Detroit game thoughts...

[wick]

1) that was just a piss-poor display of how to rush the passer and how to protect a QB today (again)...I think we knocked Harrington down once or twice the entire game, and thats just 6 days after hardly touching McChoke as well...people *****ing and moaning saying we should have drafted Merriman instead of Ware need to seriously realize that if Ware were in San Diego playing for Wade Phillips he'd probably have 7 or 8 sacks now, and if Merriman were here he'd probably have what Ware has here...Zimmer has never done a good job of pressuring QB's, and it appears teams have started figuring out how to fend off our weak rush again...everyone thinks we blew the Washington and Seattle games (and nearly the NYG game) because of Cortez or because we didnt score more, but we lost because we CANT RUSH THE PASSER with any consistency...

David

You're so hell bent on your agenda that you fail to recognize that the entire point of playing defense is first to keep the other team from scoring and second to keep them from gaining yards. Zimmer's defense was phenomenal on both counts today. Seven points. Only 226 total yards. Thirty percent on third downs. Three yards per rush. Your constant *****ing about the defensive coaching--even in light of empirical evidence to the contrary--makes you look ever more like a whining little child whose parents told him no in the toy aisle at Target.

And one quick request. You've been spelling Flozell Adams' name incorrectly for seven years. Can you please get it right before he retires?

 

[SuspectCorner]

The spread between Dallas and the media-labeled elite teams in the NFC isn't much... if any. Seattle? Chicago? Atlanta? Carolina? All of those teams have just as many issues and questions as Dallas. I like the Cowboys chances.

Dallas already whiffed on Seattle or they would be hyped as the conferences "top gun". they can't afford to let any more W's slip away.

the wins are gonna come tougher this half (as if that's possible). a healthy julius jones and the signing of cundiff should be huge assets. if they can get henry, dat, and crayton back and playing major roles - the team should be primed to make a run.

Denver is gonna be a litmus.

 

[Crown Royal]

Dallas already whiffed on Seattle or they would be hyped as the conferences "top gun". they can't afford to let any more W's slip away.

the wins are gonna come tougher this half (as if that's possible). a healthy julius jones and the signing of cundiff should be huge assets. if they can get henry, dat, and crayton back and playing major roles - the team should be primed to make a run.

Denver is gonna be a litmus.

A healthy Henry will be nice (not that we hurt that bad without him - our secondary was built to withstand injury), who ever thought we'd feel Cundiff coming back was a savior (but we do), and Crayton will be a lifesaver in this final stretch.

Now about that line....

 

[Tuna Helper]

I want a team that plays at a championship level and I would like someone to give me a reason to believe we are at that level.

The reason? Here are a bunch of reasons:

Chicago 7-3
NY Giants 7-3
Carolina 7-3
Tampa 7-3
Seattle 8-2

We beat the Giants once, and almost beat Seattle on their turf. Besides Dallas, these teams have the best records in the NFC right now, and none of them scare me. However, they do not fear Dallas either.

The 1990's are gone, and parity has taken its course. The bar has been lowered for what you call "championship level".

 

[Spurs21Cowboys22]

Dallas already whiffed on Seattle or they would be hyped as the conferences "top gun". they can't afford to let any more W's slip away.

the wins are gonna come tougher this half (as if that's possible). a healthy julius jones and the signing of cundiff should be huge assets. if they can get henry, dat, and crayton back and playing major roles - the team should be primed to make a run.

Denver is gonna be a litmus.

If Dallas gets to play Seattle again, I don't see how they have any less chance to win the game than Seattle does. I'm aware Dallas already lost once to them, but I still don't think they are the better team. What has Seattle done to prove anything since that game? Seattle has a weak schedule and are no better than the Cowboys as of now.

 

[Spurs21Cowboys22]

The reason? Here are a bunch of reasons:

Chicago 7-3
NY Giants 7-3
Carolina 7-3
Tampa 7-3
Seattle 8-2

We beat the Giants once, and almost beat Seattle on their turf. Besides Dallas, these teams have the best records in the NFC right now, and none of them scare me. However, they do not fear Dallas either.

The 1990's are gone, and parity has taken its course. The bar has been lowered for what you call "championship level".

Exactly. Great post. Dallas has just as much of a chance as any other 'elite' team in the NFC.

 

[SuspectCorner]

If Dallas gets to play Seattle again, I don't see how they have any less chance to win the game than Seattle does. I'm aware Dallas already lost once to them, but I still don't think they are the better team. What has Seattle done to prove anything since that game? Seattle has a weak schedule and are no better than the Cowboys as of now.

the advantage, if any, for Dallas is it's tough to beat a good team twice in the same season.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

The fear of having to go to Seattle again is the cold and the rain of January. Seattle as a team does not scare me, the weather does. It is too bad it was raining so hard on October 23. It was sunny on both October 22 and 24. If it were sunny that day, we would have won.

As for the rest of the NFC, the Bears, Giants (who have only played three road games so far this year and seven at home), Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers are NOT better than we are.

 

[jobberone]

The reason? Here are a bunch of reasons:

Chicago 7-3
NY Giants 7-3
Carolina 7-3
Tampa 7-3
Seattle 8-2

We beat the Giants once, and almost beat Seattle on their turf. Besides Dallas, these teams have the best records in the NFC right now, and none of them scare me. However, they do not fear Dallas either.

The 1990's are gone, and parity has taken its course. The bar has been lowered for what you call "championship level".

Another team's record is not a reason. Nor is just stats.

Chicago has a better defense and that's my subjective opinion without looking at stats.

NY is comparable or slightly better.

Carolina probably is better.

Tampa comparable or slightly better.

I think we are better than Seattle by a small amount.

Chicago is the only NFC team I would give an A to.

All the above is my subjective opinion based solely on looking at them.

We give up too many big plays at the wrong time. We still aren't pressuring the QB enough. We don't consistently stop the run.

We are not a dominant defense at this time. That's what I mean.

 

[dwmyers]

that was just a piss-poor display of how to rush the passer

When the opponents are determined to run for a yard or two on first down and then on second and 9 they're either throwing a slant to a WR or to a back in the flat, it's hard to generate pressure. You're not going to get a ton of sacks when the passes are thrown fast and underneath the coverage.

The other element of this game is that the team stats just weren't pretty, but it's a W, and one of the few comfortable Ws we've had this year.

 

[kojak]

I am glad we won. A win is a win no matter how you slice it. If it's by 1 or 30 points, It's still recorded as a WIN in the win loss column at the end of the day.

I am sure there are valid points made on trouble "spots" with this team. But the fact that we are still finding ways to win impresses me.

Bring on the Bronco's. I am ready :starspin

 

[Asklesko]

Denver's going to kick our ***. Here's to being the Turkey.

 

[kojak]

Gobble Gobble......

 

[Billy Bullocks]

youre right dude, this team is not as good as their 7-3 record shows, and i think Denver is gonna kick the piss out the boys on thursday. it might be a good wake up call for them, IMO.

I think they are up to it. Johnson is a good RB, and we held him in check. Pinner is a good Spell back. It's going to be a good matchup.

If you thnk NY and Seattle are elite teams, then you can't count us out, because we outplayed both of them.

 

[CalCBFan]

I know what dbair1967 is talking about, and I agree. I think we got a lot of help from the refs today. A lot of those penalties against the lions looked like might light fouls to me. I also heard Mike Ditka on ESPNs pre-game show say "Game film doesn't lie. Go watch the film and you'll see the Cowboys have a hundred holes to patch before they are a playoff caliber team." When a SB-wining coach says that, I believe him. I have heard BP say the same thing a week or two ago in one of his PCs. He called it "disguising" or "shadowing" problems but said it was only a matter of time before other teams started to see what was going on.

I am happy we won, but to me it is a matter of being a contender, not just making the POs. All that does is give you a poor draft position and make it harder to become a contender. Eventually, you stop making the POs and wind up a loser. Just ask Tom Landry.

If anybody wonders about Denver, ask yourself how they could turn a bunch of Dallas via Cleveland DL rejects into one of the best DLs in the league. They must have some very good coaches dreaming up how to get to Bledsoe and stop Barber and Jones...

 

[AdamJT13]

If anybody wonders about Denver, ask yourself how they could turn a bunch of Dallas via Cleveland DL rejects into one of the best DLs in the league.

Since when does Denver have of the best defensive lines in the league?? They have nobody who can rush the passer, and they're allowing 4.0 yards per rush. They're probably among the 10 worst defensive lines.

 

[CowboysFan28]

Lotta "ifs" and "buts" in this topic. Think I'll just use the ol' cliche, "Let's take one game at a time..." and be happy with our 7-3 record.

 

[Sasquatch]

I'll take 16 one point wins as long as they are wins

 

[dbair1967]

When we played the Giants, they were the highest scoring defense in the league.

They scored what, 13?

When we played the Seahawks, they were the highest scoring offense in the league (only because we held the Giants the week before).

They scored what, 13 or 14?


I'd say our defense isn't why we lose games this year, myself. I don't care if a team drives down to score points in the last 2 minutes - if you hold ANY team to 14 points or less and lose, it isn't your defense losing the game. Regardless of when those points are scored.

hate to burst your bubble (and everyone else who takes this stance that you are taking) but the goal of the game is to score MORE POINTS THAN THE OTHER TEAM. It doesnt matter if the score is 3-0, 10-7, 13-10 or 41-0, you have to score more points to win...if a team has the lead late in the game and the defense allows the other team to move almost unmolested downfield to score tying or game winning tds or field goals, its the DEFENSES FAULT when you lose...the Bears offense is one of the worst in football, but their defense is dominating people and you dont see them blowing leads in close games...

regardless of what alot of you think, the offense had us in position to win the Washington and Seattle games, but the defense blew it...they also nearly blew the game vs NYG, but the offense bailed them out in OT

David

 

[dbair1967]

The fear of having to go to Seattle again is the cold and the rain of January. Seattle as a team does not scare me, the weather does. It is too bad it was raining so hard on October 23. It was sunny on both October 22 and 24. If it were sunny that day, we would have won.

As for the rest of the NFC, the Bears, Giants (who have only played three road games so far this year and seven at home), Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers are NOT better than we are.

right now the Bears are better than we are...their defense is by far the best in football and unlike us, they have a real pass rush...Chicago is also 1st in the league in yds per attempt allowed (5.62) and close to the top in sacks ( I think #1 with 31 sacks now) and opposing QB rating...they also are far and away the league leaders in pts allowed

on run defense 17 teams are currently giving up less than the 4.0 yds per rush than we are, and the Bears give up only 3.3 yds per rush...Chicago, Tampa, Carolina and NYG all give up less than 3.6yds per rush

we should have blown out the Giants but didnt and nearly lost that game...we blew the game vs Seattle and have yet to play the Panthers, but my guess is right now we wont play well vs them because their front 4 will probably manhandle our OL and we wont score much that day

we've played two clunker games in a row...the offense has now score only 1 or 2 tds in 6 of 10 games...the defense cant rush the passer (again) and we are going to be facing by far the hardest part of our schedule going forward...

David