Thursday, October 31, 1996

Cowboys' defense gets test

By Richard Justice / The Dallas Morning News (Oct. 31, 1996)

DALLAS (KRT) - It's the offense that made Bill Walsh and Joe Montana famous, that helped the San Francisco 49ers win four Super Bowls, that has shattered a stack of NFL records.

Someone nicknamed it the "West Coast offense" because the 49ers have used it longer and more effectively than anyone else. Its real roots are in Cincinnati, where Bill Walsh served as offensive coordinator from 1967-75.

It's short passing routes and quick throws. It demands that a quarterback quickly read and react to what a defense is doing. And it has given the Cowboys fits.

It's one of the reasons they've lost three straight games to the 49ers. It's the offense opponents used to roll up three of the top six performances against the Cowboys last season. Accordingly, Cowboys' defensive coordinator Dave Campo and his staff spent a chunk of last summer changing their approach against the West Coast offense.

"We became too predictable," Campo said.

He's about to find out how well the changes work.

Beginning Sunday against the 6-2 Philadelphia Eagles at Texas Stadium, the 5-3 Cowboys play three consecutive games against teams using the West Coast offense. After the Eagles, there's a trip to San Francisco and a home game against Green Bay.

"All we did was look at it and make sure we weren't predictable in our coverages," Campo said. "We didn't want them to be able to zero in on one particular thing. We were predictable. We were in the mode of, 'Here's what we do. We do it pretty well. If you can beat us, go ahead.' "

The 49ers did just that by coming up with a new wrinkle. Instead of having Jerry Rice line up outside against a cornerback, the 49ers moved him inside to a slot position and had him matched against linebackers. That's a matchup the Cowboys don't want, and is one of the reasons he had a 161-yard receiving day against them last season.

Campo won't say exactly what will be different this time. But it's obvious that he'll use a variety of coverages against the Eagles and quarterback Ty Detmer, who learned the in Green Bay under former 49ers' guru Mike Holmgren. He'll also probably bring a safety up to help out defending the receiver coming out of the slot.

The problem is that when the West Coast offense is clicking, it's virtually impossible to stop. The quarterback takes a five-step drop and begins a progression of reads: to his primary receiver, then his second, then his third. In an offense that utilizes two receivers, a tight end and a running back, there's almost always someone open.

"It tends to be a lot of dinks and dunks," Cowboys' safety George Teague said. "It's short throws, not being greedy. If they need 20 plays to go 80 yards, they'll use it. They throw it short, throw it short, throw it short. You tighten up on those routes, and they hit you deep."

The original idea of the West Coast offense was to use the short throws to set up the running game. One reason may be that the 49ers haven't had a big-time running back since Roger Craig departed.

The Eagles are different. Ricky Watters, lured away from the 49ers in free agency, is second in the NFC with 782 rushing yards.

"I don't know that Philadelphia runs a true West Coast offense," Teague said. "They're not San Francisco. They try to be more balanced. They might be more frustrating in some ways. You don't have a Jerry Rice to key on. You've got a lot of things to worry about."

Detmer said he likes the offense because "it forces you to use your brain." That's true for defenders as well.

"You've got to know their tendencies and force the quarterback to look for his second or third receiver," Teague said. "You've also got to get pressure on him. It's harder with the quick drops, but you've got to do something to rattle him."

That's what the Cowboys did earlier this season after Detmer replaced injured Rodney Peete. Safety Darren Woodson blitzed and hit Detmer so hard that the quarterback suffered a concussion, although he remained in the game.

"I can't remember much of what happened," Detmer said.

The Eagles got just 259 yards of total offense in that game. Since then, Detmer has become more comfortable, and the Eagles have averaged 361 yards and 25 points.

"Because of the numbers of crossing routes and stuff that they run, you need to make sure you've got enough people to handle them," Campo said. "At times, we haven't had that."

(c) 1996, Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.