Bye Week Team Assessment

[CyberB0b]

Don't use him? They used him twice late in the game and he was completely ineffective. He quite simply is not nearly as good as people want to pretend he is.

This. Don't expect much from the scrap heap guys we got, like Matt Cassel and Christine Michael.

 

[MRV52]

no one will be buying a weeden jersey thats for sure

All the stoners will be buying.

 

[Bullflop]

A tad irksome, huh?

Waaay more than a tad, m'friend -- it's like ca-rae-zee!!! RIP -- Uh-oh, there goes the hair!

 

[Bullflop]

All the stoners will be buying.

I can see that -- and the rest of the stoners will be laughing themselves silly when they see it. You betcha!

 

[jazzcat22]

A few things entering the bye week:

• Brandon Carr, still stealing money from Jerry's pocketbook. I was surprised the Cowboys didn't appear to play hardball with him during the offseason. I bet they regret that decision now.

.

Brandon Carr hasn't stolen anything. He is being paid per his contract he and Jerry signed.


But some pretty good points.

 

[Bullflop]

Brandon Carr hasn't stolen anything. He is being paid per his contract he and Jerry signed..

Jerry probably weeps uncontrollably now every time he thinks about it.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

there is only 1 thing to assess this bye week


the coach.

you cant blame the players. No one put a gun to the organizations head to sign Weeden. No one. No one forced them to trade for two players but dont use them as much. No one forced the team to draft Church. No one said draft yet another TE and if gets tds make sure to never use him again. No one forced the team to sign McFadden. No one forced them to draft Green but let a RB slide by.

I know i know cant blame Garrett, so please, someone stand up and fire Clay. If you cant blame the coach for anything than you have no one to blame for the reason you are sitting here.

I was with you until you said fire Clay. This is Garrett. This is not Clay. The scheme and game plan is antiquated.

 

[kycowboyfan]

I think we opened as 3 point underdogs against BYE

 

[ShiningStar]

I was with you until you said fire Clay. This is Garrett. This is not Clay. The scheme and game plan is antiquated.

my whole point is we are blaming anyone but Garrett.

 

[Cowboy_Shawn]

Our O-line is incredibly overrated. Possibly the most overrated unit in the NFL period

Early on I thought this is as well but you have to factor in the impact that the limitations of Weeden is having on the unit. I've always said one of Romo's great strengths is his ability to get the team lined up and into a play that beats what the defense is showing him. He wins a majority of the chess matches at the line of scrimmage.

Weeden on the other hand is a novice at pre-snap reads and adjustments. He's simply not smart enough to play the position and he lacks physical talent.

The result of all of that is this.....with Romo in there, even without Dez, defenses have to respect our passing game. That means defenses have to play things honest/straight up. Which equates to more running room for the RBs since LBs and safeties aren't crowding the box like they do with Weeden.

That's the biggest reason that the OL looks like hot garbage right now. When Romo returns running lanes will "magically" return. You'll see.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Team's 4-1 at a minimum with all their horses. Superstars are superstars for a reason and yesterday was the first game we've had one suited up in a loss this season. This sucks but to pretend that these injuries somehow confirm all the bitter realist's hot takes is the height of hubris.

 

[Cowboy_Shawn]

Team's 4-1 at a minimum with all their horses. Superstars are superstars for a reason and yesterday was the first game we've had one suited up in a loss this season. This sucks but to pretend that these injuries somehow confirm all the bitter realist's hot takes is the height of hubris.

Along those same lines I got quite a chuckle reading a couple of articles this morning that boasted about how the Patriots defense stepped up and played a great game.

Really????

It was cute how they glossed over the fact that the Cowboys are playing with a QB who struggles to complete a pass beyond 5 yards down field.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Early on I thought this is as well but you have to factor in the impact that the limitations of Weeden is having on the unit. I've always said one of Romo's great strengths is his ability to get the team lined up and into a play that beats what the defense is showing him. He wins a majority of the chess matches at the line of scrimmage.

Weeden on the other hand is a novice at pre-snap reads and adjustments. He's simply not smart enough to play the position and he lacks physical talent.

The result of all of that is this.....with Romo in there, even without Dez, defenses have to respect our passing game. That means defenses have to play things honest/straight up. Which equates to more running room for the RBs since LBs and safeties aren't crowding the box like they do with Weeden.

That's the biggest reason that the OL looks like hot garbage right now. When Romo returns running lanes will "magically" return. You'll see.

Dez too. Not having to devote multiple sets of eyeballs to him each play completely changes the defensive approach to the Cowboys. He's an extension of the OL. Ask Demarco Murray what it's like to run on defenses with minimal respect for your deep passing.


A lot has been made about the scheme's simplicity but that was really all that was needed. The team has been feasting on a pick your poison offense for a while but right now everybody has the antidote.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

there is only 1 thing to assess this bye week


the coach.

you cant blame the players. No one put a gun to the organizations head to sign Weeden. No one. No one forced them to trade for two players but dont use them as much. No one forced the team to draft Church. No one said draft yet another TE and if gets tds make sure to never use him again. No one forced the team to sign McFadden. No one forced them to draft Green but let a RB slide by.

I know i know cant blame Garrett, so please, someone stand up and fire Clay. If you cant blame the coach for anything than you have no one to blame for the reason you are sitting here.

Tbh, Church wasn't drafted. Continue howling at the moon.

 

[JoaquinFenix]

A few things entering the bye week:

• The Kracken has been released. Gregory's on the mend. Be afraid.
• Welcome back, Ragonk. You were missed.
• It's probably Matt Cassell time. That being said, a caveat on the Cowboys' QB position: Weeden is not the reason this team is on a three-game losing streak. He's played about as well as you'd expect from a backup with no #1 receiver at his disposal. It's just not enough.
• The offensive line appears to sorely miss Bill Callahan. This line is so young that they should still be improving from year to year. Instead, there has been a regression across the board. Really disappointed by this group's play so far.
• La'el Collins > Ron Leary.
• If you can't rely on McFadden to pick up the blitz, why is he on the team? He appears to have very poor balance and goes down immediately upon contact. Would much rather be giving his carries to Michael. I'd pull a Jimmy Johnson move and cut McFadden to send a message. Addition by subtraction.
• Speaking of guys who need to step up: this receiving corps is surprisingly bad at getting separation without Dez drawing everybody's attention. Beasley and Witten are still doing their thing, but the other guys have been exposed. Williams is clearly nothing more than a #2 at best. But I've been even more disappointed by the lack of production from the Street/Escobar/Whitehead/Butler/Mayle poo-poo platter.
• I expect this front seven to play at a high level after the break. I'm looking at you, Gregory.
• This defense needs to learn how to cover a pick play. Yes, I know they're illegal. But guess what? The refs don't call it most of the time, and the Cowboys keep getting torched by it week after week. Adapt.
• Speaking of the defense, they're in a serious turnover drought. I don't think they've forced a single turnover since the Philly game. And they've absolutely bungled the few opportunities they've had. They dropped an easy pick last week, and then failed to make an easy fumble recovery today on the Brady strip (yes, it probably would've been overturned on review, but still). This defense must do a better job of capitalizing.
• Church and Wilcox often take really bad angles to the ball, which results in a lot of missed tackles.
• Brandon Carr, still stealing money from Jerry's pocketbook. I was surprised the Cowboys didn't appear to play hardball with him during the offseason. I bet they regret that decision now.
• Andrew Gachkar has been a good pickup.
• Nice work today, Byron Jones.
• Injuries aren't an excuse, but, you know. Sometimes the next man up just isn't good enough. The Cowboys have had to rely on too many of them at key positions through the first five weeks.
• Even before Romo/Dez went down, the loss today to the defending champs wasn't unexpected. Atlanta has now swept the NFC East and proven to be a formidable opponent. The loss that really hurts is the Saints game. I'd feel a whole lot better about this thing if the Cowboys were 3-2.

I still have hope that the Cowboys can turn it around, but they've got to find a way to win a couple of games before Romo returns.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it appears that all 3 of these things have come to pass.

 

[ShiningStar]

Tbh, Church wasn't drafted. Continue howling at the moon.

oh yes the one tiny point destroys my take, riiiiiight. Find something concrete to nitpick or stay ot of the debate.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

oh yes the one tiny point destroys my take, riiiiiight. Find something concrete to nitpick or stay ot of the debate.

It was one of the only intelligible parts of the post tbh.

 

[xwalker]

A few things entering the bye week:

• The Kracken has been released. Gregory's on the mend. Be afraid.
• Welcome back, Ragonk. You were missed.
• It's probably Matt Cassell time. That being said, a caveat on the Cowboys' QB position: Weeden is not the reason this team is on a three-game losing streak. He's played about as well as you'd expect from a backup with no #1 receiver at his disposal. It's just not enough.
• The offensive line appears to sorely miss Bill Callahan. This line is so young that they should still be improving from year to year. Instead, there has been a regression across the board. Really disappointed by this group's play so far.
• La'el Collins > Ron Leary.
• If you can't rely on McFadden to pick up the blitz, why is he on the team? He appears to have very poor balance and goes down immediately upon contact. Would much rather be giving his carries to Michael. I'd pull a Jimmy Johnson move and cut McFadden to send a message. Addition by subtraction.
• Speaking of guys who need to step up: this receiving corps is surprisingly bad at getting separation without Dez drawing everybody's attention. Beasley and Witten are still doing their thing, but the other guys have been exposed. Williams is clearly nothing more than a #2 at best. But I've been even more disappointed by the lack of production from the Street/Escobar/Whitehead/Butler/Mayle poo-poo platter.
• I expect this front seven to play at a high level after the break. I'm looking at you, Gregory.
• This defense needs to learn how to cover a pick play. Yes, I know they're illegal. But guess what? The refs don't call it most of the time, and the Cowboys keep getting torched by it week after week. Adapt.
• Speaking of the defense, they're in a serious turnover drought. I don't think they've forced a single turnover since the Philly game. And they've absolutely bungled the few opportunities they've had. They dropped an easy pick last week, and then failed to make an easy fumble recovery today on the Brady strip (yes, it probably would've been overturned on review, but still). This defense must do a better job of capitalizing.
• Church and Wilcox often take really bad angles to the ball, which results in a lot of missed tackles.
• Brandon Carr, still stealing money from Jerry's pocketbook. I was surprised the Cowboys didn't appear to play hardball with him during the offseason. I bet they regret that decision now.
• Andrew Gachkar has been a good pickup.
• Nice work today, Byron Jones.
• Injuries aren't an excuse, but, you know. Sometimes the next man up just isn't good enough. The Cowboys have had to rely on too many of them at key positions through the first five weeks.
• Even before Romo/Dez went down, the loss today to the defending champs wasn't unexpected. Atlanta has now swept the NFC East and proven to be a formidable opponent. The loss that really hurts is the Saints game. I'd feel a whole lot better about this thing if the Cowboys were 3-2.

I still have hope that the Cowboys can turn it around, but they've got to find a way to win a couple of games before Romo returns.

I agree with a lot of that except:
McFadden was not that bad in pass protection. He delayed the rusher long enough that any competent QB would have just moved away but Weed had no awareness. On another play Weed was in his way due to a slow drop back.

WRs have been open if you look at the All-22.

Safeties always get blamed when teams struggle to make tackles. Fans just don't notice the missed tackles by LBs and other positions because there are other defenders behind them to clean it up; whereas, Safeties don't have anybody behind them.

 

[xwalker]

Don't use him? They used him twice late in the game and he was completely ineffective. He quite simply is not nearly as good as people want to pretend he is.

He is also not as bad as many claim.

 

[Seven]

no one will be buying a weeden jersey thats for sure

Stores won't even let you return those things............