stag hunter
Hater
- Messages
- 612
- Reaction score
- 9
I live in DC so this was the first I'd seen of the 'Boys so far this year. I visit this board religiously and though I don't post a lot, I made a note of people's opinions and paid attention to a few specific things tonight to judge for myself. First off:
-Bledsoe-
Exactly what I expected him to be. He made some decent throws but no spectacular ones, and to me didn't seem to have any spectacularly bad plays. The time he got sacked he really had no chance, and other times he seemed to sense the pressure fairly well and get rid of the ball accordingly. Loved the effort on the 3rd down play where he dove (in preseason) in an attempt for the first.
-Henson-
I am not ready to throw him under the bus yet, but he clearly needs a TON of work. Another poster pointed out a while ago that he sort of crouches down in the pocket, and that is 100 percent true. Does not play very tall, he looked rattled, unconfident, and unsure of himsel all night. Didn't check down through his receivers, made some poor decisions, and just generally looked very anxious. If he was an UDFA or a late round pick with no expectations or big $$ invested in him this board would have crucified him by now. He has the physical tools, apparently, but the league is absolutely filled with players who have all the talent in the world but for whatever reason cannot put it together. I am losing faith. Anyone who b****** about Henson being the number 3 behind Romo, I guess tonight showed you why Parcells knows a lot more about football than you do.
-Romo-
People are right, his arm strength is less than desirable, and that terrible pass towards the end of the 4th quarter made me feel like I was watching QC all over again. But you can't deny that when he's on the field he looks comfortable, feels like he's in charge and in control of the situation, and almost has a little bit of a swagger about him. I think it's much easier for a quarterback with excellent intangibles to succeed in spite of very average physical tools than vice versa.
-Keith Davis-
Is an absolute player. He lives up to his reputation as a ballhawk and I am a lot more comfortable with our Safety situation after watching the game tonight. They didn't show very many replays of the passing plays we got beat on, so it was tough to see if he was out of position.
-Beriault-
Seems like a player in the same mold as Davis. Has a nose for the ball and can bring the lumber. Again, tough to analyze in coverage because the replays didn't always illustrate well who was at fault on the completions.
-Demarcus Ware-
I was jumping up and down the first quarter like I'm sure everyone else was. I'd like to temper that enthusiasm a little bit though by pointing out a few things. Looking at the stats, 1 sack, 1 INT, 2 FF and 1 FR make him seem like he was an absolute monster out there, when in reality the sack, FR, and one FF came on the same play and the other FF came after he missed a tackle because he took a poor angle, and ended up slapping Wallace's arm and forcing the fumble more or less by chance. Not trying to take anything away from Ware, but the 2nd FF was pretty lucky when you look at the replays. INT was very impressive, and he looked fairly comfortable dropping back in coverage. However, once the opposing tackles made the adjustment of dropping their outside foot back far enough on their initial step in pass protection and squaring up on him and channeling him outside, he was pretty quiet for the rest of the game. Seeing him in against Seattle's 3rd string I would have assumed he'd be a little more disruptive. Instead, I mostly saw him being forced so far downfield behind the QB that he was a non-factor in the pass rush (this when he was in the 3 pt stance as a rush end). He did get in on some pressures later, though. I was impressed with what I saw from him, and it's true that dallas hasn't revealed their more complex blitz packages yet, but I would've liked to have seen a little more out of him than simply the outside speed rush. When he is playing against more athletic NFL-level tackles he won't be able to always rely on that. And what's with the DROY predictions? He made 2 excellent plays in a preseason game... I felt like i was over at ExtremeSkins or something reading posts like that...
Thomas, Barber, and A Train all played pretty similarly. They gained yards when they had lanes to run through, when they didn't, they got stuffed. Jones' deceptive speed and ability to make people miss through subtle change of direction still amazes me. Thomas obviously is not that kind of player but I think it is very unlikely that he will be cut. We have a 2nd year player who missed half the season last year due to injury.. It's foolish to believe that his only backups will be a 3rd round rook and an UDFA when they already have a 1,000 yard rusher on the roster who has proven his reliability in the NFL. Whether or not he is the most effective runner of the 3 backups is very debatable, but his experience makes him an asset to this team.
Overall, tonight's showing was on par with what I expected. No cause for alarm but no reason for reckless unbridled optimism either. We won't know what direction this team is going in until week 3.
-Bledsoe-
Exactly what I expected him to be. He made some decent throws but no spectacular ones, and to me didn't seem to have any spectacularly bad plays. The time he got sacked he really had no chance, and other times he seemed to sense the pressure fairly well and get rid of the ball accordingly. Loved the effort on the 3rd down play where he dove (in preseason) in an attempt for the first.
-Henson-
I am not ready to throw him under the bus yet, but he clearly needs a TON of work. Another poster pointed out a while ago that he sort of crouches down in the pocket, and that is 100 percent true. Does not play very tall, he looked rattled, unconfident, and unsure of himsel all night. Didn't check down through his receivers, made some poor decisions, and just generally looked very anxious. If he was an UDFA or a late round pick with no expectations or big $$ invested in him this board would have crucified him by now. He has the physical tools, apparently, but the league is absolutely filled with players who have all the talent in the world but for whatever reason cannot put it together. I am losing faith. Anyone who b****** about Henson being the number 3 behind Romo, I guess tonight showed you why Parcells knows a lot more about football than you do.
-Romo-
People are right, his arm strength is less than desirable, and that terrible pass towards the end of the 4th quarter made me feel like I was watching QC all over again. But you can't deny that when he's on the field he looks comfortable, feels like he's in charge and in control of the situation, and almost has a little bit of a swagger about him. I think it's much easier for a quarterback with excellent intangibles to succeed in spite of very average physical tools than vice versa.
-Keith Davis-
Is an absolute player. He lives up to his reputation as a ballhawk and I am a lot more comfortable with our Safety situation after watching the game tonight. They didn't show very many replays of the passing plays we got beat on, so it was tough to see if he was out of position.
-Beriault-
Seems like a player in the same mold as Davis. Has a nose for the ball and can bring the lumber. Again, tough to analyze in coverage because the replays didn't always illustrate well who was at fault on the completions.
-Demarcus Ware-
I was jumping up and down the first quarter like I'm sure everyone else was. I'd like to temper that enthusiasm a little bit though by pointing out a few things. Looking at the stats, 1 sack, 1 INT, 2 FF and 1 FR make him seem like he was an absolute monster out there, when in reality the sack, FR, and one FF came on the same play and the other FF came after he missed a tackle because he took a poor angle, and ended up slapping Wallace's arm and forcing the fumble more or less by chance. Not trying to take anything away from Ware, but the 2nd FF was pretty lucky when you look at the replays. INT was very impressive, and he looked fairly comfortable dropping back in coverage. However, once the opposing tackles made the adjustment of dropping their outside foot back far enough on their initial step in pass protection and squaring up on him and channeling him outside, he was pretty quiet for the rest of the game. Seeing him in against Seattle's 3rd string I would have assumed he'd be a little more disruptive. Instead, I mostly saw him being forced so far downfield behind the QB that he was a non-factor in the pass rush (this when he was in the 3 pt stance as a rush end). He did get in on some pressures later, though. I was impressed with what I saw from him, and it's true that dallas hasn't revealed their more complex blitz packages yet, but I would've liked to have seen a little more out of him than simply the outside speed rush. When he is playing against more athletic NFL-level tackles he won't be able to always rely on that. And what's with the DROY predictions? He made 2 excellent plays in a preseason game... I felt like i was over at ExtremeSkins or something reading posts like that...
Thomas, Barber, and A Train all played pretty similarly. They gained yards when they had lanes to run through, when they didn't, they got stuffed. Jones' deceptive speed and ability to make people miss through subtle change of direction still amazes me. Thomas obviously is not that kind of player but I think it is very unlikely that he will be cut. We have a 2nd year player who missed half the season last year due to injury.. It's foolish to believe that his only backups will be a 3rd round rook and an UDFA when they already have a 1,000 yard rusher on the roster who has proven his reliability in the NFL. Whether or not he is the most effective runner of the 3 backups is very debatable, but his experience makes him an asset to this team.
Overall, tonight's showing was on par with what I expected. No cause for alarm but no reason for reckless unbridled optimism either. We won't know what direction this team is going in until week 3.
