YR's My Meaningless Thoughts On The Game

[Yakuza Rich]

- Obviously, there is the elephant in the room with the tragic death of Jerry Brown. Personally, I have been thru the gambit of friends being involved in drunk driving fatalities. I’ve had a friend killed by a drunk driver. I have had a friend killed in the passenger side of somebody driving drunk. About a year ago, a person I grew up with and knew since I was 8 years old, killed another person in a drunk driving incident. He was just sentenced to 16 months to 4.5 years about a month ago. And the person he killed was somebody I knew as he worked with my dad.

I’ve heard the outrage towards Brent and I’ve heard the support for Brent. I think both people are reasonable in their claims and I just remind myself that even if I don’t quite agree with somebody’s sentiments, I don’t know what their experiences are that led up to their stance on the situation.

On one hand, I’m pissed off that it happened. On the other hand, and for the lack of better words, it’s just very sad that it happened. One mistake and lives our ruined. While it has nothing to do with this situation, I often think about pro golfer Jack Newton. He was an Australian golfer set to be the next Jack Nicklaus. One night after winning a tournament he hopped into a plane and had a few drinks. Got off the plane, walked in the wrong direction and had his arm sawed off completely from the helicopter. One mistake can ruin a life.

The difficult part is that there is no easy solution. I would probably suggest that the NFL get much tougher on players that get a DUI. Perhaps an 8-game suspension may do the league good. Back where I grew up in Upstate NY, it would get so cold in the winter that you would get in your car just to go ½ mile down the street. My parents would go to our neighbors a half mile down the street and if my dad had more than 1 beer, he would have my mother drive home or have me or my sister pick him up. Why? One DUI and he would have lost his job. It always seemed ridiculous to me, such a short distance to drive and only 2 beers. But, there was too much risk at hand.

I also think that there needs to be some self-policing done by fellow teammates. Sometimes people just cannot understand that they are too drunk to drive when they are inebriated. This is not just a Cowboys thing, it’s a league-wide thing. Teammates have to step up and tell these guys ‘you’ve been drinking, I’ll drive you home’ or ‘let me call you a cab.’

We just saw something like this happen with Dwayne Goodrich. The problem is like so many of the off the field issues in the NFL, the players think ‘that will never happen to me.’ That’s where the real crux of the issue is, players just don’t think it will happen to them. Hell, I used to think that same thing as well. In Josh Brent and Jerry Brown's case, it did happen to them. Now the league has to find a way to get the players to understand those harsh realities.


- That may have been the worst performance by the O-Line, yet. It’s getting to the point where I’m worried that 4 of the 5 O-Linemen may need to be replaced. We definitely need a change at RT. The question I have is if play from one bad player on the O-Line is causing a collapse with the others. I sort of question if Benardeau is a problem since Parnell came in for Free for a bit and he stunk as well.


- I think we got a bit lucky on defense as why the Bengals refused to run the ball more was beyond me. You have a defense using a backup DE and 3rd string NT with 2 backup ILB’s and missing their starting SS. Sounds like running up the gut would be the plan for me.


- One thing I like about Murray is he has an ability to stay on his feet and it throws tacklers off because the typical running back would go down. He has a great sense of balance.


- Once again, Jason Hatcher has a great game. He probably won’t get a Pro Bowl bid, but he deserves one.


- Overall, it’s difficult to say too much about the actual game due to the Brent-Brown situation. And on offense, the O-Line was so bad that we couldn’t see the plays really develop. It got to the point where Romo’s shredded jersey says it all. And it just becomes more obvious that Garrett needs to hand the offense to somebody else. I thought Romo, Hatcher, Murray and Carr played great games with a heavy heart. And at the risk of sounding clichéd, I just got that feeling of the team being more like a family at the end with them bringing out Brown’s jersey and just a real sense of togetherness. I still don’t see this team making the playoffs, but I think for the first time in a long, long time, there seems to be some sense of solidarity on this team that we have not seen before.










YR

[dmq]

I agree about the OL and I also wondered if 4/5ths of the entire line needs to be replaced. It is just so sad to watch a great QB like Romo go down in history as an average QB because his OL is always so awful.

[Gaede]

OL was just god-awful. It's hard to watch a Zimmer defense just tear our guys up like that. There's alot of work to be done there in the offseason. We also need a new DT who can get at the QB a bit.

I'm really happy with the win. Haven't been that proud of the team since week 1.

Having Murray out there is such a huge plus. He had a couple of runs that only went for 4 or 5 yards but they were yards that he got solely on his own--due to his vision, speed, power. He really adds a lot to this offense.

This win is pretty much all Romo, but you have to give credit to Garrett and the defense. Without starting DE, S, 2 MLB, DT, and CB they managed to hold the Bengals to 19 points. Over half of the starting defensive players gone. Yeah the Bengals literally and figuratively dropped the ball but 19 points is 19 points.

Garrett gets credit because the team had every reason to go out there and lay an egg. But they were prepared and motivated. He gained a lot of respect in my eyes.

I'm willing to go with him for next year, now. But he absolutely has to let someone else call the offense. There's no real debate that the offense is not very good.

[Yakuza Rich]

There are issues on the play design as well. There was one sack on Romo where it was 3rd and 10. Bengals showed blitz in typical Zimmer fashion...no disguise. Obviously, the blitzer (I think it was a DB) could have feigned a blitz and dropped back in coverage. But it was a situation where if there's a blitz, you know he's the only person blitzing. And we had NO play for it. No hot route, no throw towards the spot the blitzer is coming from and certainly nothing to block it.

For me, our most realistic hope is that the offense is taken over by somebody else. Costa is better than we think and comes back healthy. And that Arkin becomes ready to start at guard. Then we pick up another quality guard in the 2nd round and sign Jake Long and move Tyron to RT.

Not exactly a sure thing of happening.








YR

[Rack Bauer]

We won't get any better on the OL with Long in there, and we will have wasted even more money in the process.


We need 2 new guards at least, and I'd like a new center as well though I know it won't happen (cuz JJ is dumb). I'd rather give Parnell a chance then to spend big money on Long.

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by Rack Bauer

We won't get any better on the OL with Long in there, and we will have wasted even more money in the process.


We need 2 new guards at least, and I'd like a new center as well though I know it won't happen (cuz JJ is dumb). I'd rather give Parnell a chance then to spend big money on Long.

Yeah.. Im starting to think Offensive Tackle may be where we go in the 1st round if a quality DL isn't available.

If Tyron doesn't progress at Left Tackle then it would be wise to have a backup plan.


Im cool with another year of Livings. He's hurt and he's done an ok job this year. I'm not a big Costa fan but the guy did look pretty good when he was playing this year.

Right Guard and Right tackle are a must. If Doug Free is the starter going into next season then the offseason was a failure.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by Rack Bauer

We won't get any better on the OL with Long in there, and we will have wasted even more money in the process.


We need 2 new guards at least, and I'd like a new center as well though I know it won't happen (cuz JJ is dumb). I'd rather give Parnell a chance then to spend big money on Long.

I'm not overly nutty on spending big money on an O-Linemen, but Long would make us better on the O-Line. It's pretty obvious watching games that Romo has problems when Free gets beat. Some QB's can deal with that better because they can see the strongside pass rusher. But because they can't see the weakside, they struggle if their LT isn't there for them. Romo sees Free getting beat and the play turns into a mess more often than not. And looking at Romo's best seasons, all came with pretty decent RT play.

I also think you are more apt to find good guards in the draft. Although we would actually have to draft well there for once. Drafting good OT's is a lot harder to come by.






YR

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

I'm not overly nutty on spending big money on an O-Linemen, but Long would make us better on the O-Line. It's pretty obvious watching games that Romo has problems when Free gets beat. Some QB's can deal with that better because they can see the strongside pass rusher. But because they can't see the weakside, they struggle if their LT isn't there for them. Romo sees Free getting beat and the play turns into a mess more often than not. And looking at Romo's best seasons, all came with pretty decent RT play.

I also think you are more apt to find good guards in the draft. Although we would actually have to draft well there for once. Drafting good OT's is a lot harder to come by.






YR

Do we have to go to the extreme of signing Long though? He would make us better but that's not saying much. There has to be some cheaper guys that would make us better.

At this point im cool with drafting Offensive Tackle with our 1st pick. I feel like it's that important.

[Rack Bauer]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

I'm not overly nutty on spending big money on an O-Linemen, but Long would make us better on the O-Line. It's pretty obvious watching games that Romo has problems when Free gets beat. Some QB's can deal with that better because they can see the strongside pass rusher. But because they can't see the weakside, they struggle if their LT isn't there for them. Romo sees Free getting beat and the play turns into a mess more often than not. And looking at Romo's best seasons, all came with pretty decent RT play.

I also think you are more apt to find good guards in the draft. Although we would actually have to draft well there for once. Drafting good OT's is a lot harder to come by.






YR

You haven't been watching Long the last two years. He's not NEARLY as good as you think he is. And he'll want big money.

I'd go with Chance Warmack in the draft. Then put him at RG and hope he makes whoever the RT is better.

Signing Long would be a horrible move. Leonard Davis part 2 only we'd get the Davis in his last year, not his first 2 (with the cowboys).

[Joe Realist]

It was a game that I did not think we could win and somehow did.

[RS12]

Long isnt coming here. Stephen said they were tight against the cap next year just last week. He'll get 12-15 mill a year IMO. As far as Costa and Arkin, hope isnt a plan.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by RS12

As far as Costa and Arkin, hope isnt a plan.

I completely agree. But I'm not sure how much improvement can be made, particularly if you only go thru the draft. As bad as Benardeau and Cook are and with Livings being nothing to write home about, Free is just god awful. I also don't think any coach wants to start 3 rookies on the O-Line. Maybe we don't get Long (remember, Stephen said that cap problems are overblown because all you do is put the money off for the future). But, I think the only road to recovery is to go thru FA and the draft for 2013. It would really help if either Costa or Arkin were worth a starting position.






YR

[dexternjack]

The line needs an overhaul for sure. I am getting to the point realizing that it might be for the best if Smith is moved to RT and they go out and sign a stud LT. I don't know if he is ready to play LT yet, he is still young and developing. Keep livings at LG and find a replacement for free. Center, not sure about there. I would be cool with going with Costa, but can he be depended on for a whole season?

I do not want to see two rookies starting on this line either, FA is the way to go while drafting some lineman to be developed and plugged in later.

The defensive line needs work badly also, along with a safety or two. There are just too many holes to fill with a draft, FA's are a must.

[burmafrd]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

I'm not overly nutty on spending big money on an O-Linemen, but Long would make us better on the O-Line. It's pretty obvious watching games that Romo has problems when Free gets beat. Some QB's can deal with that better because they can see the strongside pass rusher. But because they can't see the weakside, they struggle if their LT isn't there for them. Romo sees Free getting beat and the play turns into a mess more often than not. And looking at Romo's best seasons, all came with pretty decent RT play.

I also think you are more apt to find good guards in the draft. Although we would actually have to draft well there for once. Drafting good OT's is a lot harder to come by.


YR

Jake Long has been dinged up a lot the last two years; this year he has been barely above average. Cost too much