Disgraceful, but some good news

[Eddie]

You're right ... where's this vaunted unstoppable 2 TE offense of ours???

 

[junk]

I'm going to play Devil's advocate here for a second.

Maybe those balls bounce off the chest of Roy's man because they fear the hit that is coming. Roy MAYBE got beat on that LJ Smith play. He also misplayed the ball on the flea-flicker, but that Watkins baby all the way. Why not pick on Henry for being an easy first down all day? It's weird that Roy takes the pounding here...

Roy takes flack here because if anyone questions him, he has droves of supporters that rush out to defend him. It is almost like he can't do anything wrong in their minds.

 

[Chuck 54]

I just re-watched the game, and the only completion Roy deserves even partial blame on is the flea-flicker, and he wasn't the one in coverage, he was the help. On the two drops you're blaming him for -- on one, he bumped the receiver and stayed in the short zone. He wasn't playing man coverage. And on the other, he was 5 yards off, the receiver ran a quick slant, and Roy came up to deliver the hit. They both looked like proper coverage to me.

On the long pass to L.J. Smith, I'm pretty certain that we were running a four-across short zone, with the corners playing man-to-man and the free safety deep in the middle. (It looked like the exact same coverage we used on the first pass of the game. If you go back and watch that play, the guys in the short zone let the slot receiver run deep and stayed in their zone while the free safety picked him up.) We seemed to run a lot of underneath zone coverage, probably to help stop the screens, scrambles and dumpoffs that the Eagles usually hurt teams with.



You might want to watch the game again. Witten didn't have any drops. We tried to throw six passes to him. The only two he didn't catch were the one that was about 20 feet over his head because Bledsoe's arm was hit and the last interception.

Thanks for the update on Witten...I guess I was remembering the wrong play...but I'll stand by my assumption that he seems to have his head up his butt this season...he just looks lost most of the time.

As for Roy, you could be right, but I'm not going to buy it until I hear from the coaches about it...they were all in a four across zone, but someone had to be responsible for the TE going deep right past him besides Watkins, imo....Watkins wasn't in the middle of the field playing deep...it looked like he came in pursuit from the other side of the field...that defense would make no sense at all if no one had deep halves...If a guy went deep from both sides, someone would have to run with each guy.

We'll see....notice however, I am not one to say Roy sucks...he's still a great SS, and he has performed better in coverage this year, but I do believe he had a subpar game yesterday, a weak game, and I don't think he needs anyone making excuses for him (that does not infer that you were).

Bottom line is our team stunk yesterday on many many levels, but we still had a chance to win on the road...that's something to hang onto...unless we never get over the hump against good teams on the road.

 

[dbair1967]

Has anyone said that was Roy's assignment?

no, in fact I thought I read that they said it wasnt his assignment, I posted the same thing last night

he clearly let him go as if he was expecting someone behind him to pick him up

David

 

[Cowchips]

Okay, my mistake. I don't mean to be a TO apologist. I don't approve of his methods a lot of times, but I do think he's a tough guy who wants to win as much as anyone. On this day, I don't think he was used to his full potential, and if he was upset about that because he wanted to make a difference, then I'm fine with it.

Maybe if he wouldn't have dropped 3 or 4 balls that were right to him in the 1st half, he would have had more opportunities in the 2nd half.

 

[dfense]

Disgraceful, bad play by:

1. Both safeties: At least Watkins is a rookie...how long do we keep making excuses for Roy when he blows it in coverage or misreads the ball in the air like today...unnoticed due to his major mistakes was the fact that when he was covering guys man up, they almost always had easy separation against him for first downs, but luckily let the balls from McNabb bounce off their chests.

2. The pass rush....great in 1 quarter, then disappeared for the most part again.

3. McBriar...the guy has terrible hands and gave up 7 points, bobbled another, and for some reason he's still the backup holder on fg's after blowing that job last year too.

4. OL...very good run blocking for the most part...lousy pass protection, especially Adams who was beaten repeatedly by simple inside moves...Lump Fasano and Witten into the mix, neither of whom are good enough blockers to really make the two te set work against good teams...yet.

5. Witten...not a disgrace, no, but he seems to be lost and have his head up his butt since the contract...another game, another dropped pass.

6. Bledsoe....yes, he was under lots of pressure, but you have to move your feet a little and find a throwing lane instead of being a statue. Why he held that one and took the big sack in 4th is beyond me...still, I don't want to see Romo...no way. For those with short memories, the god, Aikman did the exact same thing...actually a tie game with the ball around the 10 and time running down...a fg wins the game, but he threw an int even deeper in the end zone that was returned for a td and a Dallas loss, snatching defeat from a sure victory...I'm sure that's why he was fairly magnanimous about the play...he had to be having horror flashbacks.

7. Crayton...the guy does absolutely nothing, especially on punt returns...I'm ready to see Rector or Hurd at WR.

8. T.O....wow...someone will defend him, but he was as big an enemy to this team as anyone...it's one thing to be a crybaby to the refs or toward the other team, but he had to be a huge distraction for our own guys with his idiocy on the sidelines, no matter what the reason...he had already started his pouting and depression while we still had the lead....he's a disgrace as a man and still a terrible teammate, regardless of his talent level.

9. Coaching...calls in short yardage?...delays and stretch runs instead of straight ahead pounding...someone is just as bad at figuring how to use T.O. as they were at using Joey Galloway, who was a star before we got him and is a star again now.

Bright Spot?

As bad as we were in many many facets of the game, and as good as McNabb played ( I hope finally shutting up the idiot homers who want to pretend he's not a top QB in the NFL ), we still had a chance to win the game right down to the end, and on the road in Philly...that's a very good thing.

The fact is that this team hasn't proven that it's good enough to win on the road against good teams (see Jax and Philly), but we had a chance in both games...we should continue to improve as the year goes on, the young guys learn, and the OL hopefully continues to gel.

Heartbreaking ending, but who would have thought we'd even have a chance if told the game McNabb would have, the # of huge td's and plays we'd give up, the times we'd turn it over and where, and how many sacks we'd give up?

PHilly now has the upper hand and is the front runner...we have to take care of business next week at home and learn to play with more composure on the road.

Priceless:

What we wouldn't give to have a taped recording of the conversation between Vanderjacht and Owens on the sideline....I don't buy the crap from the commentators...more likely they were bashing our coaching staff....I'd love to know what they were really saying.

Actually, Roy blew that one coverage on the TE. You can't hang the other on him. That was Watkin's play to make. He was there and in position. It was a good pass by McNabb.

And McBriar has terrible hands? I don't recall him doing that before. The bottom line is, dallas couldn't handle the blitz at times, and gave up several big plays. I'm surprised they were even in it at the end. Two of Bledsoe's worst throws on the night is when he had time. No excuse for that.

 

[The Great Number 8]

I just re-watched the game, and the only completion Roy deserves even partial blame on is the flea-flicker, and he wasn't the one in coverage, he was the help. On the two drops you're blaming him for -- on one, he bumped the receiver and stayed in the short zone. He wasn't playing man coverage. And on the other, he was 5 yards off, the receiver ran a quick slant, and Roy came up to deliver the hit. They both looked like proper coverage to me.

On the long pass to L.J. Smith, I'm pretty certain that we were running a four-across short zone, with the corners playing man-to-man and the free safety deep in the middle. (It looked like the exact same coverage we used on the first pass of the game. If you go back and watch that play, the guys in the short zone let the slot receiver run deep and stayed in their zone while the free safety picked him up.) We seemed to run a lot of underneath zone coverage, probably to help stop the screens, scrambles and dumpoffs that the Eagles usually hurt teams with.



You might want to watch the game again. Witten didn't have any drops. We tried to throw six passes to him. The only two he didn't catch were the one that was about 20 feet over his head because Bledsoe's arm was hit and the last interception.

With respect to Roy, while you may be right that only some of the blame is on him for those long passes, I guess at the end of the day, I expect a lot more out of a SS that gets about $6 million per year. Roy may not have been responsible for those plays, but he needs to be a difference maker in these kind of games. He needs to make the plays for his assignments, and he needs to make the plays when he's helping like on the flea flicker.

 

[Sportsbabe]

I know, I was telling him I didn't know where wayne came up w/ the notion that TO was being a distraction and a bad teammate

It's amazing to me how everybody miraculously knows what TO is saying on the sidelines. He's the last person anybody need to be talking about following this game. Maybe one more week of this crap and we can move on and focus on football games

 

[Bleu Star]

I didn't think TO was a big negative either. The guy wants to win. I'm sure he felt like he should have been getting the ball more even when the team had the lead. I think he might have been right though. Dallas never got seperation because of all of their mistakes and poor play, and in the end, Philly beat them.

I'll play devil's advocate too. I also don't think TO was or is a big negative. I like his fire. If more people on this team had that fire we would be 4-0. We play too passively sometimes and it has got to pain some of the guys to see the statuesque bledslug stand in the pocket and take sack after sack. Where's the crafty veteran that knows how to throw the damn ball away??? His play is a disgrace and Romo couldn't do any worse out there. There's a pattern easily seen as bledslug has gone from team to team. He can't win the games when it's on the line. He has proven it time and time again. Thank the Eagles for providing game film for our remaining opponents. Blitz bledslug often and it's a guaranteed win.

Any QB that is not at least willing to suck it up and test a blitzing defense needs to have his back side on the bench. I refuse to acknowledge him as the QB for the rest of the season. The only Dallas QB I know worth a damn has a last name of Romo.

 

[chinch]

btw - on the fleaflicker... did anyone not say to themselves TOUCHDOWN the second the ball was pitched back to mcnabb? i called it out clear as day.... you just knew the guy would be wide open

 

[sbark]

It's amazing to me how everybody miraculously knows what TO is saying on the sidelines. He's the last person anybody need to be talking about following this game. Maybe one more week of this crap and we can move on and focus on football games

Agreed, Dont think TO is necessarily a problem, Remember very well Mike Irvin being very animated and demonstrative on the sidelines his entire career, he was labeled a team leader....... for saying essentially the same thing if both could be wired up

 

[Yakuza Rich]

good point, maybe not, but it reallllly looked like it. i dont know who else should have been there unless watkins was wayyyyyy out of position on the other side of the field.

I wasn't sold on that being Roy's assignment. Looked to me that he had short zone responsibility and Watkins....who was originally positioned to that side of the field got fooled into thinking that Smith was going to run a short or intermediate route. Watkins then went deep to the left sideline before realizing that Smith was running a go route.

It may have been Roy's assignment, but I'll wait until Parcells mentions something about it. I'm not exactly sure why Aikman was so adamant about it being Roy's assignments, especially given where Watkins was originally positioned.


YAKUZA

 

[justbob]

I know, I was telling him I didn't know where wayne came up w/ the notion that TO was being a distraction and a bad teammate

TO reminded me of the way Irvin used to work the sidelines ---

 

[Chuck 54]

Actually, Roy blew that one coverage on the TE. You can't hang the other on him. That was Watkin's play to make. He was there and in position. It was a good pass by McNabb.

And McBriar has terrible hands? I don't recall him doing that before. The bottom line is, dallas couldn't handle the blitz at times, and gave up several big plays. I'm surprised they were even in it at the end. Two of Bledsoe's worst throws on the night is when he had time. No excuse for that.

He bobbles snaps quite often, not dropping them, and he blew an extra point or fg last year as the holder because he couldn't catch the snap.

 

[Chuck 54]

btw - on the fleaflicker... did anyone not say to themselves TOUCHDOWN the second the ball was pitched back to mcnabb? i called it out clear as day.... you just knew the guy would be wide open

No, the way he hesitated and lofted it high, I said Interception...then when I saw the way Roy was measuring it and positioning himself, I said Interception. WAtkins was shoulder to shoulder with the guy, we wouldn't expect any better coverage from a CB...but he didn't play the ball well, and Roy misjudged the fly ball and slowed down in front only to try backpeddling when he realized it was behind him...that guy was not wide open, and Roy should have made the play.

 

[jay cee]

No, the way he hesitated and lofted it high, I said Interception...then when I saw the way Roy was measuring it and positioning himself, I said Interception. WAtkins was shoulder to shoulder with the guy, we wouldn't expect any better coverage from a CB...but he didn't play the ball well, and Roy misjudged the fly ball and slowed down in front only to try backpeddling when he realized it was behind him...that guy was not wide open, and Roy should have made the play.

Williams sometimes seems to have trouble playing the ball in flight, but I don't think he is near the problem that some claim him to be.

 

[Chuck 54]

TO reminded me of the way Irvin used to work the sidelines ---

wow...really? I've seen Irvin animated with his team, exhorting them on, yelling at coaches to get him the ball and call the right plays, but I never saw Irvin yelling at the defense after they allowed a TD...I never saw Irvin screaming at Aikman when he was having a bad game, or complaining to the coaches that he was "wide open" and the QB couldn't get it to him...I never saw Irvin throw his QB under the bus and talk about it not being his fault because he's not pulling the trigger.

I never saw any of that from Irvin, nor from Keyshaun, both of whom were demonstrative in exhorting their teammates and coaches and wanting the plays called for them.

Yes, I know it was Aikman, but anyone who watched Dallas throughout those years knows that Aikman had his fair share of lousy games, both in wet weather and in good weather, and especially his share of crappy performances in Philly.

I never saw Irvin despondent on the sideline and having various players and coaches try to cheer him up and get him into the game.

Say what you will, I'm not denegrating T.O.'s ability or what he can bring to this team if used properly ( I have long defended Joey G because our team only wanted to use him as a decoy...he was a star before Dallas and is a big star now in TB...only crap in Dallas )...I give T.O. full credit for what he can do on the field.

But I have a right to my opinion, and I think he's crap as a teammate because when things are going bad, like yesterday, that's when you need teammates to stand with you, not separate themselves from you.

 

[sbuscha]

8. T.O....wow...someone will defend him, but he was as big an enemy to this team as anyone...it's one thing to be a crybaby to the refs or toward the other team, but he had to be a huge distraction for our own guys with his idiocy on the sidelines, no matter what the reason...he had already started his pouting and depression while we still had the lead....he's a disgrace as a man and still a terrible teammate, regardless of his talent level.

This guy was getting the defese pumped up and getting his teammates pumped. Just because he is vocal that makes him negative? Get a clue man. Did you hear his talk to the team in the huddle or is your selective perspective still on?

9. Coaching...calls in short yardage?...delays and stretch runs instead of straight ahead pounding...someone is just as bad at figuring how to use T.O. as they were at using Joey Galloway, who was a star before we got him and is a star again now.

I must agree with this point. We have great skill players and we are not using them to their potential. No big throws down field. We never took a shot like Philthy did.

Priceless:

What we wouldn't give to have a taped recording of the conversation between Vanderjacht and Owens on the sideline....I don't buy the crap from the commentators...more likely they were bashing our coaching staff....I'd love to know what they were really saying.

Again, your perception. These guys have been talking to each other all year. Give TO a break, He really isn;t doing anything to disrupt this team. Did you hear his PC? Nope? Selective perception. Maybe you should write for ESPN...


"the silence is deafening!!!!

 

[chinch]

No, the way he hesitated and lofted it high, I said Interception...then when I saw the way Roy was measuring it and positioning himself, I said Interception.

not AFTER the throw... BEFORE.. right when he got the ball back.

 

[stag hunter]

Did you really just complain about who the backup holder is?