My Impressions

[adbutcher]

Hello Everyone I got back from Zona yesterday and I was completely wiped. Now that I am back at work it is time to work the boards, lol.

First of all, Hos shown a tremendous amount of Hospitality; dude it was pleasure kicking it with you and thanks for being a excellent host. It was a pleasure to finally meet Dale, he has a great head on his shoulders and I only see great things for him. Keep doing your thang and don’t fall victim to the bang, bang, lol. Blindzebra was very cool also, a lot shorter than I imagine but a great dude none-the-less. Last but not least, it was great to meet Cali / azcowboy and crew but in the future please have more at your tailgate then a Mickey D’s cheeseburger and some brew, lol.

Now enough for the shout outs, here are my game impressions. It was a tough loss and it is evident that we still have a lot of work to do. The first team offense looked very average with the exception of Witten and Jones. Bledsoe was very erratic and his ball patting and happy feet needs to be fixed or it will be a long, long season. Romo will have a long career as a backup QB because simply he doesn’t have a NFL QB arm. His trajectory of his passes has a lot of loft. For example during pre-game you can hear the ball thump when the WRs were catching balls from Drew and Drew. When Romo threw there was a noticeable difference. I know some here are enamored with him but when he throws an out most NFL DBs will take it for six. He lacks the ability to effectively beat coverage with his throws, think Vinnie with less velocity; yea I know it scares the hell out of me too. The turnstile situation at RT needs to be fixed if it don’t our QBs are going to need hazard pay because more then their feeling will be hurt this season.

On the other hand some of the great things that I saw. Thompson is the real deal; this kid has the speed to turn the corner even when the defense knows what is coming. I was sitting next to Hos and I said here comes the sweep/power when the QB was going through his cadence and if I knew I know the D knew. Yet he still turned the corner and was putting distance between himself and the defender with each step he took. Guroude looked good at first team center, he is a load and personally I think Johnson is in for a fight for his life if he is to retain his starting position. When Johnson played I saw him getting blown up on a few occasions, it is still early but the area he is deficient (being light in the britches) you just can’t change over night. Canty, has one of the best get offs of all the defensive lineman. He also uses his hands and technique extremely well. Glover is a mayne enough said! Singleton is not a small linebacker he dwarfs Shanle. And he actually looked good. Pepper 2005 is a player, if he continues to play the way he has been playing then we need not worry about depth at the NT spot. Bradie was all over the place and he is starting to solidify his starting spot. Henry will turn out to be one of our best off-season acquisitions. Henson, needs to play more with the first team. His passes are not only on the money but have a lot of zip. IMO, if Bledsoe continues to display inconsistencies we would do no worst with Henson, the zip and accuracy of his passes is a thing of beauty. He is poised and didn’t seem to get too flustered even when jail breaks occurred along the offensive line.

One more interesting note, I saw Ware line up at outside LB in the 4-3, he didn’t look like the same Ware that everyone has been raving about. I think it is a case of him trying to digest everything on his plate. He does have the physical tools and he demonstrated it a couple of times with some pressure but he was a step slow. Also, Bradie played MLB in the nickel and moved quite fluently and made a few plays. Anyway, that’s all I can recall now I will post some pics when I got off work this evening.

[TruBlueCowboy]

Nice summary. thanx.

[LaTunaNostra]

Yayyyyyyyy, AD!

Glad you had such a great time.........we were thinking of you guys at game time!

Also glad you didn't leave that camera in the car!

[Outlaw Heroes]

Thanks for your thoughts, adbutcher. Apparently you, Hos and Zebra were seeing the same things as many of your respective comments echo one another.

Your Gurode comments are a bit surprising, however. Can't recall whether Hos and Zebra saw the same thing. One of you guys care to chime in?

[BrAinPaiNt]

Thanks for the great read Ad.

Wanted to remind that Parcells said that Ware right now still needs to pick up the mental part of the game and I think he said that Ware and someone else (maybe KB) are just chasing cars right now.

I think both will be good, just a little more exp in the system before they get it all.

[50cent]

As much as I am disturbed withthe Bledsoe pat, I'm just as concerned withthe one on one pressure that AZ was able to generate against our 1 OL. Berry with pressure, Dockett with pressure, and Okefor also got too much if you ask me with one on one situations.

[Spontae]

I watched Ware specifically and saw two technique mistakes that can easily be corrected. First, on the play where JJ Arrington was nailed by Roy and fumbled, Ware was locked onto the blocking tightend, who stood him up but did not move him back, but Ware failed to maintain outside contain. If he wouldve fought to keep outside contain, Arrington might not have made it past the line of scrimmage. Second, on the touchdown pass, Ware took a hestitation step back before firing in on Warner and almost broke up the pass attempt with a sack. Without that hesitation, Ware's speed wouldve had him in Warner's lap before Warner's arm was cocked back...

[WoodysGirl]

Great read AD.

Question about Ellis. I never really looked closely at his play. How'd he hold up?

[adbutcher]

Originally Posted by BrAinPaiNt

Thanks for the great read Ad.

Wanted to remind that Parcells said that Ware right now still needs to pick up the mental part of the game and I think he said that Ware and someone else (maybe KB) are just chasing cars right now.

I think both will be good, just a little more exp in the system before they get it all.

That was obvious because on more than one occasion he hesitated and it cost him a sack or a pressure.

[BrAinPaiNt]

Originally Posted by adbutcher

That was obvious because on more than one occasion he hesitated and it cost him a sack or a pressure.

Yep and that will happen early on from not only moving up to the NFL but also switching positions.

Now I think he will get it, but it will take time and we also gotta remember that if we start as many rooks on D as Bill thinks then it may take some time for them to get things together.

I just hope it doesn't take them as long as it has with Bradie James.


I think many thought that the D would be dominating from the start but if it is then it would be amazing considering the young guys in starting roles and the whole new system. These guys are not only learning a new system as far as teams goes but they are learning two systems the 3-4 and 4-3.

It will take some time but I think if we see some flashes from these guys early on we will know that once it clicks with them they will be a D to contend with for opposing teams.

[adbutcher]

Originally Posted by Spontae

I watched Ware specifically and saw two technique mistakes that can easily be corrected. First, on the play where JJ Arrington was nailed by Roy and fumbled, Ware was locked onto the blocking tightend, who stood him up but did not move him back, but Ware failed to maintain outside contain. If he wouldve fought to keep outside contain, Arrington might not have made it past the line of scrimmage. Second, on the touchdown pass, Ware took a hestitation step back before firing in on Warner and almost broke up the pass attempt with a sack. Without that hesitation, Ware's speed wouldve had him in Warner's lap before Warner's arm was cocked back...

I noticed that too and as I recall I pointed that out to Hos during the game.

[adbutcher]

Originally Posted by WoodysGirl

Great read AD.

Question about Ellis. I never really looked closely at his play. How'd he hold up?

I really was trying to concentrate on the new/younger guys. When I noticed Glover he stacked up a pile during a running play. What I did observe was Canty towering over him. That kid is Huge and he plays with good leverage.

[CaptainAmerica]

Ware also showed some serious speed on the Cards last possession when we were trying to get the ball back for the offense. He really turned the corner and put pressure on the QB only to be pushed by the QB. He needed to flatten out his angle of pursuit, but when he wanted to bring the heat, he brought it.

[Zaxor]

Fantastic recap my friend...Glad you enjoyed yourself

[Mr Cowboy]

It amazes me that Romo will only have a good backup career in the NFL because his arm is not as strong as the Drew's. I guess Montana and Danny Whitle were no more than back ups as well.

This of course is BS. I was fortunate enough to go to just about every TC practice the last year they were here in SA. Romo's passes are every bit as hard as Quincy's, and almost as hard as Hutch. The difference was that Romo got the ball where it needed to go most of the time.

At this point Henson is no more than Hutch part 2. He has not shown anything that is eye popping, even in pre season. As a matter of fact, he got his first postivie press at this pre season game, and he didn't even do that well.

I really don't care who wins the QB battle, as long as my beloved Cowboys win. But because Henson is having a bad time, don't bring Romo down with him by saying he doesn't have the arm strength. If the season was to start today and Bledsoe got injured, I would much rather have Romo in there than Henson.......would'nt you?