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Media access to the Cowboys and all NFL teams has changed greatly from the days when Pete Rozelle ran the league and Tex Schramm ruled Valley Ranch. We now have situations like this week, when it took three days for reporters to learn Jason Garrett’s thinking near the Denver goal line, and when there was a 24-hour period from late Monday to late Tuesday when the local populace wondered if Tony Romo had lost track of downs.

In the case of Garrett, he’s made available once a week. That’s actually a 100 percent improvement over the Parcells rules, which treated all assistants as if hidden in a monastery. Romo’s designated day to address the media is Wednesday. When local media assumed for the better part of a day that Romo went into the final snap thinking it was third down, the Cowboys were compelled to issue a statement to the contrary.

NFL media policies are meant to minimize negative spin. Sometimes, they simply allow it to fester.

Michael Crabtree from Carter High and Texas Tech is finally a 49er. He met the Bay Area media on Wednesday and said he was humbled. I’ll say. His holdout threatened to kill the ‘09 season for him (Nov. 17 is the signing deadline for playing this season), and the Crabtree camp had sent signals that he was willing to go back next year’s draft.

Meanwhile, the 49ers are off to a surprising start in a weak division. No agent would have suggested this course of action. Here’s the best look inside the situation that I’ve seen. (Written by ESPN.com’s Elizabeth Merrill, who previously covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star.) Maybe this will all look smart years from now. Maybe not.

Looks who’s 2-0-0 in the NHL fresh off a shutout of the Stanley Cup champions in Pittsburgh – Dave Tippett’s woebegone Coyotes! In Dallas, Stars players have said Marc Crawford’s practices are tougher than Tippett’s. In Phoenix, Tippett is referred to as a no-nonsense coach. (Gretzky wasn’t?) While not looking for the Pacific Division to look like this for long (Phoenix at the top, San Jose near the bottom), it’ll be interesting to keep on eye on Tippett’s boys. They play in Buffalo tonight.

Cliff Lee won the first game of baseball’s post-season with a dominating performance. CC Sabathia won the second. Whose baseball fans should feel the worst this morning?

DISCLAIMER: This is not for everyone. It may not be for you. This is a statistical study of the Cowboys offense with lots of numbers that may make your head tired if you are not up to it. Read it only if it is something that is of interest to you.

Well, I know the hurt is still there for many fans of the Cowboys, but just know as you read this that the Cowboys coaching staff has already digested the Giants film and today will put the finishing touches on the Panthers’ game plan.

The Giants game will be remembered by many of us as a failure, but success versus failure in the National Football League sometimes comes down to a simple field goal attempt with no time left on the clock after 3 hours of two teams killing each-other.  The basic truth is this:  In every game, there is good to consider and bad to avoid.  And Sunday night, the Cowboys did some wonderful things.  But, it only takes one untimely lapse in judgement from either your QB or your Offensive Coordinator to get you beat.  That is the point of this Tuesday Series here at Inside Corner.  To examine where they got it right, and where they got it wrong during each Cowboys game.

You likely do not require this breakdown to realize a few things: 1) The passing game, regardless of personnel package, has not looked that bad since Brad Johnson was working his magic. and 2) When running the ball, it worked in pretty much every look. But “22″, was very impressive. 58 snaps, and 28 snaps (48%) included at least 2 Tight Ends – so it wasn’t straight “12″, but they continue to use Witten and Bennett as big parts of what they do.

Let’s visit about “22″ this week. This week, the Cowboys used it more than any other package in their base offense (S11 is the standard 2-minute offense and therefore will generally always have the highest numbers).

“22″ means that the Cowboys deploy 2 Running Backs (Barber or Jones, and the FB Deon Anderson) and both tight ends (80 and 82). This obviously is a power running set that allows you to do a number of things andmakes the opponent second guess what it puts out there. If they leave their standard defense out there, there is a chance that you can get a hat on a hat in the running game and roll through some big plays. 10 Run plays out of the “22″ and the Cowboys rolled up 121 yards. Barber broke a 25 yarder, andFelix Jones busted a 56 yard run, both out of this set.

Totals by Personnel Groups:

Table Tutorial

Definition of the Personnel Groups, click here .

“Other” this week represented 4 snaps. Early in the game, Garrett rolled out “31″ on a 2nd down and 1 yard to go with Choice, Jones, and Barber all on the field at the same time. “S01″ was run twice – this is a shotgun set with 0 RBs and 1 TE (so all 4 active WRs were on the field) – that yielded 2 plays for 20 yards which was the 20 yard catch to Austin down the middle. The final new personnel look Garrett used on Sunday night was 1 snap out of a “S21″ – Shotgun with Barber, Jones, Witten, and 2 WRs. This was on a key 3rd and 8 in the 4th Quarter where Romo hit Witten for 13 yards near midfield. Look for more out of this look at certain times down the road because it really stretches the defense to account for 28, 24, and82 underneath.

Big Plays:

1st Q – 3/10/D24 – In “S11″, Pass to Crayton, Interception by Johnson for Touchdown
3rd Q – 1/10/N47 – In “21″, Pass to Hurd, Interception by Phillips
3rd Q – 1/10/D16 – In “22″, Run to Jones, 56 yards
4th Q – 2/6/N41 – In “S11″, Run draw to Barber, 34 yards

Video Breakdowns:

Last week, we got some great feedback on our video breakdowns. Once again, I want to thank Brian at DC Fanatic.com and I greatly appreciate his technical abilities and willingness to spend his own time in putting this stuff on video for us to digest. Please go visit him when you can.

Also, another Cowboys fan, Shawn in Florida, deserves recognition for compiling some various numbers over the years (and emailing me with better Cowboys observations than most) and I want to thank him before we go on. Anyway, here we go – and this week, we need to look at some of the bad:

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The Play:1st Q – 3/10/D24 – In “S11″, Pass to Crayton, Interception by Johnson for Touchdown

What Happened:S11 on 3rd and Long. Witten and Austin to Romo’s left; Williams and Crayton on Romo’s Right with Crayton in the slot. Chances are, the Cowboys had one thing called in the huddle, and then when the Giants have 7 guys on the line in pre-snap, Romo audibles to something a bit more safe. Then, the Giants appear to counter his audible with one of their own, as Antonio Pierce calls of the blitz (which obviously is Man coverage) andswitches the Giants to a zone underneath look. Check Mate. Romo did not have time to change the play a 3rd time, so he runs what they called. At this time, he must concede the play and throw it out of bounds and take a punt. He does not. He tries to make a perfect throw, and unless it is 100% perfect, it is getting picked. Punts are good. Picks are bad. Especially bad if it is returned for a Touchdown because you did this at your own 24 yard line. Very, very poor.

Some have asked me if he should have taken Roy on the slant underneath, but I think Pierce blows that up, too. I think the safe play is the punt at this spot on the field.

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The Play:3rd Q – 1/10/N47 – In “21″, Pass to Hurd, Interception by Phillips

What Happened: Remember last week, the Cowboys ran “21″ personnel 11 times and ran out of it 10 times. I was sure that Garrett had a play-action ambush planned out of this look, and here it was. But, it backfired badly. The Cowboys lead here 24-20 late in the 3rd Quarter. The biggest issue here is it is 1st and 10 and the Cowboys were running the football with ease. Ending this drive in the end-zone may put the game away, so you understand the desire to go for the “Kill shot”.

The premise of the play is very simple. Play fake to Barber and go over the top to Hurd. If the Giants are playing like a team that has been getting gashed on the ground (The Cowboys had just run for 84 yards in the last drive!), then they are expected to crash the line of scrimmage with the safeties and linebackers. Why was Kenny Phillips playing the deepest pre-snap safety anyone has ever seen? Why was he expecting this play on 1st and 10 when the Cowboys hadn’t take a deep shot all night? Was it too obvious that the call was coming? Did they steal a sign? I have no idea.

But, Tony has to see his key. On a deep pass like this, the key is the deep safety. Brian added some audio here that is very telling and also, the Ed Reed interception from last winter. Good football X’s and O’s. And a big tip of the hat to Bill Sheridan, the Giants new Defensive Coordinator. Sometimes, a great idea doesn’t work. Here it was.

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The Play: 1st Q – 1/10/N40 – “22″ personnel – Barber run for 25 yards

What Happened: This video is joined by animation by Brian! Sunday night, as the Cowboys were on their 2nd drive, it became clear that they were running the same play on the Barber 25 yard run and then 2 plays later on the touchdown run. Check it out. “22″ – with Bennett and Witten on the right showing a pass look. Then, in pre snap, Bennett crosses Witten back towards Colombo. It looks like the play is designed to either go Gurode and Davis in the “A” gap, or between Davis and Colombo in the “B” gap, with Barber having the liberty to cut back if the Giants over-pursue.

The first play, he does sense the Giants LBs over ran the play (Watch #52 Boley, the WLB go too far to his left, and #65 Gurode bulldoze him further out of position), so he headed back to Kosier/Adams. Kosier gets a good seal, and Barber is off. On the Touchdown, Barber just follows Big Len. Same play, run twice in 3 snaps, and run very well.

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The Play: 2/10/D16 – “22″ personnel, Felix runs for 56 yards

What Happened:Another “22″ look, with Bennett off Right Tackle, and Witten in motion across to the left. Watch Witten’s motion taking one safety out of the run defense, and now, the LBs sense that the play is going to the Cowboys strong side (right). Once again, #52 Boley gets caught up in the wash, and when Felix cuts back, Deon Anderson doesn’t even have anyone to block. Then, Felix can easily get up on the Safety Phillips who takes a bad angle and is lost in space against someone of Jones’ speed. 2 snaps later, they ran this same play with Jones, and it burst for another 15 yards.

The “22″ is interesting, because it seems like you always have plenty of blockers, and the RBs can run to daylight. I would expect that this is another way to utilize 2 TEs down the road.

Target Distribution:

This will demonstrate why pregame talk and pregame articles are just guesses. I looked closely at this matchup, and it seemed obvious that they Cowboys should have great success going to wide outs because the Giants have horrid healthy in their secondary. Without Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery, and withboth safeties being gimpy, it would seem that Williams, Crayton, and friends should be able to make some big plays, right?

Wow. 5-18 to Crayton, Williams, Hurd, Austin, and Bennett. Basically, anyone downfield not named Witten had almost no success on Sunday night. And, against a depleted Giants secondary on a night where the Giants were unable to get to Romo with pass rush? Amazing. Reminds you of the Seattle playoff game when the Seahawks pulled Pete Hunter out of a Dallas mortgage office and the Cowboys could not take advantage of that, either. And, let’s not forget that Romo to Witten caused the “Heel INT” on Sunday night, so that wasn’t perfect either.

Targets – Week 2 vs NYG

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Season Target Distribution To Date:

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3rd Down Target Distribution:

3rd down targets are key to see what Romo does on a “make-or-break” down. Who does he trust? Who gets open when they need it? 15 3rd down throws for Romo this season – with success (either a first down or a touchdown) on just 5 of them. Of those 5, 4 go to Jason Witten. The fifth success was a dump off to Tashard Choice for 3 yards. And on Sunday, Roy Williams did not even get a ball thrown his way on 3rd down. Hmmm.

3RD Down Targets – Week 2 – NYG

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3rd Down Targets – Season Totals

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SACKS

Here, we keep track of sacks all season. So far, pass protection has not been an issue at all. But, trust me, this is a long season. we will need this chart, too.

Anyway, we will continue to update this chart as the season goes on:

Table Tutorial

DISCLAIMER: This is not for everyone. It may not be for you. This is a statistical study of the Cowboys offense with lots of numbers that may make your head tired if you are not up to it. Read it only if it is something that is of interest to you. If not, see you tomorrow.

Sunday in Tampa, the Cowboys offense put up a rare display. 462 yards is amazing. 52 plays is rare. 462 yards in 52 plays so off the charts silly that we might be wasting our time to read any meaning into it.

How crazy is 52 plays for 462 yards? 8.9 yards per play. You may never see that again, so save the tape.

Last year, the Cowboys had 2 games of more than 462 yards. Week 1 at Cleveland (488 yards in 63 snaps = 7.74 yards per play) and Week 3 at Green Bay (481 yards in 66 snaps = 7.29 per play). And, there was only 1 game in 2008 of fewer than 55 plays, which was the Win at Washington when they had 53 plays. So, yes, 52 is uncommonly few – and 462 yards is really impressive.

24 run plays/28 pass plays for the Cowboys (54% pass), and on 25 1st downs, the Cowboys ran the ball 15 times.

Now, what about my summer theories about the Cowboys stressing Multiple TE’s? I think I wrote about it 10 times, and it must have been obvious, because Jason Garrett and the Boys seem to be on the same page. In 52 snaps, 30 plays had multiple TEs, with straight “12″ personnel being the most-used package of the afternoon. It is a simple question of having either Martellus Bennett or Deon Anderson on the field. I think it a generally an easy choice.

Perhaps most shocking of those 12 plays they played in “12″ is that they opted to pass 11 times. I think this is baiting future opponents, because I expect this will be close to a 50/50 split from this look during the year. Not sure if it will be the Giants, but I bet a future opponent is going to be thinking pass (maybe even bring in another DB) and the Cowboys will start using that 7 man Offensive Line to push people around in front of Barber. On the other hand, Romo threw 11 passes from this set for 194 yards (17.6 per att!!!) so maybe they can do whatever they want – which was my dream this summer in the first place.

Totals by Personnel Groups:

Table Tutorial

Definition of the Personnel Groups, click here .

A few more things about Jason Garrett’s personnel packages: Let’s Define “Other” from the chart above; This week, he ran 3 groups 1 time each. On the 2nd play of the game, he ran out shotgun with 0 RBs, 1 TE, and 4 WRs = “S01″; Then, he had the Cowboys version of the “Wildcat” for 1 play, and in the 2nd half, he had a 3rd down package “S20″ which featured 2 RBs, 0 TEs, and 3 WRs. None of them were productive, other than the idea that future opponents will now have to study and consider each of those looks.

The other thing that I have learned in these last few years of my psychotic studying of Garrett’s trends is that he never falls into a pattern. He substitutes EVERY play (other than the 2 minute drill). Trust me, he does not have the same personnel Group on the field for 2 straight plays except on rare occasions. On Sunday, it took 45 plays for the Cowboys to run consecutive plays in their base offense with the same look. And, you could easily say that by that point of the game (late 4th Quarter) the Cowboys had iced away the contest and were merely trying to kill the clock.

Big Plays:

#1 – 4th Q – 2/9/D20 – IN “12″, Pass to Crayton, 80 yards for Touchdown
#2 – 3rd Q – 2/10/D34 – In “S12″, Pass to Williams, 66 yards for Touchdown
#3 – 4th Q – 1/10/D36 – In “12″, Pass to Crayton, 44 yards for First Down
#4 – 2nd Q – 1/10/T42 – In “S11″, Pass to Austin, 42 yards for Touchdown

So, 4 huge plays, and 3 come with some variation of “12″. It is clear that match-ups cause confusion on defense. Confusion leads to open receivers. And open receivers lead to yards in bunches.

I am very excited to add video to my breakdowns this year, courtesy of Brian at DC Fanatic.com and I greatly appreciate his technical abilities and willingness to assist in trying to break this stuff down. Please go visit him when you can.

Let’s look at a few plays a bit closer to see what they are doing. I encourage you when you check out the videos to pause it prior to the snap to observe the formation/personnel:

66 Yard TD to Roy Williams:

Here, we have Shotgun “12″. Bennett is wide left, Witten is wide right. Tampa Bay puts corners on both Cowboys Tight Ends, I assume because they are lined up as the “widest receivers”. Meanwhile, Crayton is in the slot by Witten on the right, Williams is in the slot on the left. In pre snap, Williams comes in motion over to the right side by Crayton, and now you have 2 “speed” WRs in the right slot, with nothing but LBs and Safeties to contend with. 82 and 80 run 10 yard routes and stop. Crayton drags across the field 5 yards downfield, and Williams runs right down the seam. You can see early on that Ronde Barber (#20 – who is lined up with Witten) sees this is very bad and tries to go help on Williams, but it is too late. Candy from babies here, and you can bet the Giants are really trying to figure out what they will do differently.

44-yard to Crayton:

Also, in “12″, but with Romo under center. TEs 80 and 82 are lined up tight with the tackles and will assist in pass protection (Martellus does a great job keeping a blitzing LB off Romo). Barber is deep behind Romo, and each WR is lined up rather close to the OL. I have to think in the presnap, TB is looking run here. This is the beauty of “12″. What do you do if you are a safety and you see a 7 man OL with Barber deep? You have to be tempted to sneak up. And that is where play action can kill you. Romo offers a play action fake to Barber who heads to the right flat. Once the 6-man rush doesn’t get there (with a 7th man hitting Romo as he throws) the Bucs are in trouble if either Crayton or Williams can get open. Crayton does and it is an easy 44 yards.

80 Yard TD to Crayton

Crayton Wide Right, Witten Slot Right, Williams Slot Left, Bennett Wide Left. “12″ with Felix Jones deep. The risk here is having enough guys to protect and giving Romo a chance to get the pass off. 5 OL + Felix trying to keep 5 rushers of Romo was not an easy task, but Romo got the pass away. Once the safety took a step to Witten in the flat, Crayton was gone. Again, when it works, it looks so easy.

Austin 42 yard TD

Boys are in their base 2 minute offense, “S11″. This has Barber and Witten staying in to protect in a 7 man protection scheme. Austin to the far right, Williams the far left, and Crayton in the slot on the left. Elbert Mack is pressing Austin at the line, and honestly, it looks like reasonable coverage to me. But a nice throw and an amazing catch and run by Austin gets the ball in the end zone.

And then the play that I was so excited about yesterday:

Barber’s 6 yard TD Run

From Yesterday’s Game Notes :

The Cowboys are in “13″ personnel (1 RB, 3 TEs) and are at the 6 yardline. 2 TEs (82, 80) are on the offensive right. John Phillips (88) is lined up as a FB offset to the right. Tampa sees this huge overload and they adjust the defense accordingly. Then, at the snap, Phillips heads right behind Witten to the right. At the same moment, the Left Guard (Kosier – 63) pulls to the right edge. Every single Cowboy is selling that this play is going to the right. Watch the Tampa Linebackers and safeties at the snap – they are following their keys. Key on the lead blocker. Key on the pulling guard. Almost everyone is running towards that edge where the Cowboys are all deployed. One problem. Romo flips it to Barber who heads to the Left. He doesn’t follow any of his blockers. And the play is so well executed that Barber is to the 1 before he has to do anything but stroll into the endzone. Roy Williams helped at the end with a block, but it was a total shock to the defense. I love it. Genius stuff. You have to go back and watch that play if you get the chance.

Brian put a key piece of audio on here that has Patrick Crayton explaining that the offense did not know any of this! Funny stuff.

Target Distribution:

I think it is important to find out where Romo is going with the ball every week. One practical application is just to help you win debates with your buddy. When the topic turns to “Who is the Cowboys #1 WR?”, you can merely show them (I assume the evidence will bear itself out again) that the #1 target is not a WR at all. It is Jason Witten. In the last 33 games (32 of which Terrell Owens was a Cowboy), Witten has 32 more catches than any other player (182 for Witten, 150 for Owens) and only 239 fewer yards than Owens. If you divide that by the 32 games, that means Owens accounted for less than 8 more yards per game than Jason Witten. Losing Owens doesn’t mean they don’t have a #1 receiver. It simply means they have a TE as a #1 WR.

Sunday, Jason Witten caught 5 passes. 4 went for 1st downs, and the 5th pass was on 1st and 10 when Witten only gained 9 yards. He remains money.

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3rd Down Target Distribution:

And to further pound home the point of Witten’s dominance, you must study 3rd down targets. After 1 game, there is no sample size worth noting. But, watch during the season to see that #9 trusts #82 on the most important down. This is just the start.

Table Tutorial

SACKS

All season long, I want to focus on Cowboys pass protection (since it was such an issue last year in December). So, this chart may help us assign blame on sacks and see who is leaking. The trouble is, some sacks are tough to tell who blew it. For instance, the Ronde Barber sack on Sunday during the 1st drive has me wondering if that was just a case of a corner blitzer coming free and Romo has to see it or he is dead. Sometimes, on a blitz like that, the defense outsmarted you.

UPDATE: I talked with 2 people in the know this morning, and both tell me Martellus had his right assignment on the blitz. Both guys told me that the credit goes to Tampa DC Jim Bates for calling a perfect blitz on a play the Cowboys were running to the left. The blindside blitz from the right was just the right call. Blame? Maybe Romo, maybe nobody.

Anyway, we will continue to update this chart as the season goes on:

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More Game Highlights