We lost the Baltimore game because of defense and poor tackling in the 4th quarter. None of the injured players mentioned would have stopped Zach Thomas and Hamlin wiffing in that game. We were able to put up points against Baltimore and even in that regard Romo didn't have the smarts to stay away from Reed as much as possible. We also stopped running Choice who was becoming very effective mid way through the 3rd.
Granted, the player's who were not injured are responsible for the loss, but you have to admit the game plan would have been different had we had the services of Felix, McBriar, a healthy Witten and Roy Williams. For instance, Roy Williams is admittedly a possession receiver. His injury prevented him from cutting. Think about that. If a receiver does not have elite speed to burn a CB, his ability to cut is the most important aspect of his game to create separation from wouldbe defender. This becomes especially important if said receiver does not have the QB's trust to win in jump ball situation, which as we all know Roy Williams did not have time to establish this with Romo. Witten, despite manning up and playing, probably shouldn't have. His production, as we all saw, was hampered. This argument is kind of silly, since we will never know, but I question rather the Cowboy's would have found themselves in situation where they were scrambling to play catch up in the Baltimore game, had they had these players at 100% and the other players who were watching from the sideline; namely Felix. The truth is we will never know.
Philly just blew us up and knew what we were going to do before we did. Felix Jones, Larry Allen in his prime, Micheal Irvin instead of RW11 weren't going to save us that game. We were not hungry and we certainly weren't focused. Philly stepped on our throats and kept it there. Out coached, whipped on offense, defense and special teams. Jason Witten and Bradie James were the only relevant players on our team during that game. Even Demarcus Ware and T.O looked average.
I think you could have stopped at "out game planned." But this goes back to what I touched on above. How does the gameplan change when you have all of your weapons? Granted, the offense was predictable, but how much unpredictability does a healthy Felix, Witten, Barber, RW11 add to the game? That, to me, is the all important question when making an assessment of what could have been...
Unfocused, naive, soft and selfish. Deny it all you want but that was our team the last half of last season. Injured, yes. But so was Philly, so was Pittsburgh, so were the Giants. By week 15 we had the playoffs in our hands and did squat. We went to Arizona and a finesse team got Pittsburgh physical with us the week after Washington did. Teams got physical with us and didn't do it any other way. Shall I bring up St. Louis and Steven Jackson's remarks?
Teams had more heart than us. They were willing to put their bodies on the line to win the games and we weren't until it was too late. That comes from training camp and with all the talent we had, the only way you were going to beat us was by out coaching us and being more physical. Mark my words, we're going to run more and lean on teams with our o-line more this year. If Techmo and Cupcake have any brains they will use that line to its strengths and maybe get some play action going instead of these 3 yard reverses and draw plays we think people are not ready for.
We were not playoff ready mentally and physically. We were injured because we weren't physically prepared for the way teams were coming at us. From training camp to the week in and out propaganda. This teams still oozes talent and it's very young. Wade needs to condition these guys for the war ahead this season. I would have liked another productive proven durable WR opposite RW11 but it is what it is. We are going to have durability issues at that position and that will be this teams excuse this year if they are notmentally prepared tomove on past injuries.
For my take on this, read the thread I initiiated Leadership, Heart, and Chemistry at the following link:
http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146630. It's likely not a popular opinion, but it's mine and I'm sticking by it.
Were we predictable? Absolutely. But if Jason Garrett is the supposed intelligent individual that everyone keeps telling us he is, then I have to assume he realizes the error of his game planning in 08.
