Each week I’m going to study tape on a couple of Cowboys players who I find particularly interesting. I’ll start with the disclaimer: Without being a member of the Cowboys team or coaching staff, it is impossible to say with 100% certainty what the responsibility is for a particular player on a particular play. I can feel pretty confident most of the time with the context of the things happening around them but complete certainty just isn’t possible. I’ll do the best I can to try and give you an idea of how the players performed with an educated guess as to their role on each play and then assign a letter grade at the end.
Xavier Woods #25 – Safety
I must admit up front to bias when it comes to Xavier Woods. During the 2017 NFL Draft I was on the air for every pick and starting in the fourth round, I said his name approximately 2500 times trying to make him a Dallas Cowboy. Our broadcast brought on Joe Baker, who was then the defensive backs coach, after the Cowboys selected Jourdan Lewis in the third round and I let him know that they still needed to go get “That Louisiana Tech safety.” Then they did in the sixth round. It’s a strange thing that happens to good football players when they don’t fit the prototype that NFL teams have decided on.
Advertisement
This is Xavier Woods’ athletic profile. If he were an inch taller, ten pounds heavier and clocked a 4.49 instead of a 4.54, he’d probably have been selected four rounds higher. You can actually see on that page one of the guys he’s most similar to athletically is Desmond King, a cornerback for the Chargers who should probably be a Pro Bowler this year. He, too was an inch too short and a half-step too slow, so he went in the fifth round even though he had first-round tape.
We all have at least a little bit of ego, and those were two guys that I knew were going to be under-drafted; guys who would eventually outplay their draft positions. I was outspoken about it during the draft process for both. So I do have a vested interest in their success because….well, it makes me right. Seeing them both as NFL starters makes me a proud draft papa.
Now let’s take a look at the tape from the Washington game.
The best thing about Woods is his coverage instincts. This is a 3rd & 3 with 1:22 left in the game and an 11 point lead for Dallas.
The Cowboys are showing a Cover-2 look with Woods and Heath back at the end zone and the corners up close to the line of scrimmage. It looks like they’re actually going to run a Cover-3 with the corners and Heath dropping and Woods coming downhill. Colt McCoy isn’t expecting a safety lined up at the goal line to break up a pass to his tight end at the 8-yard line. Woods timed it well, knew exactly where he needed to end up and got there right on time.
When you have multiple guys on the back end who are comfortable covering cover tight ends and running backs and also play a deep half of the field, it gives you the ability to show certain things pre-snap to generate confusion for the offense. Woods and Heath were able to do some of that in this game. Woods played the majority of the single-high coverage as the free safety, but the Cowboys aren’t afraid of bringing him down to cover a running back out of the backfield or cover one on one if they send a running back out wide.
That’s him at the bottom of the screen on third down, playing man coverage against the running back split out wide. Washington didn’t go after him but if they had, they might have had a chance. Woods attacked hard on the initial stop. He was able to quickly recover and get his head around to see if the ball was coming.
Woods has a good feel for the timing on these disguised coverages. On this play, Colt McCoy wants to go left because his pre-snap look is telling him there are two deep safeties and his out route should come open to his left. The Cowboys aren’t in the coverage he thought they would be in, and Woods times it up and gets to his spot, making McCoy bail on the play. He is able to scramble for a gain but does not get what he wanted.
Once again, Dallas is showing two deep safeties and Woods isn’t going to be playing the deep half. Byron Jones, Chido Awuzie and Jeff Heath look they’re the three deep guys, while Woods is able to lurk underneath and break up this pass to Doctson. If he attacks the ball a little more this is probably an interception.
Once again he’s going to be covering a running back in man coverage, this time out of the backfield. The coverage is easy.
Here it looks like the Cowboys are playing man coverage. Jaylon Smith is spying McCoy and Woods is the free safety. Trey Quinn beats Brown for the touchdown but Woods wasn’t able to offer help.
As the free safety here, he’s going to start undercutting the slot post when McCoy begins his throwing motion. When he realizes that’s not where the ball is going, he gets back to the intended target in a hurry. Chido did a great job in coverage, deflecting the pass, and Woods reacted well to haul in the interception.
Advertisement
I like the player Xavier Woods is turning in to. His strengths are still his coverage and versatility. He’s not a thumper as a run defender but is starting to more consistently get guys to the ground and not miss tackles. He can play whatever responsibilities he’s asked and do just fine.
Grade: B
Noah Brown #85 – Wide Receiver……..or ‘Move’ TE?
My plan was to feature either Ezekiel Elliott or La’el Collins, but while watching them I became interested in how the Cowboys are using Noah Brown.
By this point, we’re all aware that the Cowboys have tendencies that other teams are very familiar with. One of those is that if #85 takes the field, there’s probably a run play coming. I know it, you know it, defenses know it. Here’s the thing; sometimes that’s ok. Take a look at this.
The smart teams in the NFL know that your personnel and formation can help dictate which players the defense puts on the field and where. The Cowboys aren’t the best in the league at schematically creating advantageous running situations but in this case, when Noah Brown is motioning across the formation, Josh Norman comes with him. I mostly prefer not adding extra players to the box but if you are going to, are you able to create a matchup that adds a quality blocker — and a cornerback instead of a linebacker facing him? If you do, advantage: Offense. Noah Brown is a very good blocker. He’s going to block a safety and Norman is just stuck there while Elliott runs for a touchdown.
There were also snaps in this game where the Cowboys already had multiple tight ends inline and would motion Brown in there to invite a 10 man box. I’m not a fan of that at all. But in an offense that’s missing Geoff Swaim and using Blake Jarwin and/or Dalton Schultz in the slot, then motioning across the formation to block and run routes, sign me up to have Noah Brown as that ‘move’ player. He brings more ability as a receiver and is an outstanding blocker for his position.
Noah Brown is at the top of your screen here. Wouldn’t you rather use a guy that moves like that but can also block after moving around in your backfield, lining up as a wing, or splitting out to the slot? Wouldn’t that make your offense a little more potent? Go ahead and use a quality blocking wide receiver as your modern-day tight end.
Wouldn’t Noah Brown make more sense in Blake Jarwin’s place here? Line up out wide, motion into the backfield, chip to help the left tackle, and release into a route.
The answer is yes. Yes, he would. The Cowboys are slowly coming around to it. Here’s Noah Brown motioning in and then *gasp* running a route that’s wide open. There’s some pressure and Dak has to throw a bad ball early, but this should be the guy who picks up the snaps that Swaim will miss while he’s out with injury.
Noah Brown, just detached from the formation, crashes down to seal a defensive end inside. More of these snaps need to be going to Noah Brown, fewer of them to the tight ends on the roster. He can block just as well as the tight ends and offers a better receiving option with some after-the-catch ability.
Advertisement
Dalton Schultz played 60% of offensive snaps against Washington. Blake Jarwin played 50%. Noah Brown was on the field for 29%. The first two players’ numbers should come down, the third’s should go up. I’m encouraged that it could happen based on what Brown did against Washington.
Grade: B in his limited snaps. He’d receive an A if he managed to catch that ball on the goal line.
(Photos by USA Today Sports Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lXBrcm1mZH9xfZdoaGpnYmt8ta3LnmSonl2ptaZ505qnnmWnmrKseZBrZLGZpp6ys3nWqKadq12Wu6V5zaiYoWWSp7y4uo4%3D