FORGET TONY ROMO. Forget Dez Bryant. Forget the record-setting DeMarco Murray. If the Dallas Cowboys are to have any hope of beating the Green Bay Packers in their NFC Divisional round clash this weekend, it’s the ‘fat guys in the trenches’ who are going to have to perform at their peak.
Without them this season – and with a little help from incompetent officials – Dallas players would we doing what they usually do at this time of the season, watching other teams play football on TV.
That the Cowboys O Line is so dominant is no fluke as Jerry Jones and his coaching staff and front office have been building it since 2007. The fact it contains no fewer than three first round picks – as well as a fourth round pick and an undrafted free agent (more on him later) – shows just how much emphasis the organisation has put on getting the right big men over the last seven years.
This season – and probably for the next few – that investment is paying off.
The basics
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Note – If you’re already familiar with the basics of the offensive line, feel free the skip right to the ‘Why are the Cowboys so good?’ section but, for the rest of you, here’s a brief overview of the role each member of the five-man offensive line is expected to fulfil.
Left Tackle – For teams with right-handed quarterbacks, the LT is usually the best pass blocker as they protect the quarterback’s blindside.
Right Tackle – The RT is more often than not the best run blocker on the team though all linemen need to be able to pass and run block.
Left & Right Guards – The LG and RG line up the right and left of the Center and are used to create openings (which you’ll often hear described as holes) for the running back as well as protect their quarterback from defensive linemen, linebackers and blitzing safeties.
Center – As well as snapping the ball to the quarterback, the C will help the his guards in both run and pass blocking.
Why the Cowboys are so good?
Today we’re going to focus exclusively on what Dallas do in the run game. Afterall, DeMarco Murray didn’t average 115 yards per game and 13 touchdowns during the regular season without a lot of help.
The Cowboys linemen are good in both the zone and power run games but it is the former that has brought them most of their success this season.
In a zone run game, the linemen do not block specific defensive players, instead focusing on blocking an area they want the running back to exploit especially when they are as adept at the zone step – where, immediately after the snap, all five linemen take a step to the side the play will run – as the Cowboys are.
Here, we’ll see how they used it to help Murray gain 15 yards against the Lions in their Wild Card match-up:
That outside zone could well be key against the Packers as it’s something Dallas lean on quite heavily as shown in this game winning touchdown against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, back in week six.
On this particular play, the Cowboys used two running backs against Seattle’s Cover 1 defence – about which you can read more here. In particular, watch out for the blocking of left guard Ronald Leary (65) who take three different Seahawks defenders out of the play.
Block one
Block two
Block three
From this different angle you can see just how much damage one offensive lineman can do on a play. Worryingly for the Packers, Leary is probably the weakest – these things are subjective – of the Cowboys linemen.
He was, afterall, an undrafted free agent.
Aside from Leary, the entire play shows how well the Cowboys work as a unit and just how good Murray is at taking advantage of the holes they create.
As you can see above, six Seahawks are taken out by the four remaining offensive linemen (green).
As Murray cuts into the space created, he can see that Logan Thomas (Blue) has raced down to fill the gap and so his obvious route (red) is cut off.
Thanks to Leary’s brilliant play though, he can cut behind the block (yellow) and dance his way into the endzone.
So how ’bout them Cowboys?
Don’t be under any illusions, going into Lambeau field and getting a result this weekend is going to be very difficult for the Cowboys. The Packers are rightly six point favourites.
However, against a run defence ranked just 23rd against the run, DeMarco Murray should have a much more productive day than he did against Detroit (75 yards) number one ranked defence on Sunday night.
But, as we’ve seen, he certainly can’t do it alone.
