News: BTB: Eight Things We're Thinking About Dallas Cowboys Type Things

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Tony Romo's throwing motion, Morris Claiborne's measurables, the defensive line's health: three of eight things we've been thinking about recently.

I asked my fellow writers here on Blogging The Boys to share random thoughts that have crossed their minds - or have crossed other people's minds, and they found interesting - over the last few days as we collectively prepare for the Week 2 matchup against the Titans. Here are our collected musings and misgivings:

Neithan20000: I think Romo over-tinkered with his throwing motion this off-season and will be correcting it into the early part of the schedule.

Joey Ickes: The linebackers looked very good moving forward in Week 1, but are going to need to look better moving backwards for this defense to have a chance to succeed.

David Halprin: The Cowboys defensive line was better than expected and that was with a limited George Selvie and Henry Melton, and Melton should get much better as he gets more reps. Plus we'll get Terrell McClain into the mix this week, so maybe not all is lost. If Anthony Spencer can contribute, that's another bonus.

Dawn Macelli: I am exceptionally well pleased with the actions taken by the Ravens and the NFL now that the full Ray Rice issue has become known. What concerns me the most is that there seems to be some issue with what the league knew and when they knew it. If Roger Goodell knew all of this and downplayed it until everything became public, I think it is time for him to be fired.

Tom Ryle: I will be so glad when we can focus solely on football again, and not on assaults and lawsuits and offensive team nicknames.

OCC: Opening weekend was a good time to observe the concept of "Regression To The Mean" in full effect. This statistical phenomenon describes the fact that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on a second measurement.

• Last year, Nick Foles (2 INTs), Alex Smith (7), and Tony Romo (10) were all among the top ten QBs with the lowest interception percentage. So far this year, those three guys lead the league with three turnovers each.
• Last year, the Cowboys ranked last in the league with 6,645 yards allowed. So far this year, they are ranked 11th with 319 yards allowed.
• Last year, the Eagles were one of the healthiest teams in the league with just 33.6 adjusted games lost. So far this year, they've already lost a starter and a backup to IR and and another starter to IR/return.

Of course, one week is not a big enough sample size to draw any conclusions from, but keep your eyes open for 2013 over- and under-performers - odds are they'll be average performers in 2014.

Rabblerousr: Mo Claiborne had no business being labeled the "best defensive prospect" in the NFL draft. Looking back at his college measurables, what trait(s) did he have that would allow him to win one-on-one battles?

• Height: 5-11: not a tall corner
• Weight: 188: not heavy; a bit light even.
• Arm length: 33 1/4: this is his one outstanding trait, and gives him length that his height doesn't merit
  
• 40 time: 4.5: fairly pedestrian, even for a "big" corner. 10th in his draft class.
  
• Vertical: 34.5: five inches shorter than the top score in his class; tied for 15th overall
  
• Broad: 118.0: A full 15 inches shorter than top score Josh Robinson; 19th in his class
  
• Three-cone drill: 7.01: Top score: 6.55; Claiborne 20th in his class
  
• 20-yard shuttle: 4.12: .22 seconds behind top score; 12th overall
  
• No bench press.

Pre-draft analysis allows that he has terrific body control (although this is belied by his sub-par three-cone and 20-yard shuttle scores) and good length (which, as we've seen, really boils down to his arms).

So, this begs the question: was Mo rated so high because he has long arms and played for LSU?

Gary Morris: I've heard two basic arguments brought forward as a reaction to the loss against the 49ers:

1. Don't put too much weight on the result, it's just one game



2. This team played just like we thought

The funny thing is if we had blown out the 49ers, I think we would have seen the exact same arguments, but the people making them would have been reversed.

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