How about those Cowboys?

It’s time to talk about your Dallas Cowboys. I say your because I gave up Dallas fandom after the last superbowl win (1995, incidentally, also the last Dallas playoff win unless I’m mistaken). I grew less enamored with pro football for a brief period but I stand by that choice one hundred percent. The hiring of Barry Switzer alone should have driven away all the cowboy fans, or at least warned them, if not the decade and a half of Jerry Jones incompetence that followed it. Now I find the Cowboys to be a hateable franchise with unlikable players and staff.

As it is, I can’t help but be fairly invested in the Cowboys for a few reasons. First is that they are the most prominent local pro team and consequently are on television every Sunday. Second is that I watch football frequently with my pal Nathan and he’s a Cowboys fan. I enjoy taking shots at Dallas and Tony Romo and casting aspersions on the quality of person who might root for the Cowboys but I feel the ‘boys are beginning to get a bum rep.

They are 2-2 with losses to undefeated Denver on the road and the powerful looking New York Giants. Both of these games were winnable and featured poor 2nd halves by Tony Romo. It’s partly because these games were close that Dallas is getting so much criticism. The perception is that they have as much talent as anyone and are blowing it with sloppy play. Tony Romo is being chided as someone who can’t win the big game and Roy Williams as a prima donna.

Both of those criticisms are actually pretty fair, I would admit, but there is a deeper issue with this team that comes back to the real reason for the Cowboys failure to win a superbowl in the salary cap era…Jerry Jones.

Jerry Jones is in love with a man named Jason Garrett. Jason Garrett is a young man who has been charged with coordinating the Dallas offensives in their contests this season. Unless I’m missing something, which is more than possible, Jason Garrett is the type of coach who has a system he wants to run and he’ll assemble his pieces into that puzzle however best they fit. Allow me to demonstrate using my common sense powers. To begin with, what weapons does Dallas have to work with on offense?

1). A big, powerful Offensive line: These guys are all large and a handful to deal with in the running game. Flozelle Adams comes and goes as a dominant pass-blocking left tackle and generally has some trouble with speed rushers but when it comes to moving forward this unit is good.

2). 2 upper-tier Tight ends: Martellus Bennet is a good run-blocker and very solid receiving option. Jason Whitten is a good blocker, excellent receiving option and one of the best all around Tight ends in the known football world.

3). A stable of very good Running backs: They have power runner Marion Barber, great all-around back Tashard Choice, and home-run hitter Felix Jones. That’s 3 guys who could start and be excellent in all phases of the game.

4). Tony Romo: Romo is great on the run as an improvisational guy and a very good talent overall. He could really burn teams in the right system.

Now, the weaknesses:

1). Pass protection from the O-line: They can actually be very solid and held back a Giants D-line that is excellent in getting after the quarterback. Frankly, this line isn’t very consistent. Flozelle Adams has had big trouble, as previously noted, with speed rushers. I think, given the opportunity to bang head every week, they might enjoy an identity as a bruising run-blocking team.

2). The Receivers: They lost TO, who was a very good receiver if nothing else. Now they have some mediocre possesion guys and a couple of downfield targets in Roy Williams and Patrick Crayton. Neither of these are guys who you want to throw to 10-15 times per game. They are limited in functionality.

3). Tony Romo: Whatever he may or may not become, he is not currently a Manning/Brees/Brady type guy who you want to build your offense around. Or if he is, he needs better pass protection and receivers to work with.

Now, given all those pieces, what would be the ideal type of offense to run? Well, whatever that might be Garret has chosen to run a Steve-Spurrier style scheme built around Romo throwing the ball 30-40 times per game and a short game featuring misdirection with draws, counters and screens.

When Dallas runs the counter, draw or screen they have a lot of success. These are excellent plays in general that Dallas can execute very well, but given the team’s strengths to feature a pass-first offense that features the running game as a constraint option is frankly stupid. The screen, draw and, to a lesser extent, the counter are all plays that are designed to punish a team for selling out against what a team does best. What Dallas does best are these constraint plays, they are averaging 6 yards per rush right now. That number even includes rushes made by Tony Romo. Dallas ran the ball 7 times in the 2nd half against Denver despite holding a lead until the 4rth quarter. 7 times. Stupid.

Perhaps Tony Romo will always fail in big games and I was the first to decry his performance against the Giants and didn’t fail to notice him missing receivers against Denver. But Jason Garrett is not putting him in a position to be successful. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with his scheme if he was coordinating the New England Patriots but the Dallas Cowboys have very different personnel.

Given their strengths a much more obvious scheme would feature the same draws, counters and screens built around a power-running game with drive-blocking and play-action passes with Romo rolling out to find his tight ends or hitting Roy Williams or Patrick Crayton shooting downfield. This team is perfectly built for this traditional style offense. I love the spread and passing as much as anyone but this team has great talent that simply isn’t built for that style.

On defense they have a very solid squad that played well against Denver and the other games I’ve seen this season. There isn’t anything wrong here and Wade Phillips knows what he’s doing with these guys. If they can change their identity on offense (probably too late) and create a system that makes sense then maybe we can see Tony Romo become comfortable enough to overcome the hump. In the meantime, they are wasting talent. Of course, that’s just fine with me I hate them anyways.