Football 301: Targets and Sacks - Week 15

The Best Day of the Dallas Cowboys Year? Quite Possible. Let's check out the target distribution charts and play the sack blame game for the trip to New Orleans.

Target Distribution:

Targets - Week 15 at New Orleans

Name	Targets	Catches	Yards	FD/TD/INT
Austin	13	7	139	4/1/0
Witten	8	5	44	1/0/0
Phillips	3	3	40	2/0/0
Williams	3	1	14	1/0/0
Ogletree	2	2	23	1/0/0
Jones	2	1	10	1/0/0
Crayton	1	1	25	1/0/0
Barber	1	1	11	1/0/0
Hurd	1	1	6	0/0/0
Totals	34	22	312	12/1/0

Table Tutorial

If you have been a starter for 10 games, and 5 of them were for over 100 yards, 10 different games this season you have scored touchdowns, and you broke 1100 yards with 2 weeks to play, you might be a star WR on this team. Miles Austin has broken out like you would expect a #1 pick who has a $45 million dollar contract to do. Sorry, Roy Williams, but 1 100 yard game and less than 600 yards doesn't quite impress us that much.

Season Target Distribution To Date:

Name	Targets	Catches	%	Yards	FD/TD/INT
Witten	110	81	74%	837	39/1/3
Austin	106	65	61%	1138	32/11/2
Williams	81	37	46%	592	21/6/0
Crayton	58	33	57%	507	16/4/1
Barber	27	21	77%	178	7/0/0
Bennett	27	15	55%	159	8/0/0
Choice	22	15	68%	132	7/0/0
Jones	15	12	80%	82	4/0/0
Hurd	11	7	64%	132	3/1/1
Phillips	7	4	57%	48	2/0/0
Ogletree	6	6	100%	81	4/0/0
Anderson	3	1	33%	5	0/0/
Totals	473	298	63%	3886	150/23/7

Table Tutorial

It seemed almost impossible early in the season, but by the end of the season, it is likely that Miles Austin will have more targets than Jason Witten. What a year. And, at what point do we start to look at the Ogletree catch percentage (100%) and begin to read meaning into it? And I believe that pass to Hurd in the 4th Quarter was the first ball thrown at him since the Seattle game in Week 8! After the first 4 weeks, you could make the case he was a bigger part of the offense than Austin, but that obviously has changed.



3rd Down Target Distribution:

3RD Down Targets - Week 15 - New Orleans

Name	Targets	Catches	Yards	FD/TD
Austin	4	2	45	2/0/0
Williams	3	1	14	1/0/0
Crayton	1	1	25	1/0/0
Witten	1	1	8	0/0/0
Totals	9	5	92	4/0/0

Table Tutorial

Almost 100 yards of passing on 3rd Down alone is pretty strong on the road. It is still quite obvious on 3rd Down, Witten is not as big a player as he was. He is staying in to block more and when he goes out, you can count on the opposition staying on top of him.

3rd Down Targets - Season Totals

Name	Targets	Catches	%	Yards	FD/TD/INT
Witten	29	20	69%	174	11/1/0
Austin	27	15	56%	261	9/2/0
Williams	26	9	35%	151	8/0/0
Crayton	18	11	61%	129	9/0/1
Choice	10	7	70%	60	3/0/0
Hurd	5	2	40%	63	2/0/0
Bennett	5	1	20%	15	1/0/0
Ogletree	4	4	100%	58	3/0/0
Barber	1	0	0%	0	0/0/0
Jones	1	1	100%	5	0/0/0
Phillips	1	0	0%	0	0/0/0
Totals	128	70	55%	909	46/3/2

Table Tutorial

SACKS

Sack #1 - 1/10/32 - 22 - Smith Sack #1



What Happened: 22 personnel, the Cowboys are going to run that waggle to the right to Witten, but the Saints seem to be sitting on it. Free blocks left, leaving the DE free (by design). We have seen Witten chip on him and then release in Philadelphia, but Witten sees that a chip is not needed since Grant seems to oblige Free to the left. Trouble here, Romo can find nobody open, so he has to get rid of the ball. Free is not great here, but this one is a QB-caused Sack.

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Sack #2 - 3/12/34 - S11 - Vilma Sack



What Happened: Jonathan Vilma gets this sack, but he is just cleaning up the mess. The sack happens because, as Millen points out, there aren't great options down the field - but more importantly because Andre Gurode is beaten badly in the middle of the line by 69 Anthony Hargrove. Once Hargrove wins there, Romo must step up and then Vilma cleans him up. Davis, Free, and Choice all won their blocks on the right, but the normally dependable center caused this one.

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Sack #3 - 1/10/28 - 22 - Smith Sack



What Happened: This 3rd and final sack was also in the 2nd Quarter. All 3 sacks were on 3 consecutive pass plays in the 2nd Quarter. So, credit the Saints with figuring something out, and then the Cowboys for making sure it stopped happening for the final 2.5 Quarters of the game. But, this is vintage Flozell on the edge getting beat by Will Smith. Smith is great at doing this, and Flozell hasn't allowed a sack since Green Bay, but he continues to build his lead on the rest of the OL for sacks allowed.

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The Rankings so far in Sacks Allowed among the OL: Adams - 7, Davis - 4, Gurode - 4, Colombo - 2, Free - 2, Kosier - 1.

Week	Opponent	Sack	Blame
Wk 1	Tampa	Barber	Romo awareness
Wk 3	Carolina	Davis	Adams?
Wk 3	Carolina	Beason	Felix/Colombo
Wk 4	Denver	Dumervil	Adams
Wk 4	Denver	Hill	Garrett?
Wk 4	Denver	Williams	Romo
Wk 4	Denver	Dumervil	Anderson
Wk 4	Denver	Holiday	Adams
Wk 5	Kansas City	Gilberry	Davis/Choice
Wk 7	Atlanta	DeCoud	Davis/Choice
Wk 7	Atlanta	Nicholas	Anderson
Wk 8	Seattle	Hawthorne	Colombo
Wk 8	Seattle	Hawthorne	Gurode
Wk 9	Philadelphia	Parker	Witten
Wk 9	Philadelphia	Babin	Kosier
Wk 9	Philadelphia	Jones	???
Wk 9	Philadelphia	Cole	Adams
Wk 10	Green Bay	Collins	Witten
Wk 10	Green Bay	Barnett	Gurode
Wk 10	Green Bay	Matthews	Adams
Wk 10	Green Bay	Barnett	Barber
Wk 10	Green Bay	Woodson	Adams
Wk 11	Washington	Griffin	Davis
Wk 12	Oakland	Scott	Davis
Wk 12	Oakland	Scott	Free
Wk 13	New York	Rouse	Gurode
Wk 13	New York	Sintim	Romo/Garrett
Wk 14	San Diego	Siler	Free
Wk 15	New Orleans	Smith	Romo
Wk 15	New Orleans	Vilma	Gurode
Wk 15	New Orleans	Smith	Adams

Table Tutorial

Archives:

Sacks and Targets - San Diego

Sacks and Targets - New York

Sacks and Targets - Oakland

Sacks and Targets - Washington

Sacks and Targets - Green Bay

Sacks and Targets - Philadelphia

Sacks and Targets - Seattle

Sacks and Targets - Atlanta

Sacks and Targets - Kansas City

Before Kansas City, the Sacks and Targets were part of the Football 301 posts.