Not since 1999 have the Cowboys finished with an 8-8 record and the situation can't be more different. Sure, Larry Allen was playing at his prime level, the Flo was in the flo of his youth, Emmitt still had fuel in his tank and Woodson is still sorely missed. But going into the 2000s the bright spots were too few to make things happen and Dave Campo had 3 years of using smoke and mirrors to manage 15 wins as a whole.

That team had Aikman, but an older Aikman that was protected by a post injury Erik Williams, by an old and breaking down Stepnoski, by some Guards and Flo.

The record is the only thing that's comparable between those team, that team's arrow was pointed down, the current version still has too much talent to be pointed anywhere but up. They have holes? Of course, you can't have the kind of season that they had without 'em, the season of "The good, the bad and the ugly".

The Front Office has a handfull, but they also have the money for Free Agency and a Draft that has a lot of talent and in positions of need, like Guard and CB. So, out of boredom I have a rumination of thoughts:

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Good schemes, or great schemes, or the coaches planning for an opponent, can very well kiss my ahem if the players can't perform their roles with consistency.

Who has seen talk of Romo as a QB that can't win in the Playoffs? Despite the fact that his team already won one playoff game... I'm seeing a forest of hands... And some nodding heads...

Romo wasn't very helpful in some of the losses, sure. But was he THE only factor?

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First thing first, it's tough to be far from people that you love, if you have them close, don't take them for granted. It's also hard to be away from Football... It isn't THAT hard... But I guess that you know what I mean... How many months of CBA problems? And how many desperate people around here during that time? Guilty here.

I've been away for a while and I'll continue to be away, but I think that I'll try to get back to things in a month's time and I'll be writing this kind of post.

The usual, opinions and points for discussion. So, let's get to it:

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As of late I've been around some conversations in BleedingGreenNation and BigBlueView regarding the NFL players and coaches Top 100 for 2011 and the love that Eli Manning gets, deservingly or not. Obviously, in those places the conversation CAN'T ignore the Cowboys and that's OK, we share the NFC East Division, they don't like our team and it's mutual.

So, all that served as food for thought for this post, in which I look at the QB situation for the 3 teams and what I consider a fair ranking of the NFL Top 10 QBs.

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As I kept saying in my previous fanpost analyzing the Draft (Here), I knew little about the 2nd day picks, Bruce Carter and DeMarco Murray, but understood the rationale behind the picks.

So, as I'm not one that doesn't like to regurgitate what others say about a player, I started a process of collecting game tape from their teams and focused on them in every snap. It wasn't just a matter of seeing their best games (which by itself is really hard to do, especially when they play smaller schools), so I payed special attention to their games against "bigger" Colleges in 2010 and 2009 due to how those games are easier to get my paws on and because those include some of their best and poorer performances (Carter: Miami x 2, Georgia Tech x 2, Pittsburgh, LSU and VT. Murray: Texas x 2, Nebraska x 2, Missouri, Baylor and Miami.).

What I saw in those games is what follows, an analysis of both guys in the following categories: Assets, Questions, Fitting them in and Reminds me of.

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Here in Cowboys Nation, there's people that are called realists and the others are koolaid drinkers. Some are right and the others aren't and just because some call themselves realists, it doesn't make them right.

I don't look at a Draft and say: they should have done this or they should have acquired that. There's no purpose in that, what I do is try to use reason and understand why they made those picks. Ifs and buts are completely useless, if you disagree about the Front Office way of conducting business you're allowed to boycott the team and stop buying merchandise and game tickets.

There's just no purpose in trying to act tough, taxi driver like: "You talkin' to me?".

So, that's what this post is all about, I'll look at the Cowboys picks and I'll try to use the little reasoning that I have to explain the first few picks.

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The truth? Do you really need to invest top picks to be successful? Not so much, I just reviewed every team that went to the Super Bowl and found that a 1st Round pick at OT can be of help, but they aren't the determining factor.

So, let's look at the Super Bowl teams and their starting Tackles:

Steelers - Packers
Starting Tackles:
Jonathan Scott (FA / 5th Round - Detroit) and Flozell Adams (FA / 2nd Round - Cowboys).
Chad Clifton (2nd Round) and Bryan Bulaga (1st Round).

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From the moment in which I wrote The Schematic Advantage Of Having A Ryan I started thinking about the 2nd part, about how complicated his schemes really are and the versatility required for the players up front, as it isn't a matter of having a front-7 or 6 or so, it's a matter of the moves that both Ryans make on their units to diversify it's looks.

They may start with the 3-4 and a 2-gap scheme, then they pull a front-7 player, throw a DB in and the DLineman and LBs move around in a one-gap attacking scheme.

It's tough, not only for the players, who at times seem to be confused and looking around for someone to line them up correctly, it's also complicated for us following things at home, so I made screen captures of some of the schemes that the Ryans used in the games that charted in the 1st post of this series (after the jump! Right OCC?).

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Ben24626 post What REALLY happened to the Cowboys defense in 2010??? worked as food for thought for this post, and to be fair I wanted to elaborate on it and thought that it wasn't just a matter of answering as a comment as I also have some other things to say, so I'll start with what I believe were the biggest problems of the Cowboys in 2010 and I'll follow that with some Draft nuggets (trades and another mock).

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The savior of the day.

How can a psyche be altered by some impressive measurables.

In the case of Bruce Campbell, those were darn impressive. A 6-6 and 314 behemot running a 4.75 40 is impressive. Seeing him jump a vertical of 32 is impressive, too. Adding a 4.69 shuttle, 7.58 three cone drill and 34 reps in the bench press is cool, too.

That was enough to push him in some minds to the 1st and 2nd Rounds, even with serious worries regarding his film.

Film was right, no one wanted to touch him in the first 100 picks of the 2010 Draft. Soft, dedication, love for the game and others were big enough question marks to prevent teams from falling in love with measurables. Even if they were really impressive.

You say, what's my point?

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From the moment in which I finished writing The Schematic Advantage of Having a Ryan, I started thinking that having him in charge of the defense wasn't going to be a matter of giving him the current players and that his schemes would work. Some moves would need to be done, but what kind of moves was a nice question, which I started mulling this post.

An analysis of the Cowboys defensive linemen, what happened to the Phillips-Pasqualoni led DLine and what Ryan has which he can work with.

Let's start with the DLine:

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Stats. Entertaining, but only numbers.

Many things brought me to write this post and my reasoning is simple, stats are flawed because they can tell you something that really isn't there. And I'll give you 3 examples:

Stephen Bowen graded as a Top 5 3-4 DE.

That's according to Pro Football Focus.

Is that really true? Did he make that many plays? He didn't pass my eye test. His simple stats of tackles and sacks aren't a testament of such a lofty position, either. So what did he do in the eyes of PFF for them to grade him so highly?

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A really interesting topic: at times you can see such a wide array of difference of opinion that you kind of get the idea that maybe someone is seeing a totally different team or player... There isn't a single person that's always right or wrong, I've been guilty of being wrong several times (I wanted Bradie James off the team after his 2nd year, thought that Brewster was a good potential pick, I thought that Flo was finished and more), but I'll always defend my opinion.

Which is the basis of blogs like this one, to post, comment and defend your position.

So what's the point of this post? Well, I've been seeing such conflicting differences in point of view that I felt inclined to poke Cowboys Nation and provoke a conversation/discussion about such topics.

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I stood in the same place as pretty much everyone else, the line of thought of: he coached the average-to-bellow average Cleveland defense?

And that's a good way to start this post, as soon as he became the Defensive Coordinator on this team, I began a process of acquiring tape of games to see what his defense was all about... And wow, it's all about movement and about not showing what you really mean.

Two games stood out, the 1st reason is because they were great performances by the defense, the QBs couldn't find a comfort zone as they were always looking were the pressure would come from. And the 2nd because with the passing teams in our division (Eagles and Giants) and with the way in which our passing defense played last year, there's a big need for improvement in that area. The games were the one against the Saints in New Orleans and against the Patriots, both victories by the Browns.

So, what exactly did I chart? I went from the defensive alignment of the DLine and LBs, to the coverage of the safeties, to the unexpected blitzers, to the amount of rushers per passing play and the kind of gap responsibility.

So, let's get to it, the numbers from both games:

Defensive alignments:

When we talk about a defense that shifts so much between even, uneven and unexisting fronts, the first thing that you have to do is identify the DLineman and LBs, and I went with a very simple line of thought: if he has a hand down, he's a DLineman. Yeah, I know, I'm not saying something new, but when you see Rogers surrounded by nothing but LBs and a LB (usually Roth) puts his hand on the ground, being the only DLineman, you're seeing something complex and you just try to simplify.

The were many schemes and there were differences from snap to snap even when they kept the same personnel and scheme, we're talking about how they would use the 3-4 in the Parcells way (dancing elephants):

In this kind of play we see the DLineman stutter stepping as they make time for the play to develop and read what they have to do, Rob Ryan would call this play when his read was a run.

And in the next snap we would see something like this:

A one-gap attacking scheme in which as soon the QB takes the snap the DLineman attack their gaps with a sudden first step and the use of arm techniques like the arm-over or rip. Rob Ryan calls this play against the run and pass, and he can also add a twist, they may line up in one of those and prior to the snap motion into the other, with the movement of the heads of the center and QB as first direct results.

So, considering that, just because I'm saying that they deployed a 2-4 "X" amount of times, it doesn't mean that it's exactly the same scheme or personnel, that's how complicated Ryan's defense is. The Cowboys defenders will need to study. A lot.

New Orleans game:

3-4: 31 snaps.

1-4: 22 snaps.

2-4: 15 snaps.

0-4: 4 snaps.

3-2: 3 snaps.

2-3: 2 snaps.

3-3: 2 snaps.

New England game:

2-4: 29 snaps.

1-4: 10 snaps.

3-3: 6 snaps.

0-4: 6 snaps.

3-4: 4 snaps.

4-2: 1 snap.

The first thing that immediately jumps out at you is the amount of "small" fronts that Ryan called. The 2nd should be the differences between both games.

1. Evidently, Ryan doesn't believe in the size theory, there were times in which he rushed 2 LBs against the 5-man pocket and forced bad throws. He believes in quickness and crowding the short and intermediate routes.

2. He adapts. The Patriots sport a fundamentally sound OLine, so he had to beat them with preparation and a lot of movement and that called for more light sets. The Saints have a more physical unit and he had to go with a heavy and light combination to keep them off balance.

Safety coverage:

This is another interesting area, because Ryan likes to play with his safeties roles. They had interchangeable roles and again I had to simplify because Ryan's work is too complex to follow and the camera angles weren't of much help. But make no mistake, a safety, in Ryan's opinion, is going to be in deep coverage and they need to run and change directions with ease (No Roy "Thong" Williamses).

So, from what I saw, I differentiated the types of plays in 2, deep 2 (be it in quarters or cover-2 or cover-6) and cover-3 with one safety moving closer to the line to take away the short to intermediate routes (it doesn't matter if his assignment is a TE or WR, that's why they have to be able to run).

New Orleans game:

Deep 2: 57 snaps.

Cover-3: 16 snaps.

New England game:

Deep 2: 36 snaps.

Cover-3: 14 snaps.

T. J. Ward is a player, that's easy to see, he can hit, wrap up and bring down in pretty much every attempt, he can run and turn, and has really solid instincts. Elam is worse in every aspect and IMHO is very comparable to Sensabaugh. And Mike Adams played a lot as a 3rd Safety in passing situations.

Based on scheme, there won't be much of a change from what we saw under Pasqualoni, Ryan likes to keep the play in front of his defenders and he makes a point of jumping routes and make plays on the ball, but only if there's contain behind them. Now, I wouldn't be surprised to see Campo remain, but with a leash.

Unannounced blitzers:

This is another area were Ryan likes to play with mirrors to hide the points of attack of rushers, but there's a common denominator: Ryan likes to rush from the inside with delayed rushes from the ILB, or Safeties and CBs stacked behind a DLineman, in one snap they may lineup in this formation and go out in coverage and in the next snap lineup again and rush the QB.

This kind of rush comes handy with all of the light schemes, some LBs can go out in short to intermediate coverage, while the others or DBs blitz the brains out of the OLineman and QB. But there's a thing that you do need, and it's DLineman that have a quick first step and force movement right after the snap in order to open gaps.

Ryan didn't have much of that and several of his blitzes were stonewalled by OLines that weren't moving, which forced Ryan to dial reserve his blitzes and to only bring them up as a change-up.

New Orleans game:

ILB: 22 snaps.

S: 9 snaps.

CB: 3 snaps.

New England game:

ILB: 15 snaps.

S: 6 snaps.

CB: 4 snaps.

Don't let those numbers fool you, in all of their light formations the expected rushers are the DLineman and OLBs, their bigger guys, I considered every time in which someone that wasn't supposed to rush attacked the LOS, for example, in 0-4 formations I saw how Ryan sent both OLBs in coverage, and both ILBs and a safety attacked, that's one ILB and S snap in my book.

Rushers:

Against a good passing attack do you want to bring quick pressure or a crowded backfield for the QB to pick apart? Ryan likes to play with both ideas, as is evident by what you have read above, using different schemes and a wide array of blitzes, but in the end how many guys are responsible of going after the QB's head? Let's go to the numbers:

New Orleans game:

2-man: 3 snaps.

3-man: 19 snaps.

4-man: 21 snaps.

5-man: 11 snaps.

6-man: 2 snaps.

7-man: 1 snap.

New England game:

2-man: 2 snaps.

3-man: 12 snaps.

4-man: 9 snaps.

5-man: 11 snaps.

6-man: 2 snaps.

7-man: 0 snaps.

If there's something that we can say about Ryan it's that he's consistent in being hard to predict, his high number of 3-man rushers was something that I was expecting to be lower, not the scheme that he ordered the most in both games.

For those wanting a DB with the 1st pick, now you have another reason to join on the pressure player bandwagon.

Gap responsibility:

As I wrote above, Rob Ryan comes from the Parcells tree and as such employs concepts of his defensive schemes, but he also adopted some of Belichick's concepts of mixed fronts and mixed all of them with his own ideas of interchangeable DLines. In one snap a player along the DLine may have a 2-gap responsibility while the other guys have 1-gap to take on, in the next snap they all can be in 2-gaps and in the next a full fledged 1-gap attacking scheme is on. It doesn't matter if the Defense is expecting a run or pass, it just adds to being hard to predict.

How can you tell if the DLineman are aligned in a 1-gap or 2-gap formation? Well, again I had to simplify, if I didn't see a DLineman stutter step a bit to see the play develop and he attacked the shoulder of an OLineman, that's a one-gap DLineman. A way to notice 2-gappers is that they play with their heads right in front of the head of the OLineman in front of them, that way the defender can see the play develop around his assignment and act accordingly (for example, pushing his assignment towards one of his assigned gaps). So, if more than half of the DLineman played 1-gap, that's one snap for the 1-gap scheme. The same happens for 2-gap snaps.

New Orleans game:

1-gap: 52 snaps.

2-gaps: 20 snaps.

New England game:

1-gap: 34 snaps.

2-gaps: 11 snaps.

In here you will find another example of how Rob Ryan isn't a definite believer of the size measurable. Their bigger player is Shaun Rogers and I was looking at the number of times in which he played with a 2-gap responsibility. The number is 0. Ahtyba Rubin is a big guy in his own right (6-2 and 330), he's the starting NT and he's the guy that Ryan looks up when he wants a 2-gapper in the middle, but he can also play as a 1-gapper because he has a strong and quick first step (there's a play in which he followed and tackled Woodhead like 10 yards away from the LOS).

Out of everything that I saw, there isn't ONE thing that makes me doubt what I knew all along, Rob Ryan is going to love the Rat in the Nose.

The other Ryan agrees.

Just for the fun of it, I went through the Jets vs Patriots game tape, to see how his brother's philosophy matched that of Rob against the same rival and his chart reads like this:

Defensive alignments:

4-2: 19 snaps.

3-4: 12 snaps.

3-3: 12 snaps.

2-2: 12 snaps.

2-4: 8 snaps.

3-2: 6 snaps.

3-1: 5 snaps.

2-5: 1 snap.

Safety coverage:

Deep 2: 38 snaps.

Cover-3: 33 snaps.

Unannounced blitzers:

ILB: 4 snaps.

S: 5 snaps.

CB: 8 snaps.

Rushers:

2-man: 1 snap.

3-man: 16 snaps.

4-man: 24 snaps.

5-man: 6 snaps.

Gap responsibility:

1-gap: 59 snaps.

2-gaps: 14 snaps.

The big thing, and it's easy to notice, is that Rex Ryan had better toys to play with, especially along the DLine and it shows, he played less with mirrors and believed that his DLineman would do a good job of bringing pressure from the middle and called for blitzers to come around the pocket.

The 2nd thing is that Rex Ryan is a bigger believer in the one-gap attacking scheme. He can use 2-gappers from time to time, but mostly on heavy packages and does a good job of keeping the same personnel, so he has several players that can play the run and bring pressure.

And I found that he would also love to have the Rat in the Nose. In this game I found impressive the way in which he used Shaun Ellis, he's a 5-technique DE for the most part, but in this game he lined him up everywhere, from the 0-technique (with his head right in front of the center's head) to the 5-technique (head in front of the OT). He's smaller than Ratliff.

Some random points:

• The focus in the draft should be as follows: There won't be a Free Agency. There's a lot that we don't know, we just know that there will be a draft, I'm saying this due to all the guys counting Cullen Jenkins as the solution for the pass rush woes. For all we know, a CBA is going to be signed, teams will have more cap room and the Packers would be complete idiots if they let him go. He won't be that expensive because he's a bit long in the tooth and he likes it up there. Don't think about Free Agency, try to do the best with the picks that you have and then do the best than you can do if there's a Free Agency.
• If a CBA is signed and there's a decent Free Agency, sign me up for the Gocong sweepstakes, this guy is a perfect fit in Ryan's system, he can run, rush the passer, has a nose for the ball and can cover some ground (for a 3-4 LB).
• I think that these players are perfect fits for what the Ryans used this past season: Ware, Ratliff, Spencer, Lee and Scandrick.
• Lesser fits: Bowen, Spears, James and Sensabaugh.
• Need to refine their techniques: Brent, Butler, Hatcher, Jenkins and Newman.
• Probably won't: Olshansky, B. Williams, Brooking and Ball.

I've made myself be read, as I like to see my opinion expressed in bits in a computer display, I want a 3-4 DE in this Draft due to the reasoning that I see as clear as the water that comes from an Acqua di Cristallo Tributo a Modigliani bottle (trivia tidbit, google this), so which is exactly the basis of my opinion? That's the purpose of this post, the basis of my opinion:

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Go for what suits you.

That's one of the first tasks of the staff that Garrett will lead, to find out the Xs and Os that fit his personnel the best and how he needs to use that line of thought for the Draft scouting and Free Agency acquisition.

But how is he supposed to do that?

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We're Dallas Cowboys fans, other teams fans would yell that we're one of the most biased fanbases... And looking at the 2007 Pro Bowl and how several players have gone to it in other years without really deserving it (Roy "Thong" Williams), it's really hard to argue against it...

But in reality, the fans count for only 1/3 of the total votes, players and coaches can stop a player from going and they didn't.

And that's the main idea behind this post, the Coaches and Players have a chance to right a wrong, a wrong that the other fanbases have accomplished because of their own biases, the bias against the Cowboys and it's players.

I'm talking about the Pro Bowl, in an awful season it's easy to understand why many fans in Cowboys Nation didn't wanted to vote, what isn't easy is the reasoning behind other teams fans for not voting for several players deserving of making the Pro Bowl when they wear a Cowboys uniform... Unbelievable... Ummmm, wait, I do know how something like that can happen... But I would be digressing, so on to the topic at hand:

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There're still some games left to be played, that's for sure, and this team would like to win the remaining games (were you really expecting to see the Eagles, Giants and Packers not winning another game in their schedule?), so there's still some football to be played, but we can draw conclusions from this REALLY flawed year.

So, let's come up with a list of who needs to go and why.

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A Fumble = One mistake.

It's as simple as that, it's just one mistake and when you have this amount of mistakes in a game:

- Poor man coverage from the best man coverage guy on the team.

- Poor support from the FS.

- A couple of mistakes by the Center.

- A handful of mistakes from the OLBs, I thought that we wouldn't see them pressing to make sacks after the switch to Pasqualoni and that they would be more concerned about their contain and picking up screens.

- And a couple of mistakes from the Head Coach.

One mistake isn't the difference between losing or winning a game, it's just one mistake.

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David Tyree.

One play. The difference between putting your team in position to win a Super Bowl or losing. A questionable player in talent executed the play well, just like the rest of his Offense mates and he made a catch that we will continue to see in highlights of previous Super Bowls for MANY years.

The Giants were lucky that they weren't the 2010 Cowboys...Because they would have found a way to shoot at their own foots...

• The OLine would have failed to pickup a DLineman, which would rush untouched.
• Leonard or Gurode would react slowly to a quick move from an interior Lineman.
• Romo would throw too high or too low.
• The receiver would fail to make the catch, but would tip the ball, leaving an easy to intercept floating ball.
• An OLineman is flagged for whatever.
• An elegible or inelegible pass catcher is flagged for whatever.
• 12 men on the field flag.
• They score a TD but allow a kick return for a TD in the next play.

Do you seriously think that a coaching change, right now, will force all those problems to go away? I don't. I don't trust the Coaching staff, but I also have very little trust on the players. Things need to change, but I can't see a short term change, be it forced, or not.

I'll continue to watch and cheer, but I'm thinking about next year.

A couple of OLineman are struggling (Gurode and Davis)?

Whoa! Who would have thought about it? I hadn't seen them struggling, so if they're struggling now, they're done! It's over! They should be traded for a couple of donuts because in the end Costa or Bright are as good or better!

Ok, let's take a deep breath.

Did you saw something new? Those two guys also struggled in a Playoff game recently, but those 2 guys can also play at a pretty high level, pretty much elite, but the lows are easier to see.

I don't like them because they're inconsistent and how can you trust someone that is that wildly inconsistent? But, the thing is, the Cowboys CAN use them to win games because they've won games with them in the lineup and they aren't anymore inconsistent than they were. We can only hope that they become less.

Out of seeing those games you think that they're more inconsistent? Well, how do you deal with an inconsistent performer at anything? With focus and preparation.

What's the common thing in PRESEASON? Lack of focus and preparation for games.

Call me unimpressed by their struggles.

The Defense suddenly can't stop anyone?

No blitz packages, staying in the 3-4 pretty much full time and pretty much everything vanilla football on Defense makes you think about.

Reality: The Cowboys use a lot of blitzes, against the pass and run, and they aren't using them.

Reality: The Cowboys used the 3-4 in around 40 or 50% of the snaps last year and they couldn't use some specialty packages that Wade has used (like the Cowboys package) because he lacked depth at OLB. They're staying 3-4 in close to 80% of the snaps right now.

Call me steadfast, call me homer, call me opinionated, I just refuse to hit the dang button.

GO COWBOYS!

We are spoiled.

Not so long ago we used to see an OLine that would open holes left and right and a RB that would run through those holes as hard and quick as you could imagine.

That running game was rarely stopped and the opposing team's best hope was to limit them to short gains.

Oh, how time has passed... For the past few years the running game hasn't looked as dominant... And that's the thing, it isn't meant to be that way, the current lineup shouldn't make you think about the 90s OLine, the complexity of the blocking part in the running game is the one that will dictate the style. And that includes the style of the RB.

Drive Blocking. Pushing you out of the way.

Oh, the memories... At minute 1:23 you will see the perfect example of this kind of blocking. This was the strong suit of the big uglies in the 90s, plays in which the OLineman are supposed to open a designated hole and the RB is supposed to get himself through it with power and decisiveness.

The OLineman in this kind of system are known for their power and balance, because they need to make quick steps forward with spread feet and elbows close to their ribs in a wide base while keeping themselves low to the ground. Sounds difficult, and it is, they have to be natural knee benders, all 5 OLineman need to be coordinated and they have to carry some ballast.

One example of this kind of blocking is the base run:

In this play the Center shoots towards the NT and the Left Guard moves behind him and redirects to deflect the Mike, each blocker has a one-on-one responsability, leading the RB towards the hole left open, which he needs to hit as fast as possible, pretty much following the Left Guard. Larry Allen in his prime was a beast in this play, throwing LBs around as if they were rag dolls.

Another example is the lead draw or isolation:

Which is self explanatory, it's as close to straight up one-on-one matchups as you're going to see, in this kind of play the Moose is sorely missed, he had few MLB friends. And Larry Allen had a little of more fun with LBs.

Zone Blocking. Patience required, big uglies on the move.

I know, the best example of a Zone Blocking system is Denver and I found a bunch of highlights from Terrell Davis and company, I just found funny that a lot of Sanders highlights come in zone blocking plays, and it's easy to guess why, he was made to run in a zone blocking scheme, he had top notch speed, vision, quickness and instincts, all measurables that work in favor of the scheme.

A scheme in which the back is supposed to wait for the development of the play and make a quick decision on where to attack. It's easy to see that Sanders had much more freedom, meanwhile backs like Davis and the Denver backs had the leash of the one-cut zone blocking. They were only supposed to make one read, one cut and attack, even if a hole hadn't developed, all in order to minimize tackles for losses, which are easier to find in this scheme. But provides longer gains.

OLinemen in this scheme are preferred with light feet, vision, quick hands and balance, because trying to find a target that's faster and quicker in the move is hard, and trying to block him out of the way is harder.

One example of a zone blocking play is the toss:

Lots of moving parts makes for quick decisions on the move, the development of the blocks from the RG, RT and FB should leave at least one gap open which the tailback needs to find and make the cut into the hole fast.

Another example of the system at work is the Sweep with strong and weakside variations (this one is SSweep):

In this kind of play lies the importance of having a TE that can block and catch, a Defense that's facing this alignment is thinking pass and the QB needs to do a good job of selling the pass, but the movement of the Guards unmasks the trick and the RB needs to be right at the back of the LG in the B position to make it work.

Do-Dad. Jason Garrett looks up to Vince Lombardi.

We hear a lot of talk about the Broncos and how Alex Gibbs pretty much invented the scheme from the ground. What we don't hear is that one of the more creative minds of football and one that ran pretty much a drive blocking scheme toyed with the concepts, that he probably took from someone else, and called them do-dad plays.

The reasoning is quite simple, in reaction to what some teams started to do on the defensive side, like stunting DLineman and LBs stacked behind DLineman, he started adding option and movement from a couple of his "light" OLineman and in his word an example would be this:

"The center is the lead blocker -- the apex. He will lead-step, the same technique as for the down block, for the crotch of the defensive tackle. The offensive guard, using the same technique as he does in the drive block, will aim for a point which is outside the defensive tackle. If the defensive tackle has an inside charge, the guard immediately releases the tackle, picking up the middle linebacker who would be moving with the key of the fullback toward the hole. The center, since the tackle is moving into him, would pick him off."

Movement, development of blocks and options for the RB. Lombardi also used more variations, including the famous Packer Sweep. Later, Parcells would make use of Zone Blocking concepts calling them area blocks.

Drive Blocking Coaches using Zone Blocking concepts. We shouldn't find this kind of thing as a rare finding, maybe the concepts, but the schemes I made don't come from watching highlights of the 90's Cowboys, 90's Lions or late 90's - early 00's Broncos, those schemes come from watching and studying plays from the last few years.

You just have to look at the RBs, the common denominators between them? Vision and quickness. One guy is faster, another is shiftier and another is thougher. The best back in drive blocking? Barber, followed closely by Choice. The best back in zone blocking? Felix, by far.

You just have to look at the OLine, a pretty lame drive blocking line, but they create consistent positive yardage drive blocking and the team isn't willing to make a definitive move towards a zone blocking system and all the negative yardage plays that such a system can bring to the table, or going through the trouble of putting a leash on a back, which didn't work so well for Julius Jones.

I like it this way, this team can't run through another team when they know that a run is coming like the 90's team, so they should do everything in their power to keep opposing teams from guessing what's coming.

Just don't expect to see much of it in Preseason, the team is keeping the best plays under wraps, so don't panic, relax, the team will find a way to move the ball during the regular season, they know how to do it.

You just have to ask yourself: "Is he doing a good job?"

That's a tough question, how can you measure such a thing? Comparing his job with other teams? Comparing his success with the good Offenses from the Cowboys under Aikman, under White and under Staubach?

I tend to do a little different exercize, I look at the previous offseason, at what happened during the season and saying to myself: "this and that is going to happen and the Offense is going to be an extremely productive". To most of those things, in the offseason, I would have said: "stay off the kool aid".

So, in the end, what happened in the regular season and what would have been your answer to such foresight in July of 2009?

• 34 sacks and the best passing Offense in Franchise history. Let that number sink in, such a number was better than what we saw in 2006, 2005 and 2004, sure... But Romo's the current QB, in 2006 and 2005 Bledsoe was the QB for 22 games and in 2004 that was Testaverde... Think about those old guys playing in an OLine that handed Romo that kind of beating and the results wouldn't have been pretty. Romo had the best year in his young career.
• Can't power block to save the RB's life? We can still run all over you. An OLine has several kind of plays, plays that have a lot of movement (let's say that those are finesse plays), plays that mix some finesse with power and power plays (as in beating the guy in front of you mano-a-mano). The Cowboys are great in the first type, 50-50 in the second and absolutely awful in the 3rd. The Cowboys still rushed for more than 2100 yards and an average of 4.8 YPC. Let's just say that the Cowboys are an extremely good but finesse run blocking team.
• Miles Austin - No Number 1 WR? Not for long. Roy Williams had few highlights, lots of lowlights and was an usual non-factor. Miles emerged nearly out of nothing to help the most productive passing season in Franchise history.
• Doug Free starts several games. The O doesn't miss a beat. Let's be honest, if you would have heard such a thing in July, the sky would have been falling down on all of our heads... The passing game, as a matter of fact, looked better with Free in. Colombo's the team best power blocker, though, and he was missed (remember that he was the 2008 Offense MVP).
• Injuries? No problem. Of course, the biggest injury on Offense was suffered by Colombo and he only missed a few games, but a lot of players were slowed down, the list includes: Barber, Felix, Witten, Roy Williams (thank God!), Gurode, Flozell, Martellus, Anderson and obviously Colombo.
• Improved STs? Not so fast, no improvement on Kick Off returns. The importance of STs has been covered by better, or much better, guys than me and their work shows a correlation between points and returns. The punt returns were improved but DeCamillis led a struggling unit in Kickoffs.

Looking at those points, I can't question the quality of work that he delivered, with problems in pass protection and run blocking he adjusted and brought one of the most productive years in Franchise history. And under his watch a few players showed their development and an ability to produce when called upon.

Now, some of the negatives need to disappear, or the Cowboys won't go the distance, but is that really the fault of Garrett or the problem goes deeper? You have to work with what you have and we have yellow and red flags along the OLine.

That's the idea here, or at least it should be for one Roy Williams.

There's a tiny small group of people that still have hope that he can become a number 1 receiver, there's a bigger crowd, even if it's still small, that are willing to play a waiting game because we believe that he may be able to overcome his problems and at least make a solid contribution on the Offense and the vast majority has expressed more than enough their vile and utter hate for all that's Roy Williams related.

What's the reasoning behind this negatively polarized opinion? Just because he hasn't been able, or capable, of producing at the level of what the team gave up for him is reason enough? Just because you just don't like the guy, including his hook 'em signs? Or is it because you just think that he can't play and that he's what he is?

I'll post my reasoning behind my attitude of waiting for something to click, instead of taking the despair route.

Roy needs to find the Key of his future.

The long time readers of TheBoysBlog may be able to remember that I was one of many Keyshawn Johnson fans, I really liked the guy, not because he was a dangerous weapon, or really productive, but because he knew how to use his talent in order to make plays.

That's something that Roy needs to do, so I'll post, IMHO, the things that they have in common and the things that they don't:

• Things in common: Big soft hands, good body control, really nice ball skills and a strong and tall frame.
• Things not common: Roy is faster and probably quicker, but Key was a though son of a gun. Key was also a great route runner (he had to be with his physical limitations) and the guy was as consistent as you can get.

This is really simple, consistency is a matter of confidence and proper training, proper training is the cure for a lousy route runner and toughness is directly related to the head.

Can he make the required changes that can save his career?

The Miles that it took for a change.

We love Miles, Austin that is, look at last year, look at the things that he did... Actually let's take a closer look, let's look at what happened after week 5 and what we saw from Miles:

• Fast and dangerously quick.
• Strong lower body.
• Though.
• Big and soft hands.
  
• Goes for the ball with his hands.
• Nice balance.
• Really good route runner.

And now, let's make an exercise of what you remember from Miles before week 5... Actually, we only need to look back to the previous week, he had a lot of playing time in week 4 and the results were underwhelming:

• Poor route running (guilty of a red zone interception with the score 10-7, Dallas ahead).
• Made Roberto Durán proud... His problem being that he wasn't a boxer...
• Not though and kind of injury prone.

Now we know that he had an incredible next week of training and it showed in the game against the Chiefs, he improved his timing in routes, his knowledge of the playbook and most important of all, he polished his catching technique, because you can't give an impression of soft hands while having stone paws... The guy had an unpolished technique and that made him look like a boxer.

Roy, you need to make Miles your new best friend and give a long and deep look at what he made to make the change and you also need to look at Keyshawn to mold your game because your speed doesn't last forever, both guys hold the keys of your future.

If you have one.

Feel free to add your vitriol on everything Roy related, your love or another dose of: "I don't care, I just want the best players on the field on Sundays".

We have heard it all, for example, the Cowboys like to Draft backups. But, is there something wrong with the team perspective or what? Some would like to argue that yes, there is something wrong with it, but things aren't that simple, and especially with a Defense as versatile as the one that Wade leads.

Some time ago I made a post talking about the versatility of the Cowboys packages and this is another one that takes into consideration some of the things that I saw last year.

The Nickel and Dime.

The Cowboys run a 3-4 base package, but it's a 3-4 that looks a lot like the 3-4 that Bill Belichick used to run on his way to his team Super Bowl titles, a defense that will change depending on the offensive packages in front of them, from the base 3-4, to pass rushing 42s, 41s or 33s.

But, the guys in the base package are enough to make all those change-ups work?

No. Terence Newman is the player with the highest number of defensive snaps with 1127 (he wasn't in for every snap, he missed some, so the real number should be closer to 1150), followed closely by Anthony Spencer (1112) and Demarcus Ware (1093 - neck injury). Those are starters, duh.

But,  Igor Olshansky and Marcus Spears started every game and only accumulated 648 and 535 snaps, while a backup player like Orlando Scandrick, the 3rd string CB, accumulated 640 snaps. And he's just an example, I'll list the most important backups:

• Stephen Bowen, 3rd string DE, 478.
• Bobby Carpenter, 3rd string ILB, 478.
• Jason Hatcher, 4th string DE, 386.
• Alan Ball, 4th string CB/3rd string S, 306.

Meanwhile, a starter and one of the team best players, Jay Ratliff, played in 851. Up from the 694 that he played in the previous year. What's the difference? For one, Tank Johnson had a bit of more potential, and in another hand, that team had Greg Ellis and Anthony Spencer in the OLB positions, so the team could play more 4 and 5 man fronts than the 2009 lineup without missing a beat.

The schemes:

I saw two main variations of the Nickel schemes and both included a lot of movement before the snap. The first one would be the classic 42 scheme with 4 down lineman, 2 coverage LBs with gap responsabilities (blitz or run support), 3 CBs and 2 Safeties (either both deep or with one deep and the other covering a TE).

The second Nickel package would look like a 33 package in the first impression but before the snap would have either one or both OLBs in a standing position at the edges of the OLine, giving the impression of a 42 or 51. Most of the sacks when the rusher reached the QB without being touched came from this package. OLineman had real troubles adjusting to the changes. In these scheme the lone ILB and the NT are supposed to be in the same page, the NT is still a one gapper, but he's supposed to attack his designed gap at the last moment, while the ILB has to change his responsability for the other gap.

And the third alternate package is the dime, which is a 41 package with 2 CBs and 2 Safeties in cover-4, and 2 CBs that take shorter routes (which tend to be the guys inside, Scandrick and Newman were usually the guys inside, while Jenkins and Ball took the outside receivers with deep help).

What do I think that they think about the 2010 season?

I can't help but notice that the Nickel CB played in more snaps than any of the other usual suspects in these packages and I also can't help but look at guys that aren't perfect fits for this kind of packages, so I'll give this a deeper look:

• Keith Brooking: The guy looks like a Wade's ILB, the guy is always on the move, even when he's reading the play, he's smart and he knows where he's supposed to be when dropping in zone coverage. But the guy isn't young anymore, he isn't fluid in his change of directions and his top gear leaves a lot to be desired.
• Bradie James: Bill Parcells is known for making robots out of some of his players, Bradie James is one of them. From time to time he's going to give the impression that he's still playing in a Parcells scheme, as in wait-wait-read-react. Look at Brooking, he's move-move-read-attack. After year 3 in Wade's tenure James is still an average fit and he isn't getting any younger.
  
• Bobby Carpenter: You can't play scared. That's a line that the coaches would usually yell at Bobby. From time to time, a player like Newman would be forced to clean up his mess and a veteran like him was more than willing to give him a longer than desired stare mixed in with some words. He's another guy that would wait-wait-read-react, but for wronger reasons...

The thing is, how can you use more of these packages when you don't have complete trust in the ILBs? I can see that Wade wants to develop his ILBs and he's going to use them.

And how do you give Ratliff some more rest? I know, Sean Lissemore is looked like a Ratliff starter kit and that's the main thing, Ratliff wasn't a NT or DE in his rookie year, not even in his 2nd year. The guy was a pass rushing DT in 4 man fronts. I remember seeing him lining up right next to La'Roi Glover and Chris Canty. And Tank Johnson was used in pretty much the same way, I can't remember seeing him in a straight up 3 man front...

I'm thinking that the number of snaps for some of the starters will continue to drop closer to 50% and some of the backups will play their half, it's all about keeping Offensive Coordinator guessing, it's all about using your player right and where they fit.

BTW.

Last season I couldn't see the 46 scheme or the Cowboys package as those were used in the 2008 season, with the development of the 2 second year OLBs (Victor Butler and Brandon Bennett) and the younger and more athlethic ILBs you should expect a return of those packages.

Bryant? A receiver? Really?

I don't like it, but I can see the reasoning, there was a need for a receiver, Crayton isn't getting any younger, Hurd is what he is, Williams isn't becoming a more productive option (apparently) and the Tree gets time to develop (even if it takes as much time as it took for Austin it's going to be worthy).

They valued the position highly, such a thing is evident if you look at the guys that the Cowboys liked (all top 3 rounds kind of guys), so it isn't that surprizing that they ended up with what they got considering what was there...

The cupboard was bare.

You're a fan of Jared Odrick? The Jared Odrick that was a lesser prospect than our own underappreciated and ran out of town Marcus Spears? That Jared Odrick, huh?

You're a fan of McCourty or Wilson? I can see the reasoning, but we're talking about a 4th CB in his first year and CB, very much like RB, has a really nice track record of good and productive 1st year players, it's as close to a plug and play position in the NFL as possible, and the need isn't dire (in our team we saw Newman and Scandrick have a good first year, Jenkins was hot and cold).

Which OLineman was out there? Saffold? Ducasse? They're 2nd round prospect for a reason and it's possible that one of them is going to be available for the 59th.

But, what about Safety? If you've been reading you know that I'm high on Allen, I still am. But for a while I've been thinking that the way in which they released Hamlin and Flo is significative, in one hand you have a guy that the Cowboys have developed to take over, but on the other hand? They released Hamlin with no confidence in the guys in place? That makes no sense. It says to me that, at the very least, they think that a combination of Hamlin and Ball is more than capable of providing the steady level of play that Ken Hamlin brought... A much better player would be welcomed, but that player went to the Seahawks with the 14th pick... Not sure that Allen is that much of an improvement.

Trading up for Bulaga?

First thing first, for a guy with the kind of film that he has he surely dropped a lot, I'm thinking serious medical yellow flags (he had a thyroid condition).

Second, to trade up you need a trade up partner. Denver with the 22nd is out, they wanted Demaryius with that pick. Bengals and Texans are maybes, they wanted their guys and you can make a case of teams taking them before the 27th. And from that point on you have a series of teams that weren't going to move because of the value that they landed (Atlanta - Weatherspoon, Steelers - Pouncey, 49ers - Iupati and Titans - Morgan) and trading up all the way up there would have been prohibitive.

I understand the logic behind the move and they went with their board, were you expecting something else? And why?

Free talk: LT or RT?

A little while ago Rafael wrote an article about the RT position in preparation for the Draft (here) were he placed a description of the desired skills of the prospects that the Cowboys like in the position:

A big man who uses his size to muscle and engulf defenders. More quick than fast. Very aggressive.  Does not anyone push him around.

Dallas looks upon RT as more of a power position than LT.  They want their prospects to have many of the same qualities as the tackle guarding the blind side.  He has to be agile enough to cut off edge rushers, but the team is willing to sacrifice a little bit of speed for power.  They expect their RTs to excel in the run game.

This means that when you look at prospects, read for those who get labeled as being "heavy handed" or having "good pop on the punchout."

Do you think that such a description fits Doug Free?

He's just as quick as he's fast. Isn't big enough to engulf. Isn't very aggressive because he isn't that strong. Can get himself pushed around because he can move, he isn't an anchor (which is good, for a LT). He's better in pass protection than in the run game.

So, if you're a proponent of keeping him in the right side because he looked good in there, what do you really mean? Fitting in a player in a position in which he really doesn't fit in?

Look at Marc Colombo, a healthy Colombo, his description fits perfectly what the Cowboys want in it's RT, mobile enough to block in the 2nd level, aggressive, big and powerfulenough to engulf... That isn't Free, Free is a better fit in the left side and the Cowboys are betting that he's, my money is with them.

Obviously, he isn't Flo, a Flo that was just as powerful as he was mobile earlier in his career and that could run block like a RT on the left side even late in his career, but players like Flo are rare.

Mays, the 1st Round rated PROSPECT.

Again, a little while ago Rafael told us that one of his sources said to him that Taylor Mays was rated as a 1st Round prospect and such a comment was received with fond memories of the not so distant past when one of the oh-not-so-liked Roy Williamses that tried to cover one half of the field...

We know that Wade Phillips likes to use a cover-4 scheme in certain passing situations, a scheme that looks "kind of" like this (yeah, I know that the Cowboys don't run a 4-3 but I'm being lazy and not willing to edit the image):

In such a scheme each of the safeties are asked to cover their half of the field and need good hips and quick read and react qualities to be any good (which is why Sensabaugh looked better than Hamlin).

We know that Mays isn't that kind of prospect, so? Him rated as a 1st Round prospect makes sense to you? It does, if you like Stephen Hodge, the College S moving to ILB prospect.

Stiff hips? Check. Choppy backpedal? Check. Aggressive? Check. Fast? Check. Good tackler? Check. Good zone coverage? Check. Better than good in run support? Check. A playmaker? Check.

Mays is obviously a much more talented prospect, though, and he has enough size to make the move and the work ethic to add more pounds in his frame. So, is he rated as a 1st Round ILB?

McNabb's trade: improving the BEast.

That's what I know, the trade improves both teams, McNabb is an inmediate improvement over Campbell and the Eagles in return receive opportunities to add new blood on a team in need of talent in a lot of positions.

Reid is a branch of Holmgren and Holmgren is a branch of Walsh and Seifert. Shanahan is a former student of Seifert. And as such their schemes are related. McNabb is capable of being much more than effective in such a scheme and he takes care of the ball. The Skins also have talent, McNabb inmediatelly makes Moss and Cooley the dangerous players that they should be. They're lacking along the OLine, but Shanahan is known for getting good results from average OLineman.

In Philly, the people in charge is confident that Kolb is ready and the guy looks like it, he may take more risks with the ball but that has a lot to do with his confidence on his touch and he's better in that department than McNabb. And they also have a lot of question marks, the interior OLineman aren't a strength outside of Herremans, Cole needs a bookend, Brown is gone, Bradley's returning from a knee injury and the other LBs are average and Mikell needs a better alternative starting right next to him. They needed the extra picks, now they need to pick the right players.

I'm all for a better BEast, it improves the entertainment and gives us more bragging right if our team kicks their ahems!

What say you Cowboys Nation?

With this deep draft in the middle, I'm thinking that it's going to be harder than usual to land a trade partner that's willing to trade a 2nd or 3rd Round pick straigth up, so I decided to design a scenario where a team doesn't and the value is right.

Cleveland.

For starters, the Cowboys have a nice working relationship with the Browns Front Office. Second, they have a nice relationship with Cleveland's new head man, Holmgren. And third, they have the ammunition.

It just makes too much sense, unless they look back at their unsuccessful trades in disgust and aren't willing to toy with their Karma anymore... But you don't run a Franchise thinking about Karma, or at least that's what I think...

The trade:

Cowboys: 27th - 1st Round (680 points); and 90th - 3rd Round (140).

Browns: 38th - 2nd Round (520 points); 71st - 3rd Round (235); 134th - 5th Round (39); and 177th - 6th Round (22).

It's a wash, the Cowboys trade 820 points, they receive 816 in return and end up with the following picks:

Cowboys:

2nd Round: 38th and 59th.

3rd Round: 71st.

4th Round: 125th.

5th Round: 134th.

6th Round: 177th and 196th.

7th Round: 234th.

Browns:

1st Round: 7th and 27th.

3rd Round: 85th, 90th and 92nd.

4th Round: 105th.

5th Round: 137th, 146th and 160th.

6th Round: 186th.

The Browns would give a 2nd for a first, they would exchange positions in the 3rd and they would ship 2 late round picks as the cherry at the top, so they wouldn't be selling the farm.

The Mock:

2nd Round:

38th - Vladimir Ducasse - RT. Road grader kind of run blocker that needs time to develop, but has the wortk ethic to do so. And more important, has better feet than most RT prospects.

59th - J.D. Walton - C/G. Though as nails pivot man. Leader. Smart.

3rd Round:

71st - Major Wright - FS. FS with really good range and hips. Good tackler, can deliver knock out hits. Leader.

4th Round:

125th - Corey Peters - DE/NT. Long arms. Strong. Quick. Disruptive force. Smart. A bit raw. Great effort in pursuit.

5th Round:

134th - Antonio Brown - WR/RS. Quick and fast. Good returner potential.

6th Round:

177th - Aaron Pettrey - K. Good accuracy. Great FG K leg. Has some potential as a KO guy.

196th - Crezdon Butler - CB. Fairly high and fast prospect. 32 passes defended in his career.

7th Round:

234th - Prince Miller - CB/RS. Punt return competition and some potential as a backup CB.

Notes:

I had Linval Joseph as my previous 4th Round pick until I started seeing this kind of thing: lacks the ability and won't make an effort in pursuit; he will just occupy space in the NFL and will be limited to the first 3 downs.

That's the current Jamal Williams, when healthy, and the Cowboys made no effort (apparently) to acquire him, that speaks volumes to me.

Look for players that are good in pursuit, that can be disruptive in a one gap scheme and that have a non-stop motor. Those are the guys that the Cowboys want, that's the kind of guy that Jamal Williams was once and that's the kind of guy that Ratliff currently is. The Cowboys aren't in the market of guys that are only capable of standing there.

A lot has been said about reaching for X or Y player in the 27th pick, about who's the smarter choice and about how if someone falls the decision should be an easy one. I'm posting this for further conversation.

As clear as Crystal.

The time of the 27th pick comes and at the Top of the Cowboys board stands one of this names: Earl Thomas, Mike Iupati or Trent Williams; it isn't going to take much time for Goodell to be asked to walk back up and call the Cowboys selection and it wouldn't be a reach.

Reaching for Spears?

With the 22nd pick in the 2005 Draft the Cowboys selected Marcus Spears. Even the guys that see him as a good enough player to start (stopping the run), would accept that he's indeed a reach, the guys that don't like him want him out of town for a 5th or 6th Round pick... And they like to mention the name of Jared Odrick and how he's no Chubby Checkers...

Looking at them, strictly as College prospects, Spears was clearly the better prospect or the most productive one (19 career sacks to 14.5 and 34.5 TFLs to 25.5), so what tells you that he's going to be much of an improvement over Spears? His lack of experience as a 3-4 End? Or is it just that you want a new face?

I'm not sure that he's an upgrade and no one should, so? Do you want to invest a 1st Round pick on a backup and continue to Reach?

The Spread.

The usual conclusion when we talk about offensive prospects coming from a spread formation is that Receivers and QBs are the ones that were pushed up the most, but what about the OLineman in protection, that open holes for the running game and that makes the Line calls?

Aren't they benefitted too by the short time that it takes for the QB to throw the ball? By the few blitzes that they see? By a simpified scheme of protection changes?

Spread formation also have to go through a detox period of sorts to become a Pro, so? Do you want to Draft an inside backup with the 1st pick?

Supply and demand.

How much of a reach would someone like Nate Allen really be? Everything that I've read and seen makes me think that he's a player very comparable to Delmas and Chung, players that were selected with the 33rd and 34th picks in last year's Draft, which BTW was another poor in talent at the top CB Draft, so is he going to be selected as high as them?

It has everything to do with supply, demand and best player available in a top talent poor Draft at CB but deep, the highly rated Safeties will be selected higher than usual and there're teams that need Safety help in the top 15 (Rams (if they lose Atowge), Tampa, Kansas, Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle, Denver and Giants).

But a Free Safety in the 1st would be a reach if his last name isn't Berry or Thomas.

Depth is important, but...

CB is a lot like RB, the prospects are better prepared for the NFL than anyone else, so getting a 4th stringer readier for the NFL in his 2nd year isn't as important for a CB than what it is for, let's say, a QB.

So, a player like Kyle Wilson is ready to replace Newman or Scandrick? If one of them goes down injured (aka Newman)? I can see that, but he would still be the 4th stringer... Wouldn't a player like Scandrick (5th Round) be a better decision for the 4th string job?

A player like Wilson wouldn't be a reach per se, but his production wouldn't be what we want from a 1st Round pick, people wanted to can Jenkins because his 1st year production didn't match his draft status!

Boom or Bust:

Taking a huge guy like Dan Williams or Terrence Cody carries a risk just as huge as their size, because the guys are such physical specimens with incredible strength and ability that are known for consistency problems that have everything to do with effort and conditioning. Those problems start with their minds.

And that's not it, the guy would be a run stopping NT in Dallas, which means that he would be asked to start and be replaced in pass rush situations... Well... The Cowboys have an All-Pro starting in his position... And an All-Pro DT means that he's better than good stopping the run and pressuring the passer. Do you really want to replace that kind of guy with a high risk performer? Or do you want to move Ratliff to a position that he hasn't played and has said that he doesn't like?

Hat tip to Mr. Coryell.

Two Jason's. Jason Garrett and Jason Witten.

The first Jason is a disciple of the Norv Turner branch, who was a disciple of the Ernie Zampese branch, who was a disciple of the Don Coryell tree. The Air Coryell philosophy is one that likes to use a WR and a TE as the top 2 pass catching weapons coming from a Pro Set (2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 RB and 1 FB/TE/HB). The chances of success rely heavily on the shoulders of such TE, he has to be a good pass catcher but he also has to be a good run blocker because the scheme was mainly designed to be a power running scheme (the Cowboys have failed miserably in this).

The 2nd Jason is an All-Pro TE that's arguably one of the best TEs in the League, if not the best.

They work in a nice combination, Garrett's scheme will have the QB throwing the ball to the TE and Witten's on of the best in the business.

That hurts the production of the 3rd, 4th and 5th receiving options, it's just a matter of how you have to distribute the rest of the balls.

Taking a receiver with the 1st pick (Tate, Benn or Thomas) doesn't mean that he's going to top 1000 yards and it doesn't mean that he's going to start, the Cowboys aren't a team that starts 3 receivers game in game out. His production is going to be limited as long as the team has 2 Jason's and a better number 1 receiver.

A rare steak for me, the bloodier the better!

And lastly, the Cowboys can always Draft one of those guys that aren't considered 1st Round worthy because of how raw they are as prospects in their respective positions, such as the case of Vladimir Ducasse.

Depending on who you ask, Ducasse has the light feet and lateral mobility, when his technique is on, to play the Tackle position and has the pop to be considered a RT prospect, but he's so raw that he's way too inconsistent in his technique and that's why people is all over the map with him. It's just too though, but the Cowboys have more material than any media "scout" and they should know better.

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