Hostile
The Duke
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It was a team we were supposed to whip. Can opened, whipping delivered. Not even a fumble returned for a TD and a sustained Offensive drive with a 2 point conversion were going to save the Buccaneers on Saturday. In the second half we called off the dogs and still wound up with the most lopsided victory of our season and landed right back in the driver's seat after a meltdown by the Giants.
Why the hell could they meltdown against us and pull off a miracle against the Skins? Football can be cruel sometimes.
No matter, what you can expect this week are dozens and dozens of threads discussing playoff scenarios and possibilities. At least until they all somehow get merged into one big thread.
The reason is simple, we are staring at them and they are ours for the taking. It would take a collapse on our part in the last 2 games to miss the post season dance. There are going to be plenty of people predicting exactly that, so be ready for it.
Hey, it is the nature of this Internet game. I saw posters predicting Tampa was going to handle us. Shrug it off and look at the bigger picture. That is coming into focus.
First of all Tony Romo has turned on the magic in a magnificent way. he is absolutely having his best season this year and the last 2 games are nothing short of perfect. He has raised his QB rating to 102.6 after a 133.9 game this week and a 141.3 last week. Some people will tell you 2007 was a better year for him. Statistically that is not the case. He can surpass that season's yardage, completion %, and completions in these last 2 games. The TDs thrown is also within reach but would require 7 in his last 2 games. The big difference is turnovers; 14 fewer this year.
Now, it is obvious that the 13 wins is far superior to the current 8. But in every other way statistically this is his best season. If we can win in the post season it makes this year better in my not so humble opinion.
If we had not gone into kill the clock mode in the 2nd half or if Tampa had in any way been in a shootout with us there is no telling how high Tony's stats could have climbed so much higher. We scored 28 points in the first half, all standing on Tony's shoulders, and 3 points in the second half as we rested players and ran the football.
In the second half Tony only attempted 9 passes and none one our final two possessions. In the second half we mostly looked to acclimate Sammy Morris to our Offense and from where I sit he did a fine job of grasping it. Not perfect by any means, but solid enough that we can be glad to have him in reserve.
Once again we ran the football better with Fiammetta back. Felix Jones was outstanding. I have no idea if this is true, but a guy at the sports bar where I watched the game said Felix in an interview said he learned from watching how hard Murray ran. I tend to doubt this because he sat behind Barber for a couple of years. Why now? Regardless of whether he did say that or not, he ran exactly how we needed him to.
Dez Bryant made two of the best juggling catches of the season. The really amazing one was the called incompletion that got overturned. The defender pulling on his right arm and the ball subject to gravity's pull did not stop him from scooping it out of the air one handed between his legs and bringing it in. I keep hearing how he only runs three routes. I agree, for the most part that is how we are using him. Jason Garrett says they will open up the playbook for him as he learns more and he will learn more. I don't know how anyone can be anything but excited about what this kid brings to the table. He's barely scratched the surface yet.
Bottom line on Dez, maybe only Larry Fitzgerald has better hands in the entire NFL. The sky is the limit.
I think I am most grateful for only 2 penalties. One was a false start by Witten. The other a holding call on Smith. I'll take it. No Defensive penalties was something I can appreciate in a big way. Especially since our secondary put a couple of hard licks on Tampa receivers and none of them got called for Pass Interference. I can't even fathom how long it has been since that happened.
The amazing thing is we only knocked one pass away all game. That was Marcus Spears late when he batted the ball down. This should tell you that our pass rush bothered Freeman a lot. That was with us sitting Ware and Ratliff for much of the second half to keep them fresher for the next 2 games.
The Defense answered their critics fairly well. Only allowing 7 first downs will do that. 3 of them were on the Buccaneers scoring drive. Really the only flaw on Defense all night was early not containing Josh Freeman and him gaining some nice yardage on runs. You've got to feel bad for that kid after the year he has had. Last year he was so solid that expectations for him were through the roof and he hasn't delivered. Rather the team around him hasn't. Some is on him, but not all of it.
My biggest concern coming out of this game is Matt McBriar. I worry that he is hurting a lot more than he is letting on. His last punt against the Giants absolutely sucked. 75 yards of field to work with and it travels 33 yards. Not near good enough. In the 4th quarter he hit a 39 yarder into the Endzone for a touchback. So that is 19 yards net. He followed that up with a 46 yarder into the endzone for another touchback and 26 yards net. His only punt that was not a touchback only went 38 yards.
I am so used to him being a weapon for us that it is hard for me to fathom 4 punts that bad in a row for him unless he is hurting. It just seems out of character for him. A 29 yard net average on his last 4 punts is cause for concern.
So this week the speculation of Rob Ryan's departure for a Head Coaching job will probably return. That's how the see saw works in football discussions. Hero to zero back to hero. Up, down, up. No matter. We really need only one thing from Mr. Ryan this week. Revenge on Andy Reid for the butt kicking he says Andy delivered him.
One game at a time. Put the last one behind us and move on. It works. Make no mistake about it at all, it does work. On to the Eagles.
Why the hell could they meltdown against us and pull off a miracle against the Skins? Football can be cruel sometimes.
No matter, what you can expect this week are dozens and dozens of threads discussing playoff scenarios and possibilities. At least until they all somehow get merged into one big thread.
The reason is simple, we are staring at them and they are ours for the taking. It would take a collapse on our part in the last 2 games to miss the post season dance. There are going to be plenty of people predicting exactly that, so be ready for it.
Hey, it is the nature of this Internet game. I saw posters predicting Tampa was going to handle us. Shrug it off and look at the bigger picture. That is coming into focus.
First of all Tony Romo has turned on the magic in a magnificent way. he is absolutely having his best season this year and the last 2 games are nothing short of perfect. He has raised his QB rating to 102.6 after a 133.9 game this week and a 141.3 last week. Some people will tell you 2007 was a better year for him. Statistically that is not the case. He can surpass that season's yardage, completion %, and completions in these last 2 games. The TDs thrown is also within reach but would require 7 in his last 2 games. The big difference is turnovers; 14 fewer this year.
Now, it is obvious that the 13 wins is far superior to the current 8. But in every other way statistically this is his best season. If we can win in the post season it makes this year better in my not so humble opinion.
If we had not gone into kill the clock mode in the 2nd half or if Tampa had in any way been in a shootout with us there is no telling how high Tony's stats could have climbed so much higher. We scored 28 points in the first half, all standing on Tony's shoulders, and 3 points in the second half as we rested players and ran the football.
In the second half Tony only attempted 9 passes and none one our final two possessions. In the second half we mostly looked to acclimate Sammy Morris to our Offense and from where I sit he did a fine job of grasping it. Not perfect by any means, but solid enough that we can be glad to have him in reserve.
Once again we ran the football better with Fiammetta back. Felix Jones was outstanding. I have no idea if this is true, but a guy at the sports bar where I watched the game said Felix in an interview said he learned from watching how hard Murray ran. I tend to doubt this because he sat behind Barber for a couple of years. Why now? Regardless of whether he did say that or not, he ran exactly how we needed him to.
Dez Bryant made two of the best juggling catches of the season. The really amazing one was the called incompletion that got overturned. The defender pulling on his right arm and the ball subject to gravity's pull did not stop him from scooping it out of the air one handed between his legs and bringing it in. I keep hearing how he only runs three routes. I agree, for the most part that is how we are using him. Jason Garrett says they will open up the playbook for him as he learns more and he will learn more. I don't know how anyone can be anything but excited about what this kid brings to the table. He's barely scratched the surface yet.
Bottom line on Dez, maybe only Larry Fitzgerald has better hands in the entire NFL. The sky is the limit.
I think I am most grateful for only 2 penalties. One was a false start by Witten. The other a holding call on Smith. I'll take it. No Defensive penalties was something I can appreciate in a big way. Especially since our secondary put a couple of hard licks on Tampa receivers and none of them got called for Pass Interference. I can't even fathom how long it has been since that happened.
The amazing thing is we only knocked one pass away all game. That was Marcus Spears late when he batted the ball down. This should tell you that our pass rush bothered Freeman a lot. That was with us sitting Ware and Ratliff for much of the second half to keep them fresher for the next 2 games.
The Defense answered their critics fairly well. Only allowing 7 first downs will do that. 3 of them were on the Buccaneers scoring drive. Really the only flaw on Defense all night was early not containing Josh Freeman and him gaining some nice yardage on runs. You've got to feel bad for that kid after the year he has had. Last year he was so solid that expectations for him were through the roof and he hasn't delivered. Rather the team around him hasn't. Some is on him, but not all of it.
My biggest concern coming out of this game is Matt McBriar. I worry that he is hurting a lot more than he is letting on. His last punt against the Giants absolutely sucked. 75 yards of field to work with and it travels 33 yards. Not near good enough. In the 4th quarter he hit a 39 yarder into the Endzone for a touchback. So that is 19 yards net. He followed that up with a 46 yarder into the endzone for another touchback and 26 yards net. His only punt that was not a touchback only went 38 yards.
I am so used to him being a weapon for us that it is hard for me to fathom 4 punts that bad in a row for him unless he is hurting. It just seems out of character for him. A 29 yard net average on his last 4 punts is cause for concern.
So this week the speculation of Rob Ryan's departure for a Head Coaching job will probably return. That's how the see saw works in football discussions. Hero to zero back to hero. Up, down, up. No matter. We really need only one thing from Mr. Ryan this week. Revenge on Andy Reid for the butt kicking he says Andy delivered him.
One game at a time. Put the last one behind us and move on. It works. Make no mistake about it at all, it does work. On to the Eagles.
