ddh33
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How frustrating is that? I've got to say that I never thought the game would end that way, although I did have a nagging suspicion all day long that Dallas would find some way to screw it up. Lo and behold, they did...
First of all, Tony Romo is a heck of a quarterback. I was so impressed by his play today. Under pressure all day long, he still moved the team up and down the field. If he would have had just a little help from the rest of his offense, this team wouldn't be sitting here at .500 right now. The Cowboys wasted a great effort by their young QB.
Julius Jones wasn't that impressive today, but I loved what Barber gave the team. He and Romo are quickly becoming my favorites. Those two guys get a lot of mileage out of their talent. Barber ran hard all day long (not to imply that Julius didn't) and made things happen.
I thought Patrick Crayton was good today too. He seemed to come up with some big catches that helped this team. Witten was also solid as a pass-catcher, but I thought he struggled in his blocking a couple of times. Terry Glenn toughed it out and played today.
TO made some nice catches, but everyone is going to remember his drop. All receivers drop a pass every once in a while, but TO has dropped several this season. The one he dropped today was pretty costly. It wasn't even the only one he dropped though. For those of you who love karma and are looking for another reason to hate TO, did it feel like everything went downhill after his celebration?
The offensive line was up and down today. On one hand, I thought they did an admirable job. Romo bailed them out several times though. On the other hand, the line was often blocking against blitzes from Greg Williams all day long. If I was going to blame them for something, I would blame them more for the stupid penalties. More on that later...
This defense just doesn't blow me away. I think that's my biggest disappointment right now.
For the first time all season, Greg Ellis was a problem. It was only one play, but he seemed to get sucked way to deep inside on the Portis touchdown run. That one hurt.
Anthony Henry didn't play well either. Mark me down as one who was very surprised when Parcells mentioned to Al and John last Sunday night that Henry had been his best defensive player. I just haven't seen it this season. There are several guys on this defense that I would rate higher. On Cooley's touchdown, Henry went for the pick, missed, and didn't even stop the catch from happening. Credit Cooley, but I thought the best player on this defense might stop that play.
Roy Williams didn't have his best day, and I already saw some blame thrown his way. He had a bad pass intereference call against him because he went for the man instead of the ball. (There were several of those today by the defense.) He also let a sure interception pop off his helmet. The sad thing is that if Dallas had won this game, we might have been praising his effort for stopping the Skins on that big third down to force the Novak miss.
The pass rush was non-existant. Unlike some others here, I'm not sure I ever want to see this team blitz again. It feels like it gets beaten a lot by the opposing offense.
I thought the run defense was good.
No, this game was lost by penalties and special teams.
First of all, the special teams were a huge issue. Our Australian weapon couldn't pin the Skins deep, and when the ball wasn't bouncing into the endzone, Randle El was bringing it back 15-20 yards each time. Poor punt coverage.
Vanderjagt seemed to get a low kick off to end the game, but where was the blocking. I swear, it looked like any one of about three guys could have blocked that kick. On the heels of the blocked kick against Carolina that wasn't, I am concerned.
By the way, have you ever seen one team so snake-bitten by the kicking situation. It's unbelievable. I think Vinatieri could have come here and immediately broken a leg and missed everything. That's how bad it feels right now.
The penalties were probably a bigger killer though. I think I counted over 150 yards of penalties. With all due respect to the Skins, there is no doubt that Dallas is a better team. When you make that many stupid mistakes, I'm not sure you deserve to win though. The penalties came from everyone too. The O-Line, tacklers, secondary, etc. It just didn't matter. Have you ever seen a team get more face mask penalties than these Cowboys? Unreal.
At some point, those penalties reflect on the coach. Hey, I might be the biggest Parcells backer here. I love the guy. And I'm a little easier on him that some because I don't think he's telling these guys to commit stupid penalties. I know he hates them more than we do. But this team doesn't play disciplined. It's evident in the big plays against the defense and the penalties. That has to come back to coaching...
Since everyone is giving their opinion on it, I don't like the two point try either. I understand the thinking behind it, so I won't crucify him. It's just that I wouldn't have done it.
So, here we are. The team is 4-4. They are a .500 team. It's not like it's over yet. There's no one in the NFC that scares me. I still believe that Dallas can get a roll and do some damage. They just have to stop shooting themselves in the foot.
No, my biggest fear is that all of these games that have just been given away are going to catch up to this team. At some point, there's going to be a game this team needs back, and they will have about 3 to choose from.
First of all, Tony Romo is a heck of a quarterback. I was so impressed by his play today. Under pressure all day long, he still moved the team up and down the field. If he would have had just a little help from the rest of his offense, this team wouldn't be sitting here at .500 right now. The Cowboys wasted a great effort by their young QB.
Julius Jones wasn't that impressive today, but I loved what Barber gave the team. He and Romo are quickly becoming my favorites. Those two guys get a lot of mileage out of their talent. Barber ran hard all day long (not to imply that Julius didn't) and made things happen.
I thought Patrick Crayton was good today too. He seemed to come up with some big catches that helped this team. Witten was also solid as a pass-catcher, but I thought he struggled in his blocking a couple of times. Terry Glenn toughed it out and played today.
TO made some nice catches, but everyone is going to remember his drop. All receivers drop a pass every once in a while, but TO has dropped several this season. The one he dropped today was pretty costly. It wasn't even the only one he dropped though. For those of you who love karma and are looking for another reason to hate TO, did it feel like everything went downhill after his celebration?
The offensive line was up and down today. On one hand, I thought they did an admirable job. Romo bailed them out several times though. On the other hand, the line was often blocking against blitzes from Greg Williams all day long. If I was going to blame them for something, I would blame them more for the stupid penalties. More on that later...
This defense just doesn't blow me away. I think that's my biggest disappointment right now.
For the first time all season, Greg Ellis was a problem. It was only one play, but he seemed to get sucked way to deep inside on the Portis touchdown run. That one hurt.
Anthony Henry didn't play well either. Mark me down as one who was very surprised when Parcells mentioned to Al and John last Sunday night that Henry had been his best defensive player. I just haven't seen it this season. There are several guys on this defense that I would rate higher. On Cooley's touchdown, Henry went for the pick, missed, and didn't even stop the catch from happening. Credit Cooley, but I thought the best player on this defense might stop that play.
Roy Williams didn't have his best day, and I already saw some blame thrown his way. He had a bad pass intereference call against him because he went for the man instead of the ball. (There were several of those today by the defense.) He also let a sure interception pop off his helmet. The sad thing is that if Dallas had won this game, we might have been praising his effort for stopping the Skins on that big third down to force the Novak miss.
The pass rush was non-existant. Unlike some others here, I'm not sure I ever want to see this team blitz again. It feels like it gets beaten a lot by the opposing offense.
I thought the run defense was good.
No, this game was lost by penalties and special teams.
First of all, the special teams were a huge issue. Our Australian weapon couldn't pin the Skins deep, and when the ball wasn't bouncing into the endzone, Randle El was bringing it back 15-20 yards each time. Poor punt coverage.
Vanderjagt seemed to get a low kick off to end the game, but where was the blocking. I swear, it looked like any one of about three guys could have blocked that kick. On the heels of the blocked kick against Carolina that wasn't, I am concerned.
By the way, have you ever seen one team so snake-bitten by the kicking situation. It's unbelievable. I think Vinatieri could have come here and immediately broken a leg and missed everything. That's how bad it feels right now.
The penalties were probably a bigger killer though. I think I counted over 150 yards of penalties. With all due respect to the Skins, there is no doubt that Dallas is a better team. When you make that many stupid mistakes, I'm not sure you deserve to win though. The penalties came from everyone too. The O-Line, tacklers, secondary, etc. It just didn't matter. Have you ever seen a team get more face mask penalties than these Cowboys? Unreal.
At some point, those penalties reflect on the coach. Hey, I might be the biggest Parcells backer here. I love the guy. And I'm a little easier on him that some because I don't think he's telling these guys to commit stupid penalties. I know he hates them more than we do. But this team doesn't play disciplined. It's evident in the big plays against the defense and the penalties. That has to come back to coaching...
Since everyone is giving their opinion on it, I don't like the two point try either. I understand the thinking behind it, so I won't crucify him. It's just that I wouldn't have done it.
So, here we are. The team is 4-4. They are a .500 team. It's not like it's over yet. There's no one in the NFC that scares me. I still believe that Dallas can get a roll and do some damage. They just have to stop shooting themselves in the foot.
No, my biggest fear is that all of these games that have just been given away are going to catch up to this team. At some point, there's going to be a game this team needs back, and they will have about 3 to choose from.
