Decoding Garrett: Game 9 at New York Giants - Videos

Video Breakdowns:

Finally, some decent plays to examine and some optimism about the direction of this football team. Let's a) enjoy it while it lasts and b) hope it lasts more than 1 week. Check out all of the wonderful pass from run posture moments that so excited this football nerd.

Thanks, Brian at DC Fanatic.com for his help in getting the videos posted.

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The Play:Play #6 - 1Q 1/10/42 - Deep to Dez - +45

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What Happened: This is what this offense can be when it clicks. Here is "12" personnel, with Witten back in the backfield as a possible lead blocker. What putting Witten back there also does is it does not allow the defense to assign a man to him like if he was at the line of scrimmage where the "Sam" LB would likely be assigned to him. But, if he is in the backfield, he can release to either side or be a lead blocker, so a defense would like to use some FB concepts, but if they did, Witten would torch them. So, they assign a safety to him - 26 - Antrel Rolle. Watch Rolle in presnap, because 24- Thomas is counting on some help over the top from Rolle, but Rolle is too close to the line of scrimmage to help on a deep route. The only place where Rolle could assist is if Dez has a slant, hook, or dig route called. The Cowboys scheme here is nice. Watch Rolle at the snap where he takes one step forward to deal with a run. Then, Witten runs a shallow route to try to hold him, too. And now it is obvious on any given situation that the Cowboys are trying to find Dez isolated against 1 defender. If they find it, that is where they are going with the football. 26-Rolle is in no shape to help on the play and 24-Thomas is frustrated by that as you can see he cannot deal with him alone. A better throw is a Touchdown, but I am nitpicking. A very key 45 yard gain on a play that set the tone for these "run" set ups for the Cowboys all day. Ultimate pick your poison with Miles on one side and Dez on the other. If you dedicate double teams to both of them, then the Cowboys just run the ball. Why is this so hard to execute all season?



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The Play:Play #14 - 2Q 1/10/44 - Down the seam to Bennett +32



What Happened: "13" personnel (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR). The routes are no different really than you might run with 3 WR. But, you do it here for those same run/pass conflict scenarios. If the Giants see this package and load up with run stoppers and crowd the box, you pass. If they play more to respect the pass, then you pound the rock with 8 OL. Again, this is the 2009 offense. Here, you see Austin and Witten on one side, so you know the Giants are shading the coverage to that side. Then, Bennett and 86-Chandler are tight to Colombo on the other side. Look at the Giants in pre-snap. 8 in the box, with 2 more leaning that way and a single high safety that is watching Austin like a hawk. Now, 23 - Corey Webster is the only DB to the side of Bennett and Chandler. Chandler runs a sideline wheel route and keeps Webster on the numbers long enough for Bennett to run right down the seam. Nice easy throw, with Bennett as wide open as he is in warmups. Let me stress this again. If you can keep the defense off balance in pre-snap and feed off the declaration of the opponent.

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The Play:Play #26 - "S11" - 3Q 3/10/29 - Screen to Felix +71 TD



What Happened: Here is one of the "S11" snaps from the game in a 3rd and long situation. On 3rd and 10, the Giants are looking at all of the Cowboys targets and are going to play with a safety over each pair with their Dime Personnel. That means 3 DBs on the side of Miles and Witten (up top), and 3 DBs on the top of Miles and Dez. That leaves 5 defenders to get to Kitna and account for Felix. Oh, yes, Felix. Forgot about Felix. The Cowboys set this up wonderfully by selling a screen to the right side and then the screen to the left. Watch the middle of the OL release the pass rushers to Kitna and then get to the left flat to form a convoy. By the time the Giants see what happened, Felix has put it in overdrive. I am pretty sure that the Giants wanted their safety 26-Rolle to help in coverage and watch Felix, but that is asking too much. Troy Aikman thinks maybe Tuck should have Felix, but that seems like a rather unlikely matchup to me. Regardless, Felix does still appear to have his burst.

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The Play:Play #28 - 3Q - "21" - 2/10/15 - WR screen to Dez Bryant +46



What Happened: "21" personnel (which is generally called "regular") has the Giants walking a 8th man up (26-Rolle, again) into the box to deal with the run. The Cowboys try this on 2nd Down, and Corey Webster is pressing Dez at the snap. This is worth noting because the first thing teams want to do against a young WR is press him to see how he is able to get off the line of scrimmage. Also, this call would not work against "Off and Soft" coverage as the concept is based on Colombo picking off the one tight defender and getting Dez into space. Once that happens, Gurode gets up on Rolle who has now changed directions 3 times on the play, and Dez is off to the races. Also, watch the offensive line at the snap, as Leonard Davis is pulling to the left and the rest of the line and Barber are showing a power run left. It appears to me this is meant to look like another run/pass option from the QB like we saw against Houston on the Roy Williams long TD catch. But, in reality, it is just the play design to hold the linebackers on the inside. Colombo and Gurode tell us the play is a straight pass.

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The Play:Play #50 - 4Q 3/10/45 - Barber in "22" for 18 off right tackle



What Happened:And then this, the final snap of the game. 2009 in one play. "22" personnel, pulling left guard to the right and it is down, down, and around for 18 yards. Witten and Bennett block down, Kosier comes around and Gronkowski gets the contain man on the flank. This is the bread and butter play from last season that this team has not been able to execute at all in 2010. I wish I could explain it. They performed as a unit so poorly for 8 games and then magically on Sunday, they start to resemble the OL and offense that we know they can be. I don't have any great theories for you. They got back to doing what they were doing instead of playing a passive game. They are back to getting after it.

Let's hope this continues.

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Tomorrow: Targets and Sacks for Week 8

Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at
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