Dallas Cowboys Game Tape Review: Offense

[30gut]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

15/32 for 171 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 sack. That was Donovan McNabb's line for this game. I could not have been happier with the way he played.

Well, that's an overstatement. McNabb left a lot of completions on the table in this one, and it would have been a lot nicer if he completed those passes. But considering that he was victimized by his receivers throughout the entirity of this game, he managed the entire game quite well, and played like the best player on an offense that is going to make 15/32 a reality more often than not.

He had a few plays that really bugged me, but i'm sure he'll make those plays in the future.....(he mentioned the RZ plays shows that its on his mental radar and if its on his radar he's probably working in practice to finish
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Originally Posted by Kevin Sheehan

Was there a play or 2 specifically that you can point to that you would love to have back?

Originally Posted by Donovan McNabb

A couple of passes that i threw in the RZ where i possibly could have went somewhere else

)
These are the plays i'm talking about (i bet its the same plays McNabb is talking about)
granted i have the benefit of hindsight and i'm also looking at the field from a different vantage point then the players so...
3rd & 8 From the 11: (Part of the problem on this play was pressure)
If McNabb made a pre-snap decision favoring a quick throw to either Armstrong in the left or Roydell from the rightside X poistion early before they break in towards the MLB they might have had a chance for a catch and run for the 1st down OR wait a tick longer and throw to Armstrong as he crosses the face of the MLB with Spencer trailing him which imo would make for an easy foot race to the 1st down marker OR throw it to Portis coming out of the backfield
-outcome was McNabb didn't choose quickly enough and the pressure got to him:





Cooley open in the flat after Armstong cleared space with his stutter fade route, if McNabb waits a tick longer imo its an easy TD






Sideline route where Moss had step on Jenkins but the pass is throw behind him:




Then there were 3 more throws that got away from him
1 was thrown behind Armstrong on 3rd down he ran a shallow crossing/drag route where he had a chance for a catch and run for a possible 1st down
2 more 3rd down passes were one-hoppers thrown to Armstrong and Roydell (both WRs were open)
1 pass thrown into double coverage to Cooley when Davis was open on the other side

One thing that stuck out to me as this game progressed was that Kyle Shanahan is going to have to undergo the largest learning curve of anyone involved with the Redskins. I don't think his play selection was poor, necessarily, I just think he went in there with the mentality that he could call anything and that it would work, because that's just the way it's always been, and between McNabb, Portis, and Cooley, I mean the players would bail him out anyway. Kyle was aggressive in nature without really attacking, and the multi dimensional attack we keep hearing about was very Zornian: Cooley and Moss are our best offensive players, so we get them the football often.

I'm not sure what you're saying here.^^
I liked Kyle's playcalling for the most part.
I like our singleback 3 by 1 formation that gets Moss and Armstrong off the LOS.
I like the shotgun formation with Cooley in the backfield.
I would like to see more double TE passing sets and more targets for Davis.
I would also like to see a little more quick rhythm 3 step drops high percentage stuff mixed in with the 5 and 7 step drop stuff.
I think this would help McNabb sustain drives since he already has a tendency towards big play-ittis/boom-bust.

Mike Sellers played a lot of snaps in this game, coming off his injury in the preseason. Mike Sellers was not very good. He didn't sustain one block the entire game that I saw.....Chris Cooley and Fred Davis both executed some very difficult blocks in this game in both the running and the passing game.

I feel like Sellers play has been on the decline since last year, i ready to see more of Messers Young and K-Will.
Cooley and Davis blocking is gonna be a key to having them on the field togother.

Armstrong was thrown at five times and only caught one ball. That would be a bad day. Roydell Williams and Joey Galloway were thrown a ball each. Williams' was pretty uncatchable. Galloway, being a veteran, probably should have adjusted his route depth to help out his quarterback. He ran the play as designed, and McNabb badly underthrew him under dire pressure......Though Armstrong and Williams did little to suggest that they should continue to be trusted in big situations.

Armstrong was put in a tough spot he came in cold and his 1st target of the game(career) was a RZ stutter fade route.
I think his stat line is a bit misleading because McNabb missed him on 2 throws.
I like the Armstrong kid, judging by how the coaches and McNabb target him i think they trust him too.

Galloway got good separation on the route you're talking about.
I can't really fault the guy for not cutting the route short because his back is to the LOS so he doesn't know that McNabb is under pressure.

Roydell was open on his 1 target, and i saw him open for a quick slant in the RZ.
I think as McNabb/Kyle get more in sync with offense our WRs will look better.