Breaking Down the Cowboys Before and After..

[beevomav]

Dallas has made some interesting moves and today I take a look at where the Cowboys were last season and projecting where they are at this point in time. I am using several sources including Blogging the Boys, Dallas Morning News and Pro Football Focus.

I love Pro Football Focus(PFF) and they grade every player in the NFL on every play. They also grade out teams in the same manner. Any + grade is positive and a - is negative. The higher the +/- the better the player. Got it, good lets look at what these rating show us?(Note: This is a subscription service and while some of the +/- rankings are available, in some cases I have to use their rankings instead of actual +/-)

There is an ongoing battle in Dallas over the value of Tony Romo. To some he is what is wrong with the team and they point to the team's record in December as a point of contention. Romo was highly ranked(#8 by PFF) at +10.7 but he had an offensive line that graded out at -1.7 at pass blocking. Little wonder Romo was sacked 43 times, hit 50 times and pressured 192 times in 16 games. The offensive line was the culprit, not Romo.

Jerry Jones like all the teams in the NFL subscribe to PFF premium advanced stats and notice their rankings. The weakness of the team has been addressed by recent moves. In the OLine Kyle Kosier made a lot of money but graded out at -6.0. Derrick Dockery in limited duty probably will be cut with his -5.3 ranking and Phil Costa had a double hit with a run blocking ranking of -3.1 and graded -5.3 on pass blocking. Only Tyron Smith had a positive ranking of +9.2.

The answer here was to cut Kosier and bring in some massive new OLinemen. Dallas signed free agent guards Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau...Bennadeau is 26 and started the last 3 years for Carolina. He was a +3.1 by PFF. Livings is a head scratcher. He started 48 of 52 games with Cincinnati but was not highly regarded and in fact was ranked the worse OLman on the Bengals(-3.5)by PFF. He is also 30 and both he and Bernadeau are both huge at 6'5 and well over 300 pounds. These two signing have Bill Callahan's finger prints all over them and my guess is he said get them and I will coach em up.

There is still a need at Center with Bill Nagy having a negative in run blocking and pass blocking. I look for he Cowboys to move on from Nagy and maybe to David Arkin. He was inactive all season but has worked with Cowboys strength and conditioning coach the entire time and is said to be liked by Bill Callahan, the Cowboys new OL coach and assistant OC. Once again Callahan's ability to 'coach em up' is going to be tested.

For all the talk of Laurent Robinson being the best wide receiver on the team he was rated #47 in the league. Dez and Miles were rated #16 and #17 respectively. This again from a team that looks at every play and notices things like double and sometimes triple coverage, which Dez had more than any other player, not names Megatron. Dez also dropped one pass the entire season, also best in the league.

There was one other major problem with the Cowboys. Their run defense was rated on of the highest in the NFL at +61.8 but their true weakness was pass defense which at -36.6, was one of the worst in the league.

Terrance Newman and his -8.4 in 2010 and -9.1 in 2011 is gone. He is replaced by Brandon Carr who is the youngest, at 25, of the FA corner backs. His rating of +2.7 is not earth shattering but he is solid and at his age he will complete his 5 year deal. If you combine Newman and Carr's ranking they improved by nearly a +12. Good signing.

Completing the secondary, so far, was the change from Abe Elam to Brodney Pool. Pool played for the Jets and started slow with a -3.1 ranking in the early season but rallied for a +3.2 late in the season. He only allowed 11 completions in 320 plays and at 27, still young. He also played for OC Rob Ryan in Cleveland.

Anyone watching the Cowboys for any length of time noticed how horrible the ILB play was. The Cowboys noticed and after cutting/not tendering Keith Brookings or Brady James they signed Sean's Lee's fellow Penn State team mate Dan Connor. Connor registered a team record 145 tackles his senion year with Lee, a then junior, getting 137. Connor who played for Carolina last season had 75 tackles and is known as a run stopper. He is 26 and expected to team with Bruce Carter to make up the other ILB along with Lee. He only counts $800K against the cap and is a significant upgrade to the aged Brookings and James.

Dallas also saw backup QB Jon Kitna retire and signed Kyle Orton to a 5 year deal that can be cancelled by either party in 3 years. He is two years younger than Romo and might be the best backup QB the team has had in years. Great signing.

There is more work to do. They still need D-line help, another RB and WR. Depth in the secondary is another issue but they have free agency and the the draft in late April to get that done. All in all a great start and something positive to look at in the off season.

 

[bbdude]

Dallas has made some interesting moves and today I take a look at where the Cowboys were last season and projecting where they are at this point in time. I am using several sources including Blogging the Boys, Dallas Morning News and Pro Football Focus.
I love Pro Football Focus(PFF) and they grade every player in the NFL on every play. They also grade out teams in the same manner. Any + grade is positive and a - is negative. The higher the +/- the better the player. Got it, good lets look at what these rating show us?(Note: This is a subscription service and while some of the +/- rankings are available, in some cases I have to use their rankings instead of actual +/-)

There is an ongoing battle in Dallas over the value of Tony Romo. To some he is what is wrong with the team and they point to the team's record in December as a point of contention. Romo was highly ranked(#8 by PFF) at +10.7 but he had an offensive line that graded out at -1.7 at pass blocking. Little wonder Romo was sacked 43 times, hit 50 times and pressured 192 times in 16 games. The offensive line was the culprit, not Romo.

Jerry Jones like all the teams in the NFL subscribe to PFF premium advanced stats and notice their rankings. The weakness of the team has been addressed by recent moves. In the OLine Kyle Kosier made a lot of money but graded out at -6.0. Derrick Dockery in limited duty probably will be cut with his -5.3 ranking and Phil Costa had a double hit with a run blocking ranking of -3.1 and graded -5.3 on pass blocking. Only Tyron Smith had a positive ranking of +9.2.

The answer here was to cut Kosier and bring in some massive new OLinemen. Dallas signed free agent guards Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau...Bennadeau is 26 and started the last 3 years for Carolina. He was a +3.1 by PFF. Livings is a head scratcher. He started 48 of 52 games with Cincinnati but was not highly regarded and in fact was ranked the worse OLman on the Bengals(-3.5)by PFF. He is also 30 and both he and Bernadeau are both huge at 6'5 and well over 300 pounds. These two signing have Bill Callahan's finger prints all over them and my guess is he said get them and I will coach em up.

There is still a need at Center with Bill Nagy having a negative in run blocking and pass blocking. I look for he Cowboys to move on from Nagy and maybe to David Arkin. He was inactive all season but has worked with Cowboys strength and conditioning coach the entire time and is said to be liked by Bill Callahan, the Cowboys new OL coach and assistant OC. Once again Callahan's ability to 'coach em up' is going to be tested.

For all the talk of Laurent Robinson being the best wide receiver on the team he was rated #47 in the league. Dez and Miles were rated #16 and #17 respectively. This again from a team that looks at every play and notices things like double and sometimes triple coverage, which Dez had more than any other player, not names Megatron. Dez also dropped one pass the entire season, also best in the league.

There was one other major problem with the Cowboys. Their run defense was rated on of the highest in the NFL at +61.8 but their true weakness was pass defense which at -36.6, was one of the worst in the league.

Terrance Newman and his -8.4 in 2010 and -9.1 in 2011 is gone. He is replaced by Brandon Carr who is the youngest, at 25, of the FA corner backs. His rating of +2.7 is not earth shattering but he is solid and at his age he will complete his 5 year deal. If you combine Newman and Carr's ranking they improved by nearly a +12. Good signing.

Completing the secondary, so far, was the change from Abe Elam to Brodney Pool. Pool played for the Jets and started slow with a -3.1 ranking in the early season but rallied for a +3.2 late in the season. He only allowed 11 completions in 320 plays and at 27, still young. He also played for OC Rob Ryan in Cleveland.

Anyone watching the Cowboys for any length of time noticed how horrible the ILB play was. The Cowboys noticed and after cutting/not tendering Keith Brookings or Brady James they signed Sean's Lee's fellow Penn State team mate Dan Connor. Connor registered a team record 145 tackles his senion year with Lee, a then junior, getting 137. Connor who played for Carolina last season had 75 tackles and is known as a run stopper. He is 26 and expected to team with Bruce Carter to make up the other ILB along with Lee. He only counts $800K against the cap and is a significant upgrade to the aged Brookings and James.

Dallas also saw backup QB Jon Kitna retire and signed Kyle Orton to a 5 year deal that can be cancelled by either party in 3 years. He is two years younger than Romo and might be the best backup QB the team has had in years. Great signing.

There is more work to do. They still need D-line help, another RB and WR. Depth in the secondary is another issue but they have free agency and the the draft in late April to get that done. All in all a great start and something positive to look at in the off season.

I am a Dallas fan but I am also not a Cowboys homer. Honestly the Romo thing gets waaay blown out of proportion. Romo is not going anywhere in the next few years and he has consistently performed better than 80% of NFL quarterbacks, statistically speaking. Had the defense been better they would have won more games. Romo's problems are related to WHEN he makes a mistake or turns the ball over - plain unlucky. It gets magnified because they are the DALLAS COWBOYS. They just signed Kyle Orton and Orton is nowhere near the caliber qb as Romo but he is better than Stephen McGee in my opinion (aggie fans are throwing tomatoes). Dallas has made an investment in the guy (Romo) and frankly after I saw him come back in the game after a few broken ribs and throw for 300+, I had a new-found respect for him. The O-line needs to get their act together because they looked slow and gave up too many sacks. The defense has come around with all the free agency signings but they still need to draft DEFENSE. I'm also sick of the OU and Arkansas draft picks! Even if they are good!

 

[beevomav]

Fixing the O-Line is the biggest priority. The defense, for all their problems, allowed less points than the NY Giants.

 

[Coach_B]

The biggest problem outside Terrence Newman was the fact that the defense didn't have any OTA's with Ryan last year. Rob had to coach them on the fly and with his defense, you can't do that. I expect that with the improvements that they have made this FA period plus the draft and having OTA's and mini-camps, you will see a totally different defense.

The offensive line is still a concern plus they need to get another #3 WR to replace Robinson. No matter what the ratings say, you can't rate trust and Romo had that with Robinson more than he did with Bryant. Miles has got to get healthy and start earning his contract.

I can't wait for the draft, then mini-camps, then training camp and then FOOTBALL!!!!

 

[beevomav]

<<<<<<<I can't wait for the draft, then mini-camps, then training camp and then FOOTBALL!!!!>>>>>>>

I love it all as well. Here is a hint that has never failed me. Look to who the Cowboys invite for visits. Every year they have drafted off that list. Just take out the one's that you know are not coming, like players who will go before they draft and then look at what they need.

When the visits start I will post my picks. I have gotten a lot of picks right in the last few years. I even nailed DeMarco Murry and it seemed to catch some by surprise. Had Sean Lee as well. I was taught that trick by listening to Goose Gosselin on the draft one year..It never fails except when someone takes their guy before they could pick him.

 

[bbdude]

Terrance Newman picked up by the Bengals. Joins Mike Zimmer's defense in Cincy, the same defensive coordinator for the Cowboys in 2003 when Newman was drafted. Guess he sees something in Newman we don't.