Tag: Jeff Blasko

Cowboys RB coach returns from leave; will run game see boost?

From @ToddBrock24f7: Jeff Blasko missed the first 6 games due to a health matter; he’ll look to kickstart a ground attack that’s been mediocre to begin 2023.

The Cowboys are readying themselves for their seventh game of the season, but a key member of the coaching staff is only just now making his 2023 season debut. The team hopes his return comes just in time to help right a ship that’s gotten off to a somewhat disappointing start.

Running backs coach Jeff Blasko returned to the team during the bye week, head coach Mike McCarthy announced Wednesday, following a health-related personal leave of absence that began just prior to the Week 1 season opener. Week 8’s home date versus the Rams will mark the fourth-year assistant’s first game as RB coach.

Blasko’s duties had been shared by other members of the offensive coaching staff over the team’s four wins and two losses thus far, but the Cowboys run game has not lived up to preseason expectations.

Dallas currently ranks sixth leaguewide in rushing attempts per game (30.3), but only 10th in yards per contest (119.7) and a below-average 21st in yards-per-attempt (3.9).

Tony Pollard put up the third-best rushing day of his career (122 yards) in the Week 3 loss to Arizona, but it’s the only outing out of his past 12 where he topped 80 yards on the ground. His 370 total rushing yards place him just 15th across all backs.

He hasn’t gotten much help from his backfield mates. Only Rico Dowdle has compiled 100 rushing yards on the season, fullback Hunter Luepke has three total carries, and eagerly-anticipated rookie Deuce Vaughn has been rendered completely ineffective in his first 20 rushes as a pro.

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Blasko’s return to his normal duties will hopefully buoy the team’s ground attack, but he and his unit may have a tough time making a dramatic turnaround this week. The Rams currently give up just over 115 team rushing yards per game and allow 4.3 yards per attempt, numbers that put their run defense in the top half of the NFL.

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Cowboys RB coach Jeff Blasko on ‘health leave of absence’ just prior to season opener

From @ToddBrock24f7: Jeff Blasko’s first official game as Cowboys RB coach will have to wait; the team’s other offensive staff will handle his duties in Week 1.

Amid several high-profile Cowboys players showing up on the injury report for the 2023 season opener against the Giants, the team will also be scrambling to deal with the temporary loss of one of its assistant coaches.

Jeff Blasko, the Cowboys running backs coach, is on a “health leave of absence,” according to the team. This is Blasko’s fourth year on staff in Dallas but his first as RB coach.

Blasko did not travel with the team to New York. The Cowboys announced via the injury report that “his coaching duties will be shared by the offensive staff.”

Patrik Walker of the DallasCowboys.com crew said in a post, “I expect Mike Solari and Brian Schottenheimer to take the lead there.” Both are veteran coaches in the league with plenty of professional football experience, but it’s worth noting that they’re both already in brand-new roles themselves for 2023.

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Solari’s regular job as OL coach will be further complicated in Week 1 by recent injuries sustained by starting left tackle Tyron Smith and starting left guard Tyler Smith. The Cowboys are thin behind them; Brock Hoffman was elevated from the practice squad and may be pressed into service against the Giants as a result.

Week 1 will be Schottenheimer’s debut as Cowboys OC with the full complement of his starting playmakers. Dak Prescott, Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb and others will get their first game snaps on Sunday night after being held back for the entirety of the preseason schedule.

Now it looks like they’ll also be juggling Pollard’s first game as the Cowboys’ lead back on a very important and tone-setting night. Pollard will make his return from a brutal leg injury suffered in January’s playoff loss, and the team will be navigating the new workshare of Pollard’s backfield mates Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and Hunter Luepke.

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Peete headed to Tampa, Cowboys promote Blasko as RB coach

The Cowboys saw their former running backs coach find a new home and found his replacement in the same day, an in-house hire. | From @CDBurnett7

The Dallas running game has morphed over the last three years. Rightfully, it’s not just the talent at the position that can be credited for their achievements, but also their coach, Skip Peete. Peete’s departure represents a changing of the guard.

After his contract wasn’t renewed in Dallas, there hadn’t been much movement until the past couple of days. Peete has found a new home, joining the Buccaneers staff. Just a few hours after Peete found his home, the Cowboys found his with an in-house signing. Assistant offensive line coach Jeff Blasko will be taking over the position according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Blasko joined the Dallas staff with Mike McCarthy after coaching with him in Green Bay from 2016 through 2018. Both Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott could be finding new homes this offseason with the former a free agent and the latter holding a huge cap number.

Blasko could start from scratch in his first year coaching the stable. Meanwhile Tampa Bay will be the fifth team Peete has coached running backs for and he inherits a group with question marks as well.

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Report: McCarthy bringing two former Green Bay assistants to Dallas

New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy continues to build his staff, reportedly tapping two of his former assistants from Green Bay for key roles.

Mike McCarthy is moving quickly to round out his new coaching staff in Dallas. And he’s drawing from a pool of familiar faces to do it. According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, McCarthy will tap two former assistants from his Green Bay tenure for key roles with the Cowboys for the 2020 season.

Jeff Blasko is expected to serve as an assistant under new offensive line coach Joe Philbin, and Scott McCurley looks to have a position awaiting him coaching the Dallas linebackers. Both have experience with McCarthy after being a part of his staff with the Packers at the end of his tenure.

McCurley was a member of McCarthy’s original staff in Green Bay, joining the team as an intern in 2006. He was let go by the club last January, a month after McCarthy had been fired.

During his time there, McCurley filled several jobs on the defensive side of the ball, from defensive quality control coach to assistant linebackers coach to defensive assistant. Among other achievements, McCurley helped Packers linebacker Clay Matthews transition from outside to inside linebacker in 2015; Matthews received a Pro Bowl nod in his first year in the middle.

McCurley will help with a Cowboys linebacking unit that currently features Pro Bowlers Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, and Sean Lee. But there are question marks McCurley will need to address: Lee’s future with the team is undecided, Vander Esch missed the final five games of 2019 with a troublesome neck injury, and Jaylon Smith was widely criticized for a down year in his first season as a captain with a mega-contract.

Blasko spent the 2019 season as the assistant offensive line coach in Cleveland after spending three years with McCarthy in Green Bay. Originally hired by the Packers in 2016 as a coaching administrator, he was promoted to assistant O-line coach, where he helped tackle David Bakhtiari earn All-Pro honors three straight years.

Before that, Blasko spent eight years on college coaching staffs: at Akron, Florida, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. In Dallas, he’ll inherit a line that boasts three 2020 Pro Bowlers in Zack Martin, Travis Frederick, and Tyron Smith.

McCarthy has shown loyalty to his former staffers and a noted affinity for blue-collar guys from his hometown of Pittsburgh. Blasko hails from Bessemer, about an hour north of the Steel City, and went to Pitt for college, where he played linebacker for the Panthers. McCurley is also a Pittsburgh native.