Fixing Americas Team 2.0

Fixing America’s Team

Part 2

The Cowboys have so much to fix it is taking a whole series to get it done.

Penalties

The Cowboys are flagged 7.1 times a game good for fifth most in the league. The most guilty offenders are Demarcus Ware and Doug Free with 10 a piece. They also gave their opponents 2 extra first downs a game to play with. The Cowboys are penalized for 51 yards per contest with their opponents are flagged for a league low 40 yards per contest.

The Cowboys play in so many close games that these extra first downs lead to losses. Remember the Ware lining up in the neutral zone penalty against the Giants that prolonged a fourth quarter drive. Penalties destroy drives and display a lack of discipline. One bright note is that Mike Jenkins who was penalized nine time a year ago was not penalized this season.

During training camp the Jason Garrett had the team in pads and talked about how much more disciplined the team would be. The Cowboys for the past few years have been toward the top of the list as far as penalties are concerned. Penalties are a result of bad positioning, focus, poor conditioning, and having a lack of talent to make the necessary plays without doing something illegal to prevent the other team from making plays. This is on the coaching staff and management to during the off-season to upgrade the roster, better condition and making harsh penalties for causing penalties. There needs to be a culture shift in this regard if there are to be any positive changes in this direction. This is not to take the players out of accountability for their lack of focus, and conditioning but to ensure that continued focus is there for four quarters of play.

Coaching

If rumors serve correct they are working toward fixing this area. It appears like Hudson Houck and Dave Campo will either be put in different capacities or let go. Edit: Dave Campo is gone.

Houck’s offensive line failed to keep Romo up right as he was sacked on 6.4% of offensive plays. This was eighteenth in the league, and Romo was among the leagues best in avoiding sacks. Houck was apart of the Super Bowl winning Cowboys of the 90’s, and is respected around the league, but sometimes a change can be necessary. Campo’s secondary often time looked lost and had no idea where they were supposed to be.

In his first season has a full time play caller Jason Garrett needs to improve as well. His late game handling of the New England, Arizona and Giants game were inexcusable. There is no reason for a team to ice their own kicker. During the Giant game everyone in the nation watched as 20-30 seconds ticked off the clock on the Giants game winning drive as a timeout was not called and Jerry Jones yelling “call the timeout, call time out.” The New England game he neutered Tony Romo by calling three running plays and punting the ball to allow Brady the opportunity for end of game heroics. This type of game management Garrett has to take and learn from himself, and make sure he fixes it. The only other opportunity to fix this is firing him, which will not happen this offseason.