RECAP: Mickey with D&M on The Ticket...

[trickblue]

Mick:
After the game the other night, Romo was telling me how much fun it is to play in this league.
This is the first time in a long while that a Cowboys team has been able to go on the road and win consistently late in the season.
The most impressive thing the other night was the drive late in the 4th to put the game out of reach. Romo had no incompletions and they ran Barber 6 straight times on an 80 yard drive.
The NFC is wide open. NO proved they could win their SB one week, then go home and lose to the Redskins the next week. The Bears have some injury problems and they gave up a ton of points to TB yesterday.
Home field is going to be a big thing in the playoffs with all of the teams being so close. You have to do everything you can to get a game or two at home.
This is the first back to back winning seasons since '95-'96 seasons.
I guess the FB for the iggles can expect a big game.
I'm assuming the ILB's are supposed to be picking these guys up out of the backfield. Whoever it is, they are getting the job done.
At least Dallas did some moving around of the safeties to get something going. They aren't just sitting status quo.
For those that want more blitzing, you see what happens when they don't get there. It kept Atlanta in the game.
Vick didn't hurt Dallas in the running game. Carpenter spied him and did a pretty good job keeping him in check. A nice game late in the year by Carp.
The ironic thing is that the day that Julius breaks 1,000 yards, he may have lost his starting position. Julius seemed to tippy-toe around and I don't like seeing that in a RB. The question is can Barber run like that for a whole game. He is a punishing runner and runs like a man possessed. It's hard to do that for a whole game though. Hopefully they keep the status quo as far as the rotation, but I think Barber solidified himself at least one series featuring himself in the first half. That's the way Bill likes his RB's to run.
One win will solidify a home playoff game. It's been a long time since we;ve seen that around here.

[InmanRoshi]

It was an entertaining game. I saw Romo in the lockerroom as everyone was clearing out and he was about to get on the bus and he said to me “Man, its FUN to play in this league !!!” I told him I felt guilty that I didn’t have to pay to see that game.

When was the last time the Cowboys offense has been this good offensively? It must be the Superbowl years. What impressed me was getting the ball back with 8:50 to go in the game and just up by a field goal, they drove the ball right down the Falcons throat to score a touchdown to put the game away. Romo completed 5 consecutive passes, and Barber ran it right down their throat six consecutive times from the 35 yard line. That was a sign of championship football right there.

Its not homerish to say that Dallas has as good a shot as anyone in the NFC to go to the Superbowl. There is no clear cut favorite. The NFC is a week to week conference. They prove it every Sunday. Maybe New Orleans won their Superbowl in Week 15. Nobody in this league is good enough to have a big emotional week one week, and just coast the next week. Chicago gives up 31 points to Tampa Bay? Are you kidding me? Now, it might come down to homefield advantage, so these next two games will be important. Winning the division would be nice, they haven’t won the division since 1998, but as closely clustered as all these teams are playing at home could be really mean something. Something else that donned on me is we have back to back winning seasons. They haven’t had that since 95-96.

They were able to pull out the game because they put up points. They’ll have to ride the offense, because I’m not sure the defense is going to be solved in the next two weeks. This defense has some matchup problems. I dunno who the fullback for the Eagles is, but start him in your fantasy league because he’ll have two touchdowns.
The safeties have struggled all year. Now Henry looks like he’s struggling, and the LB’s aren’t good in coverage. But they aren’t just sitting there, they changed up their defense. They used two defensive backs in the slot. They would line Nate Jones up in the slot and right before the snap move him back to the safety, and cheat Roy up to the line. But all those saying “All you have to do is blitz more”, well now you know what happens when they don’t get there. They blitzed Vick a lot, and he made them pay for it. Another thing they did is play with a 3 man line and put Carpenter at DT, and he actually had a pretty nice game. But how do you not cover the fullback again?


Let’s talk about Marion Barber. The ironic thing is that the day Julius first breaks the 1,000 yard marker in the NFL he may have lost his starting job. The thing I didn’t like is I thought he was tip toeing to the hole. There was some big time hitting going on in that game, I don’t know if that translated to the TV but it looked to me like Julius started tip toe. But the question is will Barber be the same back after 24 carries that he is after 14, but boy he ran like he was possessed. When he gets the ball 1st and 10 at the Atl 35 and he got 6 consecutive carries and brought it in for the TD he looked like Earl Campbell bouncing off people. He just ran over the safety and dragged people with him into the endzone. He may not start, but I think he’s going to continue to get the ball in the clutch when they need a drive to put the game away.

[burmafrd]

That happened in the 4th when the D was clearly tired. Remember the NO game that last time when the saints ran it down our throats against a tired D?

[Doomsday]

Maybe Barber can and maybe he cant be he has earned the right to at least give it a go. Right now MB is the better running back and he should be starting.

[Canadian BoyzFan]

Thanks for the recaps guys!!!

[ThreeSportStar80]

Thanks like always for the detailed recap trick!

[lspain1]

This defense has some matchup problems. I dunno who the fullback for the Eagles is, but start him in your fantasy league because he’ll have two touchdowns.

The safeties have struggled all year. Now Henry looks like he’s struggling, and the LB’s aren’t good in coverage. But they aren’t just sitting there, they changed up their defense. They used two defensive backs in the slot. They would line Nate Jones up in the slot and right before the snap move him back to the safety, and cheat Roy up to the line. But all those saying “All you have to do is blitz more”, well now you know what happens when they don’t get there. They blitzed Vick a lot, and he made them pay for it. Another thing they did is play with a 3 man line and put Carpenter at DT, and he actually had a pretty nice game. But how do you not cover the fullback again?


Folks, Marion Barber is not the question for this team!!! The offense will put up points regardless of who is starting at RB.

The defense is the issue right now. We will get killed if we can't fix some of this right now. Andy Reid has the tools to cause big problems if our LB's (and the rest of the secondary) can not handle the RB passing game.

[conner01]

i think the main reason he is not starting is bill does'nt want him having 30 carries. if he starts, and comes in on short ydg and goal line thatsa lot of carries.starting jones gives him his 12-15 carries early and cuts down on mb3 carries, then barber is fresh at the end. mb3 is playing better but bill does'nt care about who's starting, he cares about winning and what he's doing is working

[Jarv]

I like both backs and for BP he see's this is working and probably doesn't want to mess with it. I can say it would be interesting (maybe against Detroit) to see them switch roles. MB starting and JJ 3rd down back.

Can MB run like that as a starter ? Can JJ explode through 3rd pass defenses on draws and sreens, shuffle pass's ?


I wouldn't want to experiment in a must win like Philly.

[speedkilz88]

I like both backs and for BP he see's this is working and probably doesn't want to mess with it. I can say it would be interesting (maybe against Detroit) to see them switch roles. MB starting and JJ 3rd down back.

Can MB run like that as a starter ? Can JJ explode through 3rd pass defenses on draws and sreens, shuffle pass's ?


I wouldn't want to experiment in a must win like Philly.Barber's the better choice as a 3rd down back because he is the better receiver and better blocker. Thats why BP hasn't switched them it would take away their strenght and weaknesses. I just wish he would let JJ be more creative instead of insisting he follow his blockers no matter what. JJs strength was always his ability to bounce outside and running in the open field. He just doesn't fit the grinding north-south style.

[dbair1967]

One win will solidify a home playoff game. It's been a long time since we;ve seen that around here.[/LIST]

anybody realize that the last HOME playoff game was after the 1998 season...January 1999...we lost to the Cardinals, a team we'd owned the entire decade...after the game Cards players laughed all the way to the bank about how stupid and predictable Chan Gailey's game plan was...

and talk about bad WR play and dropped passes...anybody remember our guys brick handing like 4 or 5 perfectly thrown balls in the 1st quarter?

David

[JPM]

anybody realize that the last HOME playoff game was after the 1998 season...January 1999...we lost to the Cardinals, a team we'd owned the entire decade...after the game Cards players laughed all the way to the bank about how stupid and predictable Chan Gailey's game plan was...

and talk about bad WR play and dropped passes...anybody remember our guys brick handing like 4 or 5 perfectly thrown balls in the 1st quarter?

David

I remember watching that disaster. I still get bile when I think about it hard enough.

[Iago33]

Yeah. Thanks for bringing it up. This isn't that year.

[InmanRoshi]

I just wish he would let JJ be more creative instead of insisting he follow his blockers no matter what. JJs strength was always his ability to bounce outside and running in the open field. He just doesn't fit the grinding north-south style.

Yeah, JJ is not a north-south bruiser like Joe Morris was.

[wileedog]

Yeah, JJ is not a north-south bruiser like Joe Morris was.

:laugh2:

[Chocolate Lab]

Joe Morris wasn't a quick, slashing, juke-guys-out-of-their-shoes runner like Julius is, though. He was short, but he was built like such a bowling ball that he didn't have a lot of lateral quickness. So he didn't have to worry about the same things as Julius.

I don't see why this argument always has to be a Parcells vs. Jones debate. I think Parcells means well in teaching Julius to run more north and south, and I think Julius means well in trying to do what his coach tells him, but the communication just hasn't worked. What's so wrong with pointing that out? Maybe the same message that Parcells used with a Curtis Martin to great effect has confused Julius Jones. That doesn't mean Julius is 100% at fault here or that the coaching he's received hasn't had a negative effect on his game.

[InmanRoshi]

The thing is that MB3 doesn't just run north and south if you really watch him. He bounces things outside and uses his instincts once he's past the initial line of scrimmage quite a bit.

I also don't see what the big deal is with just calling Julius a mediocre back. He's had the same M.O. since college ... 1 great game followed by 3-4 mediocre ones. Even his supposed "brillant" year in 2004 was like that ... 1 great game, 3-4 followed by mediocre ones. Its just that we ignored the 3-4 mediocre ones and focused on the great one because we wanted/needed Julius to be great so bad that we saw what we wanted to see. Its year three, and I'm just getting tired of the excuse makng. Last year when I expressed my doubts about Julius I was lectured "If he stays healthy this year he's going to prove you wrong". Well, he's healthy this year. So now its all Parcells fault? At what point will it ever be Julius fault?

[wileedog]

Joe Morris wasn't a quick, slashing, juke-guys-out-of-their-shoes runner like Julius is, though. He was short, but he was built like such a bowling ball that he didn't have a lot of lateral quickness. So he didn't have to worry about the same things as Julius.

I don't see why this argument always has to be a Parcells vs. Jones debate. I think Parcells means well in teaching Julius to run more north and south, and I think Julius means well in trying to do what his coach tells him, but the communication just hasn't worked. What's so wrong with pointing that out? Maybe the same message that Parcells used with a Curtis Martin to great effect has confused Julius Jones. That doesn't mean Julius is 100% at fault here or that the coaching he's received hasn't had a negative effect on his game.

Because it just doesn't make any sense to me.

I can't think of a single back ever who was 'coached down'. Can you?

I think the more likely explanation is a bunch of people got their expectations set really high for Julius based on a couple of games and he's just not there. I also think the rest of the league got some film of him from 2004 and has just caught up with his tendencies, etc. Even Hambrick remarked in 2003 how much harder it was to produce once teams game-planned for him. This seems to have resulted in a bad loss of confidence as well, which is definately not helping the situation.

Believe me I would love nothing more than to see more games like 2004. But lately he has simply not produced, and blaming it on the same Oline that seems to be blocking fine for Barber or the same coach who has developed HOFers seems like excuse making.

[lspain1]

Because it just doesn't make any sense to me.

I can't think of a single back ever who was 'coached down'. Can you?

I think the more likely explanation is a bunch of people got their expectations set really high for Julius based on a couple of games and he's just not there. I also think the rest of the league got some film of him from 2004 and has just caught up with his tendencies, etc. Even Hambrick remarked in 2003 how much harder it was to produce once teams game-planned for him.

Believe me I would love nothing more than to see more games like 2004. But lately he has simply not produced, and blaming it on the same Oline that seems to be blocking fine for Barber or the same coach who has developed HOFers seems like excuse making.

I understand your point and I'm not on the Jones or the Barber bandwagons. Doesn't your point about game planning also apply to Barber if defenses planned exclusively for him?

[Hoov]

That happened in the 4th when the D was clearly tired. Remember the NO game that last time when the saints ran it down our throats against a tired D?
Forever with the BS that barber gets a tired defense. Every week its a tired defense when barber gets a carry. A team is supposed to be able to play 60 minutes, but whenever barber runs well, which is actually every single game, its because it was a tired defense. Well why arent other NFC rb's going wild every week in the 4th quarter against the same teams ?

[InmanRoshi]

Kind of prophetic reading Julius old draft bio...

Negatives: Not really a self-motivated player and does not take well to hard coaching … Is just a little too lazy digesting the playbook … Has adequate power, but not enough to take on defenders one-on-one … Not mentally tough, letting minor injuries linger … Just used on screens, as he is a marginal route runner who looks late for the ball … Needs to protect the ball better and show better anticipation for contact … Will sometimes run up the back of the offensive lineman, but has enough pick-and-slide agility to gain yards inside … Prone to go down from the initial tackle, especially when defenders attack his feet … Has good foot quickness and change-of-direction agility, but is not sudden off cuts, gathering himself before accelerating.

All frequent complaints from fans who have watched him for three years here.

He is what he is.

[wileedog]

I understand your point and I'm not on the Jones or the Barber bandwagons. Doesn't your point about game planning also apply to Barber if defenses planned exclusively for him?

Barber has a couple games as a starter from last season, and with 13 TDs I would imagine he has gotten DC's attention around the league. I know who I would be worried about if I were game planning our team for this week.

That said, I have no illusions that Barber is going to carry a 5.2 YPC average if he was made the starter tomorrow. But I do think he will be better than the sub 3.0 average that Jones is producing lately.

[tyke1doe]

So assuming Michael Bush or Adrian Peterson falls in the draft, do we take them?

Do we take a back in the second round if a good one is available?

Do fans NOW believe the rumors that would have sent JJ to the Jets for Maroney if we could have swung such a trade?

[ThreeSportStar80]

Yeah, JJ is not a north-south bruiser like Joe Morris was.

You don't know much football because Joe Morris wasn't a physical runner, Parcells had guys like Otis Anderson and Rodney Hampton pounding the rock in NY.... :rolleyes:

[InmanRoshi]

I wouldn't draft one just to draft one, because as average as JJ is he is cheap and has 3 years in the offense. But if the Cowboys have a chance to upgrade, like if Marshawn Lynch falls into their laps in the 1st round, they should definitely do it.

[CrazyCowboy]

Nice read....thanks