The Dallas Cowboys, despite the lack of Tony Romo for most of the season and a lack of a solid passing game, have one of the more efficient rushing attacks in the league. They are 9th in yards per game (119.0) and T-10 in yards per attempt (4.3) which is a testament to how good the offensive line is. Defenses are not respecting the Dallas passing attack so teams are loading the box and daring them to throw. Yet the Cowboys have kept on grinding against these odds and have done well running the ball most of the year. Then they visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and got manhandled. The Buccaneers are one of the better rushing defenses in the league as they are 12th in yards allowed per game (101.0) and 3rd in yards allowed per attempt (3.6) but the Cowboys could have never expected that they would average a paltry 2.0 yards per attempt. This film will look into why they were manhandled by the Buccaneers and should the panic button be pressed.
1st Quarter
Run #1
Situation: 1st and 10 DAL 20
Description: Q1-(15:00) D. McFadden Left End to DAL 20 for No Gain (L. David)
I don’t think Rookie LG La’el Collins (#71) has a full grasp of the playbook yet and it shows on this play. This is a zone stretch left run and all of the Cowboys linemen are going to their left with their first step except for Collins. Collins instead steps as if he was doing a combo block with C Travis Frederick (#72) on DT Akeem Spence (#97). Because Frederick is zone blocking, he pushes Spence into Collins and Collins loses his balance. Collins stumbles into WILL Lavonte David (#54) who pushes him into the ground and is free to tackle McFadden for no gain. If Collins’ does his assignment right, RB Darren McFadden (#20) has a giant hole to run though as LT Tyron Smith (#77) has DE Howard Jones (#95) pinned to the inside and TE Jason Witten (#82) has SS Chris Conte (#23) sealed to the outside.
Run #2
Situation: 1st and 10 DAL 48
Description: Q1-(10:15) D. McFadden Right Guards to TB 45 for 7 Yards (B. McDougald)
This is tied for the biggest gain the Cowboys will get on one run all game and it wasn’t well blocked across the board. The play is an RB lead draw and RT Doug Free (#68) sets up like he is expecting DE William Gholston (#92) to try to bull rush him. Instead, Gholston stunts to the inside and beats Free. Free is forced to push him into the backfield and hope that McFadden (#20) can dodge by him. McFadden does this and bounces the run away from the intended hole between Collins (#71) and Smith (#77). Lucky for McFadden, David (#54) has taken himself out of the play and McFadden is in the open field. No one was responsible for blocking FS Brad McDougald (#30) and if McFadden needs to make a man miss if he wants to break this for a big gain.
Run #3
Situation: 2nd and 3 TB 45
Description: Q1-(9:41) D. McFadden Up the Middle to TB 43 for 2 Yards (G. Johnson)
There are two blocks that failed on this RB dive left. The first block is the combo block of Collins (#71) and Smith (#77). In an ideal world, DT Henry Melton (#90) would be pushed onto Smith and Collins would slip off the block and pick up MLB Kwon Alexander (#58), Instead, Melton only gives up a yard or two and Collins cannot slip off the block. Alexander slips past Collins and is able to get in on the tackle. The second block is the block of TE James Hanna (#84) on DE George Johnson (#94). Hanna’s responsibility is a cutoff block and he does get into position against Johnson. Hanna is too high though and Johnson drives through Hanna’s chest, pushing him into the backfield. To compound this mistake, Hanna gives up an inside lane and Johnson rips past him to make the tackle.
Run #4
Situation: 3rd and 1 TB 43
Description: Q1-(9:03) D. McFadden Left Guard to TB 41 for 2 Yards (L. David, A. Spence)
The blocking is good enough to pick up the first down, but there are still concerns when watching the film. The first concern is the block of RG Zach Martin (#70) on David (#54). After chipping Melton (#90), Martin works his way up to David at the second level. David has a good read on the play though and beats Martin to the play side. Martin cannot get control of David and David is able to scrape across the formation to make the tackle. The second concern is the combo block of Frederick (#72) and Collins (#71). The combo block initially stops Spence (#97) in his tracks and Collins is able to to slip off the block and push Alexander (#58) out of the play. Frederick though loses control of Spence though and Spence throws Frederick into the hole. This clogs up the play and limits the gain of McFadden (#20).
Run #5
Situation: 2nd and 8 TB 39
Description: Q1-(7:41) D. McFadden Up the Middle to TB 37 for 2 Yards (G. Johnson, L. David)
There are multiple blocks on the belly iso run that limits the gain on this play. The first block is the iso block of FB Tyler Clutts (#44) on SAM Danny Lansanah (#51). Lansanah reads the run well and meets Clutts in the hole. Clutts gets stopped in his tracks and cannot get any movement on Lansanah, taking away the primary hole for McFadden (#20) to run through. McFadden cuts it back to his right and he runs into two problems here. The first is that the combo block of Free (#68) and Martin (#70) fell apart at the end. The initial movement of Martin and Free against DT Gerald McCoy (#93) is solid as they get McCoy onto Free. It all falls apart though when Martin tries to fall off the block as Martin fails to cut off David and McCoy gets inside leverage on Free. The second problem is the number of defenders in the box. The Buccaneers have seven defenders in the box while the Cowboys only have six blockers. One of the defenders is going to be unblocked and the Cowboys let Johnson (#94) come off the edge unblocked. If McFadden is able to hit the hole he is intended to, Johnson has no chance to tackle in. But since McFadden cuts it back due to the poor block by Clutts, Johnson is able to chase down McFadden from the backside.
Run #6
Situation: 2nd and 1 TB 21
Description: Q1-(5:41) D. McFadden Right Guard to TB 16 for 5 Yards (A. Verner, C. Conte)
This is well blocked by the offensive line, but there are two blocks by non-offensive linemen that were poor. The first is the block of Witten (#82) on Johnson (#94). Witten has the cutback block on Johnson, but Witten is never able to set himself up to take on Johnson and gets caught with a narrow base. Johnson gets underneath Witten and drives him backwards similar to what he did against Hanna earlier in the game. The Cowboys get lucky though as Johnson doesn’t see McFadden (#20) cutting back underneath him and isn’t able to make a play on the ball carrier. The second poor block is WR Cole Beasley (#11) against CB Alterraun Verner (#21). Verner has inside leverage on Beasley based on alignment and Beasley is not able to cut Verner off as he pursues McFadden. Beasley instead tries to push Verner past the play, but McFadden cuts back right into Verner who makes the tackle.
For the 2nd Quarter, click on the next page.