Jerry Jones: Cowboys Defense Was Tipping Game Plan in Loss vs. Rams

Jerry Jones said it's possible the Los Angeles Rams offense could read the Dallas Cowboys' defensive schemes in the Rams' 30-22 divisional-round playoff win.

"You want to be better than that," Jones told 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday (h/t USA Today). "You'd like to have the edge of surprise. But it's pretty easy to say we look at tendencies, we look at things they do.

"That's not uncommon."

Los Angeles rushed for 273 yards against a defense that ranked among the NFL's best against the run during the regular season.

Rams right guard Austin Blythe told The Ringer's Danny Heifetz that Los Angeles correctly anticipated more than 90 percent of the time whether the Cowboys were going to stunt their defensive linemen. Dallas prefers to use stunts to generate pressure rather than blitzes.

"They're a defensive line that really likes to move a lot," Blythe said. "We had a pretty good tell when they were going to do that."

The Rams picked up on the Cowboys' plans based on subtle clues, like the positioning of Maliek Collins or which hand a lineman placed on the ground.

"They have good players, but we just felt scheme-wise we were able to—we had a lot of tips and tells on what they were going to do in front of us," Rams center John Sullivan said.

Jones seemed unperturbed by L.A.'s knowledge of the Dallas defense. He told The Fan that coaches had told him the 1992 Super Bowl champion Cowboys tipped plays.

"I had Don Shula, Marty Schottenheimer, Tom Flores, those are names from so far in the past," Jones said, via USA Today. "And they said: 'You know, everybody read your signals. They knew when you were going to run or pass, and they knew almost which way you were going to go. We still couldn't stop you.'

"So much for tipping things."

While that may be true, it's never a good thing when the opposing team knows what you're going to do. The Rams consistently gashed the Cowboys defensive line, and Dallas had no answer.

Variation and the ability to play different styles are keys to long-term success. If any other teams pick up on the Cowboys' tendencies, the Rams won't be the only one to run all over them.