Kiffin Report - Week 16 - At Washington

DATA ONLY - VACATION WEEK 

WEEK 16 At Washington

First, a reminder of what a splash play is: 

What is a splash play? Well, for purposes of this blog I believe a splash play will include the following: A sack, a pressure that forces a bad throw, and big hit on the QB, and a batted ball that may lead to an interception opportunity. Again, you can see how this leads to subjectivity, but a subjective breakdown is better than no breakdown at all, I have decided. In addition, a splash play will include tackles for loss, a big hit for a short gain, or a stop which is an open field tackle where a player is pulled down on 3rd down short of the marker because of an exceptional effort from a defender. An interception is clearly a splash play, but so is a defended pass that required a great effort. A major hit in the secondary could be a splash play, but I believe that the outcome of the play will determine that. Sorry, defensive backs, but standing over a guy who just caught a 15 yard pass because you think you hit him hard will not generally pass the test on this blog. So, stop doing it. 

I am trying to be careful about handing out too many splash plays per game. I am trying to be picky, but too extreme in either direction. When I log a splash play, I will put time of the game on the chart so that if you want to review the same game and challenge my ruling, you are welcome to do so. Also, if multiple players deserve recognition on a single play, we will try to see that as well. 

Basically, we are trying to assign a value to making plays on the defense. We don't want to just see sacks and interceptions. We want to see broader definitions of splash plays to assign credit to those who help the Cowboys get off the field in important situations. These rankings will not deduct for negative plays at this point. There are simply too many occasions where we are guessing, and for now, I want to avoid that for this particular idea.  

A splash play is a play that makes a major difference in the game. And by keeping it all season long, we will see which defenders are play makers and which are simply warm bodies. We already have our thoughts on both categories, but let's see if we can dig a bit deeper and actually have numbers to back up our claims.

SPLASHES AT WASHINGTON

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Player	Play
1-14:48	2/10/O24	Selvie	Tackle For Loss
1-9:52	2/10/D42	Selvie	QB Hit
1-6:26	1/10/D25	Hayden	Run Stuff
2-12:37	1/10/D45	Hayden	Run Stuff
2-2:36	2/8/O35	Hatcher	Run Stuff
2-1:35	1/10/D28	Heath	Heavy QB Pressure
2-0:55	3/10/D28	Heath	Interception
3-13:29	1/10/D33	Church	Big Tackle
3-9:18	2/G/D8	Carr	Pass Defended
3-1:15	2/7/D32	Selvie	Tackle For Loss
4-6:00	2/10/O22	Carter	Run Stuff
4-4:38	1/10/O38	Hayden/Selvie	Run Stuff
4-3:53	3/6/O41	Scandrick	Pass Defended

2013 SEASON TOTALS

Here are the final results for 2011 and here are the final results for 2012.

Player	Splashes
DE George Selvie	25.5
LB Sean Lee	22.5
DT Jason Hatcher	21.5
CB Brandon Carr	20.5
S Barry Church	19.5
DE DeMarcus Ware	16.5
CB Orlando Scandrick	16
LB Bruce Carter	15
DE Kyle Wilber	11
DT Nick Hayden	11
S Jeff Heath	8
DT Drake Nevis	7.5
CB Morris Claiborne	7
LB Justin Durant	5.5
DE Jarius Wynn	5
S Will Allen	3.5
DE Edgar Jones	3
DE Everette Brown	3
CB Sterling Moore	3
S JJ Wilcox	2
LB Ernie Sims	1.5
CB BW Webb	1.5
DT Marvin Austin	1
DE Caesar Rayford	1
Team Totals	231.5

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Pass Rush/Blitzing REPORT

This segment of the defensive study is simply to find out how well the Cowboys are doing at getting pressure on the opposing QB.  We have spent a good part of the offseason talking about Monte Kiffin's philosophy that, like so many of the great 4-3 schemes, is based on using blitz as a weapon, not a necessity.  If you use the blitz as an ambush weapon that is always threatened but only used at the perfect times, you can often get free runs at the QB.  If, on the other hand, you must use the blitz because your normal pressure is not getting it done, then the offense usually is waiting for you and prepared - so even 6 rushers don't accomplish much.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Play	Rushers
2-11:17	3/2/D37	Cousins to Garcon, +28	5
2-2:00	3/9/O34	Cousins to Garcon, +26	4

SACKS AND INTERCEPTIONS

Q-Time	D/D/Yd	Play	Rushers
2-0:55	3/10/D28	Heath Interception	4

PASSING CHART

Red (Incomplete), Black (Interception), Blue (Complete), and Yellow (Touchdown)

Pass Rushers Against Washington - 39 pass rush/blitz situations:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	0	0	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	8	1	1
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	1	0	0
Totals	0	9	1	1

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	1	0	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	8	2	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	1	1	0
Totals	0	10	3	0

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	1	0	1	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	5	0	3
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	1	1	1	0
Totals	2	6	2	3

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush
Short (0-5 Yds To Go)	0	0	0	0
Second Level (5-10 Yds To Go)	0	0	1	0
Open Field (10+ Yds To Go)	0	0	0	0
Totals	0	0	1	0

7 Rush (Second Level) - 1

And, here are the full season numbers to date:

Pass Rushers	3 Rush	4 Rush	5 Rush	6 Rush	7 Rush
1st Down	10 - 3%	211 - 79%	34 - 12%	10 - 3%	0
2nd Down	7 - 3%	166 - 84%	20 - 10%	3 - 1%	0
3rd Down	11 - 6%	103 - 61%	27 - 16%	24 - 14%	2 - 1%
4th Down	1 - 7%	9 - 69%	2 - 15%	0	1 - 7%
Totals	29 - 4%	489 - 76%	83 - 12%	37 - 5%	3 - 1%

The game by game pressure numbers sent by the Cowboys:

Wk 1 - NYG: 7/49 - 14%
Wk 2 - KC:   10/43 - 23%
Wk 3 - STL: 11/57 - 19%
Wk 4 - SD:  4/43 - 9%
Wk 5 - DEN: 6/42 - 14%
Wk 6 - WAS: 8/45 - 18%
Wk 7 - PHI:  10/51 - 19%
Wk 8 - DET: 8/49 - 16%
Wk 9 - MIN: 11/41 - 27%
Wk10- NO: 8/43 - 19%
Wk11 - NY: 6/33 - 18%
Wk12 - OAK: 11/29 - 38%
Wk13 - CHI 6/39 - 15%
Wk14 - GB 10/41 - 24%
Wk15 - WAS: 12/39 - 31%

2013 Totals:  128/644 - 19.8%
2012 Totals:  134/551 - 24.3%

SUMMARY: