But, before we get to all of that, here are a few other things before we check our weekly numbers:

1) Occasionally, while watching a Cowboys game, I will see something that I have no place for in one of my entries, but I just wanted to share it with you anyway. Here is one of those cases. I can’t explain why, but for some reason, nothing makes me crazier when watching a football game than the Defensive Backs who refuse to tackle altogether or refuse to tackle properly. It seemed like once upon a time there was the idea that DBs could tackle and would do so utilizing proper technique with arms wrapping up and driving. Somehow, over the years, DBs have found that it is easier (albeit lower percentage) to simply launch a shoulder and hope you knock the player silly.

Well, here is Terence Newman in this video. DcFanatic cut up the attempt that jumped out at me in the 2nd Quarter against Atlanta where he completely missed Roddy White, along with a similar result with the Giants, followed by his strong connection later in the game on 84:

It reminded me of a story I was reading out of Philadelphia where Asante Samuel is being critiqued for his lack of tackling and makes no apologies:

Samuel on Friday responded to the mouting critics of his tackling acumen. They didn’t bring him here to take down ball carriers, he promised.

“I didn’t get signed here because I was a great tackler,” Samuel said. “Everbody saw my film [before he was signed].”

Maybe so, but that answer won’t satisfy defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who in his own way insinuated that Samuel is one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in football, so he better tackle like one.

The issue comes after Samuel’s less-than-aggressive tackle attempt on Zach Miller’s 86-yard TD catch Sunday, the lone TD in the Eagles’ 13-9 loss to the lowly Raiders, who hadn’t scored a touchdown in three games.

So, after reading that, I had to find the play that they were talking about. Thanks to Youtube, here it is:

Right after Miller catches the pass, watch Samuel bail out at about the 36 yard line. Awesome unintentional comedy.

Poor tackling is not a Cowboys issue, it is all over the league. And I suggest that often times, it is the highly compensated DB making a “business decision” as Deion used to say. That might be why I generally enjoy the fine work of Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield who loves to tackle in all situations – despite his hefty paycheck. Of course, he is also going to miss a month with an injury, but don’t worry about that.

In case you care, here is Asante’s deal of 6 years/$57m:

The details are in on Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel’s contract, and he’ll make $32.14 million in the first three years of the deal. The contract looks like this:

Signing Bonus: $6M
Roster Bonuses: $7M in 2008, $7M in 2009
Workout Bonuses: $500K in 2008, $100K per year for the rest of the contract.
Base Salaries (Cap Number)
2008: $645K ($9.145M)
2009: $1.9M ($9M)
2010: $8.895M ($9.995M)
2011: $5.9M ($7M)
2012: $8.4M ($9.5M)
2013: $10.4M ($11.5M)

And, Newman’s deal :

5/20/2008: Signed a six-year, $50.2 million contract extension through 2014. The deal contains $22.5 million guaranteed, including a $12 million signing bonus.
2009: $895,000,
2010: $9 million,
2011: $8 million,
2012: $6.016 million,
2013: $7,600,417,
2014: $7.5 million,
2015: Free Agent

Bob Gainey used to say that “it is tough to be hungry when you are full.”

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2) Now on to our statistical studies we update on Wednesdays. The top one tracks how often the winners of the turnover battles actually win the game. The numbers are staggering, but about where they are every season. So far in 2009, the winners of the turnover battle have won the game 69 of the 83 game for a 83% number. This is obviously not related in any way to home field, talent discrepencies, play-calling, or injuries. This simply says: take care of the football better than your opponent, and you win almost all of the time. Just 1 team was able to overcome a -1 this week, and that was the Saints in that crazy game in Miami.

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

And, then below we compare the winning correlation between the 100-yard rusher and the 300-yard passer. Through 7 weeks, the results are too close to call:

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

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TC’s Drive Of the Week: (Each week, my young, trusty intern, TC Fleming, breaks down a drive from around the NFL from a purely X’s and O’s perspective – just because he can. Warning, when other people say “break down” they are not serious. TC is very serious)

I think the real reason we’re focusing on the 49ers is because most of the games this week were boring. Except for the Saints-Dolphins, who we did last week, and Steelers-Vikings, who I considered heavily, this was about the only game where the final score was close. But among those slim pickings, I felt most intrigued by what schemes could get Alex Smith and the 49ers offense not to suck, especially when they had sucked so badly earlier in this same game. To satisfy that interest, I turned to the team’s final touchdown drive against the Texans.

They opened the drive with one of their two plays from under center with both wide receivers to the right, Vernon Davis in tight to the left, and two running backs in an offset I in the backfield. The wrinkle here is that the fullback was former Penn State quarterback and current 49ers backup halfback Michael Robinson. Before the snap, outside receiver Josh Morgan starts toward the backfield. Smith snaps the ball, fakes the handoff to Frank Gore and to Morgan before setting up to pass. This is something they have been setting up all game, motioning Morgan into the backfield and then executing a normal running play but with a fake to Morgan after the handoff. I suspect the real goal in this is not to trick them into a big gain off of this play action but is rather to open up the regular, straight-forward run. The 49ers have quite a claim to sporting the worst offensive line in football, so they need to do things to trick it up if they want to have success on the ground. So if they hit on one of these plays, either the end-around or the play-action pass, then the Texans defenders will be more hesitant and give the blockers an advantage they need just to be competitive.

The formation is also of interest, too, as Brian Billick pointed out on the broadcast. By putting two receivers to the same side, the Texans are forced to make obvious statements about their coverage, either putting a corner over the slot receiver and showing they’re in man or leaving one corner to each side and showing they’re in zone.

As to the pass itself, it’s slow in developing with all the fakes, so both Vernon Davis and Frank Gore stay in as blockers. With Morgan on the fake, this leaves only Michael Robinson and Michael Crabtree as options. Crabtree is running a ‘Go,’ hoping the safeties will bite on the fake and that he will be behind them before they realize the mistake. Robinson first acts as if lead blocking before looking back for a pass from Smith. Before too long, he, too, heads straight upfield. However, Mario Williams kills right tackle Adam Snyder at the snap and puts pressure on Smith from the start. It’s all Smith can do to toss the ball away.

I question how much of a chance at success this play had with good protection. There were only two receivers against all the defenders in coverage, all 6 of them. So they would have to fool quite a few defenders, all of whom are probably not too afraid of a running attack that hadn’t done much to that point. And that’s a downside of the aforementioned formation: by putting the receivers on the same side, you’re calling the defense’s attention to that side. Attention is not what you want when you’re trying to sneak a receiver past the coverage.

The next play is more typical of what we would see on this drive. Smith is in shotgun with five receivers at or near the line of scrimmage. As we have seen both the Cowboys and Saints do, they do so from their 12 package, with their tight ends and running back playing as wide receivers. As stated in weeks past, the advantage is that when the defense sees the players in the huddle, they match up by sending out their normal complement of linebackers. In most cases, at least one of these linebackers is poor in coverage.

The focus on this play is the right side of the formation, where Davis, backup tight end Delanie Walker and Morgan are lined up. Davis is just off the line and Morgan is on the outside with Walker in the slot. Both Davis and Morgan take off at the start, and once their defenders go into their backpedal, they break the route off into a hitch. Walker is running a ‘Go’ between them. Brian Cushing is lined up over Walker, and Cushing is bumping Walker. When Morgan makes his turn back to Smith, Cushing is still engaged with Walker, so there is no one in between Morgan and Smith. Further, Smith’s timing is very good, so the corner has no time to recover. As seems to be the norm with many-receivered sets like this, the safety is playing too conservatively to be a factor in preventing a completion. This is precisely the sort of play the 49ers need. For years they have shown an inability to generate big plays, and until Crabtree really becomes a factor, that does not figure to change. But if they can find lots of easy completions like this one where the quarterback has an easy read, and the line has as little pressure on it as possible, then they can have hope of finding something they can hand their hat on offensively. I think that is where this team can carve out an offense with their current middling talent: easy little plays where they exploit a soft spot to pick up 5 yards without asking too much of anyone.

There’s a weird substitution penalty, and the 49ers get backed up to 1^st and 15. The next play is the final time on this drive that Alex Smith goes under center.  Much like the Saints did last week, the 49ers put an extra lineman in at tight end, to bring the tight end count to three, with Morgan at wide receiver split to the left. Smith fakes to Gore, which doesn’t get too much of  reaction from the defense. Morgan runs deep, with the hope of taking his corner and safety with him. Davis then works behind the linebackers before breaking for the corner. Unfortunately, Eugene Wilson, the safety on that side, does not go with Morgan (after all, he is still just Josh Morgan). He locks on to Davis a little before he breaks and makes a very nice play to break up the pass.

From 2^nd and 15, the 49ers go back to the four-wide set with Smith in the shotgun next to Gore. The patterns are roughly the same, with the outside receivers running deep and the slot receivers running curls. Gore might make the slightest chip of the defensive end, then releases out to the flat. The Texans seem to be in man coverage, with the weakside linebacker chasing Gore when he goes out for a pass. Meanwhile, the strongside linebacker blitzes. So when the two slot receivers run curls well in front of the safeties, the middle linebacker is defending both of those slot receivers. Smith throws to Vernon Davis on the left, who is very open and the best choice of the two. The middle linebacker is at least there to make the tackle, but it’s another easy completion to a soft part of the defense that nets an easy nine yards.

That gain of nine sets up the only third down of the drive, obviously a very key play. Short aside: Smith makes the hand motion where he makes a steeple with his fingers. I think we’ve all seen this a number of times watching football. Billick explains this is the quarterback letting the offense know they are huddling up. I’ve seen the motion plenty of times and did not know until now what it meant. Maybe I’m alone in my ignorance, but I thought that might be a nice tidbit for somebody. Anyways, back to the play. The 49ers again are in their favorite formation, shotgun with four receivers, two to each side. They do switch what receivers are where from play to play. Every time, the two tight ends are split out to one side with the two wide receivers to the other. I believe the wide receivers, Morgan and Crabtree, are to the open side of the field, the one with the most distance to the sideline, while the tight ends are to the closed side. This time, the open side is the left side, so the receivers are there.

Initially, the Texans give a 2-deep look (this is a benefit of the four-wide formation, it becomes clearer who is covering whom, since they are so spread apart that it is not possible for a defender to look like his assigned to one guy but switch to the other or things like that). Before the snap, the safeties rotate with the safety in the left coming over the top and the safety on the right coming down towards the two receivers. That is because the cornerback on the slot receiver is blitzing. This is in addition to the linebacker on that side, who is blitzing as well. That leaves both receivers in single coverage with minimal hope of help over the top. Morgan, who is in the slot, first runs a quick hitch but almost immediately begins working towards the sideline. The benefits of this are two-fold: Morgan is hopefully getting open in order to be a hot route for Smith, while he is also pulling his man towards the sideline, opening up a window for Crabtree, who is running a square-in behind him. Crabtree’s man is playing to keep Crabtree in front of him, so when Morgan opens that window, there is no one in between Smith and Crabtree. Smith’s pass is a little high, but Crabtree makes a nice little grab to convert the third down. It’s a pretty impressive play for someone who hasn’t played football in a number of months and never played football in the NFL. The real star of the play is the protection. This play takes a little bit to set up, more than the previous few completions, and the Texans are bringing six rushers. Gore stays in to block, so it’s six-on-six, and that is not usually a good outcome for San Francisco, but it is on this play. Smith also is good for trusting his protection, staying in the pocket and waiting for the receiver to come open. I don’t think the 49ers could execute a play like this very often, but they do an admirable job here.

San Francisco does a little wrinkle before the snap, where they’re standing as if they’re going to line up in the offset I with Smith under center, but before they’re set, Smith backs up and everyone trots out to again form the four-wide shotgun look they’ve had so much success with.

As has been the case before in the drive, the routes on either side are a mirror image of each other. Both outside receivers run an out pattern, heading upfield before breaking for the sidelines, and both slot receivers run a ‘Go.’ The Texans look to me like they’re in a Cover-3, where both corners are dropping with the receivers and one of the safeties playing over the top. The end result is three deep defenders, which is how it gets the name. What happens here is that the corners go with the outside receivers, and the safety is playing more to clean up any completions rather than prevent them. Smith also holds the safety with his eyes, looking right before coming back to the left. With the corner over with Crabtree and the safety too deep to be a factor, Morgan just has to get behind the underneath defenders, and he’s got a huge space to work. He does just that, Smith makes the necessary throw over the heads of the underneath defenders, and Morgan has plenty of room to go up and get the ball without fear. In all, it nets 23 yards, attacks another soft part of the coverage and doesn’t ask too much of the protection. This is as quick-strike as you can get with a 23-yard gain.

For the final play of the drive, San Francisco returns to the five-wide set from the 12 personnel. The play bears a strong resemblance to the Saints’ four verticals play that got their touchdown on the drive we looked at last week. The outside receiver to the left runs a quick hitch, maybe even faking a quick screen, but the other receivers all runn ‘Go’ patterns down the field. The other exception is Vernon Davis who, from the right slot, runs a little bit of a post. Much like Colston last week, Davis is matched up on the middle linebacker (in this case, DeMeco Ryans). Ryans is very good, and he stays with Davis pretty well, but Davis is faster and taller than just about any linebacker in the league. Smith, like Brees before him, draws the deep safety away from Davis with his eyes before placing the ball over Ryans’ head and into Davis’ hands.

Davis makes his catch over Ryans.

This play capped off a curious trend from this drive: there were a lot of Saints plays in here. If someone had handed me the diagrams of the plays and asked me to name the team, I would have said the Saints with confidence, with the extra lineman, and the four verticals and the five-wide from 12 personnel. It seems odd to me that two offenses so disparate in their results would be so similar in their schemes. And there is no shared branches I can see on their coaching tree. San Francisco’s offensive coordinator is Jimmy Raye, who is really old (he was the backup quarterback in the Notre Dame-Michigan State 10-10 “Game Of The Century,” which was played in 1966. Sherm Lewis thinks Jimmy Raye is old.) but does not appear to have run across Sean Payton is his many years. I told all this to Bob Tuesday morning, and he pointed out that if one’s offense was not working, a good place to go for new ideas would be tape of Saints games. This is a very interesting point that the evidence suggests is possible. If true—and it’s by no means certain that it is true—it raises a lot of questions. After less than a year on the job, is Jimmy Raye really so out of ideas already that he’s lifting his offense off of Saints tapes? What about core principles and offensive design? How do you keep those things together when installing plays you saw last week? How long does it take for an offense to feel comfortable with a play? Most of these passes were effective in part because of their simplicity, but it’s supposed to be harder than it looks, right? Then again, Crabtree played much of the game despite being on the team for only a few weeks, so what does that say about how hard all this is to learn? But if building an effective attack is as easy as watching the Saints’ tape and mimicking it, why doesn’t every team in the league do it and put up big yards? And why didn’t the 49ers do it from the beginning when Shaun Hill was in there (with Hill, they only went to shotgun on third down and in general ran much more of what you would expect from an offense as traditionally mediocre as the 49ers in the last few years)? And I suspect the fact that they were down 21 points by halftime had something to do with all of this. They would be desperate enough to try anything, though they would have had to install all this in practice at some point.

I guess an alternative explanation is that all this stuff that I think is revolutionary (play-action from heavy sets, five wide from 12, managing to get tall, athletic players matched up on linebackers, etc.) is muc more ordinary than I understood. I mean, all three teams we’ve looked at have had a little bit of that. It will be interesting to track as we go along. It certainly makes me glad I branched out to look at other teams. It’s already turning up some fascinating (to me, at least) results.

The fact they were down by 21 should also be considered in their success. The 49ers offense was working against a Texans defense that did not feel much urgency. Likely as a result, they did not blitz much or play particularly aggressively. Given the line’s performance this season and earlier in this game, I think that more frequent blitzing would have posed significant problems. Then again, these were all plays that stressd getting the ball out fairly quickly, and they did have success in their one play against the big blitz. It would be interesting to see what this offense and scheme could do against a defense playing in a more urgent situation.

Also of note is that the 49ers made no attempt to run on this drive. That’s pretty understandable given the game situation, but if the 49ers want to build on the offensive success they had here, I would like to see how they plan to mix in more running with these four-wide sets and whatnot.

And as I indicated throughout, I do think they have some concepts to build off of here. The formations make it easier for Smith to know where he’s going with the ball, and the patterns make it easy for Smith to get those passes there quickly. The spread formations make it hard to have extra blockers, but one of Smith’s supposed strengths coming out of Utah was his elusiveness. I didn’t see anything specifically on these plays to confirm or deny that, but it would be an asset in this scheme. Like I said at the top, the 49ers don’t have anyone to break big plays on a regular basis, so for them to have hope, they need to use these high-percentage plays to keep the ball moving while taking their occasional 20+ yard shot when it’s open and available quickly.

Bonus Coverage: In my research for this article, I discovered that the Houston Texans cheerleading squad features a pair of twins. I thought Bob should know, given his history with twins.

The battle of unbeatens at the Superdome was Eli Manning’s first pro visit back to his hometown. He played a passable game (he did get miffed like when Peyton flicked his ear in on that ESPN family tour), but the Giants’ defense didn’t. They’ll host Arizona next Sunday night.

The Cowboys scored as many touchdowns as the Eagles and Redskins did combined despite Philadelphia playing Oakland and Washington playing Kansas City. The Eagles should have had enough to win, anyway. David Akers hit three field goals in the mid 40s but also missed two. They became the first team in three years not to score a touchdown against the Raiders. Not a happy scene in the visitors’ locker room.

At least in New York and Philly they’re slightly distracted by cold-weather baseball. In Washington? At this rate, D.C.’s looking like a good hockey town. It appears that late-season Cowboys trip to Washington won’t be so difficult. All Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post called Sunday’s loss at home to K.C. was the bleakest moment in club history. (Personally, I thought they would have felt worse when Jimmy Johnson’s winless 1989 team came to town and won.) The Redskins became the first NFL team to play winless opponents in each of the first six games. Yet they have only two wins to show for it. The Redskins, with a new play caller and maybe a new quarterback, will host the Eagles next Monday night.

Now, I know most of Dallas never attended either school, but considering it’s the biggest sporting even in town tomorrow, we have to say something about it. Does the fact that I’m a UT fan have anything to do with my unabashed interest in this game? Maybe. Does that mean that this post is a little biased? Possibly. But to the average fan of college football in Dallas, it’s a big game that’s happening right in your backyard, and with apologies to SMU, that’s something that doesn’t happen around here all too often. For the rest of you, this can just serve as yet another reminder to stay away from Fair Park tomorrow morning. Here we go…

The Offenses

Through the season’s first five games, Texas has the edge offensively. The Longhorns rank 7th in total offense (479.6 yards per game) while leading the nation in points per contest with a 47.2 average. Oklahoma, on the other hand, ranks 14th in total offense (457.0 yards per game) and 16th in points per game (35.0). It’s worth noting that the Sooners have faced stiffer competition early in the season, including two match ups with ranked teams. But Oklahoma’s worst offensive output of the year, a 13-point, 265-yard effort in their season opener, came against a BYU defense that surrendered 54 points to Florida State two weeks later. The Sooners were without the services of reigning Heisman winner Sam Bradford for much of the BYU game, but considering teams like Colorado State, Utah State, and UNLV have all mustered more points against the Cougars this season, 13 points doesn’t look good even without Bradford.

Quarterback

Last year, the Red River Rivalry was all about the quarterbacks. And why not? Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy finished one and two in the Heisman voting, and Bradford led the nation in QB efficiency while McCoy smashed the NCAA record for completion percentage. But this year has a different feel to it. Bradford’s missed most of the early season with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder, and McCoy hasn’t looked as sharp as many thought he would.

Still, McCoy’s been effective while again leading the country in completion percentage, while Bradford has mostly watched from the sidelines. Bradford returned to action last week against Baylor, and though he nearly threw for 400 yards against Baylor, he looked rusty at times and completed just over half of his passes. If all things were equal, the edge would probably go to the guy with the Heisman, but since Bradford is still working his way back from the injury, I’ll give it to the one that’s been playing since September 5.

Edge: Texas

Running back

This is where OU takes the lead, at least for now. The Sooners are known for producing great backs, most recently with NFL superstar Adrian Peterson. And though Oklahoma doesn’t really have a feature back that can carry the load quite like Peterson did, the backfield tandem of senior Chris Brown and junior DeMarco Murray have already combined for 744 yards on the ground through five games. Supposedly, the Sooners might stick Murray in as a slot receiver at times on Saturday, as he already has over 600 receiving yards in his three year career at OU, but no matter where the pair line up, they’ll be a handful for the Texas defense.

The Longhorns have struggled to find a feature back since the departure of Jamal Charles in 2007. It seems that the offense misses Chris Ogbonnaya more than his 373 rushing yards from a year ago would let on, as his 540 receiving yards made him a big threat out of the backfield and helped him serve as a tight end of sorts in the spread offense. Junior Vondrell McGee and freshman Tre Newton have gotten the bulk of the carries for UT this year, but both are questionable for Saturday’s contest, leaving the oft injured Fozzy Whittaker at the top of the depth chart. Don’t expect the Horns to run all too often tomorrow afternoon.

Edge: Oklahoma

Wide Receiver

At the end of 2008, the Longhorns looked to be in trouble at the receiver position as Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley, who combined for 181 receptions, 2,183 yards, and 21 touchdowns last season, were both preparing to graduate. But UT caught a break when Shipley was granted an extra year of eligibility and decided to return to the Forty Acres for a sixth year. So far, he hasn’t disappointed. Shipley is on pace for 113 receptions and 1399 yards, not considering a possible Big XII title game or bowl appearance. Sophomore Dan Buckner leads the team with four touchdown receptions and has been remarkably consistent, catching six balls in four straight contests. The biggest weakness in the receiving corps seems to be the lack of a deep threat. While Shipley can stretch the field, he prefers to play the Wes Welker role of finding holes in zone coverage and moving the chains. Even still, he leads all Texas receivers  at just 12.4 yards-per-catch.

A strength of the offense a year ago, a new batch of Oklahoma receivers have caused some problems early on. Joaquin Iglesias and Manny Johnson, who were nearly as prolific a year ago as the Cosby/Shipley tandem, moved on to the NFL, and All-American tight end Jermaine Gresham won’t play a down this season due to a knee injury. But the Sooners’ biggest problem come Saturday may be the health of sophomore receiver Ryan Broyles. Broyles, who leads the nation with seven touchdown receptions despite missing two of OU’s five games, was diagnosed two weeks ago with a fractured shoulder blade that would keep him out until November. But apparently the injury isn’t as bad as originally thought, and Broyles is now “questionable” for the game. Broyles, who hauled in 46 passes for 687 yards as a freshman last year, is easily Oklahoma’s most experienced and talented receiver. Still, even if he is able to play, he’s likely to not be close to 100 percent.

Edge: Texas

Offensive Line

The Sooners might’ve had the best line in college football in last season. But that was then. Now, Oklahoma has had to deal with the departure of four of their five starting lineman from a year ago: guards Duke Robinson and Brandon Walker, tackle Phil Loadholt, and center Jon Cooper. In truth, the best of the bunch from 2008 was tackle Trent Williams, who returned for his senior season and is currently anchoring the left side of OU’s O-line. But while Williams looks like a lock to be a top-ten draft pick next April, losing his linemates has left Oklahoma in a state of transition.

The Longhorn’s line has been solid for most of the season, led by Southlake’s Adam Ulatoski at left tackle. Chris Hall, another senior, started at least one game at every position on the line last year for UT, but he’s currently settled in at center. Though there is a bit of youth on the right side, where the Longhorns have sophomore David Snow and junior Kyle Hix, Colt McCoy’s quick release and craftiness in the pocket can make life pretty easy in the trenches.

Edge: Texas

The Defenses

This is where the Sooners can make up some ground. While Texas ranks 4th in the nation in total yards allowed (235.0 per game) and are best against the run (48.2 per game), Oklahoma is right behind them in both categories (9th and 3rd respectively), and they’re way ahead in the most important category: points per game. Thanks in part to two shutouts, the Sooners are allowing only 8.4 points per contest, while Texas has given up 15.0 points a game on average. OU has also averaged nearly a sack per game more.

Defensive line

Don’t get me wrong, any defensive line that features Sergio Kindle, Sam Acho, and Lamarr Houston isn’t bad, but, much like the Sooners’ offensive line, Texas’ D-line lost a lot from last year. Brian Orakpo, Roy Miller, and Henry Melton all departed after 2008, forcing Will Muschamp to move linebacker Sergio Kindle up into a defensive end spot to help with the pass rush. A defensive line that was ferocious last year has been merely good so far this season.

Oklahoma, on the other, might have the best front four in the nation. Gerald McCoy is one of the top tackles in the country and projects as a 1st round pick should he decide to enter the draft in 2010. Defensive ends Auston English and Jeremy Beal are both experienced, high-motor pass rusher, and sophomore Frank Alexander is a great option to. Nose guard Adrian Taylor might be the least known name on the OU defensive line, but he’s got good size, solid skills, and the enviable position of playing with guys that consistently command double teams.

Edge: Oklahoma

Linebackers

OU has plenty of experience here in the form of starters Keenan Clayton and Ryan Reynolds, both seniors. But the best of the bunch is sophomore Travis Lewis, who made the All-Big XII team in 2008 as a redshirt freshman and already projects as an upper-echelon NFL prospect. After racking up 135 tackles, three sacks, and four interceptions in his inaugural campaign, Lewis could end up as one of the best linebackers in OU history if he continues to improve. Austin Box, another sophomore, can provide solid depth on the outside.

Texas’ linebacking corp is led by Roddrick Muckelroy, who is one of four seniors on the defense.  Muckelroy has supplemented his leadership skills with big plays on the field and has caught the eye of NFL scouts in 2009. But other than him, there’s not much meat to the middle of the UT defense. Outside linebackers Keenan Robinson and Emmanuel Acho, both sophomores, are talented but still coming into their own. After senior Jared Norton went down for the season with a shoulder injury in September, the Longhorns have only one non-freshman linebacker left on their roster.

Edge: Oklahoma
Secondary

This is another area where Oklahoma had to endure a major overhaul. Cornerback Reggie Smith and safeties Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes are all gone from 2008, leaving the Sooners with only one senior in the secondary.

Earl Thomas headlines the UT secondary and, as a sophomore, he’s already established himself as one of the better safeties in the country. The Horns lost only Ryan Palmer from last year, returning sophomore Blake Gideon at strong safety, and using a rotation of juniors Curtis and Chykie Brown and sophomore Aaron Williams at corner.

Edge: Texas

Special Teams

It probably doesn’t garner it’s own category, but there’s nowhere else to put it. Oklahoma has average an excellent 15.6 yards per punt return, but Texas is just a shade ahead of them at 16.8. The biggest difference, however, comes in the kick return game, where the Longhorns lead the nation at a ridiculous clip of 34.6 yards per return, while Oklahoma ranks 90th at 19.8. And then, of course, there’s the fact that the Longhorns have two kick returns for touchdowns, both courtesy of D.J. Monroe. The Sooners have zero. The Longhorns also have two punt returns for touchdowns, both courtesy of Jordan Shipley. The Sooners have zero. Add the fact that Texas has a pair of senior kickers — Hunter Lawrence and Ryan Bailey — with plenty of big game experience, while Sooners’ sophomore Jimmy Stevens is a career one for four on anything beyond 39 yards, and the advantage is pretty clear.

Edge: Texas

But, does that mean the “12″ and the “22″ personnel packages are failing? Not even close.

Is the object of the game to get Martellus Bennett stats, or for this offense to prove it can be elite? Originally, I thought one would lead to another, but now we see something different so far.

The Cowboys are destroying the opposition out of 2 TE sets. Understand, that traditionally, Jason Garrett’s offense makes its real dent with Shotgun formations and an aerial attack that had Tony Romo setting team records in nearly every passing category.

But, we are seeing a greater focus put on the running game. We knew it should be a focus, but knowing you need to run the ball, and actually running the ball can often be two different things.

With 2 TEs, and even occasionally 3 TEs, the Cowboys are showing that they can “Show Run”, you can counter (as KC did with 9 in the box!) and still run it down your throat.

But, it isn’t quite as I thought it would be. Here is the “12″ personnel. 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR – this package has the defense thinking both pass and run as a legit possibility:

Table Tutorial

But, now check this out. “22″ personnel. 2 RB, 2 TE, and just 1 WR. Basically, you are telling the defense you are about to run the ball because off comes a Wide Out like Patrick Crayton, and on comes a FB, Deon Anderson. With 5 OL, a FB, and 2 big TEs, you are not kidding around about your intentions.

Table Tutorial

Look at that! “22″ which should just be a power “3-yards-and-cloud-of-dust” is getting 7.47 yards per? That is crazy production. And they already have more yards than in all of 2008.

So, how do we look at those 51 snaps?

Table Tutorial

They are running 67% out of this look. The defense knows it. And yet they are getting steamrolled. And, to me, that is where Witten/Bennett are dominating linebackers at the point of attack. To show run, and to still get 8.44 yards per carry is something that the coaches realize, and the rest of the NFL does, too. In 2008, the Cowboys ran this look 5.75 times per game, now they are running it over 10 times.

And this is why I would suggest that 2 TEs is working, despite the weak receiving year for Marty B so far. In preseason, I thought Martellus would replace Deon Anderson. In reality, the combination has made the offense a bulldozing machine. Some might call it, “Romo Friendly”.

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Let’s update our turnover battles, 100-yard rushers, and 300-yard passer numbers through 5 weeks:

In the turnover battle, 3 teams beat the odds. And again, Dallas found a way to win despite losing the turnover battle. If it seems like I talk about this everyday, it is because I do. They won despite a -2, which is rare, and are now a -4 for the season.

The Wade Phillips era is known for many things, and the fact that the Cowboys have soundly lost the turnover battle since the start of 2008 is certainly one of these things. The Cowboys give the ball away more than 29 other NFL teams, and the defense has Intercepted the 31st most passes in the NFL since the start of last season. Only Detroit does a worse job of picking off a pass. Shocking.

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

TC’s DRIVE OF THE WEEK:

(Each week, my trusty intern, TC Fleming breaks down a Cowboys drive that was important to the outcome of the game and trys to deconstruct it with all of his might.)

The drive opens with two wide receivers to the left, then Witten on the line and Crayton split wide, both to the right. FOX does a terrible job showing what’s going on to the left, but to the right, Witten runs a drag across the play. That pulls the underneath defender to the right with him. Crayton does a nice job of selling the deep route, so when he turns back to Romo, there’s a very nice window to throw to, on account of Witten pulling away the underneath defender. Romo throws a little high, but when Crayton drops this, it’s on Crayton. For someone who’s sole alleged asset is his hands, he should absolutely catch this.

The next play has a bunch to the right featuring Witten and Bennett inside of Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin split wide to the other side. The play is a run to the right. Colombo and Davis double team the defensive end to that side long enough to get him moving, then Davis left Colombo by himself so Davis could get to the second level, where he blocks the linebacker to that side. That sets up a nice little path for Barber, which is totally screwed up by the inside linebacker to that side knifing in to take down Barber. This play troubles me. Colombo is blocking the defensive end, Davis is blocking the OLB to that side, and Gurode is battling the defensive tackle. That’s all the blockers to that side, so who is supposed to be handling that inside linebacker? On the other side of the play, Kosier, Bennett and Adams are triple-teaming a defensive end, so one of them should definitely peel off that waste of resources and try to block that ILB, but they’re coming from pretty far away, so I don’t feel confident that it would work (though they definitely should be trying rather than standing around by the defensive end who is away from the play). It seems to me that any running play that makes no attempt to block a linebacker reasonably within the path of the play is a poorly designed play. That makes me think that someone is not executing their full assignment, but I am not advanced enough to understand who and how. But hey, it does pick up 4 yards, so maybe I’m being picky. I just think that there were a lot more yards to be had here if they could find someone could block the inside linebacker.

By now, reader, I think you can pick up that some plays strike me as ordinary. I try to explain them best I can, but I’m not fascinated the way I am with others. This is one of the fascinating plays. It’s just so chess-matchey. The Cowboys leave the huddle with 12 personnel, as they have all of this drive. Bennett is on the line to the right with Miles Austin outside him. Then Witten is in the slot to the left with Crayton outside of him. Romo is in shotgun standing next to Tashard Choice. It’s third down, and on the third down, the Cowboys like to go max protect, keeping in extra blockers. They do so here, leaving Bennett and Choice in to block. The Chiefs seem to be familiar with this plan, so they rush their normal “three defensive linemen and one of the linebackers” as is standard for 3-4 defenses, but they also send the cornerback covering Austin. Because the Cowboys are in max protect, Austin is the only receiving threat to that side with a safety and linebacker to cover him, and this blitzing cornerback is coming from an odd angle that kind of defeats the max protect. It’s the linebacker to that side that’s blitzing, so Choice has to pick him up. The nose tackle stunts over, and Bennett picks him up. Colombo has to block the defensive end. That leaves Leonard Davis as the closest free defender, so it’s a race between a guard and a cornerback. If Davis can get in position and set up, he’s going to maul that corner, but with all the blocking going on between him and the cornerback combined with his lack of speed relative to a defensive back, he doesn’t have a good shot at all. That’s what you want with a blitz against max protect: you know there are going to be a lot of pass protectors, just make sure they aren’t near your blitzers.

Austin responds by basically standing up and looking back at Romo. After first scanning the left side, Romo sees him but also sees the safety between Austin and the first down and chooses not to throw it, knowing they won’t be able to pick up the first. By the time he’s done with this decision, he has to deal with the blitzing corner. He manages to get the corner to dive at his feet, but by the time he’s done this, the linebacker has come free and is bearing down on him. Meanwhile, Austin has gotten moving, breaking across the formation waving his hands to catch Romo’s attention. With Austin not so much running a route as trying to get open and be useful, the safety has a tough time following him.

From the replay angle, you can really tell that Austin waving his hands gets Romo to recognize him right after he’s evaded the corner and right before he has to really deal with the linebacker. Romo throws the ball, Austin makes a very nice catch, and they pick up the first. The Chiefs here had noticed a trend (max protect on third down), dialed up a very intelligent defense (corner blitz), but the Cowboys make the play anyways thanks to Romo’s eluding of the blitz and ability to improvise with Austin. Without commenting on a whether or not Romo is a Jedi, this is a Jedi play. One last thing: this is the second corner blitz in as many weeks. This makes me think back to Tampa Bay, when Romo was sacked on such a blitz. About the only consistent way to beat the corner blitz is for the quarterback to see it and get rid of the ball. Romo got burned on that week one, so defenses are testing him on it now. These coordinators are so smart! It’s neat.

For the ensuing first down, the Cowboys bring in Deon Anderson for Bennett and go with your standard I-formation with the tight end on the right side. They run a counter play with Barber taking his first step towards the right before cutting back left before he even gets the ball. Anderson is going to the left the whole time, sprinting out to get his block on OLB Tamba Hali. With the fullback taking on a converted defensive end (though not a particularly strong or tough one from what I saw), he doesn’t have time to mess around with selling the counter. Kosier is blocking the defensive end on that side so that Adams can go and lay blocks on the second level, and Kosier does a fine job initially, but by the time Barber gets to the line of scrimmage, the defensive end has fought past the block and makes the tackle for no gain. Barber looks really funny on the run, kind of ducking and hunching over as he’s running when there aren’t really any defenders around. The upshot is that it gives the end time to beat Kosier’s block. With the way Anderson is manhandling Hali and the blocks Adams is laying in the secondary, this should be a gain of at least five yards with a competent running back. Barber averaged 3.5 yards per rush in a game where Choice averaged 11 yards a rush against the same defense running behind the same line. On this play, it’s not hard to see why. Barber has never been very fast, so with this injury slowing him down even further, he forces the line to hold their blocks longer than they should have to. He’s disrupting the timing of these runs and making lineman look bad because by the time he gets to the holes they’ve opened up, those holes have already closed. Barber had 15 carries in this game while Choice had 8. Those number should at least be flipped, if not skewed even more in favor of Choice. It’s not that Choice is awesome, it’s just that this offensive line was mauling the Kansas City defense to the point that all a runner needed was the ability to get through the holes before they closed, and Barber didn’t have that.

Anderson checks out of the game as Bennett checks back in. Romo is in the shotgun with Barber on his left and both tight ends on/near the line to the right. Romo has forever to throw. When he eventually checks down to Barber, it’s probably because his clock is going off. It’s definitely not because he’s feeling pressure. He does check down to Barber, and with everyone else having run their routes, there looks to be room underneath. However, Brandon Flowers takes it away with alacrity. I was pretty impressed by how quickly he closed on this play. It wasn’t as far as Polamalu closed on that play in the opener, but it reminded me of that. I did wonder why he wasn’t farther away from Barber at the time. It seems like Crayton should have drawn him deeper to make that play work, but from the camera angles, it’s impossible to tell what route he was running or what he was doing. So it’s all inconclusive. Either way, Kansas City commits a penalty, and it’s 5 yards for Dallas.

One of the wide receivers trades places with tight end John Curtis, who lines up on the line to the left with Witten and Bennett on the right. Curtis motions out wide to the right, which is an odd wrinkle. We don’t really get a chance to see what they’re doing with it. Romo is sacked on this play, so the cameras never go downfield, and the replays aren’t particularly helpful either. FOX does go to a replay showing Bennett’s route and Troy seems to think Romo is trying to throw to him, since he’s gotten behind the safety but finds he doesn’t have time. As far as the protection goes, the Cowboys keep Choice in to block, so they’re defending five rushers with six blockers. All three of the Chiefs defensive lineman rush, as does the right (the offense’s right) outside linebacker. The left inside linebacker rushes as well, but he’s coming from the middle of the field and going at the right side of the line. Colombo picks up the OLB, leaving Leonard Davis on the defensive end. That DE beats Davis, though after Davis has fanned him out a little, so rather than immediately taking on Romo, he just forces him up in the pocket. Meanwhile, the ILB is attacking the right side of the protection where Davis and Colombo are already occupied. Gurode is blocking the defensive tackle, so that leaves Choice to pick up that linebacker. Choice does not do so great a job. There’s an initial collision between Choice and the ILB, but after recoiling from that, the ILB paws Choice aside, taking away Romo’s room to step up to avoid that DE. So the DE and ILB both get to him at roughly the same time, and he goes down. So blame here goes to Choice and Davis for getting beat. If one of them holds their block, Romo might well have space to avoid one rusher and still fnd someone downfield. Also, with the defense rushing five and the Cowboys blocking six, there was one man standing around as Romo was being sacked. I believe this man is Kosier. He initially helps Gurode with the DT, then slides over and kind of swats at the blitzing ILB before that ILB blows up Choice. Had Kosier been more decisive, he probably could have done more to slow the blitzer down. It’s not like Kosier blew his responsibility per se, but he could have done more to help.

The Cowboys stay in shotgun on second down and keep the same personnel. This time, Bennett lines up on the line to the left while Witten is standing just off the line to the right. Choice is standing on Romo’s left. Romo takes the snap, gives the slightest indication that he’s scanning the field, then hands off to Choice. Adams Blocks the defensive end while Gurode blocks the defensive tackle. Kosier hesitates at the snap, and when both of those defensive lineman are engaged, he goes out to get the inside linebacker to that side. Following Kosier, Choice has a nice little lane. He is also aided by the defensive playcall, which has the other inside linebacker dropping deep into coverage at the snap. I do not know why the linebacker would need to do this. My instinct would be it’s because he needs to cover for a blitzing defensive back, but there are none on this play. Either way, he takes himself out of the play by dropping back so far, and Choice isn’t challenged until he get to the safety, who makes the tackle. This is another easy run created by good blocking (and poor defense) that I don’t think Marion Barber could have executed. Assuming everyone can hold their one-on-one blocks long enough for him to get past them, the safety surely would have had more time to run up and tackle him sooner.

For this final third down of the drive, the Cowboys employ an odd formation I had not seen before. They keep both tight ends and substitute Choice for Hurd, going with an empty backfield on third and one. This is always a questionable call. With only one yard needed, the run is a real threat. Even if you would like to pass, it will be easier to do so if you have the threat of a run. By going empty backfield, you take away that threat and allow the defense to focus on the pass. That said, it’s a very nice pass play. Hurd is split left with Bennett on the line to the left. Witten is lined up about where an offset fullback would line up, just behind the right guard and right tackle. Austin is in the slot to the right with Crayton split wide to that side. Crayton motions pre-snap to a stack behind Austin, where he is standing just about directly behind Austin. The Cobwoys employ max protect and a rolling pocket from left to right. Bennett and his unique abilities are pretty crucial, as there’s a lot of space for him to cover in order to block Tamba Hali as they’re on the move, and he still has to have the size and strength to match up with the pas rusher. Not a lot of guys have that skillset, but Bennett does. Austin and Crayton both start off selling a deep route. Austin continues while Crayton breaks it off towards the sideline. Austin takes the safety with him, and the corner is playing really soft (I want to say that it’s because he’s afraid of the stack formation, but he was lined up that way before Crayton motioned. Personally, I’ve got no clue why he would want to play so soft on third and one. I think it’s stupid of him.) so when Crayton cuts to the outside, there’s plenty of space to throw it to him. There is a linebacker underneath, but he is playing very close to the line in order to take away the threat of Romo scrambling (so I guess they haven’t totally lost the threat of the run). That makes him a non-factor on the pass to Crayton. It’s a nifty little play and a smart reaction to the corner blitz: if the corner blitz is coming from the left, Romo is rolling away from it and it’s neutralized. If the corner blitz is coming from the right, it’s not a good thing necessarily that Romo is rolling towards a blitzer necessarily, but he has a lot of blockers who are now oriented in that direction and in better position to pick it up. Further, the defense could be scared to blitz from the right, since the receiving threats are concentrated in that area. So for this play, it is an intelligent response to thwart KC’s attempts to thwart Dallas’s tendency to go max protect on third down. My one long-term problem is this: I haven’t seen this formation from them before, and it seems like a formation especially suited for something like a rolling pocket. So if they don’t put some other nice, effective plays from this formation on film, then whenever they roll out this formation, they are announcing “We are not going to run, and we are going to have a rolling pocket.” With a rolling pocket, the field is cut in half, since the quarterback shouldn’t be throwing across his body and against his momentum like that. So before the snap, you’re telling the defense that they only have to defend the pass to one side of the field. Even the worst NFL defense can have success if they know all that’s coming. So the Cowboys need to be careful about going back to this well unless they have some nice ideas worked out to counter the counters defenses will no doubt employ when they see this formation in this situation.

The final play of the drive, the touchdown run by Choice, is a play Bob has already made much ado of in his work yesterday. They ran this same play three times in the last 20 minutes and had big yards each time. The play consists of two tight ends together to the left and a fullback offset to the right with a wide receiver in that direction. Before the snap, the fullback motions to being offset to the left. Everyone on the line mauls the defense to the right (go look at the video Bob posted, they really demolish the defense) while the fullback and a pulling left guard handle any defenders that pose a threat to the right. I’ve probably said more than I need to about the design of the play since Bob described it so well. One thing I would add is to point out how poorly the Kansas City defends the play. Davis can only block both the safety and the corner at the same time because they take terrible angles. Also the free safety stumbles on his way to tackling Choice. Those aren’t things the Cowboys are doing. The Cowboys are earning about 7 yards, and the Chiefs are giving them the rest.

My one concern about the play going forward is the burden it places on Anderson. Against the 3-4, he is blocking the outside linebacker on that side. Were he running this play against the Cowboys, to give an example, he would be blocking DeMarcus Ware one-on-one. Leonard Davis really can’t pull around fast enough to be of much help in this battle, Davis is used more to block on the second level. In this case, Hali was moved around all day, and it’s not a problem. However, most 3-4 teams put a real premium on that outside linebacker, and he’s a guy that would give Deon Anderson problems. I would also be interested to see what they would do against a 4-3 team. Looking at the design of the play, it’s conceivable that Anderson would be taking on a defensive end. It is not conceivable, however, that he would win that battle often. Deon Anderson against, say, Justin Tuck or Trent Cole is not a favorable matchup for the Cowboys. Again, it’s a position teams put a premium on. I would be very interested to see what adjustments the Cowboys would make to account for this. The other storyline that strikes my curiosity is what they’re setting up with this play. All three times they motioned the fullback from a sort-of uncommon formation (they use 22 more than once each game for sure, but not that much). When they play a team from now on and motion the fullback in their 22 package, teams will be well aware of this run. Surely the Cowboys know this and have plays prepared to take advantage of this. Once they get those on film, it becomes a guessing game: are you going to gear up to stop their big run or are you going to be getting into position to defend whatever play-action pass they throw at you. That’s what’s great about a play like this that garners such success: it creates more headaches for a defense than just that one play.

I was not that surprised to learn that the Cowboys rank first in yards per game. This is an efficient offense that has a number of weapons. The tight ends especially cause all sorts of problems. It might not be translating into the plays for them we anticipated (Even Witten’s number haven’t been that awesome), but it creates an unpredictability that defenses are having a hard time with. Even if these tight ends aren’t racking up catches, defenses are respecting them, and that creates opportunities elsewhere on the field. Then factor in that they’re both top=notch blockers. When the Cowboys break the huddle with their 12 personnel, they could be attacking a defense in a million different ways.

While Miles Austin was setting the Cowboys’ record for receiving yards in a game with 250, Owens was piecing together a season high in catches with four. He doesn’t have 250 receiving yards this season. His team gave up six points and lost by three. Wonder if he texted Austin with congratulations.

Texas was No. 2 in the A.P. poll last week, defeated Colorado at home by 24 and dropped to No. 3 behind Alabama. TCU was No. 10, won by three at frigid Air Force and dropped to No. 12. Hmm.

UT received no help from Ole Miss and former Longhorn Jevan Snead, who kept throwing to guys wearing Alabama jerseys. Alabama and Southlake’s Greg McElroy scored one touchdown, kicked scads of field goals, and moved up. The voters apparently attributed Texas’ margin of victory to Colorado not being able to get out of its own way.

Colorado must play above its head to make teams like UT and Oklahoma break a sweat. The Buffs have lost to Colorado State and Toledo and couldn’t make the simple plays in Austin. Earlier Saturday on Fox Sports’ telecast of Oklahoma State-Texas A&M, while the Aggies were hanging tough, color analyst Dave Lapham indicated there are no easy games in Big 12 league play. Excuse me? Colorado, Kansas State and Iowa State will rarely threaten the rest of the league teams this season. Which is the way it is with a few schools in every major conference.

TCU remained undefeated with a 20-17 victory at Air Force, the Falcons scoring a touchdown in the final minute to pull within three. The Horned Frogs are 3-0 on the road, the first two coming against schools in BCS conferences:  30-14 at Virginia and 14-10 at Clemson. The win at Virginia gets better looking every week with Virginia turning things around to win at North Carolina and at home over Indiana by 40.

Miami moved up from 11 to 9 by beating Division I-AA Florida A&M. Iowa went from 12 to 10 with a two-point win at home over Michigan, which has yet to win a road game.

TCU’s big test will come in two weeks at BYU (5-1). If the Frogs win there, they still must hope No. 5 Boise State somehow stumbles to have any chance of cracking the BCS bowl lineup. Maybe at Tulsa this week because the game will be played on Wednesday night? Maybe in two weeks at Hawaii?

Last season’s Stars were in great measure done in by major injuries to top-line players like Brenden Morrow, Sergei Zubov and Brad Richards. This season, Mike Modano hasn’t played since opening night after getting jabbed in the ribs. And in Sunday night’s shootout loss at Vancouver, Steve Ott left in the first period with a strained oblique muscle and is day to day.

Jere Lehtinen finally made his first appearance of the season at Vancouver, and he might need to be watched closely all season. If Ott joins Modano on the shelf, even for the short term, it won’t help a team that needs to build chemistry under a new coach.

As Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte celebrated with their Yankee teammates on Sunday night, I wonder what Roger Clemens was thinking.

Go Texans. I mean Chiefs.

I’ve never been a Dallas Cowboys fan. In fact, I’ve hated them from the moment they played their first game at the Cotton Bowl in 1960. I’d been at the Cotton Bowl the day before to watch my beloved Dallas Texans play. Fifty years later, I’m still bitter. I’ve always blamed the blue and silver for forcing my team to move to Kansas City. My friends, all members of the Dallas Texans Huddle Club, cried when we learned that Lenny Dawson, Abner Haynes, and, my favorite, Chris “#88” Burford were moving.

The Texans won the AFL title in 1962. I was ten. My dad, a member of the Spurs Club, gave me the championship ring that the team gave him as a loyal supporter of the team. (Please don’t ask me what I’ve done with it.) However, I still have an autographed picture and football that I keep at my desk. As you can see, I’m not quite over the move.

And neither is my baby brother, Bill Nichols. He writes a  lovely story about the Chiefs and the birth of the Cowboys. At noon, the Chiefs will host the Cowboys. I will watch the game, but only to see the Chiefs decked out in the original Dallas Texan uniforms as a tribute to owner Lamar Hunt who passed away in 2006. That’s not true. I will watch because I’d love to see the Chiefs kick the hell out of the Cowboys. Payback time. Go Chiefs. You still have fans in Dallas.

UPDATE: OH, YES. @:23. Do you go for two or the tie?? Tied at 20. (Hey Clark, send me one of those Texans caps.)

UPDATE: Miles Austin.

In the case of Garrett, he’s made available once a week. That’s actually a 100 percent improvement over the Parcells rules, which treated all assistants as if hidden in a monastery. Romo’s designated day to address the media is Wednesday. When local media assumed for the better part of a day that Romo went into the final snap thinking it was third down, the Cowboys were compelled to issue a statement to the contrary.

NFL media policies are meant to minimize negative spin. Sometimes, they simply allow it to fester.

Michael Crabtree from Carter High and Texas Tech is finally a 49er. He met the Bay Area media on Wednesday and said he was humbled. I’ll say. His holdout threatened to kill the ’09 season for him (Nov. 17 is the signing deadline for playing this season), and the Crabtree camp had sent signals that he was willing to go back next year’s draft.

Meanwhile, the 49ers are off to a surprising start in a weak division. No agent would have suggested this course of action. Here’s the best look inside the situation that I’ve seen. (Written by ESPN.com’s Elizabeth Merrill, who previously covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star.) Maybe this will all look smart years from now. Maybe not.

Looks who’s 2-0-0 in the NHL fresh off a shutout of the Stanley Cup champions in Pittsburgh – Dave Tippett’s woebegone Coyotes! In Dallas, Stars players have said Marc Crawford’s practices are tougher than Tippett’s. In Phoenix, Tippett is referred to as a no-nonsense coach. (Gretzky wasn’t?) While not looking for the Pacific Division to look like this for long (Phoenix at the top, San Jose near the bottom), it’ll be interesting to keep on eye on Tippett’s boys. They play in Buffalo tonight.

Cliff Lee won the first game of baseball’s post-season with a dominating performance. CC Sabathia won the second. Whose baseball fans should feel the worst this morning?

For the purpose of this exercise, I’ve looked at the last 10 complete regular seasons and annually grouped the teams into three areas: the elite eight who were the last ones eligible to win the overall championship (E8), the worst eight according to records (W8) and those in between (M). For baseball, the E8s are the teams that qualified for the playoffs. In the other leagues, it’s the teams that reached the conference semifinals. Not necessarily the best teams based on won-lost records, but I consider this the best way to compare teams across the sports.

Teams get one point for every season that they finished among the elite eight and get one point deducted for every season in the worst eight. The best score would be +10 (10-0-0) for 10 seasons among the last eight alive, the worst score -10 (0-0-10).

MLB has the most teams with a score of at least +5 with six: Yankees (+9), Cardinals (+7), Angels (+6), Red Sox (+6), Athletics (+5) and Braves (+5). MLB also has the most teams with a score of -5 or worse with five: Nationals (-6), Orioles (-7), Pirates (-7), Rays (-7) and Royals (-7).

The NFL has the most movement in and out of its elite and bottom feeders. Only three teams were at least +5: Colts (+6), Eagles (+6) and Patriots (+5). Only two were -5 or worse: Browns (-5) and Lions (-6).

MLB and the NBA had the fewest cases of teams jumping straight from the worst eight to the elite eight in one season or vice versa with eight compared to 14 in the NHL and 16 in the NFL.

In MLB, there were seven teams that never made the elite eight (or the playoff field) from 2000-09, including the Rangers. The NHL likewise had seven franchises fail to reach the conference semis, the NBA five and the NFL five.

Teams that failed to fall into the worst eight? The NHL had seven, MLB and the NBA five each, and the NFL only one (Colts).

It’s tougher to turn things around for a bad baseball team, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier. The Yankees are in the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years. The Red Sox have made it three straight and six of seven. The Angels three straight and six of eight. The Twins are in for the fifth time in eight years. Of the four teams in the N.L. Division Series, all four have qualified at least twice in the last five years.

Seven baseball franchises have reached the elite eight at least half the time during the past 10 seasons compared to seven in the NHL, five each in the NBA and NFL. In the NFL, only three teams have spent at least half that time in the bottom eight compared to five in the NBA and NHL and six in MLB.

Does MLB need to tweak its structure in some fashion? Commissioner Bud Selig wants to institute an international draft to better level the field for incoming talent. He also wants a rookie slotting system. That tells me there’s concern about competitive balance.

I welcome your input. Below are the teams’ rankings by sport (there were some ties in MLB’s worst eight since there are no tie-breaking procedures between leagues). Tie-breakers are most appearances in the top category. An asterisk indicates an expansion team started at or during the 10-year period:

Major League Baseball

The NFL

The NBA

The NHL

Before we get to that, and an update on our weekly projects, let me cover two quick items:

Yesterday on the radio, Todd Archer of the DMN and now the Ticket, joined our show and we started talking about the Cowboys “blitz allergy”. When opponents blitz in the last few seasons, it is my premise that Romo and Garrett are actually worse now, than when Romo was a rookie.

Is it true?

Archer ran the numbers on his blog , here are his findings:

Table Tutorial

So what do these numbers show us? I believe it shows us that in 2007, Tony Romo burned the defenses enough that they were scared to blitz. In 16 starts in 2007, they blitzed him about 9 times a game. In 2008, that number jumped to nearly 13 blitzes a game. And in 2009, we are at about 12 blitzes a game.

And given how little Carolina and Tampa blitzed, I can only imagine that that number is going to creep up and up until the Cowboys realize how to deal with it again. If Romo is a 90+ QB Rating QB overall, that tells us something. Look at the difference between his rating w/ blitz and without through the years:

Table Tutorial

Hmmm. Well, in ’06 and ’08, he was much better when he wasn’t blitzed. In ’07 he made the entire league pay for daring to blitz him. And in ’09? Well, in 2009, he has been mediocre no matter how you slice the numbers.

Perhaps, my theory is not completely founded in fact. If he is just as mediocre when you don’t send a blitz, perhaps teams will not try to blitz his doors off. The only reason to send a blitz is because he is killing you if you don’t. He is not doing that at all so far this year.

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NFL Email of the Week

From: kft2247
To: Sturm1310@aol.com
Sent: 10/2/2009 10:36:08 A.M.
Subj: Think the Cowboys miss Roy Williams (the Safety)

Hey Bob – think the Cowboys are still glad they let Roy Williams get away? From my vantage point, the Cowboys Pass D is as bad or worse than when Roy Williams roamed in the secondary. And don’t look now, but the “old” Roy Williams (or the one the Cowboys couldn’t utilize properly) is making hay up in Cincinnatti.

Oh and based on the way the “other” Roy Williams (the WR) has performed in Dallas, I think it is time to begin referring to him again as The Fake Roy Williams “TFRW”. Just a thought.

Here are a couple youtube’s for your viewing pleasure:

P1 Kyle

My Response to Kyle:

I think for every year of Roy’s career he has made some “highlight film” plays. It is the “lowlight plays” that have been his nemesis. I believe the Cowboys did the right thing. I certainly have not studied his misses with the Bengals, but our sample size in Dallas was enough to indicate he could use a change in scenery.

I enjoy following the further adventures of Greg Ellis, Roy Williams, Terrell Owens, and Tank Johnson, but I remember December too vividly to forget that they were all here (Roy was in a cast, though) for that Cowboys mess.

The Cowboys have made some real personnel blunders over the years, but the only guy I second guess is Greg Ellis.

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Our Weekly Projects:

Turnover Winners win the Game? 86% of the time. Sadly, the Cowboys fell into the 14% by losing on Sunday.

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

100 yard Rushers vs 300 yard Passers. Usually, the following two tables will demonstrate how much more valuable a 100 yard rusher is than a 300 yard passer. But 2009 has been odd. The two totals are virtually equal, and according to the NFL, the 300 yard passers record of 18-7 (72%) is the 3rd highest in NFL history (behind 1976 and 2001).

Table Tutorial

Table Tutorial

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TC’s Drive of the Week

Before I get started, I would like to offer this caveat: in each game, I am only breaking down this one drive, and the larger conclusions I make come mainly from what I saw on that drive. That’s a tiny sample size. I wish I had the time to break down every play, and every play of the other 31 NFL teams to be able to compare that to what the Cowboys are doing. But that’s just not practical. There is, however, a lot of information to be gained from one drive. So what I’m going to do is make my conclusions, and what I think you should do is take them with a grain of salt and as a complement to what you’re seeing. This is not the puzzle, it’s just one little piece.

The drive opens from an odd formation. Witten was split just off the line to the right of the play with Bennett on the line to the left. Roy Williams is split wide to the left, and Deon Anderson is in the backfield offset to the right. Bennett motions across the formation to the space in between Witten and the line. Witten is standing up, but besides that, it’s a heavy formation with two tight ends and a fullback all to the same side. And since it’s Jason Garrett, the play is headed to the other side. It’s a screen to Tashard Choice called against a zone blitz by the Broncos. With the blitz on, it’s the perfect call. Witten and Bennett sell their routes more than I’m used to seeing on a screen, which draws the strongside linebacker away from where the ball is going. As part of the zone blitz, the free safety rushes Romo while the middle linebacker drops deep, which takes him out of this play until it’s well down the field. The weakside linebacker does an acceptable job of seeing what’s going on and pursues Choice, but he doesn’t pursue Choice with much authority and is blocked by Kosier as part of the screen. Choice does a good job waiting for this block. In doing so, he nearly allows the defensive end to that side to take him down, but he powers through the tackle attempt and is well into the secondary with a convoy of blockers. The play gains 28 yards and is an effective counter to the Broncos’ clear desire to blitz Romo throughout the game.

I don’t feel like the next play upheld the same level of intelligence. The play was a draw to Tashard Choice. I might be reading too much into this one bit, but Denver is at a high altitude, making players much more susceptible to becoming out of breath. Choice has just run 23 yards. On the broadcast, Aikman points out that Choice is sucking for air while lining up for the play. Witten lines up on the outside and motions into the fullback spot. I might be really showing my ignorance here, but as part of the draw action, there are no pulling lineman, so Choice can to some extent pick his running lane. He does have Witten as the lead blocker, so he might be the one picking the lane; I don’t know, I didn’t play football past the 8th grade. But the upshot is that the line is moving people around on the far left side, and Choice runs just to the left of the center, where there’s no room and he gets taken down for a yard. If he busts this outside, the draw action has allowed blockers to get on the linebackers before they were realized what was happening, so there’s some good potential for a much longer gain. It makes me wonder if a fresh running back would have made more of this play, but with Felix hurt, they don’t have too many fresh running backs.

This next play is my favorite that I have diagrammed for the Cowboys so far, and it doesn’t even go as designed. In the huddle, the Cowboys have their 12 personnel with Barber as the back, so the Broncos have four linebackers (since they’re a 3-4 base defense) and four defensive backs on the field. When the Cowboys break the huddle, they go into the five-wide formation above, with Barber at the bottom of the shot, Bennett at the top, Witten on the line, and Crayton and Williams next to each other in the slot. With the five-wide set, the Broncos send a blitz, which is automatic for most teams when the backfield is empty. The quarterback and receiver see this blitz and adjust where this play is heading, so there’s two plays: the one that happens, and the one that was going to happen. What happens is the cornerback over Bennett blitzes (as indicated by the cute little arrow). With a safety, linebacker and cornerback all to Bennett’s side, you figure one would probably blitz. It seems odd to triple-team a second-string tight end. Once the cornerback is committed to the blitz but before the linebacker and safety to him, Bennett turns back towards Romo, who hits him with the pass over the head of the blitzer. Bennett has tons of space and picks up 15 yards. As a side note that I’d like to come back to, look how far off the line Champ Bailey is playing.

What is equally interesting to me, however, is the play that could have happened without the adjustment. The Broncos choose to play two safeties back, put their two corners on the outside receivers (including Champ Bailey on Marion Barber, which is such a win for the Cowboys, who never wanted to throw to Barber anyways. They took the Broncos best cover guy out of the play before the snap). With their linebackers, they put one standing on the line rushing the quarterback, two in the box behind the defensive line, leaving one linebacker standing over the two receivers. I feel like I need to repeat that because it’s so crazy: the Broncos had one linebacker covering two receivers. This is an offense-friendly matchup like I have never seen. Witten runs a route inside, taking one of the in-the-box linebacker with him. Barber runs a go to take Bailey with him, and hopefully the safety drops a little deeper, too. Crayton is the receiver closest in to the line, and he hesitates at the snap as Williams goes hard before picking the linebacker. Once Williams has slowed that linebacker down, he continues the route to challenge the safety. That leaves Crayton entirely uncovered with no real threats for yards around. If everyone has executed their assignment, Williams is slowing the linebacker and taking out the safety to that side, Witten is drawing the other linebacker away from the play, and Barber is occupying Bailey. Crayton is catching this very high-percentage throw and running until someone catches him from behind. One problem: the second linebacker in the box, the one to Bennett’s side, he probably wouldn’t be there if the corner isn’t blitzing, since it’s his job along with the free safety to cover the territory the blitzer is leaving. If there are two linebackers lined up over Crayton and Williams, it’s still a receiver on a linebacker, so it’s still and easy completion, but it might be for 5-7 yards. Still, I would love to see this play several more times to see how teams try to use their base personnel to try to defend five fairly legitimate receiving threats all spread along the line of scrimmage and how the Cowboys would exploit the mismatches.

On the following play, the Cowboys make one substitution (Crayton for Deon Anderson) and change the face of their offense entirely, now lining up in a heavy formation with two tight ends and a fullback. This flexibility has yet to lead to the gobs of points we’re all hoping for, but it’s darn interesting to watch. This is the straight-ahead run implied by the formation. Kosier pulls to the right, and Deon Anderson goes to the same area to create a nice running lane inside the two tight ends both lined up on the right side of the line. Strongside linebacker Mario Haggans has read this run and manages to fight through a double-team by Kosier and Anderson that Barber doesn’t feel safe heading to that lane. Instead he cuts to the right a bit. Andre Gurode and Leonard Davis have more or less fallen down but have done so in such a way as to create a little room for Barber to fight through before falling forward himself for three yards. This was an unadorned run from a run-heavy formation, so everyone had to execute their assignments right in order for the play to succeed; no defender was going to be tricked into taking himself out of the play. In the end, not everyone  Back to Haggan, he didn’t exactly blow through the double-team, but he was not being pushed back and at the point Barber had to make a decision, he looked like a threat to get through both blocks and stop the play for no gain. Kosier and Anderson, from my view, ought be embarrassed by this a star defensive lineman shouldn’t be able to fight though their double team, but this is no star anything. He’s a scrub outside linebacker.

On the next play, they take Anderson back out and put Crayton back in, and they again line up with the tight ends standing up. They start with trips right before Witten motions over to Bennett’s side to set up the formation you see above. The routes are basically the same on both sides with one receiver running a ‘go’ and the other heading a few yards upfield before breaking for the sideline. Again note how far back Champ Bailey is playing. He is the one standing at the first down line near the number ’10.’ It’s relevant to this play, but it’s also key for the Champ Bailey rant I’m building up to in a second here. As indicated by the arrow, the linebacker lined up over Williams and Crayton blitzes. Williams’ role (and Bennett’s, since they’re mirroring each other) is to run deep to open up space for Crayton underneath. Neither the safety nor Bailey have a problem with letting him achieve this, and with the linebacker blitzing, Crayton is all kinds of open. Romo, however, throws the ball over his head to set up 3rd and 7. When people talk in angry tones about Romo doing his best JaMarcus Russell impersonation in this game, I think they are referring to plays like this, so I’d like to take a few seconds to see why it happened here.

In the diagram above, I’d first like you to notice just how open Crayton is. Because it’s awesome. This is a pretty great little play. I use it in Madden all the time, it’s ideal for getting someone with speed into space without asking much of them from a route-running or difficult-catch-making standpoint. But then look at the black circled area. That’s the blitzer being blocked by Marion Barber right in front of Romo. That’s the thing about blitzes: they aren’t just good for getting sacks, they also clog lanes and do other neat stuff. In this case, it makes Romo have to throw the ball high enough to get over the blitzer but low enough that Crayton can still catch it. Romo does only one of those things. When Garrett calls for the formations he does with four and five players standing up along the line of scrimmage, a great many defenses will respond with blitzes. It’s hard to cover four or five guys for very long. One of them is going to come open, so defenses put pressure on to force the quarterback to throw before that can happen. And withmore players out in routes and fewer blockers, the defense feels more confident that those blitzes will work. So Romo has these open receivers, but he has fewer throwing lanes and less time to move in the pocket in order to get a better one. So from one standpoint, the offensive scheme is opening up the possibility of missing open guys (the other standpoint: that scheme is the one creating the open guys. But we’ve got too much to cover to get bogged down). Now, good quarterbacks use their arm to beat the blitz. Tom Brady faced this situation on just about every down in 2007 when New England ran that pretty-much-a-spread offense of theirs, and he had such trouble finding throwing lanes and throwing over blitzers that he threw 50 touchdown passes. The great majority of this burden falls on Romo, but I just felt it had not been sufficiently pointed out that there’s other factors in play. If I could be so silly as to put a totally arbitrary number on it, I’ll say 15% of each miss of an open man can be chalked up to schemes putting Romo in tough spots, and the other 85% falls on Romo losing his mechanics and stuff like that.

The next play is the difference between seven points and three. On 3rd and 7, the Cowboys keep the same personnel. Romo is in the shotgun with Choice on his left and Witten on his right in the backfield. Bennett is on the line to the left, with Crayton in the slot to the right and Williams outside him. When Witten motions to the space between Crayton and the line, it’s again pretty much four wide, though Bennett’s hand is on the ground. As you can see from the nice picture, Bailey is again playing 10 yards off of Williams. Williams runs hard for 16 yards, selling Bailey on the go route and dropping Bailey into the end zone. Williams then comes back to make the catch and pick up an easy first. Now, part of how open Williams is part of play design. Both safeties react to Witten running down the seam and into the end zone, which is what you do when Jason Witten is running down the seam in the red zone. Crayton is running a drag across the formation away from Williams, taking with him a defender who could be occupying the zone underneath Williams and prohibiting the throw that way. Bailey’s on an island for sure. But look at this next photo and how open Williams is even after the ball has been thrown.

In this play, as in all the others where I highlighted, Bailey is playing to prevent the score, not prevent the catch. He’s giving everyone a huge cushion and making sure any catches are made in front of him rather than making sure no catches are made at all. At no point did I see him get in someone’s jock and make it hard for a receiver to execute his route. He was operating often without help, but the great majority of elite corners face the same conditions. When the Jets’ Darelle Revis, for example, played the Patriots in week two, he played Randy Moss straight up without safety help and kept him to 34 yards on 4 catches. Williams had more yards than that by the time he went out with an injury (okay, it was only by one yard. But still). I argued about Bailey with Bob on Tuesday. His point was that the Cowboys threw at Bailey 15 times and never once got a big play out of it (though I would argue converting this third down is a big play, worth 4 points). That point proves my point, I think: no team would throw at an elite corner 15 times. No quarterback would be able to survey the field and in the course of one game find 15 times where an elite corner’s man was the most viable option to throw to. Now, Bailey did prevent too many long gains, and he did operate on an island plenty. A lot of cornerbacks would be pretty happy with that every week. For example, every corner on the Cowboys roster should be praying for a day like that. But that’s not what top-five corners do. From what I saw, Bailey is not a top-five corner. And at 31 after 11 seasons in the league, many of which were spent at that elite level, that’s okay. The man has had an awesome career, and 80% of Champ Bailey’s peak is a level of performance most teams would be happy with. But make no mistake: the Champ Bailey I watched on Sunday showed distinct signs of not playing at said peak.

The next two plays from a few yards away from the goal are both runs behind the left side of the line. On the first, DJ Williams–who really impresses me ever time I watch the Broncos, he’s petty awesome–diagnoses the run and blows it up. In 11-on-11 running situations like this, the offense is actually playing 9-on-11 in some ways. The quarterback and running back aren’t blocking, so there are two defenders for whom there are no blockers. This can be solved by offensive players merely slowing players far away from the play before getting off those blocks and getting to the second level to take care of those unblocked men. In this case, Williams read the play and reacted before this could happen.

Barber doesn’t get much farther on the next play either, but he stays on his feet, and his teammates get behind him and they’re able to motor into the end zone. The blocks aren’t that well-executed, but that’s the thing about goal line plays this close in: you don’t have to be very good, you just have to be good enough to have the chance to fall forward, and it’s seven points.

It’s telling that even on the most successful drive of the game, there were no productive running plays (unless you count the one-yard run for a touchdown, which I believe I’ve communicated I wasn’t particularly impressed with). That left the offense relying on the pass, which could be hampered by the Broncos’ blitzes. When the Cowboys could find a way to use their many targets to beat those blitzes, as they did with the opening screen pass and the 13-yard completion to Bennett, there were opportunities for open receivers to move the ball on this Broncos’ defense.

First, let’s check in with our “winning correlation” numbers for the week. If you are familiar with what I am doing here, it is to check what people say about winning. Is it important to win the turnover battle to win a game? Absolutely, Positively! What about 100 yard rushers? Or 300 yard passers? Not as much. But there is still interesting stories to tell in each category. Here are the latest results:

Week 2 Turnover results:

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Comments from TC the intern that are spot on:

Undefeated week from the winners of the turnover battle. First time that’s happened since I’ve been paying attention.

Also, I don’t have time right now to check, but I’d love to know the last time the Cowboys were +3 in turnovers. There was a lot of talk on the postgame show that last night’s effort wouldn’t beat the elite teams. I think +3 beats just about any team most of the time.

Funny he should mention that, because I just so happen to have a copy of last year’s chart right here from my old blog . And as you can see, +3 never happened last season. Stunning:

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Back to 2009, Here is the sliding scale for the season to date. You can see that -4 is not a good number if you are a Dallas fan.

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And our other projects to track showed no correlation to winning for the week, but both 100 yard rushers and 300 yard passers still have nice win percentages for the season:

100+ Yard Rushers in Week 3 went 6-1:

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300 Yard Passers in Week 3 had a 5-3 record:

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Peyton Manning is the only 300 yard passer on this list all 3 weeks. Drew Brees fell short in week 3. And only 1 100 yard rusher has done it twice so far: Steven Jackson. And trust me, that is all the Rams are doing offensively. It will be interesting to see if he can take that beating for 16 weeks.

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TC is my intern (I think you know that by now). He is a lot like me, except so far he works for nearly free and is a lot younger – and likes the hated Chicago Bears and Notre Dame. Anyway, his qualifications are similar to mine, in that he has played exactly 0 plays of football, a million games of Madden, and finds football to be his one true love in life (and Pearl Jam).

Anyway, he aspires to write more over here. I like his work. And he likes Football 301 enough to want to offer something a little extra on Wednesdays that you might treat as a supplement to Football 301 or something like that. So Here is TC:

He wants to break down a drive of each Cowboys game in great depth. His choice today is the only TD Drive from Monday’s game:

PLAY #1

The drive’s first play, a pass to Roy Williams, is its longest gain and the second-longest catch he had in the game (24 yards). It comes with Williams as the only receiver on the field as the Cowboys are in their 22 package. Williams is lined up on the same side as Martellus Bennett, to Romo’s right. Witten is on the line on the other side, while Deon Anderson and Tashard Choice are in the I. The Panthers react by bringing the strong safety into the box, leaving just one man over the top, presumably either straight up or shaded to the left (he is not in the picture on the TV). Both Williams and Bennett challenge the defense deep, running 10 yards downfield at the snap. Bennett keeps going, and the corner on Williams starts cheating towards Bennett. When he does, Williams breaks to the sideline and sits down in the opening. In the meantime, the strong safety comes up underneath Williams, but Williams is so open Romo only has to worry about lofting the ball over the safety. If he does only that, Williams has the room to make the catch and then some. Romo makes precisely the throw that is called for, and Wiliams has room to run before the corner and safety catch up and push him out of bounds. Even without play-action, the threat of the run created this play by forcing the strong safety into the box, leaving too much responsibility on the defenders covering Bennett and Williams. It was also interesting how much the defense respected Bennett. If the cornerback had stuck with Williams rather than shading to Bennett, Williams would not have been open.

The second play of the drive features the Wildcat package. This was the last play where Felix Jones was on the field, and he was only their to fake the ball to. It was standard Wildcat: there was an unbalanced line with Witten at right tackle and Felix motioning across the formation to fake the sweep to. Leonard Davis pulled around Andre Guraode, and Choice went through that lane for 10 yards. The line didn’t get much push on this play—it was more of a crease than a hole—but they didn’t allow penetration and held their blocks. Witten held his for awhile, but his man eventually peeled off and made the tackle after 10 yards.

PLAY #3

The ensuing first down shows the advantages of having two players in sync like Romo and Witten are. The Cowboys are in 12 with Witten to Romo’s left and Deon Anderson motioning into the backfield to Romo’s left. The Panthers run a zone blitz where the middle linebacker and safety to Witten’s side blitz, and the defensive end to Anderson’s side drops back into coverage. Kozier picks up the linebacker as he blitzes. The safety’s blitz is a little more delayed, and he is coming unimpeded to Romo. Witten and Romo both diagnose this quickly, and Witten sits down in the very sizeable area that the blitzers just vacated. There is a linebacker to that side, but he is following Choice into the flat, so he is not near the area Witten’s in. This strikes me as a pretty poor defense. It leaves a large hole for the 6-7 yards in front of the offense’s best receiver. Romo and Witten would connect on this play ten out of ten times.

On 2nd and 4, the Cowboys run an end-around to Crayton after a fake to Choice. Kozier pulls to the right to sell the run to choice, and the linebackers all move to attack that hole, leaving them out of position for the end-around. No one is more fooled, however, than Julius Peppers who is the defensive end on the side Crayton is running towards. They leave him totally unblocked, so they’re betting that he’ll over-pursue Choice and be out of position when Crayton runs by him. They win that bet. Much of the offensive line doesn’t so much block as chip the defenders in front of them long enough for the play to develop before getting out and setting blocks for Crayton along the edge. The play picks up 14 yards.

PLAY #5

The Cowboys score on the next play, a draw to Tashard Choice. The Cowboys are in their 21 package with two wide receivers to the right and Witten on the line to the left. Romo takes the snap and pump fakes towards the receivers before handing off to Choice. Choice is running outside of Flozell Adams and inside of Witten. Witten acts for his first few steps as if he is going out on a pattern to the left before blocking the defender covering him. Witten’s block is key, and by getting his defender moving back and not expecting a block, it makes his job much easier. The linebackers don’t bite too much on the pass action, they pretty much just hover where they are. They do not, however, immediately attack the hole, which is a benefit. In contrast, the safety to that side (who is Charles Godfrey, a corner pressed into playing safety due to injuries) bites hard on the pass and drops back into coverage of Witten, so far back that he is totally out of the play without anyone blocking him. Deon Anderson does a nice job of lead blocking, taking out the only defender in position to make a tackle. It’s an easy touchdown.

Without using more than two wide receivers at any point, the Cowboys led an explosive and balanced scoring drive. When you watch a drive like this, with the defense clearly having trouble covering so many threats coming from so many positions put in a spot to succeed by creative play-calling, it makes you wonder why the Cobwoys only scored one touchdown on offense this game