[morasp]

Originally Posted by kmd24

Your Dallas hate blinders are on.

First, I assume you realize that Shockey, Snee, and Toomer all played in week 5 and that you are merely addressing the week 17 game by your highlighted comment.

If you look at the play-by-play of that game, you will see a fairly conservative game plan that was undone by a fourth quarter defensive collapse fueled by a 43 yard pass intereference penalty, a roughing the passer penalty, and a fumble by guys who won't see the field in 2005. The Giants were very fortunate to win that game. Don't play it off as if the Giants turned in some dominating performance.

Now, on to the reasons Dallas should have fewer of this kind of collapse in 2005.

[View Full Quote]The additions to the Dallas secondary this year are huge when you consider the players manning the RCB position last year. Henry, Hunter, and Aaron Glenn will be vying for the CB position opposite Newman. Newman is still early in his career and may continue to develop into a quality corner.

Dallas added four first round-type guys in the front 7. Ware, Spears, Burnett, and Canty are all big time players. The perception that all of these rookies need to contribute is a bad one. In reality, Ware is probably the one guy who Dallas really needs to contribute big. If the other guys do, the defense could be flat out scary. Bradie James may also show improvement - he is still early in his career as well.

Dallas added Jason Ferguson to the DL. This guy will shore up a position that has been manned by castoffs since BP's arrival. The improvement at NT will be huge. This addition is often overlooked, but it will be the first time Dallas has had a proven player there in quite a while.

The biggest remaining question mark is at FS. If you can say that Jacobs, a guy who has never proven anything in college, let alone the NFL, will be an improvement over Ron Dayne, one of the most productive players in college history, then I feel safe in saying that Justin Beriault will be an improvement over Tony Dixon.

I don't know much about the Giants and their plans for 2005. They may have made moves that give them a chance to improve quite a bit on offense. What I do know is that it is very likely that Dallas will have improved dramatically on defense.

That was a really good post!