2019 NFL Week 10 Game Thread
- Thread starter Ale Xander
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Austin had at least ten yards there, how was Dallas moving the ball more efficiently on offense than that?
I’m sure they told him to fair catch it no matter what, but that’s stupid.
I would have given Austin the green light
And does Dallas not have a 20-25 yard corner route in the playbook?
And does Dallas not have a 20-25 yard corner route in the playbook?
That whole end of game strategy from both teams confused me. I thought Vikes should have tried taking timeouts in case Dallas scored. Dallas took the clock way down and if the would have scored Vikes would have been in a bad spot
Dallas playcalling, maybe they wanted to keep the clock running so they run a couple plays but they needed to do better on on 3rd and 4th down
It was definitely Austin’s decision because they only threw five-yard ours, which take just as long.
That was unreal. I can maybe understand on 2nd down trying to sneak a run in there when you only need 2-3 yards. But doing it again on 3rd down after you get stuffed is just totally inexplicable. Especially since the Vikings were getting absolutely shredded in the passing game. Why only make them defense one passing play?
This is why the Cowboys aren't in the elite tier of teams despite having the talent. They do some of the dumbest shit imaginable. Starts with the coaches. They lose these types of games that are there for the taking.
I don’t think what you are saying is logically true. You are presupposing the knowledge that was only gained once the punt occurred. The offensive play calls were made once the Cowboys saw where they were on the field. The decision to fair catch the punt is made before this.
it could have been Austin’s call to fair catch but we don’t know that from seeing the Dallas play calls.
Sorry for being so late to the party here, but I've been on airplanes all day coming home from Saudi Arabia . . . but I can't help but notice the many parallels between the 2019 Ravens and the 2018 Chiefs.
Welcome. Parallels, sure. Some things are not.
1. The Ravens defense, not quite what it was last year, >> whatever the Chiefs put on the field last year for defense.
2. Ravens special teams >>> 2018 Chiefs.
3. Harbaugh >>>> Andy as game coach, and the staff coaching advantage applies across the board.
Does this mean the Ravens are going to AFC Championship game? No. Among other things, the Chiefs could get them in a shootout. Problem is, Baltimore is probably playing that game and maybe every game at home.
Zimmer had guts there to leave the clock running. It’s a bit like Belichick at the end of the Seattle Super Bowl. If Zimmer uses the time outs, he gives his team time if Dallas scores. But what he also does is gives Dalls a possible second chance.
Dallas had all three time outs. If Zimmer stops the clock, and they stop Dallas on fourth down with, say 1:30 left, the game is still not over. Dallas forces a punt on a three and out and the get field position and more than a minute to try again. Zimmer bet on the stop right there and also kind of seduced Dallas into trying to use clock.
One thing that was interesting is that Dallas’ passing game advantage disappeared just a little when the field compressed and they had 11 defenders in a 15-20 yard space. The defense was committing to run stops at the expense of the longer, slow developing routes, where Cooper and Cobb had lots of open space for late breaks and double moves. Inside the 10, there are no long routes.
The mysteries of the Goff. Praise be.
Anyway, my favorite part about the Garrett mis-management last night wasn't even the fair-catch with no opponents even in the camera view. Worse, to me, was the confident time-wasting to go from, what, 6 or 7 minutes left at the start of the penultimate drive, down to just over 1 minute when they failed the 4th-and-5. It was clear they were so confident that they were trying to leave Cousins no time to answer, but they ended up fucking themselves because when they then failed and had to hold MIN, and then the defense did hold them, only they had no time left to do *anything*. It was Andy Reid-esque. Maybe just run your best drive and leave yourself some options if things don't go to plan.
(and yes I know johnmd was being sarcastic)
I'd be more than happy with a Pats' OT win in Baltimore in the AFCCG this coming January.
That's where designed runs for Prescott are lethal to the defense. On the 4th down, I was sitting there Romo-style calling for a Dak run up the gut. The Vikings were playing man-to-man all night long so they would have been vulnerable to the QB run. Didn't even happen once the entire game.
We can dissect the 4th quarter and second-guess the play calling all we want but the truth of the matter is this game, like so many others this season, was lost before the opening whistle. They keep coming out flat and I've been saying it all season: that's going to bite them in the ass whenever playing a team not named Giants, Dolphins, or Washington. You can't keep digging a hole for yourself like that and expect to play any better than .500 ball.
Also, that stat about them being 11-3 in their last 14 games at home made me laugh. That place is the worst home field advantage (if you can even call it an advantage) in all of sports. There were several points during the game where you could hear a pin drop while the Vikings were on offense or the crowd was inexcusably loud while the Cowboys were on offense. Everything about that franchise is a fucking joke.
The Vikings got an uncharacteristic number of false start penalties last night (2, vs 7 in the previous 9 games). Qualitatively, they also appeared to be a bit hurried or panicked at various points, as if they couldn't get on the same page fast enough before the snap and everything had to be rushed. I think the crowd noise levels were pretty good.
Also, the Cowboys lead the league this year in fewest false start penalties (4).
That's a fun site I just found.
Contrast that with the effects of, say, Arrowhead. That's an outdoor stadium and yet provides a much better home field advantage. I didn't mean to imply it didn't get loud at times (I recall a moment in the 4th quarter where you could see Jaylon Smith cover his ear holes because he couldn't hear the calls on his headset) but there were instances early in the game when it was far too quiet and the Vikings offense was able to get a rhythm. It is what it is and that's not like to change anytime soon but the NBC implication that the stadium somehow magically evolved into a formidable home field advantage was laughable. That 11-3 record is far more a function of the team getting better - and the Giants slipping into the abyss - than the platinum seat crowd deciding it's ok to get loud at a football game.
I wish you hadn't shown me that site. I'll now likely waste most of my day digging through all the customization options.
I made a comment to my friend when the Cowboys got inside the 20 on that final real drive....."the only thing I'm worried about here is the play calling. I'm paranoid they are going to try and sneak in too many runs even though the Vikings haven't covered anyone all night".
Sure enough....
Like you said, they didn't even try something a little more flexible like a play action roll out and give Dak the option to run if it was there. It was a vanilla draw play followed by an even worse one on 3rd down.
I give Dak a lot of credit last night though. The coaches repeatedly put him in shit positions on 1st and 2nd down and he kept digging them out. He finally couldn't do it on 4th down but it's on the coaches that it even came to that.
I don't have the time to look but maybe I will later on....but I have to imagine the Cowboys have astronomically outscored their opponents after the 1st quarter and def after halftime. At some point when it becomes the team's MO, the slow starts are completely on Garrett.
I too thought the runs on 2nd & 2 and 3rd & 3 were bad calls. That said, the much shorter field at that point negates a fair amount of what was working for them last night in the passing game. I was waiting for the designed Dak run for the TD too, though.
Can you imagine this team with a Belichick at the helm?
Can you imagine this team with a Belichick at the helm?
That situation was screaming for a RPO by Dak. Cowboys with Belichick would be like 7-2 or 8-1 right now. The talent is real.
Which of their losses to-date have been situations where the Cowboys lost it, as opposed to the opponents winning it?
Last night the Vikings played a hell of a game, both sides played turnover-free, there weren't huge plays on blown coverage, and it's not clear to me that the Belichick hallmarks of don't-beat-yourself, do-your-job, know-the-situations, and preferring player intelligence over talent when forced to choose, would have made a decisive difference. Okay, Belichick would have let Austin take the 10-15 yards of punt return. And maybe managed the previous drive so he had 1:30-2:00 left instead of 0:24. Would you have bet your mortgage on Dak getting into the endzone with 1:30 left there starting from the plus-40? I'd give him 30-40% chance, but no sure thing.
I guess Belichick probably beats the Jets, but even the B/B Pats have WTF losses once every year or two. I doubt he overturns the 12-point Green Bay loss by himself. Saints over Cowboys 12-10? Who the hell knows, that game was weird.
Last night the Vikings played a hell of a game, both sides played turnover-free, there weren't huge plays on blown coverage, and it's not clear to me that the Belichick hallmarks of don't-beat-yourself, do-your-job, know-the-situations, and preferring player intelligence over talent when forced to choose, would have made a decisive difference. Okay, Belichick would have let Austin take the 10-15 yards of punt return. And maybe managed the previous drive so he had 1:30-2:00 left instead of 0:24. Would you have bet your mortgage on Dak getting into the endzone with 1:30 left there starting from the plus-40? I'd give him 30-40% chance, but no sure thing.
I guess Belichick probably beats the Jets, but even the B/B Pats have WTF losses once every year or two. I doubt he overturns the 12-point Green Bay loss by himself. Saints over Cowboys 12-10? Who the hell knows, that game was weird.
Cowboys prob also win the Saints game and Jets game with Belichick. Hard to say on the GB game. Lot of early flukes caused them to fall down big before storming back on them. But flukes seem to happen less around Belichick, so....
The Saints game turned on some fluky turnovers but their fate was sealed when Garrett decided to punt on 4th and 2 from their own 42 early in the 4th quarter. In a game where they could move the ball only once the entire game, it was criminal to punt when all they needed was 20 or so yards for the go-ahead FG.
The Packers game is hard to say would turn with a different coach but I find it very hard to believe that a well-coached team goes out and lays an egg like that in the first half at home. Green Bay probably still wins due to the inability to stop Aaron Jones but the frantic comeback shouldn't have been necessary.
I have zero doubt, none, that Belichick coaching the Cowboys results in them kicking the shit out of the Jets. That game looked like they didn't even prepare for Darnold to play.
Last night is also tough to say goes differently but the 57-yard FG was beyond stupid and the play calling at the end was a staple of the Garrett offense. Which is to say, they stuck with what they do, regardless of whether it's working or not, at the expense of doing something different that might actually work. Frankly, I'd take the 30-40% chance of winning. The Vikings had some pretty high profile injuries and didn't miss a beat. The Cowboys have one injury and it's "oh, Gallup was out so that's why the offense shat the bed". That's shitty coaching and even worse roster construction.
The Cowboys have been plagued by slow starts the entire season both offensively and defensively and that reeks of the coaching staff not having them prepped and/or ready to play.
They were down 14-0 again last night before they decided to flip on the switch, and even then continued to stubbornly time and again run the ball on first down when the Vikings were swarming Elliott and the passing game was moving all night long.
They were down 14-0 again last night before they decided to flip on the switch, and even then continued to stubbornly time and again run the ball on first down when the Vikings were swarming Elliott and the passing game was moving all night long.
Maybe running Zeke up the middle for the 25th time will work. Sheesh. Dak was Picasso out there last night and Moore kept wasting plays.
With the toys the Cowboys have on offense there is no doubt that Belichick goes for it both times with 4-6 yards to go from the Vikings 40-41 instead of a punt and a 57 yard FG attempt. Kind of amazing that Garrett picks different options each time and somehow still avoided picking the right one.
I also somehow think that Belichick forces Kirk Cousins to beat them instead of allowing them to move the ball with low-risk runs, checkdowns, and screens to Cook. The few times Cousins had to drop back and actually look downfield, he was mostly ineffective and the Cowboys pass rush was pressuring him.
It's usually a string of both in-game and pregame planning strategy errors that can be pointed to with the Cowboys coaching staff. Any single one might not be fatal but adding them up costs them these close games.
As a guy rooting for Zeke to win my fantasy week, where was the invention, it was 1st down power run through middle most of the game. I'm pretty sure I could have game planned against that level of deception. I'm not sure where too look quickly on my break but did they even run PA on first down a few times to keep the Vikings linebackers honest? Really bizarre play calling.
This is the key and it's why Garrett still has this job. You can't point to a single, catastrophic mistake that would lead to his ultimate demise. Instead, it's death by a thousand paper cuts. A punt here and a blitz there doesn't really stand out much because they are a pretty good team and have the ability to play above their coaching level.
Nope, none. The only outside-the-box play I can remember was that odd reverse pass by Cobb. But since the play took about two decades to develop, it was doomed from the start.
I don't have the data, but I do thing there is something too using the fullback more often. Minnesota lines up with a fullback more often than any other team in the NFL, and lo and behold they are second in the league in total rushing, behind Baltimore. Dallas doesn't use the fullback very much and while they still rank highly in total rushing, it seems like they really limit themselves by not using a fullback. I understand that modern offense minds don't like using a fullback because it limits their offensive personnel, but some teams should consider using it more often, especially in run-heavy downs.
This is similar to a related problem I have with teams doing so many run plays out of the shotgun, especially around the goal line.
This is similar to a related problem I have with teams doing so many run plays out of the shotgun, especially around the goal line.
Lamar Jackson with the 3rd highest one game QBR since the stat began tracking in 2006.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr/_/year/0/type/alltime-game/sort/qbr
Dak had an 87.5 QBR last night and is back to number one for the season moving ahead of Russell Wilson.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr/_/year/0/type/alltime-game/sort/qbr
Dak had an 87.5 QBR last night and is back to number one for the season moving ahead of Russell Wilson.
Guts are a churnin' for tonight. Most likely finish: a close game. 2nd most likely: SF blowout, something like 44-13. Not sure Seattle can stop the SF offense, so it will have to be a shootout for Seattle to win. And if Russell pulls this one out, he'll deserve all the MVP talk people can say.