Did anyone even imagine that our offense would be THAT good?

[superpunk]

He does me too - and I still think he is going to have 'what the heck is he thinking days.' But the fact that he has good footwork and can read defenses inspired confidence in me that we haven't had in years. I can look past the Favre-like tendencies with that.

Now if we can only go against 16 defenses with Kiwanuka in the lineup. Rewaching dargon's plays, it's embarassing. If he could play with his face to the QB, he'd probably have had a good day.

But Romo picked them apart. He wasn't forcing anything - just made the read and made the throw. he was on point. I think he's gonna limit those what the heck days.

 

[Crown Royal]

TO caught every pass thrown to him and scored on two of them today.

Gotta admit, that thrilled me. The diving one was impressive.

I need to go bathe now. I feel dirty complimenting him.

I gotta be honest. I just KNEW he would drop it on that high floater where he got nailed. I jumped up when I saw he held on to it. Mad props for that.

brbshower

 

[Pabst]

Campbell did not look bad today. His stats weren't great, what with the two INTs, but he constantly put his team in a position to succeed. Santana Moss just kept dropping balls. Campbell did have some accuracy issues on the short/middle throws, but nothing too damning.

That being said, Campbell doesn't have anything on Romo right now. It's not close. I couldn't believe how well he was throwing the ball, just throwing ropes through tight coverage windows like it was nothing. Playing at Miami will be a better test, but I think we have ourselves a keeper here.

 

[Crown Royal]

Now if we can only go against 16 defenses with Kiwanuka in the lineup. Rewaching dargon's plays, it's embarassing. If he could play with his face to the QB, he'd probably have had a good day.

But Romo picked them apart. He wasn't forcing anything - just made the read and made the throw. he was on point. I think he's gonna limit those what the heck days.

Yeah - that hurt. I love Kiwanuka - love his story, his play, everything. But they are doing him an incredible disservice. Seriously - they need to get his hand back on the ground - that was just embarrassing.

 

[Crown Royal]

Campbell did not look bad today. His stats weren't great, what with the two INTs, but he constantly put his team in a position to succeed. Santana Moss just kept dropping balls. Campbell did have some accuracy issues on the short/middle throws, but nothing too damning.

That being said, Campbell doesn't have anything on Romo right now. It's not close. I couldn't believe how well he was throwing the ball, just throwing ropes through tight coverage windows like it was nothing. Playing at Miami will be a better test, but I think we have ourselves a keeper here.

Campbell is benefiting from a coaching staff that is intelligently protecting him. He is being brought along VERY VERY well, and for that I give them kudos. He isn't being asked to carry the team or even drive the bus - just don't crash it. I am impressed with that.

Now the question is whether he will actually progress and learn.

 

[Clove]

Now if we can only go against 16 defenses with Kiwanuka in the lineup. Rewaching dargon's plays, it's embarassing. If he could play with his face to the QB, he'd probably have had a good day.

But Romo picked them apart. He wasn't forcing anything - just made the read and made the throw. he was on point. I think he's gonna limit those what the heck days.

And one of Romo's best plays was when the defense grabbed him for a sack, and he was just about to throw a bad pass, and just tucked it in and took the sack. This will help us to see another down he doesn't just fling it up.

 

[superpunk]

Campbell did not look bad today. His stats weren't great, what with the two INTs, but he constantly put his team in a position to succeed. Santana Moss just kept dropping balls. Campbell did have some accuracy issues on the short/middle throws, but nothing too damning.

He bombed a few throws to Randle El, and got lucky on that hail mary.

Otherwise, that stat line looks atrocious. I was impressed with his arm strength - not his QB play.

 

[superpunk]

Yeah - that hurt. I love Kiwanuka - love his story, his play, everything. But they are doing him an incredible disservice. Seriously - they need to get his hand back on the ground - that was just embarrassing.

I don't care about him either way, but he is clearly NOT a lb.

I'm not sure how Coughlin and Spagnuolo missed this fact all preseason.

And one of Romo's best plays was when the defense grabbed him for a sack, and he was just about to throw a bad pass, and just tucked it in and took the sack. This will help us to see another down he doesn't just fling it up.

You KNOW he wanted to toss that thing. But yeah, that was the right thing to do in that situation.

 

[Crown Royal]

You KNOW he wanted to toss that thing. But yeah, that was the right thing to do in that situation.

One of the best things he did all night. I think he is really cognizant that he can't be superman every play.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

And one of Romo's best plays was when the defense grabbed him for a sack, and he was just about to throw a bad pass, and just tucked it in and took the sack. This will help us to see another down he doesn't just fling it up.

That is so true. And the replay they showed from behind him? There was NO ONE open. That would have been a disaster, but he ate it and that's just a sign that he's going to improve from last year.

...improve from a mid 90s QB rating....

Good gracious. We're a lucky bunch.

 

[CalCBFan]

I know I didn't. I didn't see where there could be that much improvement. But it was there, folks, and I've got to believe it was Garrett's new passing game.

Let's face it, the Giants might be a bad defense. But we made them look like they had NO talent, and they do have quite a bit. Our running game was the same old same old, but not the passing game, and that was evident right off the bat as Jason Witten made it known that when you talk about the league's elite TEs after this year, you better make room for him alongside Gates.

There haven't been more productive TEs than Gates, Gonzales and Witten over the past three years, but he hasn't gotten the respect the other two have. Why not? Simple answer? TDs. But he's going to get them, and yards this year especially without Glenn in the lineup.

Our pass pro was phenomenal. I mean really. Even when someone did beat their man, Captain Pocket-Presence made them pay for not respecting his mobility.

One danger I noticed? If you (either QB or WR - IMO it's impossible to determine who) screw up in this timing offense, it looks bad, and it could hurt bad, too...if the other team makes you pay. Romo threw a couple passes to nowhere in particular, and I think TO was just running bad (or wrong) routes.

But 45 points, fellas. And it's not like we were getting a short field because our defense was hammering them. We had to earn every bit of that. In a season where the revamped defense was supposed to be the amazing new focus, Jason Garrett stole the damn show. That was impressive.

Sorry Superpunk. Until we lay 45 on the Bears or Chargers or Pats, I'm going to classify this as same 'ol stuff: O looks good against a mediocre defense and a D that can't stop a decimated offense. The good news is we'll probably have 2 top 10 picks in '08. The bad news, we need about 6 to help this awful D....

 

[blindzebra]

agree w/ your post punk, although our O started in great field position for much of the game

Half our TDs came on drives of 78, 71 and 67...we just made it look like we had a short field since we used only 26 plays to get the 6 TDs.

 

[Clove]

Half our TDs came on drives of 78, 71 and 67...we just made it look like we had a short field since we used only 26 plays to get the 6 TDs.

This is what players have been telling us all along this offseason - that this is going to be an explosive offense, and that we will attack down field. Doesn't mean throwing bombs all the time, but deep ins and seem routes, post patterns from the slot position, corner routes from the slot position, instead of simple 7 yard outs.

I noticed we didn't use a ton of out patterns today if any - that's a coach that knows Romo's strengths and weaknesses. Garrett is our future Coach IMO.

 

[blindzebra]

This is what players have been telling us all along this offseason - that this is going to be an explosive offense, and that we will attack down field. Doesn't mean throwing bombs all the time, but deep ins and seem routes, post patterns from the slot position, corner routes from the slot position, instead of simple 7 yard outs.

I noticed we didn't use a ton of out patterns today if any - that's a coach that knows Romo's strengths and weaknesses. Garrett is our future Coach IMO.

They seemed to play us inside and force us wide...Romo had 3 plays to the sideline to Owens where we were painfully off in the first half, he had another to Crayton that was caught OOB.

I found it really funny how Michaels and Madden kept ragging on us not throwing to TO, and we threw at him 4 times in the first half, the timing and routes were just off...Garrett made adjustments and we started running Owens across the field underneath Crayton and Witten.

The downside to how good our offense played was it contributed to the struggles the defense had...when you score on 5 plays, kick off, we stop them, we score on 5 plays, kick off, they score, we fumble the kick off, we have a 3 minute drive to start the 3rd, we ran off the final 2 minutes but our offense was only on the field for another 6 minutes in the second half.

The final 45 minutes of the game our defense was on the field for all but 18 minutes, and with us being thin on defense it showed.

 

[tunahelper]

I didnt think the offense was going to play like that.

or

The defense.

 

[burmafrd]

Blind, thats a good point. The D spent a lot of time on the field later in the game and that did not help. If the O could have cranked a couple of 6-7 minute drives in the late 3rd or early 4th it would have helped a lot.

 

[VACowboy]

They seemed to play us inside and force us wide...Romo had 3 plays to the sideline to Owens where we were painfully off in the first half, he had another to Crayton that was caught OOB.

I found it really funny how Michaels and Madden kept ragging on us not throwing to TO, and we threw at him 4 times in the first half, the timing and routes were just off...Garrett made adjustments and we started running Owens across the field underneath Crayton and Witten.

The downside to how good our offense played was it contributed to the struggles the defense had...when you score on 5 plays, kick off, we stop them, we score on 5 plays, kick off, they score, we fumble the kick off, we have a 3 minute drive to start the 3rd, we ran off the final 2 minutes but our offense was only on the field for another 6 minutes in the second half.

The final 45 minutes of the game our defense was on the field for all but 18 minutes, and with us being thin on defense it showed.

I don't buy any of that at all. If the defense gets off the field and the offense continues to perform, they pile up more points and put the defense in a position to rack up sacks the rest of the game. I detest the strategy of grind it out offense as a defensive strategy. Give me the up tempo, down the field, score by the bushel aggressiveness I saw last night. BRAVO, Mister Garrett!

 

[superpunk]

Sorry Superpunk. Until we lay 45 on the Bears or Chargers or Pats, I'm going to classify this as same 'ol stuff: O looks good against a mediocre defense and a D that can't stop a decimated offense. The good news is we'll probably have 2 top 10 picks in '08. The bad news, we need about 6 to help this awful D....

We probably won't lay 45 on the Bears. They have a good defense, and held last year's best offense in check (well, them AND Norv Turner). But when you're a good offense, you beat the crap out of bad defenses. They've earned that label for a reason.

 

[percyhoward]

I thought Romo would get 4,000 yards in the first 15 games.

May have to revise that to 5,000.

 

[AsthmaField]

WR17 assured me Campbell would have a better season than Romo this year.

Of course he didn't have the sack to put money on it...Big surprise.

I heard that garbage from so many Commander fans, that I lost count. Funny thing is, I was sure that they were wrong. Not many things like that am I sure about... but after last year, I KNEW Romo was going to be fantastic and that Campbell would struggle.

Funny thing is... I couldn't find any Commander fan willing to make a significant bet. Wonder why that is?

To Superpunk... No, I didn't think we'd be quite this productive on offense. Particularly with Glenn out. I suppose I really underestimated Romo, Witten, TO, Crayton, Hurd, et al.

I did tell my wife around the beginning of the 4th quarter to watch out for a guy named Hurd to make a big play. She said, "Who?" :laugh2: