A Touch of Hostility...Week 2

[Hostile]

So I didn't get to see the game yesterday. It wasn't televised thanks to the stupid Cardinals. Wouldn't have mattered, I was at Church most of the day anyway. I watched part of it last night on Game Rewind and the rest this morning.

I already did this thread once this morning, but as many of you know, the site went down. So I'll try again. I am continuing with my desire not to get too up over wins nor too down over losses. It gets harder when losses multiply on top of each other. I won't deny I expected this team to be 2-0 right now, not 0-2. I'm not going to repeat last week's anger filled rant on other posters either. At least I am going to try. Let's dive in.

John McKay, the first Head Coach of the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers was once asked about his team's execution. He replied, "I'm in favor of it."

I have no doubt whatsoever that a good many of you feel the same way. Kill them all. Waive everyone. Fire everyone. Start from scratch. I am sure there are a lot of you who also don't want to hear about our lack of execution. You would prefer to hear how everyone other than the players is inept and should be replaced. I confess, I don't understand that. I don't even think the players are inept.

This is a good football team. Yeah, I know that is going to come across as me being a homer. I don't care. If it is a problem for me to be honest, then I have a problem. Bad football teams do not control the ball for over 33 minutes in back to back games. Bad football teams do not pile up the 4th highest total of yards in the NFL. Bad football teams do not lead the NFL in first downs amassed.

Great football teams overcome mistakes. We're not great. Not right now anyway. Can we get there? I honestly don't know. Not unless some drastic things happen.

I haven't had a chance to hear what Jerry, Wade, the coaches, or the players have to say about the game. I guarantee you one thing they are saying. It is about execution. If I am wrong you can all punch me in the arm.

I haven't even had time to read threads here after the game. I know one of the gripes is going to be 51 passes. I have no idea why that will be a gripe, but it is. I know it. We could not run the ball worth a crap yesterday. 1.8 yards per carry. I wouldn't run it either.

All last week I saw thread after thread about why Felix Jones should be the starter. Our "starter" got 7 yards on 7 carries folks. You know I love the kid. When have you ever heard me bash him? Our best run yesterday was 8 yards. Felix's best was 4 yards. That isn't good enough. If you look at the 1st down stats we got 6 of them rushing the ball. That can only mean one thing. We got them on 2nd and short or 3rd and short. Which means the passing game was working.

I know some will still see this as an indictment of play calling, but I confess I don't see how they can. 20 carries for 36 yards. I know some will say we have to keep running it until the running game works. That is having a preconceived idea and finding any way possible to ratify the idea, despite overwhelming evidence staring you in the face. This is not a running football team. It is a passing team. This team rises and falls as Tony Romo passes the ball.

Let's talk about Tony now. 374 yards passing. His 2nd highest single game total ever. Would have been an outstanding game except for the 2 INTs. Tony was not sacked at all even though he was under pressure a lot. Pretty good indication we were good passing the ball I'd say. The picks are where we suffer.

Meanwhile Jay Cutler had his best game ever. He was sacked on the 2nd play of the game by Anthony Spencer and then we never dumped him on his butt again while he had the ball. That isn't good enough. He averaged almost 10 yards per attempt, threw for 3 scores and blanked us on INTs for the 2nd game in a row.

This team needs sacks. This team needs takeaways. This team needs to run block better. This team needs to convert yards and first downs into points. This team needs to hang onto the football. This team can't commit dumb penalties.

Yeah, we dropped from 12 penalties last week to 6 this week. But we gave them the football 3 times. I want you to think about this. We did not go for it on 4th down even one time yesterday. On 3rd down we were 6 of 13. We punted the ball 3 times. Compared to 6 for them by the way. 7 times minus 3 is 4. We attempted 3 FGs and made 2 of them. That miss haunts me by the way. Buehler is 2 of 4. 50% isn't near good enough. Yeah I know 44 yards is a "missable" one. Not if you are struggling.

That means one of our 3 turnovers was on 3rd down. You can't give them the football at all, but in critical situations it is even worse to do it. Our turnovers lead to their points, stall our drives, and worst of all, cause our 2 losses.

Lay this loss right on that doorstop. We have got to hang onto the football. No two ways about it. 3 of 4 quarters yesterday we gave them the football on drives we needed. It was like shooting ourselves in the foot time and time again.

I want to discuss some things that went right for a minute. Miles Austin is leading the NFL in receptions and receiving yardage. The Cowboys are 4th in the NFL in yardage gained. They lead the NFL in 1st downs converted. They are averaging over 33 minutes of possession per game. These are good indications that this is a good football team and can fix these mistakes. I know the fans and press will be impatient, and I understand that. But please don't be stupid and think this is a bad football team. They aren't. As I said before they are not great, but they are not bad by any wild stretch of the imagination.

My biggest concern right now is injuries to Witten and Jenkins. I haven't had time to read up on their prognoses. I assume Witten suffered a concussion. He may or may not be cleared to play this week. That concerns me. Our depth at CB concerns me if Jenkins is limited or out. I won't lie. I also wanted to comment on Cricket's injury is not the reason why we couldn't run the football. I have no idea if that idea has been postulated, but ignore it if it has. John Phillips loss on the other hand is playing a role, because his blocking as the H-Back was huge.

I was glad to see Gronkowski get a TD. You know I love Fullbacks. I was really excited to see Dez on that Punt Return TD. That was a thing of beauty. He didn't have a big day catching the ball this time, but he's quickly proving what I have said all year since we got him. He will make a positive impact here.

You're going to hear people say all week that the 1993 Cowboys went 0-2 and won the Super Bowl. This team isn't the 1993 Cowboys. We are not getting the best RB weapon in the NFL back next week. I wish we were. This team is far more like the 2009 version. The one that started 2-2 before coming together and shutting some critics up. Make no mistake about it folks, this team will win. But they'd better step on the gas. The NFC East won't hang around begging for a front runner to step up for long.

It comes down to execution. We have to or we will be. It's really just that simple.

 

[cowboyblue31]

Good read! Thanks Hos. :starspin :starspin :starspin

 

[juck]

I hope u prayed for them in church.They need it.

 

[Staggerlee]

I hope u prayed for them in church.They need it.

I wonder if divine intervention would even be enough to fix this mess in time to save the season.

 

[BruceWayne]

Good Read. I look forward to these threads especially after a loss

 

[Hostile]

Good Read. I look forward to these threads especially after a loss

I don't look forward to writing them after one.

 

[craig71]

I don't look forward to writing them after one.

I would think that you would rather walk buck naked backward through a briar patch than to write your weekly comments after a loss.

Craig

 

[Gadfly22]

I agree that this is a good football team. But the fact remains that it's good football team that is finding ways to lose games.

It's most popular way is not scoring points. In 6 of the last 20 games (2009 season + 2 playoff games + 2 2010 games), the offense has scored 1 TD or less.

And it's all the more frustrating that this "good" football team loses games, that its high-powered offense suddenly has no running game, that it keeps committing stupid penalties and that its top-notch defense apparently couldn't take a lollipop away from a baby.

 

[Hostile]

I would think that you would rather walk buck naked backward through a briar patch than to write your weekly comments after a loss.

Craig

I can't stand this place after a loss. The obnoxious hatred of fellow Cowboys fans just grates on me. It's worse after an ugly win though. We're not allowed to enjoy wins if they are ugly.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I couldn't watch the game either so I taped it. Of course I did not watch it when I heard the postgame comments on the radio.

My problem is this: Newman was quoted as saying that practice habits are not what they should be. Too many distractions. Oh really? Who's fault is that? Blame Jerry if you want but distractions are part of the game.

Seems to me these guys get paid a lot of money to focus, practice hard, and discipline themselves in their responsibilities. Until then we'll get more of the same.

 

[UnoDallas]

put Felix in the game an leave him in

the hell with this I gotta change my RB ever other play

let him get into the flow of the game

 

[brickman]

I couldn't watch the game either so I taped it. Of course I did not watch it when I heard the postgame comments on the radio.

My problem is this: Newman was quoted as saying that practice habits are not what they should be. Too many distractions. Oh really? Who's fault is that? Blame Jerry if you want but distractions are part of the game.

Seems to me these guys get paid a lot of money to focus, practice hard, and discipline themselves in their responsibilities. Until then we'll get more of the same.

BINGO!!!!! Undisciplined, which starts at the top. You earn respect and discipline and unfortunately, our Boys do not have it right now.

 

[craig71]

I can't stand this place after a loss. The obnoxious hatred of fellow Cowboys fans just grates on me. It's worse after an ugly win though. We're not allowed to enjoy wins if they are ugly.

I sometimes think that games like Madden and fantasy football contribute to the anarchy that follows a loss. There is simply no singular answer to fix the problems at hand. Firing Wade or Garrett is not the answer, and the answer is not in waiving half the team either. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Just an opinion.

Craig

 

[YosemiteSam]

With Ware, Ratliff, and Spencer the Cowboys should be able to get a pass rush without the Cowboys blitzing, but the last two games screamed that they cannot.

Dez didn't have as many catches, because he was not on the field anywhere near as much as he was in the first game. (because he was returning punts? not sure why)

I agree, with the passing. We didn't have a choice in the matter. The Bears are all about stopping the run and they did it to us. Our offensive line has got to run block better. I've always been a huge Hudson Houck fan, but except for Free. I've seen more regression since he became the offensive line coach.

The pooch kickoff was stupid. You're coverage unit is pretty damn good, stick with your strength. No need to risk potential mistakes when trying to add wrinkles, especially when your kicker's confidence appears to be starting to crack.

While I'm not worried about two losses, I do know that ever loss you have makes it harder to make the playoffs. The earlier you have lots of losses, the high odds in you have more losses than expected at the end of the year. The Cowboys aren't going to win out, and end at 14-2. With the extremely tough schedule ahead, I don't believe the odds in them finishing 10-6 are very good. The good thing is, I don't think the other teams in the NFCE are much better than 10-6 / 9-7 either.

 

[Hostile]

BINGO!!!!! Undisciplined, which starts at the top. You earn respect and discipline and unfortunately, our Boys do not have it right now.

We are respected by other NFL teams. That matters more than fan and media respect which we do not have.

If anyone thinks other teams out there consider the Cowboys an easy mark they're out of their minds.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Meanwhile Jay Cutler had his best game ever. He was sacked on the 2nd play of the game by Anthony Spencer and then we never dumped him on his butt again while he had the ball. That isn't good enough. He averaged almost 10 yards per attempt, threw for 3 scores and blanked us on INTs for the 2nd game in a row.

This team needs sacks. This team needs takeaways. This team needs to run block better. This team needs to convert yards and first downs into points. This team needs to hang onto the football. This team can't commit dumb penalties.

This right here is becoming a big issue. The Defense could help the offense get some confidence by giving them a shorter field. The offense has shown that driving the field is a recipe for foot-shooting, so the defense could do what normal defenses do and create some turn-overs once in a while to help turn field position and momentum. They are ridiculously incompetent at this currently and made Jay Cutler, a turn-over machine, look like an MVP candidate out there.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Good post as always....I'm won the same page with you.

We are not a bad team, and we DO do certain things well.

But it simply comes down to our lack of execution, and it is getting tiring and old.

To me, I put that on the coaches for their preparation, and how they motivate a team. People always say that, "Athletes making millions of dollars shouldn't need to be motivated"

But they do. Motivation plays a CRUCIAL element in preparing your team, and I do not think Wade has any idea on how to motivate men. He is not a leader of men in my opinion.

As far as our playcalling, I rarely if ever bash play calling, unless it is warranted. I think the majority of this board bashes play calling simply when it does not work, and that is not a valid reason in my opinion. Yes Garrett needs to improve as a coordinator, but he is NOWHERE near the level that many of you portray him as. Bashing Garrett has simply become chic, and rarely if ever do people back it up with anything meaningful. The "run the ball more" crowd is getting old, and making themselves look like fools wanting to run the ball more when we obviously do not do it well. I have been saying this for the last 2 years. We are a passing team first, and our run game succeeds when we have established the pass. It's just the way it is. Our offensive line is better at pass blocking than run blocking IMO. When teams think we are going to run, we cannot open lanes. When they think we're going to pass, we gash them.

I don't know what is wrong with this team, and why they are 0-2. There are tons of problems. Mistakes are the main reason. But they're mistakes ALL over the freaking bored. When we get one corralled, more pop up in other areas. To me this is a coaching and preparation issue, and the head coach is responsible for this. In my opinion Wade needs to drastically alter his approach during the week and in practice, or I do not see how we are going to beat Houston next week.

We all know that when we play to our abilities, we can and usually do beat anyone. It's just a matter of how often that happens, and so far this year, it hasn't.

 

[peplaw06]

Any idea on what happened to the defense? They came out like a house on fire, and after the punt return by Dez, looked gassed for the rest of the game. There was an early turnover (INT on pass to Austin) to set up Chicago's FG, then the punt return put them right back on the field. The Bears WRs were torching us.

 

[brickman]

We are respected by other NFL teams. That matters more than fan and media respect which we do not have.

If anyone thinks other teams out there consider the Cowboys an easy mark they're out of their minds.

Hos,

I think other NFL teams respect the Cowboys and their tradition, but if we continue on the road we're going, we are going to be the easy mark on a lot of people's schedules. We just played two of the supposed easier teams on our schedule. It gets tougher from here on out. This team has a lot of talent, yet no wins after two poor efforts. They need to sack up and play up to their talent levels and play like a team.

 

[VietCowboy]

This team is talented physically, not mentally. Unfortunately, in the NFL, you need to play smarter. I'm also including our Princeton OC because it seems for him smarter = more complicated. Our team isn't very smart, so I'm fine with having a few tough / complex plays, but when most of the Offensive plays barely get off because they require a lot of time to be relay and put into place, we need to make them simpler. Red might do well on a team that may not have the most talented players, but their players are decently smart.