FALCONS OFFENSE V. COWBOYS DEFENSE

v Turner looked slow and plodding, A one speed runner with little burst and acceleration; There were also times he braced for contact as opposed to initiating contact with power and pad level – Overall, he looked like a shell of the runner he was a year ago

v Another thing that stood out about Turner was his lack of stop and start, his inability to change direction with any quickness – He was methodical and robotic

v Falcons OL physical and mauling, but un-athletic and definitely not laterally quick – Cowboys dictated individual matchups at times and won , like Spears beating RG Dahl for a sack

v Cowboys played more 4-3 gap concepts out of their 3-4 than 2 gaps concepts, The reason was to attack the gaps with penetration quickly against the Falcons un-athletic OL – Cowboys were effective with this tactic, NT Ratliff was dominant inside

v Cowboys want Ware aligned on the open side, away from the TE, so that he can work one-on-one with the OT

v The Cowboys matched up with 3-5 personnel against the Falcons “22” personnel sets (2 backs and 2 TEs) – Snelling 31 yds in the second half came out [...]

TEXANS OFFENSE V. 49ERS DEFENSE

Texans OL struggled early with the 49ers pass rush, The 49ers quick pressure prevented some downfield opportunities for Schaub
49ers front seven active and disruptive through the first quarter; Smith in particular was impressive, defeating individual blocks
Texans utilizing Daniels very effectively, aligning him in atypical locations to create and dictate matchup: Great example was Daniels 31 yds matched against LB Willis
On 3rd + 5 on the Texans first quarter TD drive, the 49ers matched dime corner Hudson man-to-man on Daniels, and LB Willis on Slaton; The 49ers clearly believed Daniels was a more explosive receiving threat than Slaton – Daniels beat Hudson, 12 yds and a first down
Texans split Slaton wide outside the numbers as a significant part of their offense, Gets him the ball in space without bodies around him – Plus they will occasionally have him run go routes from the split position, Normally he’s matched against LBs or safeties
49ers got consistent pressure [...]