Hoofbite
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I took it, I took the cheese. Despite reminding myself that Dallas was allergic to late season success, I really thought this team could pull it out this year. I really thought that all that talk of things being different, the team playing for one another and all that other stuff was real.
I really wanted to believe it was real. I know some of it is real but it still just doesn't seem to be enough. This team just cannot seem to pull it together at the end of the year. Is it the month? I don't think it is but I do think it is the belief that it could be the month. As much as the players might say it doesn't matter, when things start going south you know they think about it.
I think that's one area where this team is lacking. The mindset to overcome or persevere. When a call goes against Dallas or a ball his the ground I think the entire team dwells on it. When Folk wastes a chance at points, I think the entire team dwells on it. When the other team converts a 3rd down, the defense looks devastated. They don't even look pissed, they just look like someone ripped their heart out and fed it to them. Multiple times per game too, they just look shocked and defeated.
There isn't a player on the field to huddle the unit up and tell em to snap out of it so they just look crushed and lack any confidence at all. When you look around the league and see a defensive unit ready to blitz, they look hungry. They look ready to rip someone's head and expect to shred that line.
I remember a couple years back when Dallas would play the Eagles and the Eagles would disguise nothing. They would walk 7 or 8 guys up to the line and they would damn near jump out of their shoes waiting for that ball to move. Jeremiah Trotter used to line up next to a tackle right over the center and he would stand there and at the snap he would literally hit the center with all he had. That's what he did. He would walk up to the line and when the play got going he gave everything he had to the guy in front of him. Over, and over, and over he would do this and he loved it because later in the game, instead of getting a yard or two of movement from the center, he's almost sitting the center on his ***.
Ray Lewis looks the same. When Ray is coming and he doesn't think he's gonna get around you, he tries to go through you. He lines up the guy in front of him and pounds the piss out of him. They both know that eventually, all those collisions are gonna pay off. Eventually the guy they keep hammering is going to crumble.
Does Dallas have a player who does this? I mean ever. Team wide, does this happen? I remember a Detroit game a few years ago where Roy Williams blitzed and Kevin Jones thought he could pick him up. Roy lowered the shoulder and decelerated Jones so quickly it was shocking. It was scary. He lifted that man and put him flat on his back like he was a child.
This defense just doesn't seem to have that. They don't have the urgency, confidence or hunger to crush people. They flash it at times. Usually after a big play by one of the main guys, this team gets jacked and plays football but those times are few and far between.
It just isn't there. When Dallas lines up to blitz, they look like they are praying they get through the line because they know the pass will be completed if not. And the secondary looks the same way. They look like they are hoping the line gets through so they don't get beat. And when they don't get through and give up a play, the team just looks crushed and gets more timid the next go around.
This team is in desperate need of a guy with a full motor. Get someone who isn't at a loss of words when things go badly but instead picks guys up, rallies the troops and instills confidence. I just don't see the hunger out there at all times. As beaten as the team looked when Ware was carted off, they have looked beaten like that multiple times this season. There is no confidence and there is hunger. All the players look timid at times and all of them seem too easily defeated by a bad play.
What changes that? What causes that? How can a group of high picks be so mentally fragile that they start to doubt themselves at every turn?
[/rambling]
I really wanted to believe it was real. I know some of it is real but it still just doesn't seem to be enough. This team just cannot seem to pull it together at the end of the year. Is it the month? I don't think it is but I do think it is the belief that it could be the month. As much as the players might say it doesn't matter, when things start going south you know they think about it.
I think that's one area where this team is lacking. The mindset to overcome or persevere. When a call goes against Dallas or a ball his the ground I think the entire team dwells on it. When Folk wastes a chance at points, I think the entire team dwells on it. When the other team converts a 3rd down, the defense looks devastated. They don't even look pissed, they just look like someone ripped their heart out and fed it to them. Multiple times per game too, they just look shocked and defeated.
There isn't a player on the field to huddle the unit up and tell em to snap out of it so they just look crushed and lack any confidence at all. When you look around the league and see a defensive unit ready to blitz, they look hungry. They look ready to rip someone's head and expect to shred that line.
I remember a couple years back when Dallas would play the Eagles and the Eagles would disguise nothing. They would walk 7 or 8 guys up to the line and they would damn near jump out of their shoes waiting for that ball to move. Jeremiah Trotter used to line up next to a tackle right over the center and he would stand there and at the snap he would literally hit the center with all he had. That's what he did. He would walk up to the line and when the play got going he gave everything he had to the guy in front of him. Over, and over, and over he would do this and he loved it because later in the game, instead of getting a yard or two of movement from the center, he's almost sitting the center on his ***.
Ray Lewis looks the same. When Ray is coming and he doesn't think he's gonna get around you, he tries to go through you. He lines up the guy in front of him and pounds the piss out of him. They both know that eventually, all those collisions are gonna pay off. Eventually the guy they keep hammering is going to crumble.
Does Dallas have a player who does this? I mean ever. Team wide, does this happen? I remember a Detroit game a few years ago where Roy Williams blitzed and Kevin Jones thought he could pick him up. Roy lowered the shoulder and decelerated Jones so quickly it was shocking. It was scary. He lifted that man and put him flat on his back like he was a child.
This defense just doesn't seem to have that. They don't have the urgency, confidence or hunger to crush people. They flash it at times. Usually after a big play by one of the main guys, this team gets jacked and plays football but those times are few and far between.
It just isn't there. When Dallas lines up to blitz, they look like they are praying they get through the line because they know the pass will be completed if not. And the secondary looks the same way. They look like they are hoping the line gets through so they don't get beat. And when they don't get through and give up a play, the team just looks crushed and gets more timid the next go around.
This team is in desperate need of a guy with a full motor. Get someone who isn't at a loss of words when things go badly but instead picks guys up, rallies the troops and instills confidence. I just don't see the hunger out there at all times. As beaten as the team looked when Ware was carted off, they have looked beaten like that multiple times this season. There is no confidence and there is hunger. All the players look timid at times and all of them seem too easily defeated by a bad play.
What changes that? What causes that? How can a group of high picks be so mentally fragile that they start to doubt themselves at every turn?
[/rambling]
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