Earl Stevens
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Long post right back at ya
"I'm not sure about Moore. It's still Garrett's offense which is what people are tending to forget."
Totally agree and that was what I said from day one. But we have already seen him attempt to make some of the changes I've longed for: more motion, stopping the predictable sets, spread out things and then run so Zeke has space, Dak running more, use of more pick/rub plays, etc. We have also heard about throwing down field more. That one we need to wait and see on, but a lot of rumors said that was on Dak a little too so we'll see what happens. As far as Moore goes he was IMO a failure last year (first year so doesn't mean he couldn't improve) as a QB coach. But maybe this is more his thing. I've gone from shaking my head at the decision, to wait and see, to now being a little excited to watching how he does. Maybe being a fan is getting the best of me or maybe I just like what I hear.
"The coaches need to make decisions easier for Dak when he drops back the same way McVay makes it for Goff so he isn't getting sacked 60 times behind a pretty solid Oline. "
That's the pre-snap movement and Kitna's day to day coaching with Dak. Dak struggled reading the defenses too often and that was a root cause of his not finding open guys from time to time. Part of that was the team making it hard on him with no motion and predictability and part was Dak just not doing it for whatever reason. Hopefully he can learn with a good teacher. I think using Pollard and Austin and Cobb and Zeke in space and more slants and less curls will help too. You need to give Dak some wide open options that can turn short passes into big plays. This will not only open up the offense and make the defense not be able to just sit on all our routes will little worry about giving up big plays but will also give him options to come back to after he checks out the big play options that can still net us a first down. The OL also needs to be better in Pass protection. I know you don't like to hear this but they were poor last year in pass protection.
"Garrett's offense makes things not only tougher on the QB, but everyone else as well. He's asking Zeke to constantly run straight into 8 man boxes. Receivers are constantly asked to get open on their own in isolation and are rarely ever schemed open. There are several plays each game where every Cowboy WR runs a comeback route and the defense just sits on it and people expect the QB and his WRs to just make something out of nothing."
Again, all of those changes have already been showing themselves in OTAs. How much have we already heard about running out a 10 set in the red zone. The better the OL, the more time to throw downfield and Dak needs to learn to shift in the pocket and keep looking downfield as compared to abrupt movements that impact his ability to keep his eyes downfield and his technique. Kitna has already talked about this. I think Dak is about as willing a student as there is in the league and he will take the constructive coaching and get better.
I absolutely think we will see a more effective PAP game this year like we did in 2016. That comes from a dominant run game and also from having receivers that can get open. You keep stressing "Garrett's Offense" and that's half right but our receivers couldn't get open for shit the last 2 years and that wasn't all on the Offense. Once Cooper came to down everything changed and the Offense didn't look so horrible any more. Gallup will be better and Cobb will help. Our WRs were just too slow. They didn't scare anyone and defense never feared getting beat deep so they moved up the safeties and clogged the middle of the field against the run and the pass. That changes this year and honestly I hope we see as much of Jarwin in the passing game as we do Witten. I love the guy but he just can't run. I play him on 3rd and medium and let him do what it is he is a legend at and in 3rd and long we need to get Jarwin out there instead some. I think we may see that stale old Offense do a lot better this year with more speed and creativity and less predictability with our sets and I'm sure just like Linehan did, Moore will put his stamp on it and Moore's won't make a boring, safe Offense even more so. I think he will add some excitement and electricity.
I want to be optimistic about what has been happening in OTAs, but you can't read much into OTAs. Remember it was this time last year we heard about the "Dak friendly offense" and how everybody looked good in OTAs and training camp. None of that stuff means anything until the games matter. The first game of the season our offense looked absolutely terrible and it kicked off a horrible stretch of games of bad offensive play. Anything that has been said by coaches(and Jerry and Stephen) is just lip service and anything happening in OTAs doesn't mean much at this point. I wanna see what Kellen Moore does in actual games that matter. What he does when the defense is showing a specific look. What he does when the offense is struggling to put points on the board. What kind of half time adjustments he makes. What he does in situational football. I don't really care about what he's doing in OTAs. There's nothing wrong with seeing the glass half full with Kellen Moore, but at the end of the day, it's still Garrett's concepts and that bothers me.
