Cowboys 1st week

xwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
57,202
Reaction score
64,708
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
It's only 1 week!

Good or bad it's not much info to make any conclusions. The only things I thought were near definitive is that Gregory is really talented and the Cowboys pass protection was really good.

We need multiple more games to make any conclusions on the Cowboys RBs (including ex RBs), young players like Street, general quality of the offense or defense, ball security, etc..

With 4 RBs on the roster it could take several games before we really know what all of then can or can't do. It was not until Murray's 4th season that he really proved himself completely.

There is no way to know if Street has anything or not. The defender made a perfect play on the turnover.

I guess we can conclude that Dunbar is a terrific receiver.

If not for the injuries, the general feeling about the team should be positive going forward. The only lost ball that worries me in terms of the future was the 1 by Randle that he recovered. The others all seemed like flukes.

If not for the turnovers the Cowboys would likely have crushed the Giants; however, it would only be 1 game and we still would not know much about the future games.

Even when we see a couple of more games it will be without all weapons available. Just as we see some trends they'll get back Hardy and McClain and later Dez and Gregory. Christine Michael might not even play for another game or more.

Summary: It's good to analyze what actually happens in the games but it's going to take time to make any reasonable conclusions for the longer term.
 

CCBoy

Well-Known Member
Messages
47,017
Reaction score
22,609
Thanks, X...

and I think that Dunbar is as effective as Sproles is for Philadelphia now.

With the Dallas scheme, Randle and McFadden fit better than does Murray in the Eagles' fast paced offense.

I'm thinking that both Dallas and the Giants have a better offensive line than does Philadelphia right now.

I agree, that the Cowboys' offensive line is money in the crunch.
 

Cowboy4ever

Well-Known Member
Messages
5,189
Reaction score
4,494
It's only 1 week!

Good or bad it's not much info to make any conclusions. The only things I thought were near definitive is that Gregory is really talented and the Cowboys pass protection was really good.

We need multiple more games to make any conclusions on the Cowboys RBs (including ex RBs), young players like Street, general quality of the offense or defense, ball security, etc..

With 4 RBs on the roster it could take several games before we really know what all of then can or can't do. It was not until Murray's 4th season that he really proved himself completely.

There is no way to know if Street has anything or not. The defender made a perfect play on the turnover.

I guess we can conclude that Dunbar is a terrific receiver.

If not for the injuries, the general feeling about the team should be positive going forward. The only lost ball that worries me in terms of the future was the 1 by Randle that he recovered. The others all seemed like flukes.

If not for the turnovers the Cowboys would likely have crushed the Giants; however, it would only be 1 game and we still would not know much about the future games.

Even when we see a couple of more games it will be without all weapons available. Just as we see some trends they'll get back Hardy and McClain and later Dez and Gregory. Christine Michael might not even play for another game or more.

Summary: It's good to analyze what actually happens in the games but it's going to take time to make any reasonable conclusions for the longer term.

I would say the fumble by Randle was more of a fluke than the one by Beas. Randle was diving forward and the defender's knee hit the ball perfectly and it popped out. Its amazing he was able to recover it. The one that Beas had just a matter of not securing the ball good enough. The defender stripped him of the ball, that is going to happen almost every time a defender can get his hands on the ball, Beas has to manage that and not allow the defender to win in that situation.
 

CCBoy

Well-Known Member
Messages
47,017
Reaction score
22,609
I would say the fumble by Randle was more of a fluke than the one by Beas. Randle was diving forward and the defender's knee hit the ball perfectly and it popped out. Its amazing he was able to recover it. The one that Beas had just a matter of not securing the ball good enough. The defender stripped him of the ball, that is going to happen almost every time a defender can get his hands on the ball, Beas has to manage that and not allow the defender to win in that situation.

Beasley just needs to add a touch of ball security to his very fast paced game...
 

conner01

Well-Known Member
Messages
28,968
Reaction score
26,613
I think the rb's in the passing game is going to be important
We don't have dez to occupy defenders but those backs can force a safety up to cover them and that leaves open areas down the field
Street got open and caught the ball, the fumble was a perfect hit. I think he will be able to contribute
Twill is going to be very important in the down the field stuff and the te's down the seam
I'm really more concerned about the D than the O
We just lost our best pass rusher and that's going to put lots of pressure on the secondary
And we need turnovers. The D wasn't great last year but they got turnovers and now more than ever we are going to need them
Other than the turnovers we played well against the Giants and we need the same thing this week
They will put up yards and murrY is going to be fired up
We need to take the ball from Murray and hold them to FG and we will win this game
 

gimmesix

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
Messages
40,017
Reaction score
37,158
I would say the fumble by Randle was more of a fluke than the one by Beas. Randle was diving forward and the defender's knee hit the ball perfectly and it popped out. Its amazing he was able to recover it. The one that Beas had just a matter of not securing the ball good enough. The defender stripped him of the ball, that is going to happen almost every time a defender can get his hands on the ball, Beas has to manage that and not allow the defender to win in that situation.

You know, now that I think about it, we may have been judging Randle's antics wrongly. He wasn't stealing underwear and cologne when he got into trouble, he was practicing his skills.

There appeared to be no way that Randle could recover that fumble but his practice paid off as he was able to swipe the ball when no one was looking. Without that shoplifting workout, he might have let it slip through his fingers.
 

Doomsday101

Well-Known Member
Messages
107,762
Reaction score
39,034
I agree after 1 week still a lot of unknowns not just Dallas but most teams around the league. One thing I can tell this team still has a lot of heart and fight in them. They will keep coming until the end.
 

Mookie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,096
Reaction score
2,213
I thought it was a terrible Week 1. We didn't play as everybody expected, we lost Bryant, Hardy and Leary. That's three starters in one game.
By mid-season how many horses will be down? Injuries scare me a lot.
 

Oh_Canada

Well-Known Member
Messages
10,083
Reaction score
4,222
Street will be fine, the team has faith in him and I think so does the QB. He will catch four or five balls this week and the doubters will start to go quiet.
 

romothesavior

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,512
Reaction score
4,366
It's only 1 week!

Good or bad it's not much info to make any conclusions. The only things I thought were near definitive is that Gregory is really talented and the Cowboys pass protection was really good.

We need multiple more games to make any conclusions on the Cowboys RBs (including ex RBs), young players like Street, general quality of the offense or defense, ball security, etc..

With 4 RBs on the roster it could take several games before we really know what all of then can or can't do. It was not until Murray's 4th season that he really proved himself completely.

There is no way to know if Street has anything or not. The defender made a perfect play on the turnover.

I guess we can conclude that Dunbar is a terrific receiver.

If not for the injuries, the general feeling about the team should be positive going forward. The only lost ball that worries me in terms of the future was the 1 by Randle that he recovered. The others all seemed like flukes.

If not for the turnovers the Cowboys would likely have crushed the Giants; however, it would only be 1 game and we still would not know much about the future games.

Even when we see a couple of more games it will be without all weapons available. Just as we see some trends they'll get back Hardy and McClain and later Dez and Gregory. Christine Michael might not even play for another game or more.

Summary: It's good to analyze what actually happens in the games but it's going to take time to make any reasonable conclusions for the longer term.

Thank you! I almost created this exact same thread this morning.

All this talk about "abandoning the run" and "new philosophies this year" and the "lack of a pass rush" is laughably premature and unfounded.
 

50cent

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,804
Reaction score
572
It's only 1 week!

Good or bad it's not much info to make any conclusions. The only things I thought were near definitive is that Gregory is really talented and the Cowboys pass protection was really good.

We need multiple more games to make any conclusions on the Cowboys RBs (including ex RBs), young players like Street, general quality of the offense or defense, ball security, etc..

With 4 RBs on the roster it could take several games before we really know what all of then can or can't do. It was not until Murray's 4th season that he really proved himself completely.

There is no way to know if Street has anything or not. The defender made a perfect play on the turnover.

I guess we can conclude that Dunbar is a terrific receiver.

If not for the injuries, the general feeling about the team should be positive going forward. The only lost ball that worries me in terms of the future was the 1 by Randle that he recovered. The others all seemed like flukes.

If not for the turnovers the Cowboys would likely have crushed the Giants; however, it would only be 1 game and we still would not know much about the future games.

Even when we see a couple of more games it will be without all weapons available. Just as we see some trends they'll get back Hardy and McClain and later Dez and Gregory. Christine Michael might not even play for another game or more.

Summary: It's good to analyze what actually happens in the games but it's going to take time to make any reasonable conclusions for the longer term.
We didnt run the ball one time on 3rd down or in goal to go situations. That's alarming and I only need one more game to KNOW if that's the norm and we've reverted back to the Garrett/Callahan philosphy of pass until it works regardless of the running games production.
 

xwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
57,202
Reaction score
64,708
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
We didnt run the ball one time on 3rd down or in goal to go situations. That's alarming and I only need one more game to KNOW if that's the norm and we've reverted back to the Garrett/Callahan philosphy of pass until it works regardless of the running games production.

I thought Adam posted that they ran on 3rd down 3 times. I need to check on that.
 

windjc

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,971
Reaction score
3,253
It's only 1 week!

Good or bad it's not much info to make any conclusions. The only things I thought were near definitive is that Gregory is really talented and the Cowboys pass protection was really good.

We need multiple more games to make any conclusions on the Cowboys RBs (including ex RBs), young players like Street, general quality of the offense or defense, ball security, etc..

With 4 RBs on the roster it could take several games before we really know what all of then can or can't do. It was not until Murray's 4th season that he really proved himself completely.

There is no way to know if Street has anything or not. The defender made a perfect play on the turnover.

I guess we can conclude that Dunbar is a terrific receiver.

If not for the injuries, the general feeling about the team should be positive going forward. The only lost ball that worries me in terms of the future was the 1 by Randle that he recovered. The others all seemed like flukes.

If not for the turnovers the Cowboys would likely have crushed the Giants; however, it would only be 1 game and we still would not know much about the future games.

Even when we see a couple of more games it will be without all weapons available. Just as we see some trends they'll get back Hardy and McClain and later Dez and Gregory. Christine Michael might not even play for another game or more.

Summary: It's good to analyze what actually happens in the games but it's going to take time to make any reasonable conclusions for the longer term.

With the schedule we have the first 8 games of the season, our backs are definitely against the wall.

We will certainly feel the effects of Dez being gone. It will be felt most in the running game and in the red zone imo. The defenses now have an extra safety to float around as they wish. I expect the dink and dunk game to the RBs to continue to be used. I just hope it can be used effectively once defenses adjust.

Against the Eagles, Saints and Pats we need big games out of our Linebackers. All these teams can beat you with the short pass and run game. Lee will have to be a dominate force and McClain needs to be early 2014 McClain for us to claw our way through the end of the first 8 game stretch.

Losing Gregory at the same time we don't have Hardy HURTS. We are basically the 2014 rushmen now :/ We REALLY need Lawrence, Crawford and someone, anyone else to step us as legitimate rushers over the next 3-4 weeks. We are playing some fantastic QBs and offense lines that are much better than the Giants have. Not every team is going to take only 3 step drops against us, and in the 5 step drops we HAVE to make team pay.

I expect our offense to have some good and some bad. I do not expect our offense to dominate without Dez. We can be a 28 point team weekly, but I do not expect us to run over teams and put up 30-40 points every week like we did at the end of last season and like we would have against the Giants without the turnovers. Our success now really hinges on the following imo:

A defense that can play top 10 even without 3 key players.
A special teams that can at least play even with other teams.
Winning the turnover battle - or at least breaking even.

If we can do these 3 things we have a chance to go 4-0 before getting McClain and Hardy back and 6-0 before getting Dez back. But doing those three things is going to be HARD.
 

gimmesix

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
Messages
40,017
Reaction score
37,158
I thought it was a terrible Week 1. We didn't play as everybody expected, we lost Bryant, Hardy and Leary. That's three starters in one game.
By mid-season how many horses will be down? Injuries scare me a lot.

I do agree that the injuries already cropping up are concerning. One of the reasons we were able to do as well as we did last year is we avoided the injury problems that had been plaguing us.

I guess there's some relief that they are not year-ending injuries. We just have to weather the storm.
 

Cowboy4ever

Well-Known Member
Messages
5,189
Reaction score
4,494
According to NFLgsis, we passed 100% of the time on 3rd down regardless of distance.

That stat is irrelevant without knowing how the defense was aligned. If they were loaded up in the box and you have more than 1 yard to go the defense has the advantage so you pass etc. now if they play a cover two shell and only have 6 in the box on 3rd and 2 and we pass then you have a gripe.
 

50cent

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,804
Reaction score
572
That stat is irrelevant without knowing how the defense was aligned. If they were loaded up in the box and you have more than 1 yard to go the defense has the advantage so you pass etc. now if they play a cover two shell and only have 6 in the box on 3rd and 2 and we pass then you have a gripe.

Teams stack the box all of the time against us and we still get 1 or 2 yards. Regardless of how many they have in the box, if youre creating a mentality, you run it down their throats. PERIOD! Especially with this line. Third and 3, I might agree. Every play doesn't have to be adjusted if so when we spread teams out, more draws should be checked to.

And just so you know, here was our personel on those plays (mostly spread formations):
Yards to Go# TEs# WRs Play Count
1 2 2 1
2 1 3 2
3 1 3 2

Relevant enough?
 

50cent

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,804
Reaction score
572
That stat is irrelevant without knowing how the defense was aligned. If they were loaded up in the box and you have more than 1 yard to go the defense has the advantage so you pass etc. now if they play a cover two shell and only have 6 in the box on 3rd and 2 and we pass then you have a gripe.
Now to your point about adjusting to the defensive formation. We ran 3 Wr sets 39 times vs the Giants and 34 were passes. I'm sure they didn't load the box all 34 times forcing us to pass each and every time. There had to have been a time or two that Romo could have checked to a draw based on formation, right?!
 

jazzcat22

Staff member
Messages
81,309
Reaction score
102,233
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
Street will be fine, the team has faith in him and I think so does the QB. He will catch four or five balls this week and the doubters will start to go quiet.

I think he will be fine also. We have not seen enough of him to come to any conclusions positive or negative. But what few things we seen, seems for positive than negative. And the coaches are upbeat about him.

Though on other threads people seem to think he is a bust. But then again, those same posters think just about everyone is a bust. But they need a player to be a whipping boy. As to why, I don't know, but they just do.
Defense played,well, so they forgot about Hayden....lol....
 

Longboysfan

hipfake08
Messages
13,316
Reaction score
5,797
I feel the emphasis will now shift more to the play calling and Romo's ability to find the open person in the passing game.
With Dez not there to occupy multiple defenders the opponents will rotate coverages a lot.
Also bring one safety up to run support.
So now it's on Tony to figure it out.
I bet we see a lot of play kills this sunday at the line.
 
Top