Another set of comments on Texans game - Dallas Cowboys Forum

Fla Cowpoke · 08-29-2005

Just was able to download the vids off of the bittorrent link. Have put them on Bearshare, but need more people to do so and they might be downloadable in a reasonable amount of time. Hopefully Calico's bandwidth will kick back in on his host.

Anyhow, I came away with a lot of positive things.

First off, I though Bledsoe played very well. He had a couple of drops...but I did not see one poor decision. He fired the ball with authority, several times to his secondary receivers. One thing. If we never run another screen, it will still be too soon. Just take them out of the playbook. Maybe install the shovel pass we used to work so well to Preston Pearson and Ron Springs.

I thought Al Johnson, Andre Gurode, Rob Petitti and Stephen Peterman played excellent games. I saw pancake blocks at various times by each one of them. Gurode has earned his spot on the roster...and he is a legitimate challenger to Johnson. In fact, after watching him play I think it speaks highly of our depth that we have two starting quality centers. On Julius very first run, AJ completely buckled the nose tackle. On the 2nd and 17 run in the first series, he pulled very nicely. In fact, the whole OL looked good on that play. On the play that Petitti hurt his ankle, he actually pancaked the defender. And he impressed me with his toughness...sticking in there after he hurt the ankle. I am sold on him as the right tackle. He has gotten better every game and I do not see any real issues with his footwork.

Newman looks spectacular. He ran stride for stride with Johnson several times. Johnson is one of the faster receivers in the league. On the pick in the endzone, he baited Carr into that throw. He almost had another pick shortly afterwards. And throw in the nice return that he had that was called back on Ware's block in the back. Newman looked REAL good.

On the TD run by Jones, Petitti had a very nice block and did anyone else notice who got the crackback block on the corner? Terry Glenn!

Romo also played very well. He played smart, avoided the impulse throw, and moved the team right down the field on a couple of occasions. I am ok with him as the backup.

And Morgan actually made a tough catch. Only thing is, it seemed that he should have turned to the outside in the pass route, not the inside. Although maybe turning to the inside it kept the defender inside and he was able to shield him from the ball. It was a good catch.

The negatives...well, the special teams units were a mess. But I heard Parcells say they were trying a lot of different people out there, some that had not really played together. So I chalk it up to experimentation. Better see it cleaned up though. Reggie Swinton is fast when he gets a head of steam. Thornton and Jones both turned and started running as hard as they could on the angle but Reggie outran the angle. I wished we had kept Swinton two years ago and cut Randall Williams.

Larry Allen and Flozell Adams seemed to not be very motivated. They did not handle the blitz well. Allen got dogged on the same type of stunt that Petitti got beat on last week on the play that Bledsoe got sacked on early. And twice he and Adams let blitzers split them. Gotta let the outside guy go on the blitz...the one up the gut is the biggest risk to the QB.

The middle of our zone, especially in the 3-4, is soft. Our LB's don't seem to be getting good drops consistently. To some extent it is understood with the intricacies of the system. But season is fast approaching.

The last disappointment is the nagging injuries. I would like to have had a game where we got to see the entire starting OL play. I wish Barber, Ferguson, Rivera, Beriault and Kalen Thornton could get 100% by game one. Kalen Thornton is clearly favoring his left leg but he is playing his heart out. I know they get paid a lot of money, but I really respect the guys who bust their a**** and play through any pain. And we have a lot of those.

Overall, I like the way things are shaping up. We all question Parcells about individual moves, but when you add up the whole package, it's hard to complain with the turnover in the roster since Parcells arrived.

roughneck266 · 08-29-2005

Nice read man! Good insites, much appreciated.

DWAREZ · 08-30-2005

That is a good assessment on the game from my perspective..great job bro

RatisBeast · 08-30-2005

Good comments....I couldn't agree more. Bledsoe can be good for us if we block, i'm just happy he hasn't thrown any int's yet. *Knocks on wood*

followthestar · 08-30-2005

nice to hear the nice stuff - newman is playing probably his best football, pettiti and other players on the OL are stepping up, and yes Bledsoe is looking a little better with each snap. we have to pray for our ST though - saints preserve us!

Fla Cowpoke · 08-30-2005

Thanks for the comments guys.

It was funny watching the game, because I had read so many comments that were less than positive. And I came away with a completely different felling.

I am not sure how anyone could criticize Bledsoe on his performance in this game. There was nothing wrong with him.

One other thing I noted. The OL seems to do well when they are one on one with a defender. But their communication is still not there. They are getting beat by stunts. What sucks is that a lot of that happened on the left side, which should not be a problem for us.

LaTunaNostra · 08-30-2005

Nice post!!!

Fla Cowpoke · 08-30-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaTunaNostra

Nice post!!!

Damn, I didn't think you could see it from there!

dallasblue05 · 08-30-2005

Man, it was nice to read this. Not to piggy back, but I felt the same way. I saw bits of the game on No Huddle, wich actually means all I saw were the highlights, lol. But I made a point to watch very closely during the re-air of it, just so I could analyze, to the best of my ability that is. Knowing how the game was going to end allowed me to pay attention to all the little things instead of what the end result of those little things would be......that make sense? I feel really good about what I saw, Bledsoe, Romo, Julius, Petitti, they all looked great. Ware looked good, and Newman.....WOW, where did he come from? Obviously there are things that need to improve, ie, recognizing the blitz when they dont show it, or the mid-field pass coverage (LBs). But dude, I will take 21-9 anyday of the week!!

JDSmith · 08-30-2005

On the sack I thought Flo just screwed up. They blitzed the CB and Flozell turned out momentarily as if to pick up the CB, letting the DE just right right by him to the inside. By the time he looked outside and then tried to come back in for the DE it was too late and the guy had a clean shot at Bledsoe. Julius was back there and picked up the CB, so I don't know what Flo was thinking.

JDSmith · 08-30-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallasblue05

Man, it was nice to read this. Not to piggy back, but I felt the same way. I saw bits of the game on No Huddle, wich actually means all I saw were the highlights, lol. But I made a point to watch very closely during the re-air of it, just so I could analyze, to the best of my ability that is. Knowing how the game was going to end allowed me to pay attention to all the little things instead of what the end result of those little things would be......that make sense? I feel really good about what I saw, Bledsoe, Romo, Julius, Petitti, they all looked great. Ware looked good, and Newman.....WOW, where did he come from? Obviously there are things that need to improve, ie, recognizing the blitz when they dont show it, or the mid-field pass coverage (LBs). But dude, I will take 21-9 anyday of the week!!

21 - 9 is nice, but starters vs starters it was 7 - 0 with a few timely turnovers keeping the Texans off the board. So there is still plenty of room for improvement on both sides of the ball.

Billy Bullocks · 08-30-2005

The more I think of it. Im so happy bout Pettiti(so far) steppin up, and Crayton. We're getting, at least in none meaningful competition, great production from a 6th and a 7th round guy. love it. Crayton did well last year..but he seems 2 times as good

**Sarge** · 08-30-2005

Nice analysis JD, thanks.

Next_years_Champs · 08-30-2005

I like and agree with your evaluations, except as another reply stated it was Flo Adams which turned the defensive end loose on the Bledsoe sack.

I also agree with your opinions about the overall play from Al Johnson and Andre Gurode, both played effectively and I saw no obvious blown assignments. I do think however that AJ has the advantage when asked to pull as well as moving downfield and making blocks on linebackers in open space. Gurode struggles with that he seems to miss more times than not.

And I agree 110% with your evaluation of the Parcells engineered roster, This is a team which has a much broader talent base as well as a much improved discipline. The rebuilding is certainly taking shape and will hopefully supply the talent for the Cowboys return to the NFL elite.

JDSmith · 08-30-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarge

Nice analysis JD, thanks.

You're welcome, but it wasn't my analysis.

Fla Cowpoke started the thread.