3 Ups, 3 Downs - Week 7 vs. STL

[Plankton]

Up

1. DeMarco Murray - ran with a ton of determination, and showed a terrific burst. I worry a bit about his ability to take a pounding over a long season, but he showed his outstanding one cut ability. Stretch plays should be a focus of the running game with Murray.

2. Abram Elam - active all day, and his forced fumble was the biggest play of the game. Has been a real pleasant surprise, and has made Sensabaugh a better player. Has turned a projected weakness (safety) into a strength.

3. Montrae Holland - stout at the POA, and cleared a lot of room in the running game. Surprisingly held up for the whole game. Hopefully, he keeps his conditioning up.

Down

1. Defensive front seven awareness - terrible job being drawn offside in this game. I like the aggressiveness, but what happened to watching the ball? Must be smart.

2. Doug Free - beaten off the edge cleanly again for a sack. Free has definitely regressed, and I do believe that he is injured. Needs to move his feet better, and be quicker with his hands.

3. Receiver drops - five more yesterday (not just WRs). Guys need to do a better job focusing. Didn't hurt them yesterday, but it will against better competition.

 

[AdamJT13]

How was the pass rush yesterday? It looks like we only were able to get 1 sack. However, that doesn't always tell the whole story if we were getting pressure that made a difference.

Feeley was too eager to get rid of the ball and mostly threw short, quick passes. It's no coincidence that our only sack came on a fourth down when Feeley didn't want to just get rid of the ball.

 

[Doomsday101]

Three sustains, and three areas of improvement. Go!

3 Ups

1. Uh, DeMarco Murray. I will just leave it at one line. Too easy to list.

2. Dez Bryant. Showing up in the 2nd half, admitting that you had to get better and then doing it - great work. Also love his attitude, apologizing to Romo and Coach Garrett for the dropped pass, and then making up for it.

3. Jason Garrett! Give credit where credit is due - used the running game to the strengths of the guys running it, took shots in the passing game when necessary, and had an awesome, nearly 50/50 run/pass balance en route to a win. Also have to credit the guys for not making a bunch of mistakes and playing smart, disciplined football.

3 Downs

1. Tashard Choice. I'm done here. He provides literally nothing to this football team and may have even feigned injury to attempt to mask yet another fumble yesterday. Fortunately the defense bailed him out.

2. Doug Free. Looking kind of bad out there...but I don't think he just all of a sudden got bad. I think he's hurt. He isn't moving his feet and sliding with the pass rusher like he normally does. Maybe a hip injury. Still looks good in space, however.

3. Hard to find a third "down" but I'll go with jumping offsides. Once, okay. Twice? Come on.



List 'em!

1 I would add to the down side was being only 37% on 3rd down conversions. Great to hit the big plays but we need to do a better job of moving the chains on a more consistent level. On the season we are 21st at 35 percent. Need to improve in this area

 

[JD_KaPow]

1 I would add to the down side was being only 37% on 3rd down conversions. Great to hit the big plays but we need to do a better job of moving the chains on a more consistent level. On the season we are 21st at 35 percent. Need to improve in this area

Well, to be fair, we only faced 8 3rd downs all day, compared to the 24 first downs we amassed. And we only failed once on 3rd-and-less-than-5 (that one was a drop).

In fact, on our second drive in the 1st quarter, we failed on 2nd-and-2 and 3rd-and-2 and punted. We converted every other short-yardage play (3 or fewer yards needed) in the game.

 

[Doomsday101]

Well, to be fair, we only faced 8 3rd downs all day, compared to the 24 first downs we amassed. And we only failed once on 3rd-and-less-than-5 (that one was a drop).

In fact, on our second drive in the 1st quarter, we failed on 2nd-and-2 and 3rd-and-2 and punted. We converted every other short-yardage play (3 or fewer yards needed) in the game.

Just saying we were 3 of 8 on 3rd down converstion and on the season 35 of 72 for 35 percent ranked 21st in the league I would like to see us do better in terms of converting around the 40% mark

 

[LeonDixson]

Just saying we were 3 of 8 on 3rd down converstion and on the season 35 of 72 for 35 percent ranked 21st in the league I would like to see us do better in terms of converting around the 40% mark

I remember a few years ago we never had to sweat 3rd downs. It didn't matter if it was 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 16 Tony converted them pretty consistently.

 

[Doomsday101]

I remember a few years ago we never had to sweat 3rd downs. It didn't matter if it was 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 16 Tony converted them pretty consistently.

Every year is a new year. I think this team can improve on 3rd down. I never expected to see a finished product in Oct. Guys need to continue to focus and work hard on improving. I refuse to be part of the crowd who uses the word can't. To me can't is what quitters do so I expect these players and these coaches to continue to put in the work to get the job done

 

[AdamJT13]

Just saying we were 3 of 8 on 3rd down converstion and on the season 35 of 72 for 35 percent ranked 21st in the league I would like to see us do better in terms of converting around the 40% mark

We need to stay out of third-and-extremely long. We've already had NINE third downs that needed 16 yards or more. We had only 12 all of last season.

 

[Doomsday101]

We need to stay out of third-and-extremely long. We've already had NINE third downs that needed 16 yards or more. We had only 12 all of last season.

I agree that is a big factor and of course one way of correcting this area is to have fewer negitive plays. So your not looking at those 3rd and long situations. But even in shorter yardage it is still something we need to do a better job in.

 

[LeonDixson]

Every year is a new year. I think this team can improve on 3rd down. I never expected to see a finished product in Oct. Guys need to continue to focus and work hard on improving. I refuse to be part of the crowd who uses the word can't. To me can't is what quitters do so I expect these players and these coaches to continue to put in the work to get the job done

Of course they can. I'm not sure how you interpreted my post. I was just making an observation about the past.

 

[casmith07]

Wow, you guys have made this thread a lot better than I thought it would turn out.

Thanks, and keep up the fire!

 

[Don Corleone]

Where's the love for the secondary, Ware, and our LB's? Too much offensive emphasis here.

 

[casmith07]

Where's the love for the secondary, Ware, and our LB's? Too much offensive emphasis here.

"It's the Rams, dude."

 

[Eskimo]

3 Ups 3 Downs

UP:

• D-Murray! That is all that has to be said here.
• Laurent Robinson- Still coming to play every Sunday. Is already being mentioned as the 3rd WR for the Cowboys. Great addition and solid WR.
• Demarcus Ware - I know this is easy, but the guy is just a beast. Listening to Lynch go on and on about Ware yesterday shows just how special D-Ware is. Other players just drool all over the guy. He is complete and the best DP in the game.

Down:

• Tony Romo - I am not putting him here to bash, but it gets old watching him saunter around and take forever to the get the offense setup and play out. The 1 second remaining on the clock for every snap isn't helping. Why can't the offense just GO GO GO !!! He is helping the defense way to much w/ his approach atm.
• Tashard Choice - Nothing really needs to be said here. He has made his bed w/ his ball handling inconsistencies and is proving time and time again, he doesn't need to be on this roster. I hope he does good elsewhere, but we are STACKED at RB and could use his spot on other player changes outs.
• Spencer- Has been solid, but it would be nice to get more out of him, especially since he sees so many 1 on 1's. It would be nice if he could beat those 1v1 on a more consistent basis. He sells out on the rush to much and doesn't play the runner like he should more often.

The TD yesterday was scored because Spencer jumped around the block instead of playing off of it.

Spencer is a good player but not he is not a great player and we should let him walk next year for anything more than $6.5M. There is no way he is worth the money that Woodley got paid.

 

[Hostile]

3 Ups

1. Murray

2. Fiammetta

3. Elam


3 Downs

1. Choice fumble

2. 6 penalties

3. 3 for 8 on 3rd down

 

[EPL0c0]

1. Tashard Choice. I'm done here. He provides literally nothing to this football team and may have even feigned injury to attempt to mask yet another fumble yesterday. Fortunately the defense bailed him out.

if he was a special teams ace (like Sam Hurd) then OK... right now, I'd rather have Hurd back.

 

[CCBoy]

Since many things obvious have already been named, I'll adjust accordingly:

UPS

1. Jason Garrett remaining motivational through a wide gambit of adjustments, team goals, and seeing that discipline and up to speed knowledge is always before the team.

2. Hudson Houck actually being able to make in game adjustments. And in between games, introduce and develop techniques and blocking schemes that can identify and block box areas now, in an opponent. Holland helped a lot here. As did the blocking of Fiametta and Jason Witten in the running game.

3. The return of Jason Hatcher, and matched with the high intensity levels of both Jay Ratliff and Marcus Spears have made the box area much more an intense level. You catch more than DeMarcus Ware assuming the Wooden Indian stance, and keeping the opposing quarterback going through audibles is nice.


DOWNS

1. Special team play that has not included a return success to contribute to field and clock management advantages.

2. Too slow a start in games with receivers dropping way too many balls before focus is established in a weekly progression.

3. Way to poor a percentage of success once in the Red Zones.

 

[Doomsday101]

Of course they can. I'm not sure how you interpreted my post. I was just making an observation about the past.

My reply was not so much towards you. I just see so many in here who love saying what this or that player can't do or what this this can't do. As I said I think this team can do a lot more than they have shown. Coming into the season I fully expected we would have some ups and down but you fight through it and continue to work to make the improvement