A Touch of Hostility...Week 8

Hostile

The Duke
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Someone pinch me. Is Patrick "Fair Catch" Crayton really leading the NFL in Punt Return yardage after 2 straight games with a TD? I'll take my helping of crow deep fried please. I never would have believed that was possible. He has made me eat the crow.

Actually the credit goes to a man who is a walking, talking, butt kicking miracle on our sidelines. Joe DeCamillis has been one of the most refreshing additions to this team in years. I find him to be utterly inspiring. I would love to have played for the man. Instead of dreading Special Teams I find myself believing it is a battle we will automatically win. What an unreal change for this team. Maybe there's some magic in Tom Landry's bullhorn. I don't know what it is, but I couldn't complain about the Special Teams if I wanted to. They are executing.

Speaking of executing, Tony Romo is in a groove right now. For the first time in his career he has 3 straight games without an INT. He did lose a fumble today, but he has protected the ball amazingly well for a guy that more people doubted than believed in just 4 weeks ago when we were 2-2. Three of his four INTs on the season happened in one game that we almost won. I'll take Romo friendly.

I saw some people who still can't stand Jason Garrett and I have to be honest with you that has me perplexed. The Offense is scoring, mistakes are down, and he is still as hated by some as he was last year when we actually did suck. I suppose it will take a TD on every single drive for him to be good enough. That's ridiculous, but then expectations of the fans sometimes are.

I know mine are. Hard for me to confess to that. It is unreal of me to expect some of the things I do. Like the dozen sacks I was expecting to see today. I really did even though I didn't post it. 3 sacks almost left a bad taste in my mouth. I expected more than that from Ware alone. I know better than to do that, but I couldn't help it. The Seattle OL was so patchwork I expected our Defense to go through them like gas through a funnel. Hasselback was pressured today, but not sacked enough or forced into INTs so I was a little bit disappointed. I believed the Defense had turned a corner and was going to start getting those stats in bunches. It doesn't work that way in the NFL and I know it.

Still I am not disappointed in the Defense. I feel like they made some critical stops and when you look at the time of possession and see a nearly nine minute advantage for the Cowboys Offense it is pretty obvious that they performed exactly as they should. I'd like to see the total yardage lower but when I see the yards per rush at 3.6 I know they did their jobs.

The problem is I also see our yards per rush at 3.9 yards. I could be wrong but I think that is our lowest of the season. The Offense has shifted from a run powerhouse early this season to a pass oriented Offense. I understand that because it is working. I would just like to see the run work better than this. 113 yards rushing is pretty meager. I realize a couple of the RBs have been dinged up, but even so they have rushed better than today. I'm not worried about it, but I hope this is the lowest of the season.

Penalties were down again. 5 for 43 yards. That is encouraging. I read that none of the penalties were pre-snap. If that is true (and I honestly wasn't paying attention to that) then that is more than encouraging. It is flat out room for celebration.

Which is where I am when I see this team at 5-2 and tied for the lead in the NFC East. You see, even when we were 2-2 I was sticking to my belief that this is a 12-4 team that will win the NFC East. I took some heat for that from a few friends. I simply refused to budge. A big step in that direction can happen next week if we can beat the Eagles. That hasn't been easy this decade. Andy Reid has been our worst nemesis. Last year to end the season was the worst, but it was hardly the only time he has led his team to prevail.

Last week I posted a thread about November being Tony Romo's best month. Today was a good way for that trend to continue. A division game on the road against a team who has owned us this decade could erase a lot of doubts.

Erasing the doubts has kind of been a theme of this team. A couple of players still need to finish the job. Nothing is better than a clean slate. It's an all new NFC East folks. The battle for bragging rights there begin next week and it is a tough opponent. I couldn't be happier with the momentum right now. 5-2 feels pretty right to me. A solid November could erase a lot of doubts.

I wonder if crow and eagle both taste like chicken? I'm eating my crow, here's hoping the Cowboys serve up some Eagle.
 

RainMan

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Good stuff, Hos. What impressed me about Crayton's return today was that it truly involved some instincts. A great return.

Agreed on Garrett. He's quietly putting together a very nice season as a play caller. Yeah, I know the boo birds are out about passing too much or leaving in Romo too long. But no one's perfect.

And I wouldn't be surprised if DeCamillis isn't a head coaching candidate at some point -- maybe even here.
 

casmith07

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Good post as usual, Hos. I was on the "Fire Garrett" bandwagon last season but it's clear that the departure of one athlete in particular has allowed him to prove that he can still get the job done. I actually am pretty excited that he'll be our head coach one day.

I also would like to publicly acknowledge my mancrush on Miles Austin.

Let's get em!

:eagles:

:trophy:
 

Bluestang

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Good post, and +1 on next week. +3 on PC - If someone were to tell me that he would have 2 punt returns for TDs going into week 9 of this season I would have said they are crazy.
 

theebs

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in our defenses defense...lol.......They were hiking it and throwing it.....and actually they were almost running to the line and hiking it and throwing it.

When they tried to take deeper drops later they started getting hit.

hatcher nearly killed hassleback.

oh and No love for bobby carpenter!!!!!! the teams pinata made a big play today. the ticket refers to him as the cowboys seagull because of all his arm flapping when getting the crowd riled up!!! The man deserves credit today.

And in defense of garrett, I think they were begging us to pass today. they were pressing outside and in the slot and they were in alot of single high safety looks with the intent of taking the run away.

The only negative I have from todays game is that the seahawks brough pressure up the middle and it didnt look like we handled it that well to me.

that makes me nervous for next week.
 

ScipioCowboy

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In my opinion, the biggest difference thus far between this season and last season has been special teams. It may be the primary reason the Cowboys are surrendering fewer points this season.
 

PBJTime

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I agree on every point there, Hos.

I felt the need to post a Joe DeCamillis thread as it is unbelievable the turnaround that we've seen in ST, but you got that in there. That is what I am most impressed by. Our special teams just rule.
 

casmith07

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theebs;3050092 said:
in our defenses defense...lol.......They were hiking it and throwing it.....and actually they were almost running to the line and hiking it and throwing it.

When they tried to take deeper drops later they started getting hit.

hatcher nearly killed hassleback.

oh and No love for bobby carpenter!!!!!! the teams pinata made a big play today. the ticket refers to him as the cowboys seagull because of all his arm flapping when getting the crowd riled up!!! The man deserves credit today.

And in defense of garrett, I think they were begging us to pass today. they were pressing outside and in the slot and they were in alot of single high safety looks with the intent of taking the run away.

The only negative I have from todays game is that the seahawks brough pressure up the middle and it didnt look like we handled it that well to me.

that makes me nervous for next week.

Bobby Carpenter does deserve some credit for coming up with a big play. Will it be the turning point of his career? I'd love to see the over/under on that :laugh2:

As for the Seahawks, they were begging us to run: oftentimes they packed 8 or even 9 in the box. The big Miles Austin catch in the first half, they had 8 in the box and creeped up one more just before the snap.
 

theebs

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casmith07;3050103 said:
Bobby Carpenter does deserve some credit for coming up with a big play. Will it be the turning point of his career? I'd love to see the over/under on that :laugh2:

As for the Seahawks, they were begging us to run: oftentimes they packed 8 or even 9 in the box. The big Miles Austin catch in the first half, they had 8 in the box and creeped up one more just before the snap.


Yep. They were pressing every wr early in the game. they showed no respect to romo and/or austin today. And they paid for that.

We also were on the good side of some bad calls I think. Romo had about 4 passes today that were batted up in the air and could have been picked but were not.
 

Hostile

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theebs;3050092 said:
in our defenses defense...lol.......They were hiking it and throwing it.....and actually they were almost running to the line and hiking it and throwing it.

When they tried to take deeper drops later they started getting hit.

hatcher nearly killed hassleback.

oh and No love for bobby carpenter!!!!!! the teams pinata made a big play today. the ticket refers to him as the cowboys seagull because of all his arm flapping when getting the crowd riled up!!! The man deserves credit today.

And in defense of garrett, I think they were begging us to pass today. they were pressing outside and in the slot and they were in alot of single high safety looks with the intent of taking the run away.

The only negative I have from todays game is that the seahawks brough pressure up the middle and it didnt look like we handled it that well to me.

that makes me nervous for next week.
I find that if I post about controversial pinata players it just ignites too much. I didn't want to focus on any one guy except perhaps Crayton and Romo.

I've liked what Carpenter has brought to the team this year. Saying that is an invitation to an argument about how he's a bust. I'm tired of those discussions. It's like Roy Williams. It will be worse if I defend him than if anyone else does. So even if he has a huge game I'm focused on trying to shut up about him. He's the guy I pimped like crazy to come here and I think he's part of the success we are having. But I can't say it. People will go mad.
 

theebs

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Hostile;3050111 said:
I find that if I post about controversial pinata players it just ignites too much. I didn't want to focus on any one guy except perhaps Crayton and Romo.

I've liked what Carpenter has brought to the team this year. Saying that is an invitation to an argument about how he's a bust. I'm tired of those discussions. It's like Roy Williams. It will be worse if I defend him than if anyone else does. So even if he has a huge game I'm focused on trying to shut up about him. He's the guy I pimped like crazy to come here and I think he's part of the success we are having. But I can't say it. People will go mad.


I hear ya.
 

MichaelWinicki

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Nice write up Hos.

Well thought out and accurate.

Maybe I'm homering out, but I think the Cowboys beat the Eagles.

QB's - even
RB's - even. If Westbrook doesn't play, well... Not even.
OL - Dallas
WR's - Eagles by a little.
TE's - Dallas
DL - Even
LB's - Dallas
DB's - Even
Special Teams - Dallas
 

tyke1doe

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Hostile;3050074 said:
I wonder if crow and eagle both taste like chicken? I'm eating my crow, here's hoping the Cowboys serve up some Eagle.

Great line, Hostile. Great observations overall.
 

Biggems

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well Hos, we have one RB who is healthiest of all, but he is sitting on the sidelines collecting splinters in his rump......Thank you Garrett.

I was happy to finally see us get the ball to Witten in the red zone, unfortunately, he dropped the pass.

Our first 3 trips into the red zone today = 3 TDs....I love it.

I was a little disappointed that we didn't get any INTs, as we had about 4-5 opportunities. I think if Sensabaugh doesn't have a cast on his hand, he most likely catches his missed INT. If Scandrick sees the ball coming at him, when he was sandwiched by the two WRs, I think he gets it.

We did get only 3 sacks, but we put a hurtin on Hasselbeck.

I was disappointed with the way we defended Julius. He ran very well against us today. If he could have ran with that kind of purpose on a consistent basis for us, he would still be a Cowboy. I guess he ran so hard today cause he felt slighted.

On the fumble by Romo, I wish he would have just allowed himself to be sacked. Take the 2 yd loss and live to play on 2nd down.

I love our STs. Folk is my favorite kicker in Cowboys history, and he is short in his career. It sucks that he missed that FG today, but at least he made the next one. Beuhler is awesome....I love all the touchbacks. Crayton is actually a PR threat, color me :eek: . I am not sure how I feel about Felix on KR...since he has issues with staying healthy. I would prefer Ogletree be our KR. I love our coverage unit. We are all over the returner on pretty much every kick.

I wasnt happy with our coverage of Carlson.....we need to address it, cause the Eagles will use Celek or even one of those little burners in the middle of the field and give us fits.

Great win and I am so happy we are 5-2 right now.
 

Hostile

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He's the healthiest, but the other guys are simply better. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is the truth and I love the kid.
 

Hostile

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MichaelWinicki;3050128 said:
Nice write up Hos.

Well thought out and accurate.

Maybe I'm homering out, but I think the Cowboys beat the Eagles.

QB's - even
RB's - even. If Westbrook doesn't play, well... Not even.
OL - Dallas
WR's - Eagles by a little.
TE's - Dallas
DL - Even
LB's - Dallas
DB's - Even
Special Teams - Dallas
I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility that we can beat the Eagles. I do think we are the better team and will think so even if we lose. But they are very tough at home and Andy Reid does prepare for us better than anyone. I think we are hitting them at just the right time to pull it off.
 
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