Detroit game thoughts...

[joseephuss]

Dallas is a work in progress. They have holes in the team. Every team does. I just think the holes are mostly on offense. I don't see how you complain about the defense after a game like yesterday. The defense played a pretty darn good game. I also don't see how you blame Zimmer when they go to a zone coverage and the guys lose track of Roy Williams. That is on the players to execute. By the way Roy Williams is a pretty good receiver. You criticisms don't come across as pointing out a few holes on a team, but that the defense actually just sucks. That isn't the case.

I also think the defense is getting better. The rookies are learning more each game and so are everyone else. It is new schemes and assignments for most of the players. They are playing better than I expected going into the season and that has changed my expectations on the rest of the season.

The offense has some holes and one got much bigger once Adams was injured. I think they can be effective and execute according to Parcells philosophy.

 

[dbair1967]

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?

agenda? how is wanting to have a defense that at least bothers QB's every once in awhile an "agenda"? we lost the Washington and Seattle games because when the games were on the line the other teams QB had all day to throw...watching other teams QB's go games on end without being knocked down is an annual thing here

7pts and 226 yds is good, but we barely touched the QB (for the 2nd straight game) the entire afternoon...

again, yesterday and last Monday is good enough to get by against poor to below average teams, but it wont get it done vs good teams

and on the Adams thing, I probably have been doing that since he was drafted and never paid attention...if so its because I have a draft guide here that spells it that way...thanks for the correction

David

 

[Eddie]

My thoughts on the game:

- our D is here to play. Denver won't score more than 14 points against us. But the key is, can our O score more than 15 points against THEM?
- the OL is suspect. The Lions got good pressure without blitzing. The Eagles ate our OL alive.
- Ekuban and Myers are playing well. They're gonna try and make a statement game out of this.
- Glenn and Key have been virtually invisible these past two weeks. Both are on my FFL team and both will be benched if they don't start producing.
- Polite had a TD if he only had stretched the ball out.
- our pass rush has been abit stale. If we can't generate anything against Plummer, we're dead. But if we can, he'll resort to the old Jake the Snake, and make mistakes.
- Fujita and James took some terrible tackling angles on the two long screen plays. They need to do a better job.
- the 3-4 needs to contain the cut back angles.
- what's Tatum Bell's injury status?
- the Lions are the worst coached team since the Campo days. They're a mirror image of us back in 2002.
- props to Cundiff.

 

[burmafrd]

SImple: we need to pressure Plummer or we are in big trouble. We need to contain the run or we are in big trouble. I am not scared of Denvers D- but as it was pointed out our former players will be highly motivated to show off. Ekubust has speed and that gives our starting tackles problems. So it will be a VERY INTERESTING GAME.
Our O line needs to really step up or we are toast.

 

[Tass]

Some things that worry me:

Those of you pointing out that we almost beat Washington and Seattle are neglecting to point out that that was PRE-Flozell being out. If we played those games with the line we have right now I doubt they'd be as close.

Our secondary is really really good. Our D-line is looking pretty pedestrian and our linebackers look sloppy and clueless.

Drew has to hurry his throws = sporadic QB play. We haven't exactly been lighting it up through the air since FA has been gone.

Hard to imagine that ONE guy (Flozell) has so much impact on the overall performance of the offense. Also, I was one of the people happy about Fujita and was predicting some good play from him. Ooooops.


When we play playoff caliber teams with our team IN IT'S CURRENT STATE then we are undone. Carolina, NY and Denver will all beat us. I wish that weren't so but is.

 

[Doomsday101]

2 words, sloppy game. I will say this shows how far Dallas really has come when they can go out and play sloppy and still win by a decent margin. Lastly if Dallas expects to beat Denver this Thursday they better pick up the pace.

 

[Eddie]

Our secondary is really really good. Our D-line is looking pretty pedestrian and our linebackers look sloppy and clueless.

Allow me to disagree abit. Our D-line has played well. We haven't been able to generate much of a pass rush, but holding Kevin Jones to 29 yards on 15 carries is not pedestrian. It's a nice accomplishment.

Our LB's had two bad plays ... I think both Kevin Jones screens. Both Fujita and James took bad angles, which led to long RAC's. But otherwise, I think the LB's played well.

Honestly, we shut down Detroit pretty nicely. If we play at the same level against Denver, we'll have a shot ... it means we'd have shut down their vaunted running game and left it in Jake the Snake's hands. I think our 2ndary (with Henry) matches up very well against Denver's WR's.

On the flip side, you're right, without Flo, opposing teams have gotten to Drew more than they should have. The breakdowns in blocking schemes have become problematic. The interior is solid, but there are problems at both OT positions.

Neither Pettiti nor Tucker played well yesterday.

 

[morasp]

I guess some people really don't get it. I was watching Peyton Manning talk about lighting up the Bengals with the passing game on point after ane he acknowledged that they were setting up Cincinatti by running James a lot in their previous two games. A lot of us speculated that's what Parcells did before the first Eagles game and probably this one too.

 

[Doomsday101]

I guess some people really don't get it. I was watching Peyton Manning talk about lighting up the Bengals with the passing game on point after ane he acknowledged that they were setting up Cincinatti by running James a lot in their previous two games. A lot of us speculated that's what Parcells did before the first Eagles game and probably this one too.

Having your tackles pushed around on pass protection is what is starting to concern some of us and that has nothing to do with setting some other team up.

 

[burmafrd]

I am not that pessimistic - I think we are better then many give us credit for. BUT we have to play better then we have been. I truly feel there is no team we cannot beat.

 

[burmafrd]

As regards our tackles- I am thinking we need to roll out more- that allows the side we rollout to to use the movement of our line to help him out- and gets Bledsoe moving so that he has a better chance to dodge or pass. Bottom line is to buy Bledsoe more time.

 

[NovaCowboy]

Really, who in the NFL is elite??? Ribit, Ribit, Ribit.......... Knowone!!!!!!!!!

Colts

 

[DLCassidy]

Drew Bledsoe can still chuck it with the best of them but if you can't see the difference in the pocket he had with FA (ie 1st Eagles game) and what he's been getting lately you're not paying attention.

Teams know this. But we must ask Tucker to step up now. It is essential that we continue to take shots downfield or this offense is going to spiral downward. We need to throw caution to the wind on Thursday and come out with an aggressive game plan and try and get a lead. That means use Price more and use Whitten more.

If Plummer is FORCED to throw he will throw it to us eventually. He's only good when he rolls out- from the pocket he's bad. If we're not ready for the misdirection bootleg pass we lose- that's his bread and butter.

 

[wick]

7pts and 226 yds is good, but we barely touched the QB (for the 2nd straight game) the entire afternoon...

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...

Let me know if you require further explanation.

 

[dbair1967]

Let me know if you require further explanation.

so you agree with me that the defense is responsible for the losses vs Washington and Seattle, and nearly blowing the NYG game right?

and wouldnt you also agree that the reason for those meltdowns is that we couldnt get to the QB, even when we had teams in 4th and 15, 3rd and 27 or other 3rd/4th and 10+ downs

David

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I dunno David I think you're taking this a bit hard. This wasn't a 1 year project... not at all. And I'll tell you what all the young kids on this team are going to get better and within another year or so this team has the capability of being solidly right up there with the Pittsburghs and Indy's of this world. Canty, Petitti, Spears, Burnett, Tucker, Al Johnson, J. Jones, MBIII, TT, Crayton, Ware... These guys are going to get better and to be 7-3 with them I think is amazing. Enjoy the ride David.

 

[Doomsday101]

I dunno David I think you're taking this a bit hard. This wasn't a 1 year project... not at all. And I'll tell you what all the young kids on this team are going to get better and within another year or so this team has the capability of being solidly right up there with the Pittsburghs and Indy's of this world. Canty, Petitti, Spears, Burnett, Tucker, Al Johnson, J. Jones, MBIII, TT, Crayton, Ware... These guys are going to get better and to be 7-3 with them I think is amazing. Enjoy the ride David.

That is just how I see this as well, we got a lot of young guys getting a lot of playing time and yet we are sitting at 7-3. These young guys are only going to get better and I would have to say the future is looking very bright for the Cowboys now and in the long term

 

[morasp]

Having your tackles pushed around on pass protection is what is starting to concern some of us and that has nothing to do with setting some other team up.

You're right about the tackle situation, but I was referring to the slurs about playcalling. Which is everything about setting another team up.

 

[Doomsday101]

Obviously I was referring to the slurs about playcalling. Which is everything about setting another team up.

I would agree but the play of the OT is going to determine how aggressive we can get. I still expect to see Dallas run a balanced offense and take our shots as they present themselves. In yesterdays game Det safeties were sitting back deep which helped us in terms of running the ball but stopped Dallas from attacking deep. The couple of deep balls we did throw were defended by 2 to 3 Lion players.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Our play yesterday didn't concern me at all. The offense looked ragged, but we did run the ball -- and thus control the clock -- and most importantly, our defense played well against an offense with some real weapons.

In short, it's the way Parcells has constructed this team: Play good enough on offense and win with defense and kicking.

Anyone else feel this way?