casmith07
Attorney-at-Zone
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I figured I'd post my observations as well, since everyone is doing the same. I wrote these in an e-mail to my dad who wasn't able to watch the game because he had an early day for work the next morning, but wanted me to fill him in...
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1st Team Offense: offense looks relatively vanilla...nothing really special, which I imagine is that they aren't really trying to run any serious plays. Roy Williams made a good catch for a 1st down, the offense overall looks more like a team rather than a collection of talented individuals. Kyle Kosier being back in the lineup at Guard and Flozell being a bit slimmer has a huge difference. Aside from the first drive which was kind of jittery (first game jitters), the offensive line blocked very well especially in the running game. Cowboys ran the ball halfway down the field, Felix Jones is a world beater....he should start some games, I would hope. Much better than Barber running outside the tackles and turning the corner, in my opinion. Martellus Bennett caught a ball in the flats and destroyed the tackler, just shoved him to the ground and ran ahead for 8 yards on one play. Scored on a pass to Witten where Romo hung tough in the pocket - good blocking. Greg Ellis looks bad for Oakland, got stone walled by Marc Colombo at the right tackle spot!
1st Team Defense: not really the first team defense. Sensabaugh is great in coverage, which lets Hamlin play the FS spot a lot better. Hamlin did drop a sure INT, but probably first game jitters again. Scandrick has all the makings of a lock down corner. Pass rush looked like they were just going through the motions, not really trying too hard, which is good so they don't go get hurt or something. Spencer made a good play in the flats in pass coverage, so we're relatively safe there as far as letting Greg Ellis go, I think. Keith Brooking had a great sack where he rocketed through the line and brought down Jamarcus Russell. Courtney Brown looks really bad...out of position, getting beat. Alan Ball doesn't look good either - curious why these guys are starting over the rookies who were supposed to be the favorites in camp. Held the Raiders to 3 after a bonehead pass interference call - refs blew it, but the players were hustling and trying to make a play on the ball as opposed to how pass interference usually was for the Cowboys - someone getting beat and just making a bad play. Not bad overall, looks like we'll be pretty good on defense.
2nd Team Offense: not much to say here...offensive line looks pitiful, Hurd had a nice catch, Bennett looks good...Kitna looks good. Offensive line is just terrible though. They just got overran by the Raiders front 7 for a bad sack on Kitna. Kitna threw and interception to Michael Huff trying to get the ball deep down the right sideline to Hurd. Hurd should have turned around and met the ball at it's highest point, but also Kitna's fault for not placing the ball on his outside shoulder.
2nd Team Defense: pretty poor but they were playing against the Raiders starters...lots of guys that are out there that probably shouldn't be. Some of the players look good, rookies look hungry, but others look like practice squad guys. Not much to go on because the Raiders were using their starters against our backups. Most of the poor play was at DB (Courtney Brown, Alan Ball).
Special Teams: MUCH improved. Stanback still returning kicks so I guess they think he's serviceable. Coverage looks MUCH better, especially on kickoffs. Victor Butler looks great on special teams, so at least we know 1 out of our draft class can contribute on special teams.
Overall not bad - 1st teams looked good, offense looked like a well oiled machine on the scoring drive. Obviously Kyle Kosier in the lineup makes a huge difference - Romo had all day usually. Exciting to see in the regular season when we aren't running vanilla preseason plays, but at the same note they worked - Cowboys ran the ball to set up play action and it looked like clockwork.
* * *
1st Team Offense: offense looks relatively vanilla...nothing really special, which I imagine is that they aren't really trying to run any serious plays. Roy Williams made a good catch for a 1st down, the offense overall looks more like a team rather than a collection of talented individuals. Kyle Kosier being back in the lineup at Guard and Flozell being a bit slimmer has a huge difference. Aside from the first drive which was kind of jittery (first game jitters), the offensive line blocked very well especially in the running game. Cowboys ran the ball halfway down the field, Felix Jones is a world beater....he should start some games, I would hope. Much better than Barber running outside the tackles and turning the corner, in my opinion. Martellus Bennett caught a ball in the flats and destroyed the tackler, just shoved him to the ground and ran ahead for 8 yards on one play. Scored on a pass to Witten where Romo hung tough in the pocket - good blocking. Greg Ellis looks bad for Oakland, got stone walled by Marc Colombo at the right tackle spot!
1st Team Defense: not really the first team defense. Sensabaugh is great in coverage, which lets Hamlin play the FS spot a lot better. Hamlin did drop a sure INT, but probably first game jitters again. Scandrick has all the makings of a lock down corner. Pass rush looked like they were just going through the motions, not really trying too hard, which is good so they don't go get hurt or something. Spencer made a good play in the flats in pass coverage, so we're relatively safe there as far as letting Greg Ellis go, I think. Keith Brooking had a great sack where he rocketed through the line and brought down Jamarcus Russell. Courtney Brown looks really bad...out of position, getting beat. Alan Ball doesn't look good either - curious why these guys are starting over the rookies who were supposed to be the favorites in camp. Held the Raiders to 3 after a bonehead pass interference call - refs blew it, but the players were hustling and trying to make a play on the ball as opposed to how pass interference usually was for the Cowboys - someone getting beat and just making a bad play. Not bad overall, looks like we'll be pretty good on defense.
2nd Team Offense: not much to say here...offensive line looks pitiful, Hurd had a nice catch, Bennett looks good...Kitna looks good. Offensive line is just terrible though. They just got overran by the Raiders front 7 for a bad sack on Kitna. Kitna threw and interception to Michael Huff trying to get the ball deep down the right sideline to Hurd. Hurd should have turned around and met the ball at it's highest point, but also Kitna's fault for not placing the ball on his outside shoulder.
2nd Team Defense: pretty poor but they were playing against the Raiders starters...lots of guys that are out there that probably shouldn't be. Some of the players look good, rookies look hungry, but others look like practice squad guys. Not much to go on because the Raiders were using their starters against our backups. Most of the poor play was at DB (Courtney Brown, Alan Ball).
Special Teams: MUCH improved. Stanback still returning kicks so I guess they think he's serviceable. Coverage looks MUCH better, especially on kickoffs. Victor Butler looks great on special teams, so at least we know 1 out of our draft class can contribute on special teams.
Overall not bad - 1st teams looked good, offense looked like a well oiled machine on the scoring drive. Obviously Kyle Kosier in the lineup makes a huge difference - Romo had all day usually. Exciting to see in the regular season when we aren't running vanilla preseason plays, but at the same note they worked - Cowboys ran the ball to set up play action and it looked like clockwork.
