Cowboys game shows either run well or do not run

Lots of people want to point to this game that you always have to stay with the run, but in reality this is the perfect game that you do what is working and do what is needed to win the game.

Lets start with the Cowboys:


Elliott had 20 carries and 47 yards. The Cowboys tried to force the run and the Rams were focused on stopping the run. Hence, they got themselves down and Prescott was put in bad situations and was lucky he didn't get picked off 3 or 4 times with one being a pick 6. In trying to force the run, they got themselves down early and put themselves in a hole. You need 10 yards in 3 plays to get first downs, and the Cowboys got themselves in 2nd and 3rd and long way too much.

The Rams on the other hand were successful when they ran because the Cowboys decided to play base sets with 4 lineman and 3 linebackers instead of adding that 8th or 9th guy in the box. The Cowboys were over confident in their linebackers ability to come up and make plays. In this particular game, the Rams took what was given the them and ran and ran well. Lots of good runs on first downs to prevent themselves from getting in bad down and distance situations and than mixed in passes as needed to ensure a continued success of runs on 1st and 2nd downs.

However


Against the Bears, Gurley averaged 2.5 yards per carry similar to the Elliott performance and in both cases the offenses got down early and were put in bad situations too many times. In that game, the Rams were kind of like the Cowboys against the Rams and got themselves in holes by trying to run when it wasn't working.


Contrary to the Rams performance where in this Cowboys game, Gurley averaged 7.3 yards per carry and Anderson averaged 5.3 yards per carry


So it comes down to math, if you are averaging 2.5 yards per carry, it typically leads to punts as you need 10 yards. You start falling behind and try again, and it compounds the problem. Before you know it, you are in a hole, and now you can't have a good play mix and you can't keep the defense guessing and on their toes.


Simply put:


It is a myth of abandoning the run in these situations where you are averaging around 2.5 yards per carry, because you have to get first downs to get more plays to run more. You need to pass when the Run is not working early in the game and often to make sure the defense is honest versus running just to be running.


It cost the Cowboys the game.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2019 07:23AM by Rams_81.