News: BTB: Five Things To Watch: Cowboys vs. Ravens

NewsBot

New Member
Messages
111,281
Reaction score
2,947
1408088209

Five things to keep an eye on in Week 2 of the preseason.

One of the things about preseason is that's it's kind of like Philadelphia; no one really "wins" and you're just trying to make it through without getting hurt. And that's actually kind of nice, because it gives us a chance to watch the game, not the ball. Here are five things I'll be keeping an eye on.

1. How Does Tony Romo Look? One of the biggest questions of the preseason is the health of Tony Romo. There are a few things I'll be looking at. Does he get gun-shy in the face of the pass rush? Does he still have the mobility that earned him the moniker Romodini? Does he struggle with the deep ball? And perhaps most importantly, does he survive getting hit? While we might not get answers to all these questions, some positive results to a few of them will relieve a lot of stress from Cowboys Nation.

2. The Defensive Line: I'm not so much worried about stats from the line. What I'm really going to be looking for is penetration; does the defensive line consistently get into the backfield? Everything else on the defense is predicated on defensive penetration, if that's not happening, the rest of the defense can't function correctly. It's fine (right now), if they over-run the play, or don't get the sack, as long as penetration is happening, I'm confident the rest will come.

3. Linebacker Play: One reason I'm okay with the defensive line not making the play is because that's the role of the linebackers. Last week I thought they were the weakest position group, especially in run support. Can the LB's do a better job of filling holes and tackling?

4. Tyrone Crawford: We're counting on Tyrone Crawford to play a big role this season, and so far the results have been disappointing. It's not that he's been bad, it's just that there really hasn't been much to say about him. Last week he only played nine snaps, and out of four pass plays recorded one QB hurry. I'm hoping to see much more out of him this week, (both in total plays and in impact).

5. B.W. Webb: Webb has become something of a whipping boy in the secondary. He played pretty poorly last year, and that's something that's going to have to change fast with Orlando Scandrick's recent suspension. I thought he played decently last week. Outside of someone named Johnny Thomas, he was the highest graded secondary player last week according to PFF, and together with Terrance Mitchell played the most snaps out of the team. Out of 23 pass plays he only got targeted once, so it seems like he did pretty good in coverage. Can he stack two solid games back to back?

Alright BTB, those are the five things I'm going to be looking for on tonight. What areas of the team will you have your eyes on?

Continue reading...
 
Top