DMN Blog: Austin on the Bubble?

[Teague31]

Is Miles Austin in trouble?


MICHAEL AINSWORTH / DMN
Wade Phillips was raving about rookie wide receiver Isaiah Stanback today. Stanback (right) caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Brad Johnson on Saturday night. The Cowboys plan on using Stanback more on kickoff returns.

Does this mean the end of Miles Austin, who bailed out the team last season on special teams when Tyson Thompson was hurt?

Maybe. Austin slipped at the end of his route, which resulted in Tony Romo throwing an interception on Saturday.

You can believe T.O., Terry Glenn, Pat Crayton and Sam Hurd are locks. Stanback is there, too. But if he can return some kicks, will the team send Austin packing?

Jerard Rabb and Jerheme Urban are looking pretty good in practice, so they might push Austin out as well.

Just a thought.

i thought austin had a terrible game... in addition to the slip that caused the INT, he dropped a beautiful pass from romo that hit him in the hands. if we keep 2 kickers, I can see us only keeping 5 WR's.

 

[zrinkill]

Someone is not gonna like this. Great sig by the way man .....

 

[CrazyCowboy]

One thing for sure--Stanback will make the team.

 

[BigDFan5]

I depends on how many WRs we keep

if we keep 5 he will be gone (TO,Glenn, Crayton, Hurd, Stanback)

If we keep 6 he stays

 

[Cowboys22]

Stanback was used as a kick returner on Sat. If he proves he is capable of being trusted in that role, I think Austin may be gone. He had a horrible game at the worst possible time. Slipped on a timing route causing an int, dropped a perfect deep pass from Romo, and didn't show any fight for a few balls he could have caught. I won't lose any sleep if he is cut. Stanback, Hurd, possibly Crayton, and a draft pick are the future WR core of this team.

 

[Wood]

I think Austin has regressed so far this year. You can just see Hurd is getting better. Crayton finally looks like (atleast) a #2 receiver in this league. But Austin, he looks lost out there and doesn't appear very instinctive. He still has that size...so he is a guy you dont want to wrongly evaluate...but I would say...he has to show something in next two games to justify keeping him.

 

[Yeagermeister]

He might be in trouble for making the final roster but he'll be safe until then.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

I think Austin could be in trouble, even if we keep 6 WR. I am a fan of his but he is not progressing like he should. It was evident to me the other night on the dropped deep ball.. Now I know every WR has drops, but his technique was horrible. No way a 2nd year WR should make that type of mistake.

 

[5Stars]

He might be in trouble for making the final roster but he'll be safe until then.

:laugh2: :laugh1:

(another stupid cowboy fan)!!

:laugh2: :laugh2:

 

[Bleu Star]

I know it's pre-season & all but when Stanback caught that TD pass I jumped out of my seat and gave him the ol fist pump. That guy has got major potential.

Perhaps if Austin learned to run routes right and hold onto the ball when it's tossed his way he wouldn't find himself on the bubble. The venerable Tyson Thompson is back and Austin should be worried since he's no longer the proverbial "go to" guy on returns. Not to mention the fact Stanback might be able to slip right into Austin's vacated role on returns as well... Welcome back Tyson!

 

[juck]

how could anyone be high on Austin,besides the return against the seahawks which means nothing unless hes consistent at it,and he isnt,he hasnt done much else.drop him.

 

[5Stars]

I know it's pre-season & all but when Stanback caught that TD pass I jumped out of my seat and gave him the ol fist pump. That guy has got major potential.

Perhaps if Austin learned to run routes right and hold onto the ball when it's tossed his way he wouldn't find himself on the bubble. The venerable Tyson Thompson is back and Austin should be worried since he's no longer the proverbial "go to" guy on returns. Not to mention the fact Stanback might be able to slip right into Austin's vacated role on returns as well... Welcome back Tyson!

Something is happening to this team...and it's going to be good. When we need to worry about players that we want to keep!

That's just excites the hell out of me!

 

[InmanRoshi]

how could anyone be high on Austin,besides the return against the seahawks which means nothing unless hes consistent at it,and he isnt,he hasnt done much else.drop him.

Because reportedly last year he was making a jaw dropping plays in practice everyday. We don't ever get to see those practices and hardly anyone sees any of the training camp practices.

But since he just happened to have a bad day on the one day that everyone gets to watch, he's never did anything.

Meanwhile, all offseason Tyson Thompson was the offseason goat. He was reportedly "nothing special", "too stiff" and everyone was predicting that was going to get beat out by Jackie Battle. But now he's had a good preseason game on the day everyone gets to watch then he's all of a sudden we've decided we like him again, he's got a little something and he's pushing for regular season snaps as a RB.


Not that we're fickle or anything.

I'll be interested in seeing who goes from goat to hero after next week's preseason game.

 

[zrinkill]

Because reportedly last year he was making a jaw dropping plays in practice everyday. We don't ever get to see those practices and hardly anyone sees any of the training camp practices.

But since he just happened to have a bad day on the one day that everyone gets to watch, he's never did anything.

Meanwhile, all offseason Tyson Thompson was the offseason goat. He was reportedly "nothing special", "too stiff" and everyone was predicting that was going to get beat out by Jackie Battle. But now he's had a good preseason game on the day everyone gets to watch then he's all of a sudden we've decided we like him again, he's got a little something and he's pushing for regular season snaps as a RB.


Not that we're fickle or anything.

I'll be interested in seeing who goes from goat to hero after next week's preseason game.

 

[peplaw06]

This is so dumb... He slips on a route and drops one pass, and suddenly he's a waste of space??

I'm not a fan of the "what have you done for me lately" outlook in the regular season. But when a guy has two mistakes in a preseason game and people are calling for your head, it's a little ridiculous IMO.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

This is so dumb... He slips on a route and drops one pass, and suddenly he's a waste of space??

I'm not a fan of the "what have you done for me lately" outlook in the regular season. But when a guy has two mistakes in a preseason game and people are calling for your head, it's a little ridiculous IMO.

Its a tough league. Our team has some talent finally. He might get caught in a numbers game. From what I have seen in the games so far, he is on the fringe. If they keep 5, no way Austin makes the team, he is not better than Crayton Or Hurd and Stanback will not be cut. If they keep 6, he is pretty safe, although he better do better in game 3.

I don't think we can afford to keep him just to be a back up kick returner. When the preseason began, I was certain we would keep 6 wr.. now I am not to sure. When you look at long range for the team, is he more valuable than a young kicker, or a promising DB?

I am pulling for the kid, but I think he showed in the game, that he is not as polished as Hurd, which I think would be a key evaluation.

 

[Crown Royal]

IIRC, he is very good on ST defense. I think he might be our other gunner (?). I personally hope we keep 6 WR.

 

[Maxmadden]

I agree with the top 5, and I would say Austin would be a lock for no. 6.

But, if Urban can show something in the punt return game he could get the nod, we desperately need a punt returner. I think everyone started with a clean slate with Wade and he may have to see something now.

Potential can only carry you so far.

 

[speedkilz88]

Urban may be returning punts(faircatching punts to be more exact), but there is no way he will be doing that in a regular season game if he somehow made this or another squad.

 

[JackMagist]

Because reportedly last year he was making a jaw dropping plays in practice everyday. We don't ever get to see those practices and hardly anyone sees any of the training camp practices.

But since he just happened to have a bad day on the one day that everyone gets to watch, he's never did anything.

First off, No, I was not at training camp. However, none of the reports that I read from TC This Year mentioned anything about Austin doing well...unlike last year when we heard good things about him. This year I heard good things about Hurd a lot, and occasionally about other rookie WR's. But I did not hear much about Austin...No glowing reviews...which leads me to think that he was not doing anything very impressive. Couple that with a very poor game in which he had the infamous slip and the infamous drop...Oh, and failed to catch any of the other 4 balls throw his way for one reason or another. Somehow I just can't see things looking good for him right now regardless of what he showed in last years camp for a different set of coaches.

Meanwhile, all offseason Tyson Thompson was the offseason goat. He was reportedly "nothing special", "too stiff" and everyone was predicting that was going to get beat out by Jackie Battle. But now he's had a good preseason game on the day everyone gets to watch then he's all of a sudden we've decided we like him again, he's got a little something and he's pushing for regular season snaps as a RB.

There is also the fact that he was getting a lot of positive ink out of training camp and he didn't look bad last week either. You can see how he has improved his game over last year when he did look "too stiff". All of the negative ink that came about him came before TC and most of the clamoring for Battle to take his job seemed to die down as TC went on and Tyson T seemed to be regaining some of the love that he had lost from us fickle fans. It doesn’t seem to me that it happened over just one game.

Not that we're fickle or anything.

I'll be interested in seeing who goes from goat to hero after next week's preseason game.

Can't argue these points...it is a fickle business no doubt. But having watched this league from many years I can tell you that fans are not the only ones who are fickle...Coaches definitely are too.

Edit: As for Austin being on the bubble; I do feel that he IS on the bubble. But I don't think that Urban is going to overtake him and take his spot. Austin is on the bubble as far as how many WR's we keep. He should make the team if we keep 6 WR's but if we only keep 5 he is gone. The Caveat to that is if he continues to have bad games like he did on Saturday...another game like that will probably lose him his job...two more like that and he is gone.