Gurode or Johnson?

[LatinMind]

BP even admitted that switiching Gurode to guard was a mistake and thats why he brought Gurode back to get one last shot at center.

exactly. i think gurode could have been a very very good center already if he hadnt spent basically 2 yrs switching back and forth.

 

[sago1]

This someone already posted this but Gurode didn't play OG well at all. That is why Parcells gave him a try at C in 05 but his head wasn't into it. However Parcells still thought Gurode could do the job and gave Gurode one year extension for $1M+ for one last tryout. Gurode surprised everyone by beating out Johnson for the C job. We should also keep in mind that this season was Gurode's first full year at center. So he is still a work in progress; same goes for Colombo who, although drafted in 02 by the Bears and started as their RT, go hurt very early in the season and essentially never played a game again until TC when he beat out our other OTs for that job. So both Gurode and Colombo were essentially rookies this year as far as their experience at their positions.

Now that both have played and gained a valuable year of experience at C & RT both should continue to improve and at 26/27 have time to mature at those jobs. Also we don't know unless we have a chance to study game film how much they were effected by Riveria's play. Yes Riveria provided valuble vet experience for both to draw on but he his actual play didn't help either one. A good young vet FA RG (Diehlman/Steinbach, etc) will considerably upgrade the right side of our OL.

 

[LatinMind]

i say colombo was the best OL dallas had this yr. by far.

 

[diehard2294]

cant believe we are discussing this. Johnson is done,he is a backup at best and not a very good one. He wont just discover how to use his leverage to his advantage,he just doesn't have the strenght to play center. Now Gurode played well last year,but my fear is we spend the money to keep him and then he turns into the old Gurode. The flipside is that he learned alot last year and he continues to get better,which is what I hope.

 

[LatinMind]

cant believe we are discussing this. Johnson is done,he is a backup at best and not a very good one. He wont just discover how to use his leverage to his advantage,he just doesn't have the strenght to play center. Now Gurode played well last year,but my fear is we spend the money to keep him and then he turns into the old Gurode. The flipside is that he learned alot last year and he continues to get better,which is what I hope.

lol didnt u know nomatter how bad a cowboys player is, they are still starter material

 

[superpunk]

cant believe we are discussing this.

There's plenty of head coaching discussions going on right now - feel free to dive right in.

Johnson is done,he is a backup at best and not a very good one. He wont just discover how to use his leverage to his advantage,he just doesn't have the strenght to play center. Now Gurode played well last year,but my fear is we spend the money to keep him and then he turns into the old Gurode. The flipside is that he learned alot last year and he continues to get better,which is what I hope.

You're saying all this about Johnson - yet Gurode was no better, in a contract year no less.

 

[ddh33]

I'm just silly enough to hold out hope for both of them.

I think Al Johnson is a much better center than he's ever been credit for around here. The guy is solid.

Gurode has always had more potential, and onl this season did he start to play up to it more. I felt like Gurode was one of the lineman who fell off pretty badly to end the season though, so that's still fresh in mind.

I wouldn't mind resigning both and letting them compete against each other again. I believe Gurode is perfectly capable of playing guard, despite what some people here think. In fact, Dallas had a pretty impressive showing a couple of years ago when Al and Gurode played beside each other.

 

[diehard2294]

There's plenty of head coaching discussions going on right now - feel free to dive right in.



You're saying all this about Johnson - yet Gurode was no better, in a contract year no less.

true,a fresh thread I will give you. Now are you trying to say Gurode played bad last year,or the year before that when his original contract was up

 

[burmafrd]

Gurode beat out Johnson solidly. So why should anything change now?

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I must be missing the toughness of this question. Best of luck to you Al on whatever team you play on next year.

Yeah seriously, Gurode played himself into the full time starting center spot on this team. The main question is what do the Cowboys do at right guard and left guard, if you guys think Kosier is the answer then you're fooling yourselves..

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Gurode beat out Johnson solidly. So why should anything change now?

Agreed!

 

[McCordsville Cowboy]

Yeah seriously, Gurode played himself into the full time starting center spot on this team. The main question is what do the Cowboys do at right guard and left guard, if you guys think Kosier is the answer then you're fooling yourselves..

Kosier is soft.. Just like Damp!

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Kosier is soft.. Just like Damp!

:laugh2: Yes indeed!

The Cowboys basically gave away money to both Kosier and Rivera..

 

[AdamJT13]

Off the top of my head, I seem to recall during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs when Jared Allen went around Tucker, and Bledsoe stepped up, right into Johnson's back.

Nope, that never happened. Bledsoe was sacked four times in that game. Johnson was on the field for three of those, and each time, he had his man blocked well in front of Bledsoe (either solo or on a double-team). There was one time when Johnson and Rivera had a defensive tackle stonewalled near the line of scrimmage and Allen used an inside spin to beat Petitti for the sack, and Bledsoe fell into Rivera's legs as he tried to get away. That was a 1-yard sack and was FAR from a case of Johnson getting pushed into the backfield.

The other sack against Kansas City came when Gurode was on the field. Gurode and Allen double-teamed John Browning at first, then Gurode and Allen both switched off to help someone else, and Browning easily wrapped up Bledsoe.

 

[nicodywill]

gurode isn't good enough to make all the calls required yet, but has more skill than johnson, johnson can make the calls but couldn't block my grandma.tell johnson to get lost.

 

[tunahelper]

Who do we keep this year?

Maybe we can resign both, I think they're both up in their contracts. I checked Julius' splits, and there was no appreciable difference in his running up the middle from 2005 to 2006, in fact his ypc decreased by 0.1 yards. Was Gurode any better in pass protection than Johnson?

Whattaya think, gang? Who stays, and who goes? Was this the best Gurode has in his contract year, or are their brighter things? Could we get Johnson cheaper and get the same production?

I have seen enough of roller skates Johnson being driven backwards to know he doesnt belong in a starting lineup!

 

[DCDave]

Nope, that never happened. Bledsoe was sacked four times in that game. Johnson was on the field for three of those, and each time, he had his man blocked well in front of Bledsoe (either solo or on a double-team). There was one time when Johnson and Rivera had a defensive tackle stonewalled near the line of scrimmage and Allen used an inside spin to beat Petitti for the sack, and Bledsoe fell into Rivera's legs as he tried to get away. That was a 1-yard sack and was FAR from a case of Johnson getting pushed into the backfield.

Okay. I don't have the gamefilm at my disposal. But, crediting your description of events, Johnson and Rivera have the guy "stonewalled," yet when the outside guy gets the edge on the tackle Bledsoe falls "into Rivera's legs." If Bledsoe couldn't step up without falling into Rivera's legs, I'm not altogether sure how the guy he and Johnson were supposedly blocking was "stonewalled"....

But given your non-response to my actual point, I take it that you agree with me that Johnson tends to get pushed into the backfield FAR more than Gurode.