Decoding Schotty Wk 17- Running the Ball Again
The Dallas offensive performance on Christmas was just how you draw it up. Of course making us wonder where it was when needed most?
Tuesdays – since about 2008 – have been my day to evaluate the offense in this space. We have called it “Decoding” over those years and then the name behind the decoding is the man with the play-sheet calling the plays and hopefully putting them in an order to attack that week’s opponent. This is where we try to figure out the tactical and strategic plot-lines of the game and get a feel for how well it worked out for that side of the ball. For those of you new here, two things: 1) ask questions of anything you don’t quite understand and 2) be aware that we do defense on Wednesdays (Tuesday this week).
Here we go. Our objectives for today:
Overall Offensive Evaluation
The running game remains a mystery.
Pass Protection surrendered six sacks as Dak missed way too much.
Look at plenty of All-22 film and see what we can see.
OVERALL OFFENSIVE EVALUATION
I can already hear plenty of you suggesting that there is nothing more perfect for the Cowboys and Dak Prescott like going for your best offensive day immediately after being eliminated playoff contention. The extra cynical ones in our audience would suggest that this is absolutely perfect.
In Week 17, that we thought would be of significant importance, instead was between two teams who are going nowhere fast and it was meaningless, standings wise, on Christmas. During that game, Dallas set a season-high for total yards (480), rushing yards (211), and time of possession (38:44) and absolutely suffocated a game in exactly the fashion that made sense on the white board of how you might wish to play in 2025.
The idea in this game was to beat down the Washington defense with the run. If we know Dan Quinn, we know how he builds a defense. He wants speed and pass rush and while that works if you are contending, it doesn’t help when you are trying to slow down the run. Washington is 31st against the run, so Dallas had a plan.
The plan is simple. Run the rock, build drives, move the chains, and keep the ball. You can do this against the Commanders much easier, we see, then against the Chargers or the Vikings.
But, look at this ridiculous drive chart with five drives of 11 plays or more. That is absolutely absurd. I suppose that is how you pretty much take 40 minutes of the clock with you.
I thought it was worth checking in on the run game with a bunch of their better first-half runs. In particular, I liked what my two guards were providing.
