Football 301 – Week 5 – Targets/Sacks

Posted on October 13th, 2009 9:32pm by Bob Sturm
Filed under Dallas Cowboys, Sturm

Where is Tony Romo going with the ball? Who is catching those passes? Who is not? The answers are revealed below, as well as playing the “blame game” on pass rush.

Check it out:

Target Distribution:

Targets – Week 5 vs Kansas City

Name Targets Catches Yards FD/TD/INT
Austin 15 10 250 5/2/0
Witten 6 5 47 3/0/0
Crayton 8 4 44 2/0/0
Hurd 2 1 10 1/0/0
Choice 1 0 0 0/0/0
Barber 1 0 0 0/0/0
Bennett 1 0 0 0/0/0
Totals 34 20 351 11/2/0

Table Tutorial

Our target study took quite a turn when Tony Romo, perhaps just 1 week after being frustrated with Miles Austin’s efforts, locked in on #19 15 times. I believe that is the highest for any Cowboy since Terrell Owens famous 17 target effort at home versus Washington where he actually had 19 touches (2 handoffs) and still complained that he wasn’t getting the ball. I love him.

Anyway, 15 touches is more than guys like Martellus Bennett and Sam Hurd have had for the season, and he did it in one memorable career day. And he delivered.

Season Target Distribution To Date:

Name Targets Catches % Yards FD/TD/INT
Witten 33 28 85% 259 12/1/1
Crayton 32 15 47% 243 6/1/1
Austin 27 15 55% 331 7/3/1
Williams 25 11 44% 214 8/1/0
Choice 17 12 71% 92 5/0/0
Bennett 11 4 36% 40 3/0/0
Hurd 9 5 55% 89 3/0/1
Barber 5 4 80% 58 2/0/0
Jones 2 1 50% 20 1/0/0
Anderson 2 1 50% 5 0/0/0
Totals 163 96 59% 1341 47/6/4

Table Tutorial

So, now as you look at the season targets, the numbers are crazy. As a WR, nobody makes catches as well as Austin, and he also has better yardage. It certainly was a day he will likely never duplicate, but Roy Williams has to be more productive if Miles Austin can catch and pass him in one game at Roy’s normal spot.

3rd Down Target Distribution:

As you will see, 3rd downs are a mess right now. Ugly.

3RD Down Targets – Week 5 – KC

Name Targets Catches Yards FD/TD
Austin 5 3 78 1/1/0
Crayton 3 2 18 2/0
Hurd 2 1 10 1/0
Choice 1 0 0 0/0
Totals 11 6 106 4/1/0

Table Tutorial

This is starting to reveal a trend that I am not crazy about here. For the 2nd straight week, Jason Witten did not have a pass thrown his way on 3rd down. Obviously, that is a bit of a concern, based on several years of being the best 3rd down option. Possible explanations: 1) Teams are not willing to let him beat them – which of course takes me back to the idiocy of not having Witten in a pattern at Denver at the end. 2) He is having to remain in on 3rd down to pick up blitzes. And 3) The 3rd Downs are at a distance where a TE route is not ideal.

We will have to follow this trend, but as money as he is, you don’t want to forget about him on 3rd down.

3rd Down Targets – Season Totals

Name Targets Catches % Yards FD/TD/INT
Crayton 10 5 50% 53 4/0/1
Austin 9 4 44% 80 1/1/0
Witten 6 6 100% 69 3/1/0
Williams 6 2 33% 29 2/0/0
Choice 6 4 67% 20 2/0/0
Hurd 5 2 40% 63 2/0/0
Bennett 3 0 0% 0 0/0/0
Totals 45 23 51% 314 14/2/2

Table Tutorial

SACKS

Despite the problems in Denver, the Chiefs did not have the ability to bring pressure like the Broncos did. Therefore, just 1 sack against the Cowboys offense, with the charges going to Leonard Davis for being beat by Gilberry. However, on this play, about 3 Chiefs met at the QB, meaning that the official scorer made it Davis’ bust, but Tashard Choice was run over by Mays, too.

Otherwise, a rather clean effort for the most part.

We will continue to update this chart as the season goes on:

Week Opponent Sack Blame
Wk 1 Tampa Barber Romo awareness
Wk 3 Carolina Davis Adams?
Wk 3 Carolina Beason Felix/Colombo
Wk 4 Denver Dumervil Adams
Wk 4 Denver Hill Garrett?
Wk 4 Denver Williams Romo
Wk 4 Denver Dumervil Anderson
Wk 4 Denver Holiday Adams
Wk 5 Kansas City Gilberry Davis/Choice

Table Tutorial

Bookmark and Share
12 Comments to “Football 301 – Week 5 – Targets/Sacks”
  • Gus in Flower Mound @ October 13th, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    Crayton is not worth covering. Whitten is not so open without TO. Roy is never in the game. Miles escaped notice for a game, don’t look for that again. So where does Romo go now? Another Michael Irvin ‘reality’ show? Spend 1.2 billion on a stadium Jerry, how bout fielding a team??

  • Mavs Man @ October 13th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    Okay, this is really off topic but why is Witten so hard to spell? I don’t mean to call any one person out, because I see this ALL the time, ALL across the Internets, but I would be interested to know the answer to that question. Why are we so inclined to add a silent -h to his name?

    Dat Nguyen never seemed to have a problem, and his name was much more of a curveball than Jason’s.

  • WacoGreg @ October 13th, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    Well that is the looking at the glass half empty huh?

    How about we take this as a positive, more attention paid to what was our 3rd/4th WR option to start this season should open it up for the rest. I predict a big game coming up for Witten, and wow 6 for 6 on catches for 69 yards, 4 firsts, and a TD is ridiculous.

  • JTM @ October 14th, 2009 at 7:28 am

    Interesting stuff as usual, Bob.

    While I’d like to take those receiving numbers at face value, I’m sure it’s a bit more complicated. However, I’m struck by the fact that two running backs and a tight end appear to be so much better than the receivers.

    Is the fact that Witten is being kept in to block when he’s clearly the best receiver on key plays an indictment of the Cowboys ability to pick up the blitz?

  • GhettoBear04 @ October 14th, 2009 at 8:26 am

    %caught will always favor RB’s and TE’s because they are running shorter routes against weaker coverage (usually don’t get a CB with a S over the top…though Witten gets a LB with a S over the top). The other thing to consider is yards per catch (YPC) or, if you can, yards per attempt (YPA).

    That helps you balance out Choice’s 8 yard dumpoffs with a Miles Austin 40 yard bomb. If only there were some good stat that combined them all…that’d be handy. We need a “WR Rating” like there are “QB ratings”.

  • Ron Dodson @ October 14th, 2009 at 9:16 am

    I think the 3rd down Witten issue is that the opposing DCs have figured out Tony’s quick reads. Tony’s release is so fast because he makes flash reads (looking only for face crossing vs. space & sep). You can take a receiver out of a game if you just make sure the targeted receiver never crosses a face with those type reads. They man up with inside-influence on JW instead of having a middle coverage zone.

  • Ron Dodson @ October 14th, 2009 at 9:23 am

    Witten/3rd down (cont.’d) Remember, each team has only so many reps every week in practice, and these guys are human. The brain can only absorb what the body can endure. However, the solution is to line up Witten tight to the strong side, stand him up/move him back to wing (and the split to that side then moves to split end on the LOS), and then motion him across the offense. With the change of strength, the LB’s are forced to go zone or put a safety on him man. If the former, then the read for the WS split is post. If the LB’s go zone, then Witten sits on the hole. Issues: 1. execution – 3 guys MUST make the same correct read and run very good routes and 2. timing with Witten in motion locks in the snap – this is an issue because Romo ALWAYS fakes the snap in the Gun to reveal OSLB/SS coverage schemes.

  • JohnnyMel @ October 14th, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Bob, how about some RAC yards? I think it’d be interesting to see how the receivers are doing after they catch the ball. Obviously Miles Austin helped Romo’s numbers significantly with his yards after the catch. I’d like to see not only if the receivers can get open, but can they make a play after catching the ball.

  • JohnnyMel @ October 14th, 2009 at 10:36 am

    or rather YAC.

  • SDM @ October 14th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Great work as always. I would be interested in also seeing a chart that tracks the penalties by the o-line. Since some of them (tripping, holding, etc) might have been to avoid a sack.

  • JTM @ October 14th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    Regarding % catches, the difference between RB, TE, and WR on other teams is not nearly so pronounced. Take a look at teams with legitimate 1 and 2 receivers and their % receptions compared to the receiving core on this team.

  • Shawn @ October 15th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    What I think is most telling from the numbers is how much Choice’s hands have improved. Choice was dropping balls all over the place at the end of last season. This season he’s caught more balls than Roy Williams!

    Choice is also getting better at picking up blocks.

    I think he is clearly the best #3 running back in the league. He could easily be a top #2 running back for any team in the NFL. I feel very confident about the Cowboys running game should Barber and Felix go out due to injury.