Thoughts after re-watching game

[fanfromvirginia]

Here are some brief thoughts, having just finished re-watching the game on the DVR.

• The Cowboys indeed played well in most facets of the game. It's true that we left a lot of potential points hanging in the first half and we had an opportunity to be up by much more than three going into the locker room. There's no getting around that. But having re-watched it, I came away with an even more positive reaction than immediately after the game. We really dominated that half in a lot of ways. What did us in was a small collection of boneheaded plays. On offense, we had two drives killed by penalties and another promising one wiped out by the interception, which was caused by a dumb rookie mistake. Overall, the defense played great, minus two long pass plays, the second of which was a terribly blown coverage resulting in a TD. We had several very nice plays and generally got a decent pass rush, better than I realized at the time.
• We didn't dominate in the second half but certainly had some great stretches that would have been quite impressive if not for Eli mounting one of his typical comebacks, highlighted by great clock management and several pinpoint passes. On a couple of those drives, our pressure wasn't nearly good enough.
• Murray actually had a pretty damn good game. He ran hard, was very involved, did I good job receiving, finishing runs and of course saved the TD.
• The OL was quite good. Bernadeau was the glaring weak link and even he had his moments.
• The offensive was generally in charge and setting the tone and pace. The passing game was really sharp, especially in the first half, minus that huge miscue.
• The turnovers were just as impressive on second viewing. Yes, the Ware and Carr INTs were gifts but gifts that were gracefully received and utilized, which counts.

On edit: What I noticed about the first half especially was that besides the few boneheaded plays, just about every other play was a positive.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice analysis.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Great analysis. I don't think the Giants believed the Cowboys offense would be so patient and settle for the 5 to 7 yard patterns that were there for them the whole game. Their grand plan to take Dez Bryant and the long ball away backfired since Dallas ran 74 plays and dominated time of possession; especially in the first half. I think they were planning on Romo trying to force the ball too much and getting a lot of three and outs.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Great analysis. I don't think the Giants believed the Cowboys offense would be so patient and settle for the 5 to 7 yard patterns that were there for them the whole game. Their grand plan to take Dez Bryant and the long ball away backfired since Dallas ran 74 plays and dominated time of possession; especially in the first half. I think they were planning on Romo trying to force the ball too much and getting a lot of three and outs.

Yep, and probably planning on generating more pressure on Romo.

 

[tecolote]

I rewatched the game too and I had the same reaction to Murray's play. I wasn't too happy with it after the game, but watching it a second time I realized he had a pretty good game, no big gains but almost all his carries were for more than 3 yards. He will only get better.

The oline had it's best game in years in pass pro, to the point that I think Tony has to get used to having so much time in the pocket.

 

[bark]

I liked the fact we didn't have any runs for negative yardage.

 

[AsthmaField]

While watching the game the second time, it just struck me how much Dallas looked like a well coached team and the Giants didn't.

Dallas just had their **** together. Good coaching, IMO. Garrett has finally had time to build his team and it is showing.

The arrow is pointing WAY up in Dallas. I really do expect a good year.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

While watching the game the second time, it just struck me how much Dallas looked like a well coached team and the Giants didn't.

Dallas just had their **** together. Good coaching, IMO. Garrett has finally had time to build his team and it is showing.

The arrow is pointing WAY up in Dallas. I really do expect a good year.

I've learned to be pretty skeptical about this organization/team but, yeah, they're looking good right now.

 

[rags747]

I thought the OL and DL were good, actually better than I expected. I was disappointed in our air attack, Romo is usually good for some long ones but the whole game to me seemed to be in slo motion, very weird game. I think Beasley could have done some damage vs the Giants coverage underneath.

All in all a good game, but have had enough of having to be on the edge of my couch late Q4. Hopefully our offense gets untracked, want to see Escobar down the seam more and Harris to get more field time...the guy just has a habit of making things happen.

 

[AsthmaField]

I've learned to be pretty skeptical about this organization/team but, yeah, they're looking good right now.

I have a confidence in the team that I haven't had in a long, long time. It isn't anything that I can control or choose to feel... it is only there when the franchise earns it. And they have been earning it.

Great camp. Solid practices. Good drafts. Cutting WAY back on dumb penalties. No blockheads on the team. No bad decisions. Solid play with the other team showing quit before anyone wearing a star does.

We embarrassed a good franchise in prime time Sunday. We looked like the better coached team. We had fewer penalties. They made the mistakes and we capitalized.

And the team doesn't look like a group that got lucky. They were in charge and did what they set out to do.

 

[zrinkill]

Garrett has finally had time to build his team and it is showing.

My thoughts exactly

 

[Fletch]

Am I at Cowboys Zone? JK.

Nice post OP. We are not hitting on all 8 just yet - but the season is very young.

 

[AsthmaField]

Am I at Cowboys Zone? JK.

Nice post OP. We are not hitting on all 8 just yet - but the season is very young.

lol.

If we DO start hitting on all 8 cylinders, and the defense continues to be opportunistic... look out.

We are going to flat out run away with a few games.

 

[Staubacher]

I'm with the positive vibes. Always good to rewatch without the emotion lol. I also thought Murray was solid. Our D suffered when the Giants played fast we def will clean that up before the Eagles games haha. Carter was verrry good

 

[starfrombirth]

How dare you have a positive post besides Reality's mandatory one? Thanks for the post. keep it up pls.

 

[burmafrd]

Boneheaded mistakes and stupid penalties has been a Cowboy specialty for some years. It is not unreasonable for an opposing team to figure that we would in the end hang ourselves if we are given enough rope

As it turned out in this game they made more mistakes then we did. BUT it is also clear that our Imminence Grise and his designated successor have gotten our D to really go after turnovers. That might be the single most important improvement we get this year. If we can double our takeaways- or better triple them- from last year we can maintain the same level of boneheaded plays and stupid penalties but win more games.

 

[Mitcha68]

While watching the game the second time, it just struck me how much Dallas looked like a well coached team and the Giants didn't.

Dallas just had their **** together. Good coaching, IMO. Garrett has finally had time to build his team and it is showing.

The arrow is pointing WAY up in Dallas. I really do expect a good year.

Great point. Dallas had their **** together. All teams make bonehead plays, it's how you answer...

 

[jrumann59]

This team for the most part int he past seems to deflate when a bonehead play is made. I did not see that last night. they weren't some abused dog that cowers when a mistake is made they pushed on. I am hoping they keep this attitude after a game like this, if they can keep rising after a dumb mistake they will go far if they revert to Dallas of old it will be the same talented team that can't get its head straight.

 

[NickZepp]

If Selvie keeps his play up and Spencer comes back we will have a really good pass rush. I would expect Our DTs did a solid job rushing. The weak link on our pass rush was actually Ware. I expect him to have some much better games of course.

 

[tecolote]

While watching the game the second time, it just struck me how much Dallas looked like a well coached team and the Giants didn't.

Dallas just had their **** together. Good coaching, IMO. Garrett has finally had time to build his team and it is showing.

The arrow is pointing WAY up in Dallas. I really do expect a good year.

I agree and I love that there is no quit in this team. The thing that still needs some work in the coaching department were the penalties, there were some drive killers the other day.