Dallas Cowboys Research Paper

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Breaking down the keys to victory for the Dallas Cowboys against the Carolina Panthers With Tony Romo back under center, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan now has the luxury to fully open up the playbook and let his quarterback direct the offense by doing the imperative things that don’t show up on the stat sheets, which is setting protections, reading defenses and changing plays to best position the offense. Romo’s unorthodox skills to extend plays from the pocket as one the best improvisers in the game gives the Cowboys’ offense an opening of generating big plays, and the threat with Romo and elite receiver Dez Bryant back together, opposing defenses will likely roll lots of double coverage with a safety over the top of Bryant. On Thanksgiving, …show more content…

With the threat of Newton able to run, it gives the Panthers a diverse running game that uses deceptive concepts on option runs, draws and inside power concepts. The main mission for Cowboys’ defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli will be to get his defense geared up to stop the run by containing Newton and Stewart, and not fall for their play fakes. Outside of dealing with Newton and the ground game, slowing Panthers’ tight end Greg Olsen, Newton’s prime target when the Panthers turn to their aerial game will be the Cowboys biggest challenge in pass coverage. Olsen works as an in-line tight end and as a flex option in the slot and perimeter. With Morris Claiborne (hamstring) out again, Byron Jones may see more action on the outside again, but with Olsen able to dominate the seams and no serious threats from the Panthers on the outside, it’ll be interesting to see if Marinelli trust Tyler Patmon enough to play the perimeter on the opposite side of Brandon Carr while moving Jones back to his natural role playing near the box to shadow Olsen. The Cowboys do have Linebackers (Sean Lee and Rolando McClain) capable of dropping back into coverage to defend tight ends in the seam and underneath areas, but with most of their focus on stuffing the run, having Jones play Olsen most would be wise because safeties Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox are vulnerable in

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