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I am still in stunned disbelief at the outcome last night, but the one thing that keeps coming back to me, is This was the classic case of a coaching staff snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
It has been a very long time since I've seen a loss, so clearly and definitively a result of poor COACHING decisions.
Simply put, the players played their heart out. There were a few mental errors on the field, but in general most of our issues were the direct result of the coaching staff putting our team in the position to fail.
*note the following critique is based off of just one watching of the game. It's mostly accurate, though might be mistaken in a few details. This is as close to a rant as you'll see from me.
The Offense
Who runs a reverse on 3rd and 1? We had a turnover, we WASTED a Romo turnover, with a reverse on 3rd in one?! I nearly barfed, my girlfriend, thought i was going to put a hole in the wall, when i saw that call. I was mad when i saw the pitch-out, but that anger turned into horror when i saw it was parish coming around to take the flip from lynch. and all i could think is... dear god who calls this? The worst part is lynch would have had the first down had he kept the ball. The cowboys LBs were actually well behind the play, stuck in our line, and all lynch had to beat was the CB on parish's side (i think it was Newman)
At one point the bills ran 7 straight Trap left runs on first down. 4 of them were to the strong side in an I. We ran 4 identical (out of 7) first down plays (all inside traps by a pulling right guard). Are you kidding me? I knew what the play was going to be. The cowboys knew what the play was going to be. Everyone in the stadium knew what the play was going to be. During this mind numbing stretch of conservatism, the bills lined up on 4th down. In a heavy formation, and what did they run? A ***** Dive, with the RG pulling into an inside trap. Are you kidding? Are Butler and Duke Preston that good of a pulling guard we had to run behind him time and time again?
Do we have a counter in our playbook? I kept expecting one, but they never called one. Every running play went to the side the flow started going to. Do we have a bootleg in the playbook? With all the running plays going with the flow, i kept expecting them to pull a play action and roll Trent out on a naked bootleg. Not one of those was called. Inexcusable.
Where was the motion? If you're going to spread the field, and line your QB up in shotgun, you might as well put someone in motion. Otherwise the defense can disguise it's coverage, and the whole point of being in shotgun and spreading the field (to make hiding the blitz and coverage hard) is negated. Mind blowing.
How many times are we going to watch a called Tight End Screen?
We ran one stretch play all game. Yet we play actioned a stretch play 5 times, more then any other running play we ran a play action for. Explain that.
The Defense
Largely i loved what they did most of the game. They played a near perfect game. I just want to point out one thing. What in the name of god was that defensive call on the last defensive play of the game?
That situation called for the corners to play a rolled up coverage (typically called cloud). 99% of high school football coaches would have their defense playing the right defense on the biggest play of the game. I'm not even a defensive coach, and I could have made the right call. I know romo looked like he just had Christmas early when he dropped back and watched the corners drop straight back, rather then cover the underneath zone.
Yet the staff had them playing a 4 deep "prevent", as if they expected the cowboys to go for a Hail Mary. Did they even know the score? The cowboys weren't down by 4, they were down by 2! I still can't believe that defensive call.
I know if my D-coordinator did that at the end of the game, he'd be packing his bags on Monday. I'm almost stunned the defensive players on the field didn't call their own play (or call a time out), and over-ride his asinine call. Period.
Special Teams
Can't really blame the special teams for this one. Sometimes the other side gets a lucky bounce. and that's all that happens on most recovered onsides kicks.
It has been a very long time since I've seen a loss, so clearly and definitively a result of poor COACHING decisions.
Simply put, the players played their heart out. There were a few mental errors on the field, but in general most of our issues were the direct result of the coaching staff putting our team in the position to fail.
*note the following critique is based off of just one watching of the game. It's mostly accurate, though might be mistaken in a few details. This is as close to a rant as you'll see from me.
The Offense
Who runs a reverse on 3rd and 1? We had a turnover, we WASTED a Romo turnover, with a reverse on 3rd in one?! I nearly barfed, my girlfriend, thought i was going to put a hole in the wall, when i saw that call. I was mad when i saw the pitch-out, but that anger turned into horror when i saw it was parish coming around to take the flip from lynch. and all i could think is... dear god who calls this? The worst part is lynch would have had the first down had he kept the ball. The cowboys LBs were actually well behind the play, stuck in our line, and all lynch had to beat was the CB on parish's side (i think it was Newman)
At one point the bills ran 7 straight Trap left runs on first down. 4 of them were to the strong side in an I. We ran 4 identical (out of 7) first down plays (all inside traps by a pulling right guard). Are you kidding me? I knew what the play was going to be. The cowboys knew what the play was going to be. Everyone in the stadium knew what the play was going to be. During this mind numbing stretch of conservatism, the bills lined up on 4th down. In a heavy formation, and what did they run? A ***** Dive, with the RG pulling into an inside trap. Are you kidding? Are Butler and Duke Preston that good of a pulling guard we had to run behind him time and time again?
Do we have a counter in our playbook? I kept expecting one, but they never called one. Every running play went to the side the flow started going to. Do we have a bootleg in the playbook? With all the running plays going with the flow, i kept expecting them to pull a play action and roll Trent out on a naked bootleg. Not one of those was called. Inexcusable.
Where was the motion? If you're going to spread the field, and line your QB up in shotgun, you might as well put someone in motion. Otherwise the defense can disguise it's coverage, and the whole point of being in shotgun and spreading the field (to make hiding the blitz and coverage hard) is negated. Mind blowing.
How many times are we going to watch a called Tight End Screen?
We ran one stretch play all game. Yet we play actioned a stretch play 5 times, more then any other running play we ran a play action for. Explain that.
The Defense
Largely i loved what they did most of the game. They played a near perfect game. I just want to point out one thing. What in the name of god was that defensive call on the last defensive play of the game?
That situation called for the corners to play a rolled up coverage (typically called cloud). 99% of high school football coaches would have their defense playing the right defense on the biggest play of the game. I'm not even a defensive coach, and I could have made the right call. I know romo looked like he just had Christmas early when he dropped back and watched the corners drop straight back, rather then cover the underneath zone.
Yet the staff had them playing a 4 deep "prevent", as if they expected the cowboys to go for a Hail Mary. Did they even know the score? The cowboys weren't down by 4, they were down by 2! I still can't believe that defensive call.
I know if my D-coordinator did that at the end of the game, he'd be packing his bags on Monday. I'm almost stunned the defensive players on the field didn't call their own play (or call a time out), and over-ride his asinine call. Period.
Special Teams
Can't really blame the special teams for this one. Sometimes the other side gets a lucky bounce. and that's all that happens on most recovered onsides kicks.
Well stated Ingtar.
Fewell and Fairchild should both be run out of town and Jauron should be too if he wants to keep them. They are ripping the hearts out of our young players because they are not giving them the best chance to win. How much longer before they stop playing their hearts out?
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