FRISCO, Texas
– It might be painful to be http://www.0750xsaf.com/eli-rogers-jersey-c-1_36.html read, but there’s a lot to be gained from re-watching that loss to the Packers.There aren
’t many quarterbacks in football who can challenge you the way Aaron Rodgers does. So even though the Cowboys didn’t get the win, we got some valuable tape of this team against one of the best players in the NFL.On top of that, I took plenty of notes on the Dallas offense
– what they did well, and what needed to be improved.Here
’s what I learned from my re-watch:This was the first time in a long time that Cole Beasley didn
’t see some form of double coverage in the red zone. On both of Beasley’s touchdown receptions, the Packers played him with a single man. Beasley, working one-on-one in the slot against Quinten Rollins, was a bad matchup for the Packers -- especially when Rollins allowed free access to Beasley on the route. Dak Prescott’s play fake to Ezekiel Elliott drew the linebackers up, which gave Beasley all the room he needed to execute his route for the reception. Much has been written and said about the Cowboys
’ running game and how to get things back on track. The coaches went with a different wrinkle and added an unbalanced line on a first down run with Ezekiel Elliott. Tyron Smith moved from left tackle to the right side, lining up next to La’el Collins. With Smith now on the outside, Clay Matthews adjusted his alignment a little further outside of Smith, making his block even more difficult. Smith tried to turn Matthews, but couldn’t get his hands inside. That allowed Matthews to escape and wrap Elliott up as he tried to turn the corner. With that result of the play, it was the only other time that we saw the Cowboys go with the unbalanced look.The Packers receivers are outstanding at running deceptive routes once inside the 10-yard line. Last week against the Bears, Randall Cobb was able to shake loose when he faked the out and turned it into a slant for a touchdown. This week, Davante Adams worked a
“slug-go” against Anthony Brown that gave him the necessary separation for Aaron Rodgers to fit the ball into his hands for a touchdown. Brown bit on the inside move by Adams and that was all he needed. Brown did the right thing by trying to cut Adams off from the inside, but even as he tried to rally on the ball, Rodgers gave him no shot to defend it.Nice job by Anthony Hitchens and DeMarcus Lawrence of getting off the ball to help on David Irving
’s initial sack of Aaron Rodgers. Irving was able to swim Corey Linsley quickly, which put Aaron Jones in a terrible position to be able to http://www.cmslamp.com/jack-ham-jersey-c-2_64.html help. Jones chooe to work to his right instead of trying to cross in front of Rodgers. With that decision, he left Irving with a straight path to Rodgers, who had no choice but to get down in the middle of the pocket and take the sack. If not for Hitchens and Lawrence, Jones might have been able to slide over and help, but he just couldn’t make that work.On the touchdown pass to Dez Bryant, it appeared from the way that the offensive line came off the ball that Prescott had a run/pass option. Prescott saw the one-on-one coverage to the outside and elected to take a shot in that direction. Instead of throwing a ball that Bryant had to high-point, he threw it flatter and to a spot where Bryant could run under it. Damarious Randall didn
’t locate the ball until it was already on Bryant’s right hand. Great job by Bryant tracking it all the way and an even better job by Prescott putting it in a spot where he could go get it.It
’s a fine line how you need to rush Aaron Rodgers, and the 33-yard pass to Martellus Bennett was a great example of that. Rodgers initially didn’t want to throw the ball to Bennett. But after seeing nothing to his left and feeling Tyrone Crawford coming from that same side, he turned his attention the other way. DeMarcus Lawrence was pushing Bryan Bulaga into Rodgers, but instead of being level with him like Crawford was, he got trapped inside. Just that little inside move gave Rodgers all the room he needed to get outside the pocket. Once outside, his eyes found Bennett working against Byron Jones. Rodgers delivered the ball over Jones and into the extended hands of Bennett as he was going to the ground. Initially, the Cowboys’ pass rush was in excellent shape -- but all it took was that inside move by Lawrence to give up a big play.I don
’t know who made the call for the Packers to go for it on fourth down on their own side of the 50, but it was a gutsy call. The flip toss off jet sweep motion is a nice wrinkle. To run it to the short side of the field made it an even more interesting call. With not much room to operate into the sideline, Aaron Jones received a http://www.steelersprosale.com/franco-harris-jerseys-c-1_47.html nice block from Jordy Nelson on Tyrone Crawford and Davante Adams was able to take care of Anthony Brown. But the key block was Lane Taylor on Jaylon Smith. Taylor was able to peel back and get just enough of Smith to allow Jones to get past the sticks and a few extra yards.
