First drive - defense

[gimmesix]

Went back and examined the opening drive against our defense. Hope to do more when I get time.

1st and 10 - Arizona slanted left, faked the run and rolled Gabbert back slightly right. Charlton was at right end, played run and kept his contain, getting a little push with a bull rush but not enough to pressure Gabbert. Don't know what Heath was doing, looked like he reacted late to the mini-roll like he was going to come up to play the run and Gabbert just threw the ball to the tight end he vacated.

1st and 10 - Handoff well-played by Moore who came down the line from left end for the tackle. Charlton pushed his man inside and went around him, but Moore had already made the tackle and I don't know if Moore hadn't that Charlton would have gotten to the back before he hit the hole.

2nd and 8 - Cardinals were able to push all the linemen to the left and allow the back to cut back to the right. Charlton got a good push upfield, but I think the right tackle was only worried about keeping him outside. Jones did a good job of coming up to fill and Moore shook off his blocker to assist, with Wilber coming in to finish. (My pet cat Neal was easily pushed to the side as the nose.)

3rd and 5 - Charlton pushed to the outside by the RT where the back chipped him to prevent him for any possibility of taking the corner. Neal got a decent push in the middle but appeared to be held when he tried to rip free of the blocker. Moore tried to bull rush but was stopped well short of Gabbert. Brown was with the receiver who had inside leverage, but gave up separation on the cut then missed when he dived for the ball, allowing a huge gain on a pass over the middle. Heath did a decent job in pursuit to keep the play from being even bigger.

1st and 10 - Arizona with a sweep right on a blitz. Charlton did a decent job of getting off his block to force the back to go wider. Wilson had the outside contain and missed the tackle.Got enough of the back with Charlton forcing the play deeper to keep it to a short gain.

2nd and 7 - Charlton sort of dropped in coverage, covering no one. Quick, three-step drop on a corner blitz.Tight end caught the ball with Jones on him. Jones was in good position and might could have affected the pass if he had hit him instead of going for the tackle. Blitz was a complete failure.

1st and 10 - Handoff. Great penetration by Neal, who beat his man off the snap to get into the backfield. Charlton seemed to play his assignment and hold outside contain, also getting a push upfield, but no one filled on a 5-yard run. Neal got back in on the play with good hustle. The back did a good job of taking the lane between Neal and Charlton since the other defenders were knocked back off the line of scrimmage.

2nd and goal - Moore got a decent jump off the snap but got pinned to the inside on a run off left tackle and the back easily bounced it to the outside for the TD. Wilson got knocked back by the tight end. Awusie came up to fill, but took a bad angle and ended up just chasing the back and tackling him as he dove across the goal line.

That's it for me tonight. Let me know if you want me to post any more drive analysis or just keep it to myself.

 

[Risen Star]

They made Blaine friggin Gabbert look like an effective pro QB.

We still got problems.

 

[Silverstar]

Lewis Neal and Richard Ash were the starting DT's and I think Carell and Ivey were backing them up.
Do these four even make the 53 this year, and if any do will they be activated for games?

Seriously, I count like 9 DL that make the 53...maybe 10.

DE DLaw
DE Taco
DE Mayowa
DE Tapper
DL Crawford
DL Irving
DT Collins
DT Paea
DT Thornton
DE Moore (maybe)

Anyway, the sky is apparently falling after this win, so let's take cover and continue with the bashing.
After all, we've been waiting like 7 months for this.

 

[Sydla]

DL kind of stunk.

DBs kinda stunk.

 

[Satchel89]

Guys were wide open. I know it's a meaningless game but the Cardinals just played pitch and catch on their first two drives.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Guys were wide open. I know it's a meaningless game but the Cardinals just played pitch and catch on their first two drives.

I wouldn't worry about Arizona moving the ball up and down the field as much as the poor individual performances. Marinelli certainly wont be happy how basically the entire DL during those first 2 drives were getting manhandled across the board.

 

[Silver N Blue]

The boys defense was on the field the first two drives...hugh...missed it...

 

[Cumart21]

I'm ok with a bad performance by mostly backup and rookie defenders in the ultimate (pre)preseason game one. Gives the coaches something to yell about.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

NO pressure from the DL.

 

[boysfanindc]

It looked like to me the problem in the middle of the field was due to the LB's not getting their drops to where they needed to be.

Also need to give Gabbert some credit he was putting the ball on the money, there was one play where the receiver was covered and he threw the ball to the back should on a crossing route which was the only place he had a chance and he nailed it.

 

[sbark]

It looked like to me the problem in the middle of the field was due to the LB's not getting their drops to where they needed to be.

Also need to give Gabbert some credit he was putting the ball on the money, there was one play where the receiver was covered and he threw the ball to the back should on a crossing route which was the only place he had a chance and he nailed it.

Awosie had excellent coverage on that play as noted by announcers also, Gabbert threw a back shoulder throw in the middle of the feild.....

Wonder if LB's were almost playing Ariz to show a offense that features their rb johnson with short throws to the flats, but they came out looking at seam/crossing routes.

 

[boysfanindc]

Awosie had excellent coverage on that play as noted by announcers also, Gabbert threw a back shoulder throw in the middle of the feild.....

Wonder if LB's were almost playing Ariz to show a offense that features their rb johnson with short throws to the flats, but they came out looking at seam/crossing routes.

Agreed, they were also having success early with the run that was probably slowing the LB's drops.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

The first two drives, certainly did not inspire any confidence, however, you never really know how sophisticated the play calling is, when comparing one team versus another

 

[gimmesix]

Lewis Neal and Richard Ash were the starting DT's and I think Carell and Ivey were backing them up.
Do these four even make the 53 this year, and if any do will they be activated for games?

Seriously, I count like 9 DL that make the 53...maybe 10.

DE DLaw
DE Taco
DE Mayowa
DE Tapper
DL Crawford
DL Irving
DT Collins
DT Paea
DT Thornton
DE Moore (maybe)

Anyway, the sky is apparently falling after this win, so let's take cover and continue with the bashing.
After all, we've been waiting like 7 months for this.

Neal and Charlton were the only DL that showed much of anything on the first possession. It's easy to say the whole defense sucked on that first drive, but individually a few of the players looked OK. And all I really care about in these preseason games with the backups is the individual performances.

I didn't really get to focus on Awusie's performance on the drive, but Gabbert didn't attack him. Byron Jones was all right. He gave up a catch in front of him, but that was basically because we blitzed and Gabbert threw to a vacated spot. Jones played his responsibility and immediately made the tackle. As I said in the initial post, I think he could have come up and made a jarring hit to try to dislodge the ball, but his coverage was what it was supposed to be.

 

[gimmesix]

For those who are interested, I probably won't get a chance to analyze any other drives until late tonight. I mainly plan to look at the possessions where Charlton, Collins and Cooper played, but I may do more than that if I have time.

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

We're not panicking are we? Is this really real.... I know this is Cowboys Zone at all but I hope we're not really serious right now?

 

[MrMom]

I think the John Lotulelei hype train got derailed a bit last night. A lot of the dc.com writers have talked him up as a dark horse candidate to make the roster. He was easy pickings last night. The only fringe LB who impressed me last night was Joe Jones. He showed aggression and speed. Led the team with 9 tackles.

 

[Jake]

DL kind of stunk.

DBs kinda stunk.

When the QB has all day, it's hard to blame the secondary. Guys are always going to get open, given time.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Just took a quick look at the first series. People calling Charlton slow are misguided. He was the first one off the snap on just about every play. The biggest issue from the DL was the fact that no one got any pressure inside. Not all that surprising since we didn't have Collins, Thornton, Crawford, Paea, Irving in there. Basically started the game with 3rd to 4th string DT's. I expected to see more out of Damontre Moore but between the practice vids and the games I really haven't seen much out of him.

The Cards were in 3 WR sets almost the whole time and we were playing base defense, so you are already in a mismatch as far as the passing game goes.

We did settle down after the first two drives so I do think some might have been first game jitters.

 

[gmoney112]

I think the John Lotulelei hype train got derailed a bit last night. A lot of the dc.com writers have talked him up as a dark horse candidate to make the roster. He was easy pickings last night. The only fringe LB who impressed me last night was Joe Jones. He showed aggression and speed. Led the team with 9 tackles.

Lotulelei was responsible for a lot of bad play. It was pretty ugly.