2013 BaD Radio Podcasts

Our Latest Weekly Podcast: 

Weekly Pod for 9/14/13 - Episode #226 - Cowboys beat the Giants in Week 1, Christopher "Kid" Reid, Donovan's song, Sinbad, Tom Grieve Hitting Challenge, Breaking Bad talk.

The Full Archive From 2013:

Weekly Pod for 1/5/13 - Episode #192 - Cowboys come up short in D.C., the final Jason Witten show of the season, goodbye to a few interns, hello to a few others, Chris Kaman, Ghetto Jeopardy.

Weekly Pod for 1/12/13 - Episode #193 - Monte Kiffin hired as Cowboys defensive coordinator, Best Funeral Ever reviews, JFF crushes it in the Cotton Bowl, Big Game Brent, Friday Game Show.

Weekly Pod for 1/19/13 - Episode #194 - Initial reaction to the Manti Te'O story, Jaromir "Puff Nuts" Jagr , Chris Kaman show, John Beckwith of the show "Best Funeral Ever", Monkey News, Friday Game Show.

Weekly Pod for 1/26/13 - Episode #195 - Will Bill Callahan be calling plays for the Cowboys, "Waterboy" reviewed, MLK tribute, Chris Kaman's talk is real, GAMESHOW!

Weekly Pod for 2/2/13 - Episode #196 - Super Bowl 27 review, a trip to the 9th Ward, Bobby Hebert, the cast of The League on Radio Row, Super Bowl week bits.

Weekly Pod for 2/9/13 - Episode #197 - Super Bowl Talk complete with Phil Simms AND power outage e-brake audio, Rangers off-season issues, Chris Kaman, PED talk, and a gameshow courtesy of Kevin Turner.

Weekly Pod for 2/16/13 - Episode #198 - Jason Garrett is sounding like Miley Cyrus on salvia in press conferences, Gary Edwards of the "Carter Boys", classic audio from Bob's first time, Shawn Marion in studio, Grapevine Fugitive talk, Chris Kaman show.

Weekly Pod for 2/23/13 - Episode #199 - Josh Hamilton is now trolling the Rangers fan, Ticketstock songs, Monkey News, Meme of the Month: Harlem Shake, Tweetgrubes/Anthony Andro/Kittenface.

Weekly Pod for 3/2/13 - Episode #200 - Tony Romo contract extension talk, Oscars reviews, Jon Daniels, "Die Hard" review, Jere Lehtinen in studio, Craig Ludwig in studio, Homer Call of the Year Winner Brian Snow.

Weekly Pod for 3/9/13 - Episode #201 - Rangers power struggle, Britney Griner in studio, Dan Birthday Fun, Alamo Quiz with Jeremy Lin and Kevin McHale, Last Week's Gameshow.

Weekly Pod for 3/16/13 - Episode #202 - Bill Guerin in studio, An Ode To Cumulus for the sales department from Tom Gribble, John McCaa gets a hotplate from Donovan, Gordon Jago, Game Show featuring Mavs dancers.

Weekly Pod for 3/23/13 - Episode #203 - Marshall Henderson talk, Lance Berkman, Behind The Bit: The Upper Decker, Chris Kaman, young Dan with Mel Hall audio, Monkey News.

Weekly Pod for 3/30/13 - Episode #204 - Brendan Morrow traded, Chris Kaman in studio, Lunchpails from the NCAA tournament, Stars assistant GM Frank Provenzano talks analytics, Walt Goggins, a KT Game Show.

Weekly Pod for 4/6/13 - Episode #205 - Romo extension, Tick Talk, Darvish near perfect, Bobcat Goldthwaite, Bob joins Farrell On The Bench, Rangers Opening Day song.


Weekly Pod for 4/13/13 - Episode #206 - Josh Hamilton's return to Arlington, Scoops Callahan and Johnny Football, Derian Hatcher, Bob with Brett Favre, Screenless.

Weekly Pod for 4/20/13 - Episode #207 - Initial reaction to the bombings at the Boston Marathon, director of "Primer" and "Upstream Color" Shane Carruth, Dirk in studio, Monkey News, Uncle Ruslan audio.

Weekly Pod for 4/27/13 - Episode #208 - Review of Cowboys moves in Round 1 of the NFL Draft, 1st Round Pick Travis Frederick, "Eddie" reviewed, an update on The Year of Dan, Dan's Name Game, Evan gets engaged.

Weekly Pod for 5/4/13 - Episode #209 - A complete NFL Draft 2013 review including analysis, audio, and a call from Computer, Josh Hamilton is not a patient hitter so say the "advanced metrics", The Future of Horse Racing, Derek Holland.

 Weekly Pod for 5/11/13 - Episode #210 - We laugh at the Angels and Josh Hamilton, we celebrate Elvis Andrus by interviewing him, Cleveland News, the Mavs D12 and CP3 dreams, and some Mother's Day Fun.

Weekly Pod for 5/18/13 - Episode #211 - Darvish vs. Verlander, News teases during sweeps, Sean Lee, Donovan meets Ludacris, What Are Atheletes Using Twitter For?, Urban Family Feud.

Weekly Pod for 5/25/13 - Episode #212 - Jon Daniels, Murder  News from Southlake, Dave Cameron of fangraphs.com, Dan Game Show with P1 Contestants, Tony Hale (Buster Bluth).

Weekly Pod for 6/1/13 - Episode #213 - Rangers audio, the Tom Grieve show, "Sandlot" reviewed, Dan's trip to Six Flags, Anthony Jeselnik in studio, Donovan and Scoops Callahan meet Seth Rogen, the 2013 GBL Draft.

Weekly Pod for 6/8/13 - Episode #214 - The Tom Grieve show, Bob has a bobcat in his backyard, Monkey News,  Joe Nathan talks pitching and "Ted," the annual BaD Radio Spelling Bee.


Weekly Pod for 6/15/13 - Episode #215 - Trip to the ballpark brings us interviews with Ron Washington and Jurickson Profar, a GBL interview with writer Drew Magary, there is a snake problem in Coppell, we reveal our Summer Bash guest, and Tom has a newsy gameshow.

Weekly Pod for 6/29/13 - Episode #217 - Bob and Dan aren't going anywhere, Bob's birthday celebration including Craig Hodges and Ask Bob Anything, and Vacation Talk.

Weekly Pod for 7/12/13 - Episode #218 - Donovan talks about his vacation in Greece and has a Friday game show. The guys talk to Danny Trejo, Tyler Seguin, and Gabe Kapler. Finally the fellas talk about the amazing cinematic masterpiece Sharknado!

Weekly Pod for 7/20/13 - Episode #219 - Daryl Hannah, former co-host of the Tom Green Show Glenn Humplik, Sweet Brown, EuroTrip, Trey's Bad B Movie Game Show.

Weekly Pod for 7/27/13 - Episode #220 - Jason Witten live in the tent, Do NFL Rookies know the divisions in their own league, Gabe Kapler rips the tent apart, the show takes a trip to Anthony Jeselnik's studio show, Anthony Weiner is in trouble again.

Weekly Pod for 8/3/13 - Episode #221 - Kidd Kraddick's passing, Johnny Football talk, Riley Cooper is "in the news," Dan Cortese, Dan's World (Hey Did You Hear About Piolin?), George St. Pierre, a wedding at Cowboys Stadium.

Weekly Pod for 8/10/13 - Episode #222 - Johnny Manziel investigation and NCAA injustice, Alex Rios acquired by TEX, Ask Donovan Anything, Ask Tom Grieve Anything, Tecmo Trivia Bowl, Danny McCray Interviewed by Drops, Jason Garrett visits the tent.


Weekly Pod for 8/17/13 - Episode #223 - Mickey audio from The Blue Star Network, Jason Garrett or Good Brody or Bad Brody?, Breaking Bad talk, Antonio Vargas, Jerry word vomits about the move to Frisco, Remember The Titans reviewed, Urban Family Feud.

Weekly Pod for 8/31/13 - Episode #224 - The Cowboys "Secret Sauce" will not involve Jay Ratliff for the first six games, Bob trolls Newy masterfully, NFL Films 2012 Cowboys Season In Review, Dan's trip to The New Stajium, Breaking Bad Talk.

Weekly Pod for 9/7/13 - Episode #225 - Babe Laufenberg in studio talking Cowboys and Johnny Football, Homer Call Week 0, Gabe Kapler, Jamie Hector (Marlo), Tom's Gameshow, Breaking Bad Talk Ep. 4

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Cowboys Mailbag - 9/13

On Fridays, we check for your emails and prepare briefly for the next opponent:

So, let's talk about the Chiefs briefly.  I readily admit that I would like to spend 2,000 words on the upcoming opponents like I used to, but the way we are doing the blog these days has put far more emphasis on the game behind than the game ahead and most seem to enjoy the Tuesday-Thursday breakdowns.  Unfortunately, that comes a bit at Friday's expense, so forgive me.

The Chiefs are a team that finished 2-14 last year and honestly have a bit of a history of being a team you "should beat", but everyone needs to get that out of their head.  This game is going to be a real test for the Cowboys offense.

In 2013, the Chiefs cleaned house again and hired an entire new football operation starting with John Dorsey who was very high on Ted Thompson's staff for a long time to be their general manager.  Then, Andy Reid to be the head coach.  But, the hire that will have the biggest impact on Sunday is Bob Sutton the defensive coordinator from the New York Jets.  What that means, is that we should expect the Chiefs defense to resemble the chaos that the Jets 3-4 has tried to throw down for many years with great success and in a stadium that is likely to be shaking on Sunday, this will greatly test this new offensive line that is gaining confidence of its own.

The Chiefs, as has been documented, has significantly more talent than your average 2-14 team, and many - including myself - have projected them as a wildcard team in the AFC.  They have elite quality defenders in Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Eric Berry, and Brandon Flowers.  Meanwhile, Justin Houston and Dontari Poe seem to be poised to be elite soon.  I remember disagreeing with the masses on Poe on draft day, and it looks like the Chiefs won this gamble.  They added free agent Mike Devito to play that 5-technique in this 2-gap defense and Sean Smith to play the opposite corner that was vacated a season ago by Brandon Carr.

I think this will be a fantastic evaluation game for Travis Frederick.  We have seen him make almost no mistakes since coming to Dallas, but now, with blitzes from every direction crossing up the protections and with a loud stadium and high pressure shotgun snaps, on top of a large nose tackle right on top of him, I think if Frederick gets out of this clean, we will have to be impressed.

Whereas the Giants seldom brought pressure and enjoyed dedicating more players to coverage, the Chiefs will likely do just the opposite, and perhaps this will mean a bigger role for Dez Bryant.  Make them pay for their blitzes.

Clearly, running the football is the way to quiet a high-pressure environment and to settle your offense down and this will be a key.  The Chiefs - if their first game is any indication - are going to try to smother you in pressure.  Now, the Cowboys need to demonstrate that this isn't Blaine Gabbert and the Jacksonville Jaguars they are dealing with.

On the other side of the ball, I am interested to see the Cowboys deal with Jamaal Charles - who we will assume is in reasonable health.  He has a competent offensive line and they can run the ball.  But, now they have a coach who has never really believed in running it, so we are a bit fuzzy on how those two ideas will mesh long term.

Do not kid yourself about Alex Smith.  Sure, he is never going to fully live down being #1 overall and being taken ahead of Aaron Rodgers, but he has turned a corner in his career.  Since the start of 2011, he has a record of 21-5-1 and has 32 Touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a QB rating of 95.1 and a 7.25 Yards Per Attempt - ahead of guys like Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler.

He will not beat himself and he will certainly take the high percentage option, which makes him a real fit with Andy Reid.  Dwayne Bowe will cause matchup issues and Donnie Avery underneath should be slippery.

I have no delusions about the difficulty of this game.  It will be a real battle and one where points might be difficult to get.  Don't forget Week 2 in Seattle in 2012.  I have the Cowboys, but barely, and in a low-scoring Dan Bailey-winning affair.


Now, on to your emails!

Hey Bob-
Any chance you can break down the special teams rosters for the first game?  Last year that was helpful to get an idea on why the team makes certain players inactive on game day.
Marvin

Absolutely!  You know I keep a notebook on all of this sort of thing, so let's start with the Cowboys inactives in the Giants game:

The Dallas Cowboys have declared DL Anthony Spencer, OG Brian Waters, LB Caesar Rayford, WR Cole Beasley, SS Danny McCray, OT Darrion Weems, RB Lance Dunbar inactive for Week 1.

Now, clearly, we can explain Spencer, Waters, McCray, and Dunbar away as health issues that kept them from being at the top of their game.  In the case of McCray, he is the type of guy who is only on this team to help with special teams, so we know he will be active when he is healthy, or he won't really be on the roster for long.

That leaves Rayford, Beasley, Weems, and perhaps Dunbar as the guys you might say are roster surplus for now and if they are not making your game-day roster - then they are on the fringes roster and the most likely to be freed up if something better comes along.  We have had these discussions about Cole Beasley and Lance Dunbar in 2012.  If they cannot cover kicks and punts up to the standards the team has, then they will have to be very special in the offense or there is just not room for them in the NFL level.  A guy like Dwayne Harris can do so much more for you if he can handle 20 special teams plays AND then get a dozen snaps on the offense.

Anyway, with that said, here are the week 1 special teams units - Pay special attention to the players that show up on all 4 groups.  Click each to enlarge:

KICKOFF RETURN

KICKOFF COVERAGE

PUNT COVERAGE

PUNT RETURN

Again, after looking at something like this, you se that it is vital for a guy to show he can handle anything the team asks of him if he wants to hang around and get on the field.  DeVonte Holloman, Kyle Bosworth, Jeff Heath, Ernie Sims, Phillip Tanner, and  Edgar Jones are what you would call the core of these groups to start the season.  McCray will knock someone off these groups, but continuity is important to find a comfort zone where everyone knows what to expect of those around them to either spring a big return or keep them from happening.  And make no mistake, KC can make you sweat with Dexter McCluster back deep.

=====

Hi Bob,Thanks for all the great posts you do. I would love to know what books or other resources you would recommend for learning how to watch offensive and defensive line play.David Green

Well, this is a question I get periodically, and I will tell you that there has never been a better time to be a football fan who really enjoys learning about schemes and strategy.  It is a growing group and there information is excellent.  The more you learn about football the less you care about the soap opera discussions and actually dive into talking ball from a standpoint of what wins games.  I have spent about 8 years with almost no fantasy football in my life and tons of coaching/strategy books and DVDs and even coaching clinics and feel like - even though I will never coach - that I have learned the game on a much deeper level and I can't get enough.

The two books I would order today if this is interesting to you are these:  

Pat Kirwan's Take Your Eyes Off The Ball and Chris Brown's the Essential Smart Football

Once you read those and want more, there is no end to the material.  You can find clinics and speeches from the greatest minds in coaching all over the internet and it is fascinating.  I highly recommend it.

Email me anytime at sturm1310@me.com and maybe you will be in next week's group.

Enjoy the game and we will see you back here on Monday.

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Xs And Os: Week 1 Film Room

The goal every Thursday is to take one or two plays and to really break them down from the good ol' Xs and Os.  Since we started doing this, we have found access to posting video, then coach's film, and now, with stills and NFL Game Rewind, you can really have items to look at when you study.

What happened, who was there, and who likely was responsible is rather easy to break down if you take the time these days.  And it falls to people like us to dive in.

This week, I selected two plays.  I certainly don't attempt to select all negative or all positive plays - just moments in the game where strategy and execution crossed paths and gave us good talking points.  As it happens, both were in the 2nd Quarter, and both were not great moments for the Cowboys.  Nevertheless, I want to dive into both of them with you and talk them out.

PLAY #1 - Giants face 1st and 10 at their own 30 - Result: 70 Yard TD pass to Victor Cruz

So much about playing sound defensive football begins and ends with communication.  And, although I thought this would be a great play to break down from a strategy standpoint - The Cowboys try a fire-zone blitz where Scandrick and Lee overload the right and Ware drops into the shallow zone coverage - the more I look at it, it becomes very clear that the Cowboys were running at least 2 different defenses here.

Frame #1 - I only show this to demonstrate the fact that the Giants rushed them to the line here because it was a rather close 2nd and 1 situation where the Cowboys were thinking a measurement would be coming and the Giants hurried them to get a play off before the 2-minute warning.  It worked like a charm as the Giants are lined up and ready for a snap here and the Cowboys are pretty much unanimously looking at Sean Lee for the call.  

We came to find out later that Monte Kiffin took the blame for getting the call in too late, but I would also add that when this happens, Lee has the chance to call 1 or 2 base calls just so that this situation doesn't happen.  If you watch the TV coverage, it is very clear that Ware, Sims, and Allen in particular look really confused about what play is being run.  They are literally all with hands in the air looking at Lee when the ball is snapped.

Understand that a corner blitz is not something that will happen much at all the entire season.  So for there to be a corner who is running at Eli and those behind him are so unsure of the call 

Frame #2 - So here at the snap, with the 5 coming on what appears that the Cowboys want to run a rather typical fire zone blitz where 5 rush and the weakside defensive end will drop into the zone.  I have no idea what the call really was, but that looks like what the majority of the front were doing, so now I will speculate what the issue is underneath.

It seems Ware and Sims are dropping into the same zone which would mean that Ernie Sims is the most likely and reasonable man to slide behind Sean Lee and take the defensive right shallow area, where Hakeem Nicks is about to enter up at the 33 yard line as he runs behind Cruz.

However, I should point out that the body positioning of Sims and Ware (facing the man - Myers the Tight End, not back pedaling and facing the QB) suggests that perhaps they each believe that they are actually in man-coverage and that they both believe they are responsible for the tight end and are wondering why the other guy is there, too.

Frame #3 - At this point, we see Nicks all by himself, Ware covering nothing but turf, and the pass rush is almost getting home to Eli Manning with both Nick Hayden having a shot at him, and Scandrick looking like he is being held pretty badly by the left tackle, Will Beatty.

Frame #4 - This picture is from the same moment as Frame #3, and it shows that they have a nice gain underneath to Nicks, but Eli sidesteps Hayden and sees that Allen is too shallow and knows if he buys a moment, Cruz is going to run right past the coverage.  He simply has to put enough on it, because Cruz is going to leave Allen in his dust as Allen is stationary as Cruz is at a full sprint.

And now, the video.  It sure looks like Allen should be deeper at his initial drop and then takes a poor angle.  The video confirms the wheels of JJ Wilcox as he closed the gap quickly from across the field on a very fast Cruz.  But it also confirms that the big issue here is just communication.  It is tough enough to play against an offense that has this weapons.  It only gets exponentially more difficult if half the defense has no idea what defense they are supposed to be playing.  

This play was an absolute mess and one of those bust moments where you are just thankful it did not cost you the game.  

Play #2 - Cowboys face a 2nd and 19 with 0:46 in the 2nd Q - Result - Incomplete to Williams

If we all agree that there is nothing more important in the NFL than having a big-time QB, then there can be nothing more important than making sure you don't lose him in the season opener to a major injury.  And despite doing a fine job all night long in protecting Romo, this is the one that almost did them in.

Understand that so much of pass protection is based on getting the ball out of there in a timely fashion.  Nearly every season, Peyton and Eli Manning are the two best QBs in the NFL at avoiding sacks.  They do this, because they make 1 or 2 reads and then unload most all of the time.  They don't hold the ball and wait for things to open up.

A point of discussion this week was "why was Tony checking down so much?"  Well, part of that is coverage and part of that is faith that your offensive line can hold up for an extra second.  After 2011 and 2012, you will have to excuse Romo if he is a little gun-shy about hanging on to the ball.

In this spot, Ronald Leary has taken a holding penalty and the Cowboys are backed up on a 2nd and 19.  They are also in their 2-minute offense which means S11.  Romo has had time to throw, but 19 yards to the sticks are going to require that he either takes 2 nibbles or waits for the players to get 20 yards down the field and open in one play and that requires big protection.

Frame #1 - We want to point out all of the major players in this sequence.  You can click on any picture to enlarge it.  

Frame #2 - The Giants did something here that either I have never seen, or I have never seen pulled off so perfectly.  It the LDE-WLB stunt.  We are all familiar with T-E stunts or something between 2 or 3 defensive linemen.  We are also familiar with twists and various maneuvers meant to screw up blocking schemes, but what the Giants did here was a thing of beauty.

First, 94-Kiwanuka engages Doug Free to the outside to set him up high and to get Free to turn almost towards the sideline.  When his body turns that significantly, he can no longer see much else in his periphery vision.  Free is completely focused on closing off the edge to the fine pass rusher.   Meanwhile, Jacquian Williams looks like he is blitzing the B-Gap (between guard and tackle) and DeMarco Murray squares him up and is ready to handle him as he stands between the rusher and the QB in perfect form.

Frame #3 - Now the incredibly odd strategy that caught everyone off guard.  Instead of 57 trying to battle Murray for a shot at Romo, he runs directly at the ear hole of Doug Free and blasts him into next week.  I have heard a lot of people down on Free for this moment, but seriously, if a linebacker comes at you at full speed and you have no idea he is coming while you try to block Kiwanuka from a different direction, every tackle in the league is going to meet a similar fate.

Kiwanuka is now free of Free, and he heads back inside the stunt and Murray must be thinking bad thoughts as he knows how long he can hold off a defensive end with a head start.  This won't work well.  Meanwhile, little known Justin Trattou is actually working Tyron back to Romo here from the other edge.

Frame #4 - This is a frame you don't want to see.  Free on his knees, Tyron falling, and 3 Giants meeting at your QB.  He gets the ball out in 3.5 seconds, but he is about to take a helmet in the ribs and a sandwich from the other side as this will leave him in a heap on the field.

Frame #6 - Lets roll it back and look at what Romo saw.  He does have Dez Bryant in the right flat for a modest gain, but he knows it is 2nd and 19 and he wants more than 7 yards.  So he, then looks for other options.  This is the gamble that every QB takes.  Do you throw it at the first open man, or do you keep shopping for a better deal, but risking the pocket caving in as you go?

Frame #7 - Here is the moment where everyone is hitting Romo.  He just sent the ball to Williams near the sticks, but the pass was off its' mark.  You see he has Austin shallow for the crossing pattern, but he passed on that, too.

In looking at the play on video, you almost want to compliment the stunt concept more than you want to blame the blockers.  They have to be prepared for anything, but in fairness, that is really exotic.  

Tyron has to hold up better on the outside as he got a bit top-heavy and lost his balance.  

But, in the end, your QB1 took a major hit and now wears a kevlar vest because of it.

Hope you enjoyed these breakdowns and leave your comments or questions below.

Tomorrow, we dip into the mailbag and get ready for the Chiefs.

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Kiffin Report: Splash Plays - Week 1 - Giants

Every Wednesday we want to look at the defense and how things went in the previous game.  This is a work in progress, but we will try to make sure after we talk a little game theory that we always dive back into our bread and butter.  Splash plays and tracking the Cowboys use of bringing pressure.

First, this week, I thought I would cover the dangers of a good play-action team on a linebacker crew that is being trained to be aggressive maulers and to be flying around making a play.  What is the enemy of aggressive players?  Fakes.  And a veteran QB can manipulate your movement by a simple run fake.  When he does, you move.  Then, passing lanes go from small to huge and big plays happen behind you.  

Let's look at the most glaring example from Sunday:

Here is the 57 yard pitch and catch from Manning to Hakeem Nicks that caused most of you to yell at your television something along the lines of "That was way too easy!"  Because it was.  

Picture #1 shows us the 4-5 yard depth of the linebackers.  If it is a straight pass, Lee will get his drop to almost 10 yards pretty quickly and close windows across the middle.  But, with a run fake to Wilson, you will see in Picture #2 what happens.

Here is the result of a relatively half-hearted run fake.  Lee is at the 21, Durant is next to him, and Carter is engaged at the 20 and Barry Church is up there in run support, too!  8 Cowboys within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage means Nicks and Cruz have lots of room if protection holds up.  And it does, because the Cowboys aren't rushing their LBs.  They bit on the run fake and now they are trying to peel back (especially Lee).

Now, the ball is to Nicks and you can see that you could actually drive a truck through the gap in the zone and have no issues clearing the space.  Claiborne is playing so soft and with his rear to the sideline which screams that he believes he has middle help in a zone.  Allen is playing deep which a single-high safety must.  That is taking candy from babies, all off a 1st and 10 play where there was a simple run fake with a fullback and tight end in.  The Cowboys were sure it was a run and in an effort to dominate with aggressiveness, they were exposed.

57 yards later, lesson learned.  Careful on the run fakes.  

SPLASH PLAYS

Starting in 2011, we wanted to make sure the defense was covered in this space every week as well.  It, admittedly, is a far more difficult exercise, but I was interested in taking to defensive players about what they focused on as a defense.  

The same term was mentioned quite a bit inside locker-rooms, and when I heard it on the NFL Network when Davin Joseph was talking about 49ers LB Navarro Bowman, I took note of his quote:

"He's really starting to make a lot of splash plays. We don't like those on offense. But, a splash play is when you have a big hit. Big hit on a running back. Big hit on a wide receiver. Big hit on a quarterback. Or just making a tackle for a loss. Just making that impact play is what they call a splash play. He makes a lot of those."

That interested me quite a bit.  What if I kept splash plays?  What if I was the judge, jury, and executioner and tried to see who made the most "big plays" on the defense on a play by play basis?

So, I did.  

First, we had to try to define what we were looking for:

What is a splash play? Well, for purposes of this blog I believe a splash play will include the following: A sack, a pressure that forces a bad throw, and big hit on the QB, and a batted ball that may lead to an interception opportunity. Again, you can see how this leads to subjectivity, but a subjective breakdown is better than no breakdown at all, I have decided. In addition, a splash play will include tackles for loss, a big hit for a short gain, or a stop which is an open field tackle where a player is pulled down on 3rd down short of the marker because of an exceptional effort from a defender. An interception is clearly a splash play, but so is a defended pass that required a great effort. A major hit in the secondary could be a splash play, but I believe that the outcome of the play will determine that. Sorry, defensive backs, but standing over a guy who just caught a 15 yard pass because you think you hit him hard will not generally pass the test on this blog. So, stop doing it. 

I am trying to be careful about handing out too many splash plays per game. I am trying to be picky, but too extreme in either direction. When I log a splash play, I will put time of the game on the chart so that if you want to review the same game and challenge my ruling, you are welcome to do so. Also, if multiple players deserve recognition on a single play, we will try to see that as well. 

Basically, we are trying to assign a value to making plays on the defense. We don't want to just see sacks and interceptions. We want to see broader definitions of splash plays to assign credit to those who help the Cowboys get off the field in important situations. These rankings will not deduct for negative plays at this point. There are simply too many occasions where we are guessing, and for now, I want to avoid that for this particular idea.  

A splash play is a play that makes a major difference in the game. And by keeping it all season long, we will see which defenders are play makers and which are simply warm bodies. We already have our thoughts on both categories, but let's see if we can dig a bit deeper and actually have numbers to back up our claims.

Here are the final results for 2011 and here are the final results for 2012.

Basically, in the last two seasons, DeMarcus Ware has led the way with 69 and Anthony Spencer has had 67.  3-5 in 2011 was Sean Lee, Jay Ratliff and Orlando Scandrick.  In 2012, all 3 of those changed to Jason Hatcher, Mo Claiborne, and Bruce Carter.  But, in both seasons, Ware and Spencer are far and away the top two playmakers on the defense.  The best season to date was Spencer's 2012 when he averaged a splash play every 22.9 snaps.

WEEK 1 vs Giants

If you had George Selvie and Nick Hayden as two of the most impact-ful defenders in Week 1, you should go live in Vegas.  They both look like keepers that were found in the discard bin.  What a start for Hayden, in particular.

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Player	Play
1-15:00	1/10/O20	Ware	Interception of Manning
1-12:24	2/10/D23	Allen	Pass Broken Up
1-11:41	1/G/D8	Church	Fumble Caused
1-11:41	1/G/D8	Selvie	Fumble Recovered
1-9:48	1/10/O31	Hayden	Run Stuff
1-8:58	3/10/D49	Allen	Interception of Manning
1-4:00	1/G/D1	Hayden/Durant	Run Stuff
1-3:25	2/G/D2	Selvie	Sack
3-13:13	1/10/O29	Carter	Sack
3-12:42	2/15/O24	Hayden	Fumble Caused
3-12:42	2/15/O24	Church (2)	Recovery and Return for TD
3-11:52	2/7/O23	Cohen	Run Stuff
3-9:15	3/1/O48	Carter	Run Stuff
3-2:03	1/10/D18	Scandrick	Pass Broken Up
3-1:53	2/10/D18	Selvie	Pressure/Tipped Pass
4-5:38	3/10/O45	Hatcher	Sack
4-2:00	1/10/O46	Carr (2)	Interception and Return for TD
4-0:18	2/1/D4	Lee	Pass Broken Up

Here are the game totals - and thus the season totals - for 2013:

Player	Splashes
Church	3
Selvie	3
Hayden	2.5
Allen	2
Carter	2
Carr	2
Ware	1
Hatcher	1
Lee	1
Durant	.5
Team Total	18

===========

Pass Rush/Blitzing REPORT

This segment of the defensive study is simply to find out how well the Cowboys are doing at getting pressure on the opposing QB.  We have spent a good part of the offseason talking about Monte Kiffin's philosophy that, like so many of the great 4-3 schemes, is based on using blitz as a weapon, not a necessity.  If you use the blitz as an ambush weapon that is always threatened but only used at the perfect times, you can often get free runs at the QB.  If, on the other hand, you must use the blitz because your normal pressure is not getting it done, then the offense usually is waiting for you and prepared - so even 6 rushers don't accomplish much.

Here, we look at the big plays for (Explosives are plays 20 yards and longer) and the big plays against each week (Sacks and Interceptions) and see what role (if any) was played by the defensive coordinator.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Play	Rushers
1-13:04	1/10/O20	Manning to Nicks, +57	4
2-2:01	1/10/O30	Manning to Cruz, TD +70	5
4-12:10	1/10/O10	Manning to Randle, +20	4
4-10:49	1/10/O47	Manning to Randle, +22	3
4-2:14	3/5/O22	Manning to Randle, +26	5
4-0:48	2/10/D36	Manning dump off to Scott, +23	4

Above, we visited about the effects of play action and how it led to the big Hakeem Nicks pass, but the Cowboys will have to clean that up.  Also, in the 4th Quarter, and the Cowboys were up 30-17, there clearly was an adjustment to soften up coverage (I resist the urge to use prevent), but Manning picked that apart as you see most of his passing work and the big plays came in the 4th Quarter.  There were several more over 15 yards that also were issues.

But, with the exception of the long touchdown to Cruz - which we will deconstruct tomorrow in our Xs and Os blog, it was a reasonable night for getting pressure without the blitz and the Cowboys did not get stuck with their hand in the cookie jar too much - aside from the huge play.  And as we know, that 1 70 yard Touchdown bust could lose a lot of games.

SACKS AND INTERCEPTIONS

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Play	Rushers
1-15:00	1/10/O20	Ware Interception of Manning	5
1-8:58	3/10/D49	Allen Interception of Manning	4
1-1:35	2/G/2	Selvie Sack	4
3-13:13	1/10/O29	Carter Sack on big blitz	6
4-5:38	3/10/O45	Hatcher sack	4
4-2:00	1/10/O46	Carr Interception	4

Want to see something cool?  Here is what a 6-man blitz looks like - the only time they used it in the game - when almost everyone is winning their match-up.  Bruce Carter is winning the easiest (against Chris Snee), and he will be rewarded with a big sack here early in the 3rd Quarter.

As the game went along, Eli did a ton of damage - much down the seams.  In this scheme, your corners force to the safeties and the middle of the field.  All through the preseason, we saw giant gaps in the middle of the field - something that will certainly not work in the long run.

Here is Eli's game chart for the Full game:

Pass Rushers Against New York Giants - 49 pass rush/blitz situations:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	2	0	0	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	1	18	2	1
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	2	0	0
Totals	3	20	2	1

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	1	3	1	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	7	1	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	0	0	0
Totals	1	10	2	0

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	1	0	1	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	1	1	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	6	0	0
Totals	1	7	2	0

And, here are the full season numbers to date:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush	Total
1st Down	3 - 11%	20 - 76%	2 - 7%	1 - 3%	26 - 53%
2nd Down	1 - 7%	10 - 76%	2 - 15%	0	13 - 26%
3rd Down	1 - 10%	7 - 70%	2 - 20%	0	10 - 20%
4th Down	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	5 - 10%	37 - 75%	6 - 12%	1 - 2%	49

The game by game pressure numbers:

Wk 1 - NYG: 7/49 - 14%

2012 Totals:  134/551 - 24.3%

We are just learning what Monte Kiffin is all about here in Dallas.  But, there is plenty for you to chew on after Week 1.

Tomorrow, we shorten things up with some Xs and Os.  The Cruz home-run and the blitz that almost knocked Tony Romo out.  

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Decoding Callahan: Week 1 - New York Giants

Before we get to the Giants win, a brief introduction:

For those of you new to this blog or this series or even this type of conversation, allow me to welcome you to Week 1 in what is now a 7-season series on tracking - with incredible detail - the Cowboys offense on a week-to-week basis.  In this Tuesday series, which is certainly not for everyone, we will try to turn over every stone and try to learn whatever we can learn about what the Cowboys like to do, try to do, and avoid doing.

And that is an exercise that is to replicate on some level what the Cowboys do every week.  There is this belief that you see what a coach truly believes by what his game plan looks like.  That is untrue.  His game-plan is not an idealistic view of the sport or his beliefs about deploying players in a certain system.  Rather, a game plan is a combination of your considering your strengths, your weaknesses, your opponent, and your situation, and decide what gives your side the best opportunity to win.  That should never be confused with what you want to do.  You may want to run the wishbone.  But, you don't have the personnel to do that.  You may want to run the zone read.  If only you had a guy like Colin Kaepernick.  You look at the pieces you have left on the chess board, then carefully consider your opponent's piece.  From that, you come up with a plan.  Sometimes, it is a good plan.  Sometimes, it is a plan that requires good fortune along the way.  But, it is, you believe, the best one you have available.  And that is what coaches do on Tuesday across the league.

During the week, they install the plan, using different days to install different elements (base offense, 3rd down package, red zone), and by game-time you have an idea of what you believe will work.  It changes dramatically from week to week, with everything connected, but evolving.  You put things on film to distract your opponents, sometimes.  You want them to waste valuable time preparing for you by working on stopping something you may never even run.  But, they must because they have to be prepared for what you might do.  And you, as an offensive coordinator, must be prepared to go after your opponent's weaknesses, but remain inside your strengths.  Not always easy.

So, if you continue down this road with us, we will look back at the last game from a number of angles, and try to dissect what they did well, what they did poorly, and what interests us on a level of innovation.  The Cowboys are moving from Jason Garrett to Bill Callahan - and so will we.  What has been called Decoding Garrett is now Decoding Callahan.  We know that it is still the Garrett offense, but there will be some adjustments.  We also know that the GM is committed to multiple tight ends being used on a regular basis and has instructed the offense to run accordingly.  So, we will spend time looking at that.

Again, this is digging deeper than most studies, so I understand if this is a lot of information.  But, if this interests you on some level, stick with it, and it will start to make more sense as the weeks go on.

And now, on to the Giants game.

The Cowboys entered this game with a very unsettled idea of what their offensive line was going to look like.  They knew their left tackle and center were locked down in Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick, but even there, Frederick was playing his very first NFL game.  Usually, your center's first NFL action would frighten a team a bit, but he has been so solid and the rest of the line has been so chaotic that Frederick has actually been the last thing they have worried about.  It is almost like he he conducts himself as a 5 year veteran and seems to play like one, too.

But, who was going to play each guard position and right tackle was a game of musical chairs.  In the end, Ron Leary also made his NFL debut at left guard, Mackenzy Bernadeau was chosen to keep right guard warm for Brian Waters who is shaking off the retirement dust, and that pushed Doug Free back in front of Jermey Parnell at right tackle for the time being.

To make matters more unsettled, they would be facing a defensive front which has bullied them through the years and this time the New York Giants would not be at full strength with a recovering Jason Pierre Paul, but would still be treated with respect in game planning from the Cowboys.

As we look at the tactics and results, we see the Cowboys trying to make sure that all of their looks are based around the idea of using 2 and sometimes 3 Tight Ends.  The reasons for this "12" or "13" personnel looks are elaborated in greater detail in some of our past write-ups, but perhaps best demonstrated on the 2 touchdowns to Jason Witten during the game.  A proper TE, and we believe all 3 are pass catching threats (Escobar needs to prove it, Hanna needs to prove it again) is a matchup issue for LBs because of speed and DBs because of size.  On the 1st Touchdown, they tried to run a linebacker with him and the Cowboys made them pay.  Then, they switched to a smaller DB, and Romo fit it in a tight window and Witten used his size to make room.

The idea with this and just about any scheme is the same:  Make the defense make a choice.  And when they do, present them with proof that there is no right answer.  Either way, multiple tight ends can make you pay.  For much more on this concept, check out what I put here back in June.

In other news, the Cowboys ran out 2 ideas that we have not seen in our 6 years of data.  One is rather straight forward and uses the multiple tight end look.  It is called "S13" which is the same 1 RB, 3 TE, grouping, but for decades that has meant a short-yardage ground game exclusive battering ram.  But, the S means Shotgun, and the Cowboys don't intend on using S13 for running.  They know that defenses defend 13 personnel by bringing in an extra "big" or two (Linebackers) and take off a DB because you could run.  So, now you have your run defense on and the Cowboys use S13 to spread those big guys out and take advantage of them in 1-on-1 pass situations.  I love the concept, because if they stay small and play nickel, then you audible into a run play and you should be able to physically bully them in this game of cat and mouse.  Here is a look at it.

And again, remember that in 6 seasons, the Cowboys haven't done anything like this.  This is a new use of resources that only had 2 snaps on Sunday, but you can believe the Chiefs are asking how they will defend this.  And, the more Escobar and Hanna make plays, the bigger this can become.  If it is still just Witten, then this won't go anywhere.

The 2nd item that was noticeable on Sunday was the use of the pistol.  4 times, they rolled out this look:

Now, the pistol is the rage all around the league and I could not possibly describe it anything like what Chris Brown of Smart Football did last December, so if you want the entire breakdown, visit that.

But, it basically combines the good parts of the shotgun (your QB can still read the defense and see in pre snap while not requiring a major drop back) with the good parts of being under center (your running back is still moving forward/downhill with speed when he receives the ball).  Shotgun in the past required the RB to take the ball at almost a full stop and this made running - especially with power - a major issue.

Notice, that Murray is still 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage which is basically the same as when Romo is under center (perhaps a half yard difference).  They ran the pistol 4 times with Murray getting 3 carries, but you can absolutely believe that the Cowboys can develop this without exposing Romo to hits.  Detroit in Week 1 ran some very interesting pistol looks with Matt Stafford and I can assure you that Peyton Manning, Stafford, and Aaron Rodgers have no plans on running much option read.  But, they can use the alignment to do what they do best.

Data from Week 1 vs New York Giants:

Now we are into the portion of the post that we will visit each week with data to see what we can see.  The Cowboys had decent field position and obviously were the beneficiaries of some takeaways to aid that.  They did not accomplish much on 1st Down as we see that in 25 2nd down opportunities, they were on average 2nd and 9.16.  This is a byproduct of too many offensive line penalties again.

3rd Down was a little rough, too.  We want that number approaching 50% to feel good.

Run-Pass	22-50
Starting Field Position	D 34
1st Down Run-Pass	12-20
2nd Down Avg Distance to Go	9.16
2nd Down Run-Pass	9-16
3rd Down Avg Distance to Go	8.66
3rd/4th Down Run-Pass	1-14
3rd Down Conversions	5-15, 33%

PASSING CHARTS:

Here are the passing charts to see what was being accomplished on Sunday.  Intern Tim is back with us this year and he has made some pleasing to the eye charts for us to see.

Blue is a completion. Red is incomplete. Yellow is a touchdown, and Black is an interception. The passes are lines from where Romo released the pass to where the pass was caught. This shows you his release point and where he likes to throw when he slides in the pocket.

The first thing that will jump out at anyone is how many times Romo threw the ball in the 1st half.  As you can see, other than the Witten TD down the seam, there was just nothing downfield.  The real theme from Sunday was that the Giants were dedicating "a man and a half" to Dez Bryant and forcing the Cowboys to look elsewhere because Bryant's normal downfield routes were going to be a tight squeeze.  So, you can force the ball into coverage (as Romo did once) or you can take underneath throws.  Look at all of the blue and see that almost none of his completions were more than 5 yards downfield - this also can be a way of helping your pass protection.  Don't hold the ball.

1ST HALF PASSING CHART -  (Red incomplete, Blue Completion, Yellow TD, Black INT)

In the 2nd half, he was hurt, he had the lead, and he threw more downfield - but no real success.  The one deeper blue line below was a deep-in route to Terrence Williams.

2ND HALF PASSING CHART -  (Red incomplete, Blue Completion, Yellow TD, Black INT)

And here we break out his primary target underneath, Miles Austin who played a ton in the slot.

Miles Austin Passing Chart -  (Red incomplete, Blue Completion, Yellow TD, Black INT)

Drive Starters - The 1st play of each drive can often reveal the intent of a coach to establish his game plan. How committed is he to the run or pass when the team comes off the sideline? We track it each week here -

Wk 1-New York Giants: 5 Run/7 Pass - 42% Run

* This statistic doesn't count the 1-play kneel down drives.

2011 Total: 181 Drives - 79 Run/102 Pass - 44% Run
2012 Total: 173 Drives - 76 Run/97 Pass - 44% Run


SHOTGUN SNAPS-

Shotgun snaps are fine on 3rd Down and in the 2 minute drill. But, we track this stat from week to week to make sure the Cowboys aren't getting too lazy in using it. They are not efficient enough to run it as their base, and with a 15%/85% run/pass split across the league, there is no way the defense respects your running game. When shotgun totals are high, the Cowboys are generally behind, scared of their offensive line, or frustrated.

Wk 1 - at NYG: 44 Shotgun/71 Total Plays - 61.9%

2011 Total - 445/1012 43.9%
2012 Total - 565/1038 54%

Here is the breakdown by groupings:

And now, a look at the efficiency of each personnel grouping.

Before you study the data below, I would recommend that if the numbers for the groupings are unfamiliar, that you spend some time reading a more expanded definition of the Personnel Groupings here.

Totals by Personnel Groups:

They said they wanted to run a lot of "12".  Well, 30 snaps if you combine 12 and S12, and 177 yards means that with that grouping they were able to find 5.9 yards a snap.  That is a very encouraging start against a defense that we think is decent.

Package	Plays Run	Yards	Run	Pass
11	3	8	2-3	1-5
12	18	87	9-33	9-54
13	5	23	3-11	2-12
21	0	0	0-0	0-0
22	1	5	0-0	1-5
23	0	0	0-0	0-0
S01	3	13	0-0	3-13
S02	1	5	0-0	1-5
S11	27	78	4-15	23-63
S12	12	90	4-23	8-67
S13	2	14	0-0	2-14
Other	0	0	0-0	0-0
Totals	72	323	22-85	50-238

* - Knee Plays are not counted in play calls.


Totals by Personnel Groups on 3rd/4th Down:

Package	Plays	Yards	Run	Pass	FD/TD
11	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
12	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
13	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
21	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
22	1	5	0-0	1-5	1/0
23	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
S01	2	14	0-0	2-14	1/0
S02	1	5	0-0	1-5	1/0
S11	11	33	1-8	10-25	1/0
S12	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
Other	0	0	0-0	0-0	0/0
Totals	15	57	1-8	14-49	4/0

And. one more feature.  How did NY Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell decide to rush the Cowboys.  We know the Giants love to generally just bring 4.  But, they got home a few times when they blitzed - partly because their 4 were not really bothering the Cowboys much.  As the game went on, the Giants were forced to bring more to get any pressure.  That is a very good sign, too.

Pass Rushers Against Dallas - 49 pass rush/blitz situations:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	1	0	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	9	2	3
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	4	1	0
Totals	0	14	3	3

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	7	0	1
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	2	0	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	3	2	1
Totals	0	12	2	2

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	2	1	1
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	1	5	0	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	1	1	0	1
Totals	2	8	1	2

And, here are the full season numbers to date:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush	Total
1st Down	0	14 - 70%	3 -15%	3 - 15%	20 - 40%
2nd Down	0	12 - 75%	2 - 12%	2 - 12%	16 - 32%
3rd Down	2 - 15%	8 - 61%	1 - 7%	2 - 15%	13 - 26%
4th Down	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	2 - 4%	32 - 65%	6 - 12%	7 - 14%	49

That is a lot of data!

Thanks to our new contributor John Daigle for his work on the numbers and for his pie-charts that have been added.

This will all make more sense to you as we get a few games under our belt and find new wrinkles and establish patterns and such.

But, overall, despite yardages being modest and Romo not finding much downfield, I think with the offensive line showing reasonable protection ability and DeMarco finding holes on the ground, there is a lot to feel good about offensively heading to Week 2.  Adding Brian Waters should also help and next week they can start looking for more ways to work Dez Bryant into the proceedings.

A decent foundation is being built.

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