Observations from 2003 games - Dallas Cowboys Forum

**Reality** · 08-01-2004

The last few days I spent a little time watching several of the 2003 games the Cowboys played and by watching them back to back in several cases, I noticed several patterns with the players.

Understand, I know many of us have pointed some of these things out just after watching each game, but trust me, the problems I cover are WAY more of a problem than you can realize in just one game. Watch several games in a row fast-forwarding to each snap and you'll see what I mean.

First, the one that concerns me the most is that I've noticed Antonio Bryant can't catch passes with his hands. All of his drops or juggles come from he uses his hands to catch the ball away from his body. The great receivers (Rice, Irvin, etc.) use their hands to catch whenever possible and only use their bodies to catch when they believe they will be hit during or right after the catch. I really encourage any of you with game tapes to watch 3 or 4 games in a row and watch Bryant and you'll see what I mean. After realizing this, I'm not quite as excited about him as I was though I hope he improves this year to the player he *should* be.

Next, I noticed Joey Galloway catches balls better when he's under pressure or near defenders. This is weird of course since with most receivers it's the other way around. When Joey had several steps on the defenders, he seemed to relax too much. He either slowed down and the ball sailed past him as a result or the ball hit him right in the hands and he dropped it.

Remember the flea-flicker in the Cardinal game? Remember, Carter had Joey running a post pattern down the left side and Glenn running a post straight up the middle .. both safeties and the cornerbacks bit on the flea-flicker so Carter had both open and he threw it to Glenn (which of course was right for more reasons than the one I'm referring to now). I believe if he had thrown the ball to Joey, he would have either overthrown him due to Joey slowing down or Joey would have dropped it.

Something else to think about it .. ever notice how the slower receivers run at a more consistent speed in their routes than the "fast" receivers do? It's like the slower receivers have automatic engines while the fast receivers have 5-speeds. I noticed Joey would shift speeds a LOT during his routes. Now, I'm not a Quincy fan or hater, but I'd really hate to throw to someone who constantly adjusts his speeds during each route.

Another thing I realized is that in Hambrick's good games, he ran straight immediately after receiving the handoff. Even when there was no hole there he pushed the line for a 1-2 yard gain. In other games where he performed poorly he would take a little side step before each run. It wasn't that he was looking for a hole, he seemed to do it a LOT even when the holes were there. Another problem I saw with him is that he didn't have good balance at all. Now, before everyone says "DUH!" I mean that he didn't balance himself front to back very well at all. His torso was always bent too far forward which caused him to fall down during nice runs before defenders ever tackled him. The slightest tag from a defensive player would start his downward turn.

The only bad thing I noticed about Terry Glenn was that he sometimes takes his eyes off the ball. His drops usually come when he turns his head/eyes too quickly.

Anderson was by far our best runner last year. I don't mean from a yard standpoint, but he ran with determination and juked when he needed to. He may be the full back but he looked more like a tailback last year than anyone else the Cowboys ran. Also, Murrell really looked a lot better than Hambrick. I really wish we had dropped Hambrick last year and kept Murrell, just for last season.

Another big "DUH!" to be heard, I'm sure but ... the Cowboys defense actually was the reason we won at least 3 of the 10 games last year. Now, they played good in the other 7 but the defense single-handedly accounted for 3 of the wins.

Again, I'm not a Quincy fan so don't treat me as such. That being said, several of his interceptions last year were not the game changing kind. There were 3 or 4 that were thrown hail-mary style that were intercepted. There were several that were great throws but were tipped up by clumsy receivers. For instance, Glenn had one that he caught, then he hit the ground and the ball popped up into the hands of a defender. Now, there were some " was he thinking?" throws, don't get me wrong. I don't ever see Quincy putting the team on his shoulders to win games but I'm not quite as down about him as I was before I watched those game tapes.

The offensive line was pathetic last year. If Quincy wasn't so mobile, he'd have been sacked at least 15-20 more times than he was. Their pass blocking wasn't great but their run blocking was absolutely pathetic. We could have had the best running back in the league on our team and he wouldn't have rushed for more than 1200 yards as the featured back. There just weren't any lanes or holes to hit on a consistent basis. Oh how I miss the 90s'

Our defensive line was actually better than I thought. We got a lot more pressure on the quarterbacks than I thought we did. Many quarterbacks now are more mobile than they were 10+ years ago and it seems most quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball VERY quickly. I'd be willing to bet you if you took Greg Ellis and put him back on the 1970's Cowboys, he'd get 30 sacks easily.

Our punting and kickoffs always gave us horrible field positions which we all know is extremely important to Parcells. There were some games where you could tell they weren't even trying to get a first down on third down and instead were trying to get closer to the end zone just to give Gowin a chance to drop it inside the 20.

In the Cardinal game, after RW lowered the boom on Emmitt Smith, Emmitt stayed in on the next play even though we later found out he had a broken collarbone (or something like that). While he's nowhere near what he was, I think I miss his toughness the most. I wish more players weren't like Leon (player from commercial).

Other little things I noticed ..

Derrick Ross wasn't very good when he did play. Was upset we let him go, but not after rewatching the games.

Whitten is the man at TE. No offense to Whalen, but Whitten has all of the tools. Whitten to me can catch just as well as Whalen ever did. I watched a couple of passes that Whitten caught from Quincy that were wobbly ducks yet he caught them with his HANDS (see earlier reference to receives who catch with hands). Not to mention, when he catches the ball, he immediately turns up field and charges ahead. No zig-zagging or juking, just old school "I'm going to run over you if you get in my way" football.

Cason is fast, but has no power at all. When the guy runs it reminds me of a pinball machine. He literrally bounces in all different directions when he hits ANYONE, including the blockers in front of him. He is nothing more than a fast little guy and that just won't work in today's NFL. As much as I love his speed, I just don't see him making the roster this year. I mean I know he can break for a long run every so often because once he's through the linebackers, he can take it to the house. However, he seems to get no yards or lose yards (ala Emmitt in the last few years) on several plays before he "might" break one for a long run. As I've said before, I'll take a back who can constitently get 3 to 4 yards on every carry than one who averages over 5 yards per carry but gets it by running for 0 yards on 10 plays and breaks the 11th play open for a huge gain.

Coakley is fast but the guy needs some stickem, big time. I think Coakley has dropped more interceptions in the last 2 years than any of our receivers have dropped passes. I do love his speed though

Mario Edwards was a good cornerback .. he was always around his man which is a sign of a CB with skills. I do believe the league officials stereotyped him as a chronic pass interference player leading to so many penalties on him. In watching several of the games, there were several nitpicking PI penalties called on him that it just wasn't right. It sort of reminds me of Kevin Smith although Kevin did grab receivers a lot. One of the games I listened to had the announcers disagreeing with the PI call on Mario and saying that this was football and the officials need to let the players play the game.

Well, that's about it. I realize this is old news and most won't even care but some things just became so clear once I watched several of the games together that I felt I would share them.

LaTunaNostra · 08-01-2004

Reality, I noticed many of the same things when I re-watched last year's games. Terry had more drops last year than he ever had in any previous season, and I also noticed he seemed to want to start running with the ball before he had it, therefore losing the concentration to catch the ball first. He also had some difficulty extending his arms the same way for middle of field passes that he always did for sidelines one. His issues were predominately mid of field, where he never had to go much in NE.

Richie is a nifty runner. Just watching his hips it is easy to see how he differs from that Leaning Tower of Piza that is Tham, with that curiously slanted body angle you described. Troy did not seem to know when to wait out a block or just get going, tho there were a few plays it looked like he was getting more patient with his blocks. Then he would regress.

With AB, I once thought he had tremendous talent (when he was in college). After last year's performances, I am not so sure of that anymore either. Some of the mechanics can be re-taught, (and I'd speculate Tuna was not overwhelmed with McNulty's coaching of Antonio), but there were SO MANY things AB seemed to be doing wrong, that it looked to me less like typical sophomore slump than Just a Guy syndrome. Like he's not equipped to be more than a minor player in this league. I hope I'm wrong, but regardless of his now cleared up issue with Bill, it looks like drafting at wide out is the priority next spring.

Your takes on Joey are interesting, I didn't catch any of the trends you mentioned, probably because it pained me to even look at him.

It always get labeled as "excuses", but there were a fair share of Q's picks that were not on him, and as you say, not game changers. Carter has yet to have under Tuna that "abysmal game" that Bill claims is so important to be able to come back from.

JJT did a pretty good job this week of breaking Carter's interceptions down. Of course, it's a given that TD-INT ratio has to change, and other players being responsible for picks is just a part of the game foe every QB. But the lack of fight in our receivers combined with the lapses in concentration, poor mechanics, free-lancing of routes, and just flat out occasional apparent laziness did not exactly max out Q's chances for success.

Ken · 08-01-2004

Good analysis....

But I disagree with Anderson being our best runner. He was good, but to me, Murrell was our best runner for the short period of time he was our runner. I still don't understand why we let him go. He would make people miss and get yards when none were there. Anderson did that too but didn't have the quickness of Murrell. It makes me wonder what he would have done if he finished the season with us and got in better game shape as the season wore on.

I agree about the DL. They were dominant at times and really set the tone for our defense. I really thought Blade played great last year. He was able to penetrate as well as any of our DT's. I hope Stewart and Carson can do that this year. Stewart was just a flat out Bull rusher last year. He was good too, just not as good as blade. iI hope that Stewart has improved as much as Parcells seems to think.

Witten is going to be outstanding. I love our TE situation with Cambell and the youngster Ryan. Witten toughness is what i loved. Let alone the broken jaw, he took outher wicked shots that he seemed to bounce right off of.

As far as carter goes, to me, he, Anderson, and Flo were our Offensive MVPs last year. Regardless of Carter's statline, he played well the majority of the time and lot's of times was our only threat on O.

dbair1967 · 08-01-2004

"It always get labeled as "excuses", but there were a fair share of Q's picks that were not on him, and as you say, not game changers. Carter has yet to have under Tuna that "abysmal game" that Bill claims is so important to be able to come back from. "

I almost hate to chime in with this, but your dead wrong man...Carter had several "abysmal" games last yr...I'd have to classify the games vs Atlanta, Tampa, New England, Buffalo, at Philly, New Orleans, and Carolina (playoff) as "absymal" because in all but the Atlanta game his rating was well below 70 for the game and/or he threw multiple ints and/or we failed to generate anything offensively..and the only reason his Atlanta rating exceeded 70 was because of a couple of long catch and runs by WR's

I dont know what your definition of abysmal is, but if a QB has games where he doesnt even post a 60 rating (and 60 sux) you'd have to classify that as atrocious or abysmal..Carter had 6 of those games last yr, 7 if you count the playoff game at Carolina...overall, 11 of Q's 17 starts resulted in game ratings under 70

was it ALL his fault? no, but at some point you cant continuously keep nit picking reasons why a QB cant even post a mediocre rating of 70 on a week to week basis..sure not all those 21 picks were his fault, but he also had another 10-12 balls that could have easily been picked off, including a couple that wuld have been easy tds for opponents...

David

SALADIN · 08-01-2004

Great analysis Reality.

Hope to see you posting more this time a year.

Cbz40 · 08-01-2004

Reality I especally agree with you about Bryant........he catches passes about as well as he throws dirty sweaty jerseys.

SALADIN · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cbz40

Reality I especally agree with you about Bryant........he catches passes about as well as he throws dirty sweaty jerseys.

Its all about focus and concentration at this level.

morning Cbz

LaTunaNostra · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbair1967

"It always get labeled as "excuses", but there were a fair share of Q's picks that were not on him, and as you say, not game changers. Carter has yet to have under Tuna that "abysmal game" that Bill claims is so important to be able to come back from. "

I almost hate to chime in with this, but your dead wrong man...Carter had several "abysmal" games last yr...I'd have to classify the games vs Atlanta, Tampa, New England, Buffalo, at Philly, New Orleans, and Carolina (playoff) as "absymal" because in all but the Atlanta game his rating was well below 70 for the game and/or he threw multiple ints and/or we failed to generate anything offensively..and the only reason his Atlanta rating exceeded 70 was because of a couple of long catch and runs by WR's

[View Full Quote]

I am using Bill's much quoted statment on QB development. Which is that you never know what you have in a QB until he has had a game where he throws mutiple picks and loses the game for his team. Tuna maintains ALL QBs go thru this, all should and all must come back from it in order to have a career, but that he doesn't know what his QB is made of until he sees the guy rebound from such a disaster.

Carter had multiple pick games last year, notably Miami. But none of the games were lost solely on his performance. I guess his 02 Arizona game is an example of that kind of abysmal game, tho I did not see it.

Here, however, is how Tuna differs from Coslet/Campo. Tuna doesn't bench a QB after a poor outing, even a poor outing in which his errors sealed his team's fate. Tuna wants to see how the young QB comes back from such a disaser, and he want to see it the very next week.

He has said this many many times. He realizes the game from hell is not just part of the dvelopmental porcess, but a crucial aspect of it in leadership and psychcological strength. A player very dear to him, Ray Lucas, was unable to come back emotionally from such an abysmal outing in 2002, and that I believe to be the sole reason Ray, a lifelong Boys fan and Tuna 's ultimate favorite son, is not wearing his beloved star today.

This Parcells teaching method applies to all positions, btw. Witness Bill's disdainful response tp those who sought to see Billy Cundiff benched or even replaced after the season opener last year. Tuna pooh poohed the idea. Billy rewarded him with that fine game in NY the following week.

Imo, it isn't the one real nasty game will lose Carter his job this year. I've yet to see Bill bench a QB after an atrocious outing. It will be Rick Mirer style inadequacy over a course of three or so weeks. Failure to sustain drives, failure to get it in the ends zone. Losing two consecutive games by 10-6 type stuff. Bill overlooked tghe two shut outs last year, which were not consecutive, but still troubling. He certainly won't do so this year.

PS. Go back and watch the NE game. Shut out or no, Carter was not abysmal in that one.

Cbz40 · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALADIN

Its all about focus and concentration at this level.

morning Cbz

How true Mr Saladin.......Let's hope Mr Bryant finds his focus button this season.

SALADIN ole buddy good morning to you.......I trust you are having a great summer.

TheSkaven · 08-01-2004

Reality - I watched several games from last year again and agree with your assessment for the most part. I mention that I only saved games in which the Cowboys won.

Glenn was clearly the best receiver last year. I think we were fortunate, actually, considering his injury history that he made it through the entire year. Galloway had several really bad performances, dropping some easy catches and showing nothing as a punt returner. Bryant needs to improve his consistency.

Also - don't feel like you have to qualify your quarterback statements with being a fan or not being a fan. You're a fan of the team like me, and we root for whichever quarterback is under center. I agree with your remarks there, and I think having a quarterback who can escape the pass rush is important until this offensive line can protect the passer without keeping two TEs in.

Cheap Shot Artist · 08-01-2004

Quote:

The offensive line was pathetic last year. If Quincy wasn't so mobile, he'd have been sacked at least 15-20 more times than he was. Their pass blocking wasn't great but their run blocking was absolutely pathetic. We could have had the best running back in the league on our team and he wouldn't have rushed for more than 1200 yards as the featured back. There just weren't any lanes or holes to hit on a consistent basis. Oh how I miss the 90s'

Our line was average last year maybe average plus

If it was pathetic last year, how about '02?

Quincy and his elusiveness got him out of sacks, but his lack of presense at times in the pocket got him into sacks

Now, If LaDanian Tomlinson ran for over 1500 yards behind San Diego's sorry line, how many yards would he have run behind ours?

Or even Julius Jones or Eddie George?

**MichaelWinicki** · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheap Shot Artist

Our line was average last year maybe average plus

If it was pathetic last year, how about '02?

Quincy and his elusiveness got him out of sacks, but his lack of presense at times in the pocket got him into sacks

Now, If LaDanian Tomlinson ran for over 1500 yards behind San Diego's sorry line, how many yards would he have run behind ours?

Or even Julius Jones or Eddie George?

The thing about Quincy is that he is not a scrambling QB... not in the truest sense of the term. He has some mobility but he is not a scrambler.

LaTunaNostra · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSkaven

Glenn was clearly the best receiver last year. I think we were fortunate, actually, considering his injury history that he made it through the entire year.

AMEN!

And yet there are so many, from Mickey to many fans, who seem to prefer to see AB out there, undeservedly, instead of Terry. Because TG "isn't getting any younger". Well, I don't see AB getting any smarter.

Folks better hope Terry makes it thru another season with nothing more than last year's bursitis and knee tweak.

The wonderful playermaker that is Keyshawn Johnson is going to be flat out wasted if Terry goes down. I don't know from whence the unwillingness to give Terry any love stems..if it's "he's in AB's precious way", "he's one of Tuna's carpetbaggers", "she's too small", and I have come to terms with it as a TG fan. Even immediately after the Detroit game last year the "he jumps for no reason" remarks ran rampant, so I expect no different this year. But Terry will no longer have to sacrfice his primary skills to pretend to be a possession option, and that alone is a reason for me to rejoice.

**MichaelWinicki** · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaTunaNostra

AMEN!

And yet there are so many, from Mickey to many fans, who seem to prefer to see AB out there, undeservedly, instead of Terry. Because TG "isn't getting any younger". Well, I don't see AB getting any smarter.

Folks better hope Terry makes it thru another season with nothing more than last year's bursitis and knee tweak.

[View Full Quote]

The thing about AB that I find bothersome that coming out of college he was, by many draft-niks perceptions, the best route runner of any wide-out available in that draft. His seemingly lack of ability to run a strong route quite frankly stuns me.

Galloway on the hand--we always knew that bastid couldn't run a route to save his life. I give Quincy some props for having to work with that knucklehead.

Ken · 08-01-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

The thing about Quincy is that he is not a scrambling QB... not in the truest sense of the term. He has some mobility but he is not a scrambler.

True, he is not a scrambler, but his pocket presense is great. I believe it to be among the best in the league.

I also do think that his scrambling will improve this year.