, his best option, one-on-one against Nicks and used bracket coverage on any Giants targets running in the slot. See here for more details.
Ryan's strategy was to blitz Manning, use lots of 3-on-2 coverage on the outside, take away the quick breaking routes and trust his rush to rattle Manning before longer-breaking routes could develop.
I would not be surprised to see more of the same this time around. Ryan wants to play lots of press on the edges and blitz as a default. Brandon Carr was a bear in camp. He squared off against Dez Bryant every day and the two tried to outmuscle each other off the line. Carr was clearly signed to line up against the physical Nicks and slow him down. Nicks has rushed back from off-season surgery and it's not clear if he's fully healthy. Nicks has nonetheless promised he will start this week and stopping him will be job one.
He's the linchpin of the Giants passing attack, a big, physical wide target in the Michael Irvin mold. Cowboys corner have not been able to slow him for 60 minutes.
One question is how the CBs and WRs will fare when the matchups are flopped, and Cruz and Carr face off? They differ in styles, the old boxing puncher/boxer contrast. Cruz is slight and slippery; he's quick off the line, hard to jam, and can beat corners with tight route running and deep acceleration if they try to lock him up at the line and miss. Carr wants an instant knockout. His game is based upon a short, deliberate and effective punchout, which staggers the receiver and throws off the timing with that target's quarterback.
Another major question is how Ryan will deploy Claiborne? Dallas rushed him into action from day one of camp. They isolated him and the offense challenged him in every session. Dallas obviously wanted to shorten his learning curve and make him the ball-hawking complement to Carr. Know, however that Claiborne does have a curve. In early sessions he struggled with his jams, and receivers had success with inside releases against him. Claiborne was improving and developing a more physical approach when he strained a hamstring and had to sit for a week.
Claiborne's physical skills are obvious. He's fast, smooth and can recover like no other corner on the Cowboys roster. His technique remains a work in progress, and I imagine Giants OC Kevin Gilbride will try to set him up early and see how far along the curve Claiborne has progressed.
Claiborne had a reputation at LSU as an aggressive edge defender who liked to jump routes. In the SEC Championship Game, Georgia burned Claiborne twice early with double moves, where he bit on the initial half of the route and let the receiver get behind him. I wonder if we'll see the Giants test him with similar routes, the slant and gos, the out and ups, the post-corner combos? If they do, will Ryan give his youngster safety help, or trust him alone, as Ryan did for most of camp?
The third question is how Dallas will handle Cruz when he's deployed in the slot? Last year, when New York ran its regular sets and used a slot formation, with Nicks wide and Cruz inside on the same side of the field, the Cowboys would play man, with Mike Jenkins playing Nicks alone and Terence Newman working bracket coverage inside/outside on Cruz with a safety. The coverage was effective when Dallas ran it properly. The secondary players frequently blew assignments, which led to huge negative plays.
I think Ryan will stick with what he likes, and hope that his new people can run it better than the old guys.
Inside, Dallas had some favorable rush matchups, most notably with DE Jason Hatcher against the Giants Mitch Petrus and Kevin Boothe. Hatcher worked between DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff and received single blocking on nearly every pass play. He didn't record a lot of sacks but was very effective at pressuring Eli Manning and moving him off his drop spot. That interior push will be vital if Dallas wants to get off the field on 3rd downs, something it could not do with any frequency in last season's two games.
II. Discipline Against the Run
I don't foresee Dallas doing anything special to stop New York's rushing attack. The Giants struggled to run effectively last year had drafted running back David Wilson with their top pick in April's draft. He'll add more explosiveness, but the Cowboys didn't struggled against the Giants attack last year. What's more, they've been very effective at stopping all the rushing attacks they've faced this summer.
Dallas did have one major run play flaw. The outside 'backers Ware and Anthony Spencer created some major cutback lanes for counter plays by charging too far upfield and exposing the flanks of Dallas' line. (You can see a detailed breakdown here.)
The key for the Cowboys will be to diagnose run or pass quickly and properly, and to play each appropriately. Dallas struggled badly in 2011 defending the counter. The Eagles hurt Ryan's guys the most, but the Giants landed a few punches of their own. On Wednesday, we'll get our first evidence of how well the coaches have addressed this run defense problem.
by Rafael
Some of these things are not like the others. Part one of Cowboys Nation's breakdown considers if the newcomers in Dallas' secondary will make a positive difference for the Dallas Cowboys Wednesday night?
I. Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants offense have strafed the Cowboys defense the last three years. New York has amassed a 5-1 record in six contest, despite strong play by Tony Romo and the Cowboys offense. Dallas has topped 24 points in five of the six contests and topped 30 points in four of those games but has only taken Jason Garrett's debut, a 33-20 stunner in the middle of the dismal 2010 season.
Dallas biggest shortcoming has come in the secondary, which has not matched up against the Giants quartet of Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Mario Manningham and Steve Smith. Take a good look at the unit which tried to slow the Giants last fall:
LCB -- Terence Newman
SLB -- Orlando Scandrick/Frank Walker
RCB -- Mike Jenkins/Alan Ball
Jenkins started the 37-34 shootout in Cowboys Stadium last December and left the contest twice after injuring a trick shoulder which required off-season surgery. In the 3rd and 4th quarters, when Eli Manning overcame a 12-point Cowboys lead with two late TD drives, Newman, Walker and Ball were entrusted with stopping Nicks, Cruz and Manningham.
None of them are with the Cowboys any longer, which tells you all you need to know about Rob Ryan's faith in his 2011 secondary.
Dallas invested heavily in cornerbacks, signing Brandon Carr to a big-money free agent deal in March. Dallas then shipped its 2nd round draft pick to St. Louis on draft day, jumping up into the 6th slot to select LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne.
Football is a game of matchups, and it will be interesting to see how Ryan deploys his new cornerback toys in this game. In the January rematch, Ryan used Jenkins, his best option, one-on-one against Nicks and used bracket coverage on any Giants targets running in the slot. See here for more details.
Ryan's strategy was to blitz Manning, use lots of 3-on-2 coverage on the outside, take away the quick breaking routes and trust his rush to rattle Manning before longer-breaking routes could develop.
I would not be surprised to see more of the same this time around. Ryan wants to play lots of press on the edges and blitz as a default. Brandon Carr was a bear in camp. He squared off against Dez Bryant every day and the two tried to outmuscle each other off the line. Carr was clearly signed to line up against the physical Nicks and slow him down. Nicks has rushed back from off-season surgery and it's not clear if he's fully healthy. Nicks has nonetheless promised he will start this week and stopping him will be job one.
He's the linchpin of the Giants passing attack, a big, physical wide target in the Michael Irvin mold. Cowboys corner have not been able to slow him for 60 minutes.
One question is how the CBs and WRs will fare when the matchups are flopped, and Cruz and Carr face off? They differ in styles, the old boxing puncher/boxer contrast. Cruz is slight and slippery; he's quick off the line, hard to jam, and can beat corners with tight route running and deep acceleration if they try to lock him up at the line and miss. Carr wants an instant knockout. His game is based upon a short, deliberate and effective punchout, which staggers the receiver and throws off the timing with that target's quarterback.
Another major question is how Ryan will deploy Claiborne? Dallas rushed him into action from day one of camp. They isolated him and the offense challenged him in every session. Dallas obviously wanted to shorten his learning curve and make him the ball-hawking complement to Carr. Know, however that Claiborne does have a curve. In early sessions he struggled with his jams, and receivers had success with inside releases against him. Claiborne was improving and developing a more physical approach when he strained a hamstring and had to sit for a week.
Claiborne's physical skills are obvious. He's fast, smooth and can recover like no other corner on the Cowboys roster. His technique remains a work in progress, and I imagine Giants OC Kevin Gilbride will try to set him up early and see how far along the curve Claiborne has progressed.
Claiborne had a reputation at LSU as an aggressive edge defender who liked to jump routes. In the SEC Championship Game, Georgia burned Claiborne twice early with double moves, where he bit on the initial half of the route and let the receiver get behind him. I wonder if we'll see the Giants test him with similar routes, the slant and gos, the out and ups, the post-corner combos? If they do, will Ryan give his youngster safety help, or trust him alone, as Ryan did for most of camp?
The third question is how Dallas will handle Cruz when he's deployed in the slot? Last year, when New York ran its regular sets and used a slot formation, with Nicks wide and Cruz inside on the same side of the field, the Cowboys would play man, with Mike Jenkins playing Nicks alone and Terence Newman working bracket coverage inside/outside on Cruz with a safety. The coverage was effective when Dallas ran it properly. The secondary players frequently blew assignments, which led to huge negative plays.
I think Ryan will stick with what he likes, and hope that his new people can run it better than the old guys.
Inside, Dallas had some favorable rush matchups, most notably with DE Jason Hatcher against the Giants Mitch Petrus and Kevin Boothe. Hatcher worked between DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff and received single blocking on nearly every pass play. He didn't record a lot of sacks but was very effective at pressuring Eli Manning and moving him off his drop spot. That interior push will be vital if Dallas wants to get off the field on 3rd downs, something it could not do with any frequency in last season's two games.
II. Discipline Against the Run
I don't foresee Dallas doing anything special to stop New York's rushing attack. The Giants struggled to run effectively last year had drafted running back David Wilson with their top pick in April's draft. He'll add more explosiveness, but the Cowboys didn't struggled against the Giants attack last year. What's more, they've been very effective at stopping all the rushing attacks they've faced this summer.
Dallas did have one major run play flaw. The outside 'backers Ware and Anthony Spencer created some major cutback lanes for counter plays by charging too far upfield and exposing the flanks of Dallas' line. (You can see a detailed breakdown here.)
The key for the Cowboys will be to diagnose run or pass quickly and properly, and to play each appropriately. Dallas struggled badly in 2011 defending the counter. The Eagles hurt Ryan's guys the most, but the Giants landed a few punches of their own. On Wednesday, we'll get our first evidence of how well the coaches have addressed this run defense problem.