motife
12-05-2007, 05:14 PM
Week 12: LeRoy Butler analyzes Cowboys-Packers game
Posted: Dec. 4, 2007
LeRoy Butler
5 Questions
Former Packers all-pro safety LeRoy Butler teams up with Journal Sentinel beat writer Tom Silverstein in our "Questions with LeRoy Butler" feature.
Q. What did the Cowboys do to game-plan against the Packers in order to get so many receivers so wide open?
A. I think that the thing they did was that they flip-flopped Terrell Owens from different sides of the ball. He went from the "X" receiver to the "Z" receiver. "X" is when you are alone and "Z" is when you travel with the tight end. And they put him with the tight end or another receiver so they can move and they can shift or motion him down, and that forced Al Harris not to be in bump and run. That created space. And every time he got space, he was able to make big plays.
When he motioned out he got a touchdown in the middle of the field when Nick Collins was on him. Plus he motioned when he was the third receiver deep down the middle against A.J. Hawk, which is a mismatch. So I think the Dallas Cowboys put their athletes in the positions that they played and that was the difference in the game.
Q. So with Owens running in motion and Harris unable to get his hands on him, the Cowboys were able to dictate the action?
A. They understand that if you motion a receiver down most guys will come off a bump and run because they don't want to get picked. So if Al does follow him down, he'll go through so much traffic there would be a good chance that he would be free. Now what the Packers could have done every time that Terrell Owens was motioned down they could have zoned it off. In other words, Al would take the first guy deep and outside and the safety would take the first guy deep and inside and the linebacker would take the first guy short. They could have just zoned that area off and there wouldn't have been so many big plays.
And I think that was the difference in the game: the big plays. It wasn't so much guys weren't making plays they were just out of position because (Cowboys offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett did a great job of play action and putting those guys into position to make plays.
Q. Do you think it was smart on coach Mike McCarthy's end to be cautious with "KGB" and Charles Woodson and keep them out of the game or would you have chanced it and played them knowing that home-field advantage was on the line?
A. I think it was smart to hold those guys out. You never want to put too much stock in one game because it can cost you three or four more other games. It was a smart thing to do. I think it will make them better because now you get a chance to get a look at Jarrett Bush and Frank Walker and Tramon Williams in certain situations and give them some game experience so they understand that if I do get thrown in that spot, now I can compete.
Q. What do the Packers need to do in the secondary in the final four weeks? Safety Aaron Rouse appears back from a knee injury and cornerback Will Blackmon was active last week and both are promising young players. Is it OK to have a competition in the final month of the season or should they just settle on their guys right now and then go with them for the final four weeks?
A.They've got to have competition because you've got to find the right mix in the nickel and the base because right now the combination isn't working. You got to find the four best guys or the five best guys or the six best guys to compete. I think the good thing about it is that they have the personnel.
They've just got to find the right combination because I'm telling you, everybody's going to want to throw the ball deep against the Packers. So, with that being said you've got to find the right combination and get those guys out there. Competition is very, very good right now. You'd like to have your team set, but Aaron Rouse needs to be on the field if he's healthy and they have to find a spot for him somewhere, somehow because in two games the kid got two interceptions and made a difference. So they've got to get him back out on the field. I'd venture to say that if he was playing against the Cowboys it would have been a little bit different. He's been pretty much making an impact every time he's out there. So I'm looking forward to seeing him being put in a position where he can make plays.
Q. You wouldn't be afraid to have a new rookie starter on the field in the final month or is this just as good a time as any to find out if he can play?
A. You've got to put them in those situations. I wouldn't be scared to put their rookie kicker out there; he only leads the league in points. Putting a rookie safety in there, sometimes when these guys get put in those situations they respond, and he's responded so I just hope that he can get healthy enough so he can go out there and compete. You'd have to sit one of those other guys down, Nick Collins or Atari Bigby, but at the same time it's about winning and getting the right combination And that's up to the coaches to decide. Or those guys can start and you can rotate him in there, but he needs to get into that first- or second-string rotation. I'd consider moving guys all around to find the right combination because if you don't find the right combination, you've got six months to think about it when you're kicked out of the playoffs. So at this point, you need to try whatever you can try no matter if you hurt feelings or not. You know I want to win a Super Bowl and the only way that I can win is if I put my best 11 guys out there.
Q. With four games to go, unless Dallas has a collapse and the Packers have a collapse, really the playoff situation is pretty settled. The Cowboys will be seeded first and the Packers will be seeded second. What's most important for the Packers to accomplish in these last four games?
A. For one thing, their ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl so they've got to go 4-0. They've got to beat the Raiders and they have to beat St. Louis. They've got to beat the teams they're supposed to beat. These games are the kind of games that can cause their season from going from a home game to going on the road in the playoffs. Now I'm a little worried about losing to Dallas because they've got no room for error. You bring in the New York Giants and you bring in the Tampa Bays, the teams that are 8-4 now, and they think that they have a chance at the Packers' spot. So they've just got to refocus, understand that "all our goals are still intact. If we can come back to Dallas, great. No big deal. We've got to beat them anyway." So they need to win their last four. Remember last year they won the last four games and I think the guys are used to that. They've done it before. If they go 4-0 it puts a lot of pressure on Dallas because Dallas' schedule is a lot harder than the Packers'. It would be tragic if the Cowboys lose a couple games and the Packers lose a couple games, and the Packers lose another chance at home field.
Posted: Dec. 4, 2007
LeRoy Butler
5 Questions
Former Packers all-pro safety LeRoy Butler teams up with Journal Sentinel beat writer Tom Silverstein in our "Questions with LeRoy Butler" feature.
Q. What did the Cowboys do to game-plan against the Packers in order to get so many receivers so wide open?
A. I think that the thing they did was that they flip-flopped Terrell Owens from different sides of the ball. He went from the "X" receiver to the "Z" receiver. "X" is when you are alone and "Z" is when you travel with the tight end. And they put him with the tight end or another receiver so they can move and they can shift or motion him down, and that forced Al Harris not to be in bump and run. That created space. And every time he got space, he was able to make big plays.
When he motioned out he got a touchdown in the middle of the field when Nick Collins was on him. Plus he motioned when he was the third receiver deep down the middle against A.J. Hawk, which is a mismatch. So I think the Dallas Cowboys put their athletes in the positions that they played and that was the difference in the game.
Q. So with Owens running in motion and Harris unable to get his hands on him, the Cowboys were able to dictate the action?
A. They understand that if you motion a receiver down most guys will come off a bump and run because they don't want to get picked. So if Al does follow him down, he'll go through so much traffic there would be a good chance that he would be free. Now what the Packers could have done every time that Terrell Owens was motioned down they could have zoned it off. In other words, Al would take the first guy deep and outside and the safety would take the first guy deep and inside and the linebacker would take the first guy short. They could have just zoned that area off and there wouldn't have been so many big plays.
And I think that was the difference in the game: the big plays. It wasn't so much guys weren't making plays they were just out of position because (Cowboys offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett did a great job of play action and putting those guys into position to make plays.
Q. Do you think it was smart on coach Mike McCarthy's end to be cautious with "KGB" and Charles Woodson and keep them out of the game or would you have chanced it and played them knowing that home-field advantage was on the line?
A. I think it was smart to hold those guys out. You never want to put too much stock in one game because it can cost you three or four more other games. It was a smart thing to do. I think it will make them better because now you get a chance to get a look at Jarrett Bush and Frank Walker and Tramon Williams in certain situations and give them some game experience so they understand that if I do get thrown in that spot, now I can compete.
Q. What do the Packers need to do in the secondary in the final four weeks? Safety Aaron Rouse appears back from a knee injury and cornerback Will Blackmon was active last week and both are promising young players. Is it OK to have a competition in the final month of the season or should they just settle on their guys right now and then go with them for the final four weeks?
A.They've got to have competition because you've got to find the right mix in the nickel and the base because right now the combination isn't working. You got to find the four best guys or the five best guys or the six best guys to compete. I think the good thing about it is that they have the personnel.
They've just got to find the right combination because I'm telling you, everybody's going to want to throw the ball deep against the Packers. So, with that being said you've got to find the right combination and get those guys out there. Competition is very, very good right now. You'd like to have your team set, but Aaron Rouse needs to be on the field if he's healthy and they have to find a spot for him somewhere, somehow because in two games the kid got two interceptions and made a difference. So they've got to get him back out on the field. I'd venture to say that if he was playing against the Cowboys it would have been a little bit different. He's been pretty much making an impact every time he's out there. So I'm looking forward to seeing him being put in a position where he can make plays.
Q. You wouldn't be afraid to have a new rookie starter on the field in the final month or is this just as good a time as any to find out if he can play?
A. You've got to put them in those situations. I wouldn't be scared to put their rookie kicker out there; he only leads the league in points. Putting a rookie safety in there, sometimes when these guys get put in those situations they respond, and he's responded so I just hope that he can get healthy enough so he can go out there and compete. You'd have to sit one of those other guys down, Nick Collins or Atari Bigby, but at the same time it's about winning and getting the right combination And that's up to the coaches to decide. Or those guys can start and you can rotate him in there, but he needs to get into that first- or second-string rotation. I'd consider moving guys all around to find the right combination because if you don't find the right combination, you've got six months to think about it when you're kicked out of the playoffs. So at this point, you need to try whatever you can try no matter if you hurt feelings or not. You know I want to win a Super Bowl and the only way that I can win is if I put my best 11 guys out there.
Q. With four games to go, unless Dallas has a collapse and the Packers have a collapse, really the playoff situation is pretty settled. The Cowboys will be seeded first and the Packers will be seeded second. What's most important for the Packers to accomplish in these last four games?
A. For one thing, their ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl so they've got to go 4-0. They've got to beat the Raiders and they have to beat St. Louis. They've got to beat the teams they're supposed to beat. These games are the kind of games that can cause their season from going from a home game to going on the road in the playoffs. Now I'm a little worried about losing to Dallas because they've got no room for error. You bring in the New York Giants and you bring in the Tampa Bays, the teams that are 8-4 now, and they think that they have a chance at the Packers' spot. So they've just got to refocus, understand that "all our goals are still intact. If we can come back to Dallas, great. No big deal. We've got to beat them anyway." So they need to win their last four. Remember last year they won the last four games and I think the guys are used to that. They've done it before. If they go 4-0 it puts a lot of pressure on Dallas because Dallas' schedule is a lot harder than the Packers'. It would be tragic if the Cowboys lose a couple games and the Packers lose a couple games, and the Packers lose another chance at home field.