Week 4 Dallas Cowboys coaches film analysis

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Also, if T. Smith wants his QB to throw him the ball more, he's got to block more. Dude was the one that Kelly talked about in his presser when he said the QB runs, "didn't get a lot of help from blocking on the edge". Yeah...that was Torrey.

JD, I've been noting this since pre season (just swap out TS for Patton) and have seen it in every game since. What do you think the issue is? I can't tell if the WR's don't know the QB kept the ball and is running to their area so the DB just runs right by them to make the easy tackle, if it's a sideline play call fracture, just poor play recognition by the WR's and even worse execution on blocking, disinterest, etc.

It seems like they either don't know how to block in space or aren't aggressive enough. It's hard to show without seeing the clips. There were times Torrey runs out about 3 yards and stops, stutters his feet around and is looking to try and block but never actually blocks the guy, like he can't figure out how to or doesn't have the aggressiveness to...IDK...

Originally posted by jonnydel:
It seems like they either don't know how to block in space or aren't aggressive enough. It's hard to show without seeing the clips. There were times Torrey runs out about 3 yards and stops, stutters his feet around and is looking to try and block but never actually blocks the guy, like he can't figure out how to or doesn't have the aggressiveness to...IDK...

In Baltimore he was praised for his run blocking so I don't know what is going on. As far as I know it was never an issue for him, even if you go and look at his draft profiles...etc.

Strengths Smith possesses outstanding straight-lined speed and good size measurables. Explodes off the line of scrimmage. Flashes the ability to high-point the football. Has the second gear needed to threaten a defense vertically. Eats up cushions and can track the deep ball well. Plays with passion, exhibits great effort while run blocking, and has intangibles.

Here's our first TD - it was a mix of things. Great pass blocking and overload blitz pickup by the lineman and a busted coverage by Dal.


Dal is going to come with an overload zone blitz. They're going to show 7 rushers, come with 6 and come with 5 off the right side of the line. We do a great job of sliding protection - Gabbert see's the front and comes up and yells something to the O-line - not sure if he was the one who called for the slide in protection or if it was Kilgore - whoever it was should get major props. We're going to run a "dagger" concept with a backside crossing route. Dal is going to play a 3 deep, 2 underneath coverage behind their zone blitz.


You see how Dal has 5 rushers from Kilgore out to the top of the screen but we do a great job of picking up the blitz and squeezing the lanes. Dal's corner at the bottom blows his coverage. He gets too aggressive and see's Celek on the crosser and drives on that route.


This allows Kerley to slip out behind him.


You see how well the line picked up the overload blitz and Kerley's got a big area of undefended area.


TD 49ers!!!

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Happy October people!!

Now I see why Green Day once said, "wake me up when September ends".....

After a 1/4 of the season one thing is abundantly clear - we're a bad team. We're not a team that's just, "a couple pieces away". We're a team that lacks talent in a lot of areas. We do the things that bad teams do and we don't do the things good teams do.

We don't play complementary football. We can't overcome penalties. We don't take advantage of penalties on the other team. We don't make the crucial plays when they're there to be made. We can't consistently run the football. We can't defend the run. We can't make the big time throws when the plays are there. We can't defend the big throws when the shots are taken. While we had a tough opponent coming in, they were beatable. They were starting a rookie QB, didn't have their star WR, didn't have their starting LT and LG. They aren't known for having a great defense and were starting a corner who hadn't had an INT in 2 years. Yet, we couldn't take advantage.

We lost 2 out 3 phases of the game and IMO it was a draw for special teams(They missed a FG, but we got pinned on our own 14 and shanked a punt right after the 2 minute warning for only 26 yards...). You can't win football games that way. This week, I'll start out by talking about the defense first because the biggest news to hit the faithful in a long time occurred - we lost Bowman for the year .

Defense - The loss of Bowman can't be overstated. He was such a crucial part of what we did and he was a huge amount of deodorant on a defense that wasn't playing well already. He made up for so many plays that there's no way we can come close to replacing him. This may sound, "sky is falling" but I'll be shocked if our defense isn't in the bottom 5 in the league. What's even more disconcerting about that is that we have spent 5 of the last 6 first round picks on defense already.

D-Line: Our D-line, again, had a manageable situation. They were playing a good OL - but one that was missing 2 key pieces. We should've been able to at least contain their run game. But, we continually got gashed. We played very poor gap integrity and weren't able to win the battle in the trenches at any point. The best run stops in the game came when Bowman was picking up the slack of our D-lineman.

Armstead - While I know he's got a lot of defenders about his shoulder - his problems go beyond the shoulder. If it was just his shoulder than you wouldn't see him push the pocket like he does, at times. His problems are that he still plays too high, doesn't grasp the team defensive scheme and doesn't seem to be an every down player. I would be easier on the guy if he wasn't a mid-1st round pick. The long run Elliot had to set up the 1 yard go ahead TD, Armstead was so guilty, it was . It reminded me of something Albert Haynesworth or Suh would do when playing D-line and not wanting to play their assignment. There was another occasion where he took the wrong lane on a blitz and pretty much blocked his own guy and it gave up a big passing play.

Purcell - dude had a bad game. I mean....bad.... He consistently allowed the center to get to the 2nd level and was neutralized on most of the Cowboys runs. We need Ian Williams back in a bad way, but we also need more depth behind him. Purcell doesn't seem to have the abilities to play the NT position at a starting level. He looks great in pre-season, but against starters on Sunday, he looks over-matched.

Buckner - He's more capable than Armstead, but his technique needs a lot of work still - which I'm more ok with because he's a rookie. However, he's also a top 10 pick. It's one reason I'd prefer us to take some guys that were more NFL ready. If you look at Jarron Reed in Seattle out of Alabama - he was an early 2nd round pick IIRC this year and he's been more than capable when he's been in the game. Buckner may turn into all-pro but he's got to learn leverage, staying low, consistent hand placement and consistently 2-gap.

Buckner and Armstead may start to shine more now that we'll have our top edge-rusher back, but I'm not holding my breath. We did a lot of things to try and scheme pressure in the game as we, again, really struggled to get to the passer. One thing JoN was trying to do was vary who was coming from where to confuse the O-line. It didn't work far too often and we often had our big guys(Buck and Stead) trying to take looping outside rushes - which is not their strength. If we were able to just line up 4 and rush the passer like we did in Fangio's day, I think you'd see more flashes from these guys. But, right now there's not threat that our edge guys are gonna disrupt the QB.

ILB - This is gonna be a rough situation for the remainder of the season. Hodges was already benched. Considering I said last week that he played one of the worst games from a LB I'd seen in a while - not surprised one bit. Wilhoite played a little better, but he's still Wilhoite. He's almost like a Blaine Gabbert of LB's. He can do a few things from time to time to make you start to believe, but in the end is just, "meh". Doesn't make the big plays when they're there and plays too passively. Bellore got taken advantage of when he came in as well. The very first play after Bow went down the Cowboys ran right at Bellore for 20+.

DB - I thought our DB's played fairly well. The biggest problem we had in the passing game was that we couldn't stop the run game consistently. Because we were struggling with gap integrity JoN had to rely on a lot of run blitzes to fill the gaps, which exposed the secondary.

Offense - Overall, we're missing playmakers. Hyde is the only guy who's a consistent threat and teams are aware of it. The difficult thing with our offense is that we haven't been able to take advantage of spreading the defense out. We're facing 6-7 man fronts and unable to run against them consistently. We did far better than we did against the Panthers, but still couldn't consistently run the ball. When you can't run the football you need a stud at QB and some playmakers at WR - we have neither.

Gabbert - Over the first 4 weeks my analysis has usually lined up a lot with what other analysts have said, including Kelly. However, I'm going to differ from Kelly on that INT throw from Gabbert - it wasn't just bad...it was awful. It's the kind of throw that has epitomized his career so far. He does enough things throughout a game to make you start to believe, but then, when the big chance is there and you have everything set for you, he can't do it. That should be a throw he makes 9/10 times. Instead, we've seen it the opposite. It's really a shame because he played pretty well throughout the rest of the game. He had some pinpoint throws and several of his incompletions his receivers did nothing to help him out. But, we don't have the kind of team that can mask any QB's deficiencies. I'm not ready to say he should be benched - especially not on a short week like this. we're not going to be in the playoffs no matter how good our offense is because our defense won't be able to get them back on the field. So, I don't see much of a point to it. If anything, it would still leave a plausible excuse for next year(the offense as a whole was still learning the system). So, IMO, let the Gabbert role til mid-year. Get a good, beyond doubt evaluation of him and if the next 1/4 of the year is like this, pull the plug.

WR's - Kerley is still our best pass catching option - which is quite shocking considering we've known we needed playmakers at WR for a while. I don't see Patton ever being more than he is now. He just hasn't refined his route running. He's got the physical tools but IMO runs poor routes. His corner routes are terrible. He also slows down a lot when trying to make a catch over-the-shoulder. There was one play where he'd beat the corner on his initial cut, but once he turned back, he slowed down so much the corner ended up all over him and the pass looked over-thrown. Also, if T. Smith wants his QB to throw him the ball more, he's got to block more. Dude was the one that Kelly talked about in his presser when he said the QB runs, "didn't get a lot of help from blocking on the edge". Yeah...that was Torrey.

O-line - I thought they played pretty well but had more lapses than I've seen from them. Brown almost looked fatigued, at times, and struggled with a lot of reach-blocks. Both Brown and Tiller are helped out in their pass-pro because they have quick feet and are huge - but it's been a bit of a liability in the run game. They haven't had the speed to get to the 2nd level or, like I said, get to their reach-blocks.

Overall - It's gonna be a long season and we'll see if some of these young guys start to step up as the year goes along, kind of like our defense did last year, and the team as a whole begins to show more. If not, we're still gonna be at least 2 really good drafts away from being competitive.

I wouldn't say Collins was a major key to their OL he was playing awful this yr and Leary IMO is a upgrade. EVERYTHING else I agree with. I also think JoN's defense is getting too cute up front something needs to change from a scheme aspect.

Thanks for the write up!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Throwing the ball away...come on now.

Originally posted by Niners816:
Torrey smith started with us in 2015....these clips are from the ram Monday night game of '14 and it's Brandon Lloyd. The other one is Vernon Davis and it was from the 2014 season opener.

go to the QB thread I posted some deep passes and TDs from Kap to Smith from last yr

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Also, if T. Smith wants his QB to throw him the ball more, he's got to block more. Dude was the one that Kelly talked about in his presser when he said the QB runs, "didn't get a lot of help from blocking on the edge". Yeah...that was Torrey.

JD, I've been noting this since pre season (just swap out TS for Patton) and have seen it in every game since. What do you think the issue is? I can't tell if the WR's don't know the QB kept the ball and is running to their area so the DB just runs right by them to make the easy tackle, if it's a sideline play call fracture, just poor play recognition by the WR's and even worse execution on blocking, disinterest, etc.

It seems like they either don't know how to block in space or aren't aggressive enough. It's hard to show without seeing the clips. There were times Torrey runs out about 3 yards and stops, stutters his feet around and is looking to try and block but never actually blocks the guy, like he can't figure out how to or doesn't have the aggressiveness to...IDK...

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
It seems like they either don't know how to block in space or aren't aggressive enough. It's hard to show without seeing the clips. There were times Torrey runs out about 3 yards and stops, stutters his feet around and is looking to try and block but never actually blocks the guy, like he can't figure out how to or doesn't have the aggressiveness to...IDK...

In Baltimore he was praised for his run blocking so I don't know what is going on. As far as I know it was never an issue for him, even if you go and look at his draft profiles...etc.

Strengths Smith possesses outstanding straight-lined speed and good size measurables. Explodes off the line of scrimmage. Flashes the ability to high-point the football. Has the second gear needed to threaten a defense vertically. Eats up cushions and can track the deep ball well. Plays with passion, exhibits great effort while run blocking, and has intangibles.

Thanks fellas...it's had me for a while now.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by awp8912:

One thing I do know. Kap hits Torrey Smithin stride there. And he out edges Sean Lee on those QB keepers. And he throws further than 3 yards on 4th down with the game on the line, giving our WRs a shot at making a play.

Torrey smith started with us in 2015....these clips are from the ram Monday night game of '14 and it's Brandon Lloyd. The other one is Vernon Davis and it was from the 2014 season opener.

this was a nice one...

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
It seems like they either don't know how to block in space or aren't aggressive enough. It's hard to show without seeing the clips. There were times Torrey runs out about 3 yards and stops, stutters his feet around and is looking to try and block but never actually blocks the guy, like he can't figure out how to or doesn't have the aggressiveness to...IDK...

In Baltimore he was praised for his run blocking so I don't know what is going on. As far as I know it was never an issue for him, even if you go and look at his draft profiles...etc.

Strengths Smith possesses outstanding straight-lined speed and good size measurables. Explodes off the line of scrimmage. Flashes the ability to high-point the football. Has the second gear needed to threaten a defense vertically. Eats up cushions and can track the deep ball well. Plays with passion, exhibits great effort while run blocking, and has intangibles.

I think it's a mix of not knowing who's keeping the ball and lack of aggression. Here, he runs up towards his guy, but stops, trying to figure out where the run is going. He should attack the defender and make the defender choose pre-maturely. It helps your runners see running lanes sooner.


His guy gets by him and is able to make the play for a 1 yard loss. It's kind hard to see - but Thl if you could help out with a GIF?? It's 13:53 3rd quarter. And was a rather pivotal play because we had just had a big chunk play. Then we had this for -1, then Hyde for only 2 yards. Then brown had a false start and we had 3rd and 14. Had we been able to capitalize on our chunks plays to open the half we could've grabbed momentum and started the 2nd half up 21-14 instead of 17-14.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by Niners816:

Torrey smith started with us in 2015....these clips are from the ram Monday night game of '14 and it's Brandon Lloyd. The other one is Vernon Davis and it was from the 2014 season opener.

go to the QB thread I posted some deep passes and TDs from Kap to Smith from last yr

I know they exist. My first thought was why he didn't pick the TD to Torrey from the Baltimore game last year. That was a rope on the little out and up play.

Also, he left out the best Kap throw from that '14 Ram MNF game. The TD to crabs on the Dino was outstanding.

Here's an example of how I think if we have a good edge rusher we can play things differently. We had the offense behind after a false start penalty so it's 2nd and 11.


Here, we're going to show a single high safety but counter with a tampa 2 zone defense. We'll blitz Wilhoite up the middle and drop Brooks into coverage. One thing that you need to run the tampa 2 really well is a stud playing your "will" or weakside LB position. It's what Derrick Brooks played in Tampa, hence why this defense was so great during that time. We have Reid playing that spot. The tampa 2 works if you have that stud at "will" and a good pass rush. We try and manufacture it with Wilhoite.


Because we're trying to manufacture the rush, we send Buckner and Armstead out as our edge rushers. I think they're playing more contain than pure rush. Either way, you have your two best horses not running in the derby. Even if they are rushing, you're asking 2 300 lb guys to run around the edge like that - that's gonna take 4-5 seconds, wayyyy too long. One reason I think they're in contain. But, then you're banking on Wilhoite getting home because of the scheme.


You see classic tampa 2 right here. Safeties in 2-deep with the "mike" backer dropping deep down the middle and 4 underneath zone defenders.


Tampa ran a "divide" concept(see play art above) which gets defeated by the tampa 2, but the key was on the underneath curl. The vertical route by the middle receiver pushes Reid vertical as well and opens up the underneath - this is the major weakness of the Tampa 2, the short over the middle. This is why Tampa was so tough, Brooks was so dominant and fast he could come up and dislodge balls or make absolutely sure tackles.


Because our pass rush couldn't get there and Dal did a good job of scheming against this coverage(we ran it a few times in this game) they're able to get an 8 yard completion to set up 3rd and 3.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by awp8912:
One thing I do know. Kap hits Torrey Smith in stride there. And he out edges Sean Lee on those QB keepers. And he throws further than 3 yards on 4th down with the game on the line, giving our WRs a shot at making a play.

Phoenix, you are showing the first play TWICE...and then a throw away pass play that has NOTHING to do with what was brought up..

The pass against the Texans was one of the firsts or the VERY first pass play of the preseason in 2015. Gabbert is doing this s**t in preseason and the regular season.

if you are reaching that bad, what does that say man?

Originally posted by Afrikan:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by awp8912:
One thing I do know. Kap hits Torrey Smith in stride there. And he out edges Sean Lee on those QB keepers. And he throws further than 3 yards on 4th down with the game on the line, giving our WRs a shot at making a play.

Phoenix, you are showing the first play TWICE...and then a throw away pass play that has NOTHING to do with what was brought up..

The pass against the Texans was one of the firsts or the VERY first pass play of the preseason in 2015. Gabbert is doing this s**t in preseason and the regular season.

if you are reaching that bad, what does that say man?

But it's also disingenuous to show a couple of CK highlights and not act like he hasn't had his own struggles throwing the ball. What about this one from a game against the Packers??


That time he had 2 receivers wide open and threw an INT into double coverage to Boldin...

It's not that CK does this every time, but saying that he'd throw a strike on that throw to T Smith every time doesn't mean it'd be true. Both Gabbert and CK have shown a lot of reason why they shouldn't be starting for any team.

Here's an example of what I talked about when I said Tiller and brown have struggled with some of their run game blocking. It's a 'damned if ya do, damned if ya don't" situation. When Tiller helps Brown, he fails to get to the 2nd level and the defense has free guys running around. When he doesn't, Brown struggles with his reach blocks.


We're going to run an inside zone-read play. This is one of the plays that Tiller gets to the 2nd level but Brown isn't quick enough to make his block.


42 is the unblocked defender and the read for the QB. He's keeping contain, so the QB has to hand it off. The DT is quicker than Brown off the snap and gets inside of Brown right from the get-go. This is key because Brown had a good enough angle and Tiller as well, that the DT wasn't going to be able to take on both blockers.


His guy slips by and gets down the line. Tiller gets to the LB, but it's to no avail.


1 yard gain.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by Afrikan:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by awp8912:
One thing I do know. Kap hits Torrey Smith in stride there. And he out edges Sean Lee on those QB keepers. And he throws further than 3 yards on 4th down with the game on the line, giving our WRs a shot at making a play.

Phoenix, you are showing the first play TWICE...and then a throw away pass play that has NOTHING to do with what was brought up..

The pass against the Texans was one of the firsts or the VERY first pass play of the preseason in 2015. Gabbert is doing this s**t in preseason and the regular season.

if you are reaching that bad, what does that say man?

But it's also disingenuous to show a couple of CK highlights and not act like he hasn't had his own struggles throwing the ball. What about this one from a game against the Packers??


That time he had 2 receivers wide open and threw an INT into double coverage to Boldin...

It's not that CK does this every time, but saying that he'd throw a strike on that throw to T Smith every time doesn't mean it'd be true. Both Gabbert and CK have shown a lot of reason why they shouldn't be starting for any team.

f**king hilarious. WHO SAID EVERYTIME?

more often than not I'm putting money on Kapernick to make that throw in comparison to Gabbert.

YOU EVER WANT TO TAKE THAT BET? I'm sure you would have this past offseason....lol.

Wasn't Kaepernick injured during that GreenBay game? Never mind that. Maybe Gabbert is injured now, we should give him the benefit of the doubt.