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I had not seen this posted yet...
http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/2009/08/22/cowboys-titans-recap-aka-the-scrub-report/
I consider myself a pretty big football fan, albeit not an expert like this guy, for whom I’m subbing today while he does mission work in Guatemala. (Can’t you schedule your do-gooding during the off-season, Bob? Good grief.) But once watching a game becomes your job, I understand how sportswriters can get burned out pretty quickly. I started nodding off about the time I started calculating Keon Lattimore’s yards-per-carry average. Late in the second half, I started to ignore the game and concentrate on what jokes I could make (perhaps a low-hanging scoreboard song sung to this). I had no idea what was going on. I was yawning and irritated that I was forced to feign interest. I felt like Dale Hansen. So the scrub reporting this is me.
Still, I found things to entertain myself, though, right up to the final whistle. A nice pass from Stephan McGee to Rodney “Tellus Lite” Hannah. Vince Young nodding confidently on the sidelines, as if to say, “Look, I’m just hustling them, like Amos hustles Fast Eddie.” Wade Phillips exploring the art of fist-pumps. Counting the ways Fox could pimp Cowboys Stadium. (I stopped at 39, after they showed us Pam Oliver’s dressing room.)
But the real lessons from the Cowboys’ rather easy 30-10 victory were all found in the first half. Jump for it:
* The yellow flag thrown on Miles Austin’s 70-yardish opening kickoff return was an evil portent. Once again, the first team offense and special teams were prone to wipe out big/important plays with penalties. (Think of the false start penalty on 4th and 1 in the second quarter, which led to a missed field goal.) I’m not hopeful this will be fixed this year. Now, a lot of times, the playmaking of Tony Romo overcomes such mistakes. But because you ask him to do this often during the season, he has to take more chances. Which is what leads to gunslinging, and forced throws, and interceptions. There is a correlation. The Giants, Steelers, and Patriots don’t continually put themselves in tough spots with penalties like that. There’s a reason they’re Super Bowl favorites.
* Along these lines, the special teams continue to look awful. After Marion Barber scores that first touchdown, you can’t give up a 68-yard return to give up the momentum you’ve spent 15 plays and 12 minutes acquiring. You just can’t. Oh, and, welcome to Cowboys Stadium, Mr. Sensabaugh. Thank you for taking on that ridiculous unnecessary roughness penalty you though was necessary. You’ll fit right in here.
* Bob often points out what a beast Jay Ratliff is. Did you see him burst through the line and crush Chris Johson for no gain on Tennessee’s first play? Everything the defensive line does revolves around him.
* We know this defense has a chance to be special if the linebacking crew is as disruptive as they appeared to be when the Cowboys had 10 first downs to Tennessee’s 0. But let’s be cautious: I got the sense that the Titans were beyond vanilla in their approach to the game. (What’s beyond vanilla, btw? Wintergreen? Unflavored?) They were trying, don’t get me wrong, but anytime your first two plays of a series is “LenDale White left end, LenDale White up the middle,” as it was in the second quarter when they started with decent field position, you’re kinda not trying.
* Which leads me to this a series of gushing appreciations. First, Jeff Fisher. I love this guy. I want to marry his goatee. Before the game, I heard Sean Salisbury say he gets more of out of less than any coach in the league, and how can you argue that. I kept hearing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman talk about how loaded the Titans roster is. Really? Seriously? I offer you their running backs: Chris Johnson, LenDale White, and Chris Henry. Ringer, the 5th-rounder from Mich State, looked better than any of them, and he may well be, because that’s an average group of RBs. I don’t trade Tashard Choice for any one of them, much less Marion Barber or Felix Jones. Now, go here and look at their wide receivers. Which one is a game breaker? The Cowboys receivers are below par, I think, and they will struggle this year without a deep threat, but, c’mon. If you were forced to draft a Titan receiver in fantasy football, is there any chance you start him in week one? And the quarterbacks are abysmal. You want Kerry Collins? You can have him. The next play he makes that makes you say “wow” will be his first. No, Jeff Fisher teams win every year because he’s a better version of Bill Parcells than Parcells was when he was here: his teams play great defense, protect the ball, play great special teams, and never give up. He plays the best people available, regardless where they were drafted. If he were the coach tomorrow of the Cowboys, they’d be 10 percent better before they walked on the field.
* Now, a few words in praise of Tony Romo. I laugh when I hear people complain about this guy’s work ethic, or his focus, or whatever b.s. they’re spouting about him. The guy is flat-out great. He can make every throw. He continually avoids a trouble caused by protection breakdowns (the line is mediocre-to-okay at best) by stepping up and away from trouble. He uses the entire field. He has tremendous touch. He showed all those qualities on that fantastic throw to Witten just before the Barber touchdown. It’s 3rd and 8 from the 20 yard line. The protection breaks down, and Romo’s first option is covered. He’s about to get hit. Let me tell you what Kerry Collins does there: he tucks the ball into his belly, closes his eyes, and waits to take the sake, because he’s content with the field goal. Or maybe he dumps it off to a check-down option so that they can come up just short of a first down, another Collins specialty. Romo, though, makes a beautiful throw to the opposite side of the field just over the reach of the defender (who is in perfect position for an interception) and into Witten’s arms in stride, so he can continue down the sideline to the 1-yard line. Already, we take this guy for granted. Don’t. He’s special.
* Lots of people commented on the very Patriots-like aspect to the Cowboys gameplan. Pass to set up the run. Dink and dunk down the field. Control the clock. Wear a team down. No need to force taking shots down the field. And it was really beautiful to watch. The only question, of course, is who besides Witten and Tellus Bennett will be able to get down the field when they need to stretch the defense? Because…
* I’m sorry, I still don’t see Roy Williams as a dominant No. 1 receiver. Okay, he had five catches. Nice. But when when the ball wasn’t coming his way, he was blanketed or didn’t seem to give much effort, by my eyes. Granted, Cortland Finnegan is one of the best corners in the game, but tome Williams, even when he caught passes, still ran lazy routes (one such stop route almost resulted in a pick). He too often counts on his size to offset that. Sometimes it does. I just don’t know if, when it’s 3rd and 7 in the fourth quarter at Philadelphia, you can count on him to get open and make the play. That’s what you need out of your No. 1. I thought Kevin Ogletree provided a nice contrast on that 2-yard touchdown catch from Kitna in the fourth quarter. He ran a beautiful fade route, setting up close enough to the quarterback to give him some room in the end zone to work with. Then, giving the corner a hard-enough inside fake to create even more room — room he needed, since he initially bobble the ball. Even Aikman was impressed, as he diagramed just how great a route it was. It was instructive; completions are as much about how a receiver runs a route as it about the throw or the play’s design. (Would love it if Ogletree could sneak onto this roster, btw.)
* I was one of the people who complained long and loud when the Cowboys drafted Felix Jones over Rashard Mendenhall. I was very, very wrong.
* As overrated as I think the offensive line is from a pass-blocking standpoint, there were two blocks I really loved. One was by Flozell Adams, who mid-air pancaked the defensive end who jumped up to block a quick pass to Roy Williams. The other was Marc Columbo wiping out his man on a sweep to help Felix Jones pick up almost 11 yards on a sweep in the second quarter. Did I mention how hard and fast Jones hits the hole? Did I mention he’s a good? Do you think people will be calling for him to start by week 3? Yes, yes, and duh.
* As for the touchdown throw by Collins at the end of the half: that was on Mike Jenkins, folks. I really liked him as a draft pick, because I love big corners who can run. (See Cortland Finnegan.) But his instincts do not look good. Watch that play again. Maybe he is supposed to release the receiver to the safety, but he clearly does so too soon. Why? Because when he’s jumping up to cover the crossing route in front of him … even though that man is being (well) covered by a linebacker. The Titans tried to pick on him all night. Only because Vince Young is awful did it not succeed. Orlando Scandrick is a lower draft pick, but I never feel worried with him in the game on the wing like I do when Jenkins is in there. Again I ask, if those two played for Jeff Fisher, who do you think would start?
* Final notes: Punts hitting the scoreboard are funny, but will get old by about week 10 … Garrett called a great game … Loved the referee’s call, “False start. Everyone but the center. Offense.” … Martellus Bennett, with his head screwed on straight, is so dangerous. He makes everything look easy … Curt Menefee is not funny … Kitna is a very good backup. But another example of how good Romo is: do you think he misses a wide open Miles Austin running down the sidelines? By five yards? Really? … With all the accolades about how wonderful the new stadium is, I almost forgot it’s in Arlington … Ray Sherman may be a good wide receivers coach, but he is a boring mic-up … Tashard Choice isn’t just good for a 3rd-stringer. He’s plain good. I know, I’m going out a limb there. I’m risky like that … Speaking of penalties, I thought the worst was the facemask by Ken Hamlin on the touchdown that was called back. He had already scored, and the facemask negated the holding penalty on the Titans. They scored on the next play … I got tired of writing “perfect throw” in my notes regarding Romo and just started writing “again” … As noted by Joe Buck, what was Patrick Crayton supposed to say when Ray Sherman asked if he could run the guy covering him? “Uh, I don’t think so. He’s pretty fast, coach.” … This is hard, I don’t want to do this anymore. My Saturday morning is shot. Hurry back Bob!
http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/2009/08/22/cowboys-titans-recap-aka-the-scrub-report/
I consider myself a pretty big football fan, albeit not an expert like this guy, for whom I’m subbing today while he does mission work in Guatemala. (Can’t you schedule your do-gooding during the off-season, Bob? Good grief.) But once watching a game becomes your job, I understand how sportswriters can get burned out pretty quickly. I started nodding off about the time I started calculating Keon Lattimore’s yards-per-carry average. Late in the second half, I started to ignore the game and concentrate on what jokes I could make (perhaps a low-hanging scoreboard song sung to this). I had no idea what was going on. I was yawning and irritated that I was forced to feign interest. I felt like Dale Hansen. So the scrub reporting this is me.
Still, I found things to entertain myself, though, right up to the final whistle. A nice pass from Stephan McGee to Rodney “Tellus Lite” Hannah. Vince Young nodding confidently on the sidelines, as if to say, “Look, I’m just hustling them, like Amos hustles Fast Eddie.” Wade Phillips exploring the art of fist-pumps. Counting the ways Fox could pimp Cowboys Stadium. (I stopped at 39, after they showed us Pam Oliver’s dressing room.)
But the real lessons from the Cowboys’ rather easy 30-10 victory were all found in the first half. Jump for it:
* The yellow flag thrown on Miles Austin’s 70-yardish opening kickoff return was an evil portent. Once again, the first team offense and special teams were prone to wipe out big/important plays with penalties. (Think of the false start penalty on 4th and 1 in the second quarter, which led to a missed field goal.) I’m not hopeful this will be fixed this year. Now, a lot of times, the playmaking of Tony Romo overcomes such mistakes. But because you ask him to do this often during the season, he has to take more chances. Which is what leads to gunslinging, and forced throws, and interceptions. There is a correlation. The Giants, Steelers, and Patriots don’t continually put themselves in tough spots with penalties like that. There’s a reason they’re Super Bowl favorites.
* Along these lines, the special teams continue to look awful. After Marion Barber scores that first touchdown, you can’t give up a 68-yard return to give up the momentum you’ve spent 15 plays and 12 minutes acquiring. You just can’t. Oh, and, welcome to Cowboys Stadium, Mr. Sensabaugh. Thank you for taking on that ridiculous unnecessary roughness penalty you though was necessary. You’ll fit right in here.
* Bob often points out what a beast Jay Ratliff is. Did you see him burst through the line and crush Chris Johson for no gain on Tennessee’s first play? Everything the defensive line does revolves around him.
* We know this defense has a chance to be special if the linebacking crew is as disruptive as they appeared to be when the Cowboys had 10 first downs to Tennessee’s 0. But let’s be cautious: I got the sense that the Titans were beyond vanilla in their approach to the game. (What’s beyond vanilla, btw? Wintergreen? Unflavored?) They were trying, don’t get me wrong, but anytime your first two plays of a series is “LenDale White left end, LenDale White up the middle,” as it was in the second quarter when they started with decent field position, you’re kinda not trying.
* Which leads me to this a series of gushing appreciations. First, Jeff Fisher. I love this guy. I want to marry his goatee. Before the game, I heard Sean Salisbury say he gets more of out of less than any coach in the league, and how can you argue that. I kept hearing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman talk about how loaded the Titans roster is. Really? Seriously? I offer you their running backs: Chris Johnson, LenDale White, and Chris Henry. Ringer, the 5th-rounder from Mich State, looked better than any of them, and he may well be, because that’s an average group of RBs. I don’t trade Tashard Choice for any one of them, much less Marion Barber or Felix Jones. Now, go here and look at their wide receivers. Which one is a game breaker? The Cowboys receivers are below par, I think, and they will struggle this year without a deep threat, but, c’mon. If you were forced to draft a Titan receiver in fantasy football, is there any chance you start him in week one? And the quarterbacks are abysmal. You want Kerry Collins? You can have him. The next play he makes that makes you say “wow” will be his first. No, Jeff Fisher teams win every year because he’s a better version of Bill Parcells than Parcells was when he was here: his teams play great defense, protect the ball, play great special teams, and never give up. He plays the best people available, regardless where they were drafted. If he were the coach tomorrow of the Cowboys, they’d be 10 percent better before they walked on the field.
* Now, a few words in praise of Tony Romo. I laugh when I hear people complain about this guy’s work ethic, or his focus, or whatever b.s. they’re spouting about him. The guy is flat-out great. He can make every throw. He continually avoids a trouble caused by protection breakdowns (the line is mediocre-to-okay at best) by stepping up and away from trouble. He uses the entire field. He has tremendous touch. He showed all those qualities on that fantastic throw to Witten just before the Barber touchdown. It’s 3rd and 8 from the 20 yard line. The protection breaks down, and Romo’s first option is covered. He’s about to get hit. Let me tell you what Kerry Collins does there: he tucks the ball into his belly, closes his eyes, and waits to take the sake, because he’s content with the field goal. Or maybe he dumps it off to a check-down option so that they can come up just short of a first down, another Collins specialty. Romo, though, makes a beautiful throw to the opposite side of the field just over the reach of the defender (who is in perfect position for an interception) and into Witten’s arms in stride, so he can continue down the sideline to the 1-yard line. Already, we take this guy for granted. Don’t. He’s special.
* Lots of people commented on the very Patriots-like aspect to the Cowboys gameplan. Pass to set up the run. Dink and dunk down the field. Control the clock. Wear a team down. No need to force taking shots down the field. And it was really beautiful to watch. The only question, of course, is who besides Witten and Tellus Bennett will be able to get down the field when they need to stretch the defense? Because…
* I’m sorry, I still don’t see Roy Williams as a dominant No. 1 receiver. Okay, he had five catches. Nice. But when when the ball wasn’t coming his way, he was blanketed or didn’t seem to give much effort, by my eyes. Granted, Cortland Finnegan is one of the best corners in the game, but tome Williams, even when he caught passes, still ran lazy routes (one such stop route almost resulted in a pick). He too often counts on his size to offset that. Sometimes it does. I just don’t know if, when it’s 3rd and 7 in the fourth quarter at Philadelphia, you can count on him to get open and make the play. That’s what you need out of your No. 1. I thought Kevin Ogletree provided a nice contrast on that 2-yard touchdown catch from Kitna in the fourth quarter. He ran a beautiful fade route, setting up close enough to the quarterback to give him some room in the end zone to work with. Then, giving the corner a hard-enough inside fake to create even more room — room he needed, since he initially bobble the ball. Even Aikman was impressed, as he diagramed just how great a route it was. It was instructive; completions are as much about how a receiver runs a route as it about the throw or the play’s design. (Would love it if Ogletree could sneak onto this roster, btw.)
* I was one of the people who complained long and loud when the Cowboys drafted Felix Jones over Rashard Mendenhall. I was very, very wrong.
* As overrated as I think the offensive line is from a pass-blocking standpoint, there were two blocks I really loved. One was by Flozell Adams, who mid-air pancaked the defensive end who jumped up to block a quick pass to Roy Williams. The other was Marc Columbo wiping out his man on a sweep to help Felix Jones pick up almost 11 yards on a sweep in the second quarter. Did I mention how hard and fast Jones hits the hole? Did I mention he’s a good? Do you think people will be calling for him to start by week 3? Yes, yes, and duh.
* As for the touchdown throw by Collins at the end of the half: that was on Mike Jenkins, folks. I really liked him as a draft pick, because I love big corners who can run. (See Cortland Finnegan.) But his instincts do not look good. Watch that play again. Maybe he is supposed to release the receiver to the safety, but he clearly does so too soon. Why? Because when he’s jumping up to cover the crossing route in front of him … even though that man is being (well) covered by a linebacker. The Titans tried to pick on him all night. Only because Vince Young is awful did it not succeed. Orlando Scandrick is a lower draft pick, but I never feel worried with him in the game on the wing like I do when Jenkins is in there. Again I ask, if those two played for Jeff Fisher, who do you think would start?
* Final notes: Punts hitting the scoreboard are funny, but will get old by about week 10 … Garrett called a great game … Loved the referee’s call, “False start. Everyone but the center. Offense.” … Martellus Bennett, with his head screwed on straight, is so dangerous. He makes everything look easy … Curt Menefee is not funny … Kitna is a very good backup. But another example of how good Romo is: do you think he misses a wide open Miles Austin running down the sidelines? By five yards? Really? … With all the accolades about how wonderful the new stadium is, I almost forgot it’s in Arlington … Ray Sherman may be a good wide receivers coach, but he is a boring mic-up … Tashard Choice isn’t just good for a 3rd-stringer. He’s plain good. I know, I’m going out a limb there. I’m risky like that … Speaking of penalties, I thought the worst was the facemask by Ken Hamlin on the touchdown that was called back. He had already scored, and the facemask negated the holding penalty on the Titans. They scored on the next play … I got tired of writing “perfect throw” in my notes regarding Romo and just started writing “again” … As noted by Joe Buck, what was Patrick Crayton supposed to say when Ray Sherman asked if he could run the guy covering him? “Uh, I don’t think so. He’s pretty fast, coach.” … This is hard, I don’t want to do this anymore. My Saturday morning is shot. Hurry back Bob!
