James Hanna seemed to find his way on the field vs the Steelers

[LatinMind]

This guy seemed to find his way on the field vs the Steelers. And did some solid things early. But then it seemed that he was phased out of the game. This is the thing that i dont like about Garrett. He seems to want to do 10 things at the same time during games. Instead of sticking with what works until the defense finds a way to stop it. That then leads to other openings from adjustments the defense has to make. I think this leads to alot of stalled drives.

[Hostile]

I could have sworn we won. To me, that works.

[Stryker44]

You were also playing the number 1 overall and number 1 pass D in the NFL.

[keds]

Key members of their secondary were injured and not playing... on paper it was the number one defense... that's about it... we won the game but our offense had fewer players missing and thus had a slight advantage over their defense...

[cowboysooner]

We have to run before we walk on message boards. Hanna is a very nice matchup problem in a two Te set. But he has also played about 5 plays a game. If he can make 2-3 catches per game that would be great.

[NickZepp]

We have a lot of weapons at WR so it's tough to get a 2nd TE in the game that much. We probably should be running the ball a little more. But if Romo is hot why go away from that as well. It's understandable to stay with Romo right now when he's played real good the last 6 or 7 games or so.

[Eskimo]

I don't know why we left Hanna on the sideline so much. IMO, Garrett is a bit slow to play most rookies although there are exceptions (Murray, Dez, Tyron, Mo) for the best players. Part of it may be the complexity of the offense and part of it may be that the low round players usually are not ready for the NFL and need a bit of coaching/training to get their game up to the NFL level.

I have noticed that he will play second year players quite a bit more if they do have talent and ability.

My guess is we'll continue to play Hanna a few reps when there are certain matchups that we think he can win. I believe part of the hesitation right now is that he functions too much like a WR and maybe not enough as a TE. An offseason of strengthening and working on his blocking should help that. If he could be a two-way TE we would put defenses in a real bind with Wiiten and him on the field at the same time - bring in an extra DB and risk getting pounded on the edge or stay in base defense and expose your LBs to covering the TEs or bring your safeties down to cover the TEs and give 1-1 matchups against Dez and Miles on your CBs.

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by NickZepp

We have a lot of weapons at WR so it's tough to get a 2nd TE in the game that much. We probably should be running the ball a little more. But if Romo is hot why go away from that as well. It's understandable to stay with Romo right now when he's played real good the last 6 or 7 games or so.

I don't know if Hanna blocks well enough to stay on the field much. That's where I'm really hoping he improves because he can obviously be a nice weapon in the passing game next year.

[LatinMind]

Originally Posted by keds

Key members of their secondary were injured and not playing... on paper it was the number one defense... that's about it... we won the game but our offense had fewer players missing and thus had a slight advantage over their defense...

What about their offense against Cowboys defense? Dallas was missing both NTs both ILB RCB FS RDE Slot CB backup Safety in peprah Sims for 3 quarters and Ware playing with 1 arm.

IM not trying to make excuses for hanna not playing, im saying is why cant Garrett just be comfortable with what the Def gives the offense and move the ball up and down the field. His biggest weakness and what has already cost Dallas plenty of wins is his game situation choices.

[JohnsKey19]

I like Hanna and would like for him to become a consistent contributor to the offense. But Garrett's playcalling or use of personnel was not an issue last Sunday. The Cowboys moved the ball at will for the most part. We ran the ball well and our QB threw for 340 yds completing 75% of his passes. While the Steelers are missing some key players, that's still a pretty good defense.

[Nirvana]

I think we'll see him get more snaps today as he was indeed impressive last week. A fast tight end is a nice contrast with Witten.

[FLcowboy]

Hanna looked real good on his two catches, especially on the crossing route. But, Romo's pass was picture perfect and the game was still young. I can't blame Garrett nominating to put too much pressure on the rookie.

[speedkilz88]

Phillips seems to be getting all the snaps today. Odd.