FuzzyLumpkins
The Boognish
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Note: this is my first reaction to the game after a single watch. This first viewing is done with friends and family distracting me so on review much of this may change. These are just a first impression. It's a good tool for evaluating what Ineed to pay better attention to. I am not infallible and I encourage discussion. I write in declarations for style but that does not mean that I am right on every take.
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Anytime you are down 2 in the TO margin and win the game, you have to be happy but the Cowboys organization from top to bottom made plenty of mistakes to make the game a nail-biter that went to the wire.
Early in the game key drops, fumbles, a slew of holding calls in the kicking game and JJ Watt kept us out of the endzone. We tried single blocking Watt in the first half and he was having none of it. The defense OTOH played outstanding in the first half. Both fumbles saw the defense force a punt. Outstanding performances. As it was, Fitzpatrick only found in routes on Carr get open and got nowhere. I am waiting for us to try and buzz a LB or cover 3 S under those routes but it was not to be this day.
In the second half Selvie got hurt and was replaced by Jack Crawford who showed poor anchor. Lining up he and Hayden side by side is folly and the Texans exploited that. Add to that some missed tackles and poor technique taking on blocks by Hitchens and Foster was able to get going. 2 long runs in a row right at those two found Foster in the end zone. His ability to get on top of a guy and cut is something we have not seen since week 1. We brought S up to try and stop it and that didn't help much -missed tackles especially from Church the reason why- but it did open up coverage enough and allowed Fitzpatrick to complete some passes. It allowed the Texans to muster 17 second half points.
On the flipside Romo made it through 2 and a half quarters with stellar play and capped it off with that amazing escape from Watt and a Williams body catch for a TD. He then seemed to meltdown a bit. He threw an awful pick on the next drive and just a litany of mental errors which I will get into later. We only managed two TD the second of which was primarily attributable by a lone solid special teams return by Harris. We spent most of our returns holding, fumbling, and unnecessarily taking the ball out of the EZ. A frenetic final drive gave Bailey a chance to break the tie as time expired -excellent Garrett time management- but he missed. The game went to OT.
There the defense buckled a bit giving up a first down on a run up the middle on the first play and if you were like me, you were up and out of your seat pacing. I can seldom sit still while the game is unfolding. To the defense's credit the buckled down. Selvie was back in the game and Mincey played some determined ball to force a punt on the fresh set of downs.
Despite spotty pass protection, we manged one long completion with a tremendous catch by Dez with Joseph all over him. Bailey wasn't to miss twice and the team gutted out a win.
Now to talk about the position groups starting on defense.
In retrospect, sitting Bishop and Coleman for McClain and Hayden was a bad decision. The Texans like every other team had zero respect for Hayden and single blocked him all game. You could see the C look over to make sure that Hayden was secure but he never had to help. As a result Hayden again spent much of the day being washed out. The Texans ran right at him at easy. McClain at least demanded some doubles but he didn't sit down on the well and gave ground. Between the two the will and mike had fits as they either had McClain in their lap or an OG with a free release making a bee line right at them. I've seen Bishop perform better than either and am interested to see if and how the team adjusts moving forward.
Tyrone Crawford was a force early and often. He was forcing holds, making TFL and gave the interior line of Texans fits trying to block them as he got consistent penetration. OTOH, Melton struggled to hold on against blocks in the run game and was not a factor.
The starting DE played well. Selvie is a force on the strongside and was able to collapse the RT. This in turn helped Hayden getting washed out and a manageable hole inside for the lb to try and fill. Spencer was out there as I saw 93 moving around but he never seemed to be in on any plays. His rush from the 2 point stance is not good at all. My eyes were drawn to it because the look stands out. He was not productive at all. When Selvie got dinged in the 3rd quarter Jack Crawford took over for a bit versus giving Spencer 40 snaps. He was not good and got blown off the ball on the strongside.
On the other end, Mincey took advantage of Crawfords extra attention and got a lot of penetration. While he did not show up on the stat sheet I felt that he was very disruptive. His play in OT was inspiring and one can see why they elected him a team captain. Jack Crawford's awareness is improving. He is adjusting as people try to run him upfield to run by him but he is still a step late. Unless he gets a bit more power to press the gap, it's going to be a struggle for him. He still has good burst upfield but was not as productive as he was last game.
Overall the second line performed poorly whereas the starters played well. All of them seem to have better awareness on things like screens and swings but they are not where they need to be yet. The short zones they drop into are working better as well.
Durant continues his determined, intelligent play but the other two left a bit to be desired. Hitchens is much better in the nickel and in pass coverage. He was getting destroyed taking on blocks. He needs to turn some of that pudge into muscle to anchor and stack. As it was i saw him driven 3+ yards off the ball multiple times. The coaches noticed too because I saw 51 out there in base at times and at least he wasn't getting pushed around quite so bad. McClain just doesn't look healthy and although he practiced he looked like the tin man waddling out there. He is not moving laterally well at all and you can see him swing off his hip rather than push off the groin. Trainers need to reevaluate what they are doing. If he has to practice to play then shutting him down a week or two to let the leg heal up a bit might be in order.
As a whole, the group is doing a very good job getting into their drops and threatening routes. We do miss Carter's instinctive play underneath though.
Carr is giving up the in still but he is at least now reacting to it better and driving on the football. He got there once. Quickness is not his game but he is getting better at his reads and cues in zones. The plays over the top were not a problem. Fitzpatrick never really threatened downfield. This allowed Scandrick and Moore to drive on the football. They are going to get burned by a double move one of these days but for now it is working. Moore in particular is impressive. He is built like a fire hydrant and looks bigger than his listed size when he fighting through the trash on stretches, screens and other plays on the perimeter. I don't know what his contract status is but at this point I would rather see us keep him over Carr especially at their relative price tags. Moore continues to play his best football.
Wilcox also had a very good game. His open field tackling is tremendous and he exhibits excellent body control moving in space. The early overruns are gone. Fitzpatrick wasn't throwing downfield which is a nod to S play but i would like to see some plays on balls in the air. Bottom line though is his recognition is getting over the hump. Church OTOH struggled a bit and missed some tackles which is very uncharacteristic. Foster made him looks silly a couple times with broken ankles. Compare that to Wilcox and Moore who say similar moves but were able to maintain body control to make the stop even if it was from their knees. Foster looked very good particularly in the second half.
We saw good Romo and bad Romo. On the one hand he was very accurate outside of those underneath ducks and had good velocity on his throws. Those completions on 15 yard outs that he was making look easy are anything but. Things looked well for two and a half quarters but after that first TD he completely missed the middle S and threw a bad interception on our own side of the field setting up an easy score. If he is going to take 20+ seconds each down at the line making checks and the like then that is inexcusable. The delay of game out of a time out with two minutes to go made me very angry. It was obvious that he was pressing and I was waiting for another bad check and another throw into coverage. Luckily, it never came. Dez bailed him out at the end. He needs to play better than that from a mental standpoint.
JJ Watt gave the oline fits. I watched Witten, Free, Martin, Leary and even Tyron whiff on single block attempts at various points. His swim move is pretty spectacular. In the second half our hubris was over and we started sending double teams to try and slow him down and even run at him. It was inconsistent success but at least it was success. I was out of sorts and emotional at the end so my focus waned a bit but the pass protection was breaking down and while Romo needs to play better, he wasn't getting a lot of help. Romo was not given time to throw. I know this section is short but i didn't pay good enough attention to make informed comments here so I will refrain for now.
Witten was very good when he wasn't assigned to cut off Watt. Three of his catches were big first downs. Hanna and Escobar might as well not have been out there for as much impact they had from my view.
Dez had 9 catches but he had to work for each one of them. The Texans were all over him typically with two guys playing over the top of him. He made his money working underneath and it was tough sledding. I know people complain about his not breaking tackles but two guys are not easy to split. Finding single coverage on him there at the end redeemed Romo more than a little and a nice throw on the fade gave him a TD. The Texans clearly respected our run.
Williams was pretty bad. I saw two passes that he failed to catch when he needed to extend. His catch radius remains a work in progress after making strides last week. The long completion was a body catch but it wasn't all bad. He needs to step up.
With the Texans determined to keep a lid on the field, I thought Linehan did a good job working underneath with Beasley, Harris and Murray. Beasley had a stretch in the heart of the game where his seperation helped move the chains and set up manageable downs and distances. Harris was very effective when he had his number called on hooks and screen and was able to make people miss. Murray was instrumental making checkdown catches in getting into long FG range at the end of regulation after a poor Harris return.
Murray racked up a lot of yards and was certainly effective but at this point the fumbling has to be a problem. I think his workload is part of the cause. He looked like he had heavy legs out the gate. The coaching staff seems a bit myopic in only giving Randle a series. While he is not Murray, nor is he a liability. They need to give him and/or Dunbar an additional series or two and try and build up a rotation or I fear we are going to hit Winter and he is going to be more banged up than effective.
On a final note, this may be the worst special teams performance of the Bissacia era. it seemed like the usual suspects out there but between the spotty punt coverage, ill advised decisions to take the ball out of the end zone, and a parade of holding penalties turning good returns into awful field position, I was fairly disgusted. One good return and Bailey's game winner were the sole bright spots.
Overall it was an ugly game that we managed to win but expecting to overcome 3 TO over any team is not sustainable. i don't think the coaches are going to have much issue finding mistakes to point out. OTOH, this is obviously a very talented football team but in the words of Jason Garrett: "It was a great win but, we need to play better. Now bring it in fellas and Cowboys on 3. make it loud!" ONE TWO THREE COWBOYS!
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Anytime you are down 2 in the TO margin and win the game, you have to be happy but the Cowboys organization from top to bottom made plenty of mistakes to make the game a nail-biter that went to the wire.
Early in the game key drops, fumbles, a slew of holding calls in the kicking game and JJ Watt kept us out of the endzone. We tried single blocking Watt in the first half and he was having none of it. The defense OTOH played outstanding in the first half. Both fumbles saw the defense force a punt. Outstanding performances. As it was, Fitzpatrick only found in routes on Carr get open and got nowhere. I am waiting for us to try and buzz a LB or cover 3 S under those routes but it was not to be this day.
In the second half Selvie got hurt and was replaced by Jack Crawford who showed poor anchor. Lining up he and Hayden side by side is folly and the Texans exploited that. Add to that some missed tackles and poor technique taking on blocks by Hitchens and Foster was able to get going. 2 long runs in a row right at those two found Foster in the end zone. His ability to get on top of a guy and cut is something we have not seen since week 1. We brought S up to try and stop it and that didn't help much -missed tackles especially from Church the reason why- but it did open up coverage enough and allowed Fitzpatrick to complete some passes. It allowed the Texans to muster 17 second half points.
On the flipside Romo made it through 2 and a half quarters with stellar play and capped it off with that amazing escape from Watt and a Williams body catch for a TD. He then seemed to meltdown a bit. He threw an awful pick on the next drive and just a litany of mental errors which I will get into later. We only managed two TD the second of which was primarily attributable by a lone solid special teams return by Harris. We spent most of our returns holding, fumbling, and unnecessarily taking the ball out of the EZ. A frenetic final drive gave Bailey a chance to break the tie as time expired -excellent Garrett time management- but he missed. The game went to OT.
There the defense buckled a bit giving up a first down on a run up the middle on the first play and if you were like me, you were up and out of your seat pacing. I can seldom sit still while the game is unfolding. To the defense's credit the buckled down. Selvie was back in the game and Mincey played some determined ball to force a punt on the fresh set of downs.
Despite spotty pass protection, we manged one long completion with a tremendous catch by Dez with Joseph all over him. Bailey wasn't to miss twice and the team gutted out a win.
Now to talk about the position groups starting on defense.
In retrospect, sitting Bishop and Coleman for McClain and Hayden was a bad decision. The Texans like every other team had zero respect for Hayden and single blocked him all game. You could see the C look over to make sure that Hayden was secure but he never had to help. As a result Hayden again spent much of the day being washed out. The Texans ran right at him at easy. McClain at least demanded some doubles but he didn't sit down on the well and gave ground. Between the two the will and mike had fits as they either had McClain in their lap or an OG with a free release making a bee line right at them. I've seen Bishop perform better than either and am interested to see if and how the team adjusts moving forward.
Tyrone Crawford was a force early and often. He was forcing holds, making TFL and gave the interior line of Texans fits trying to block them as he got consistent penetration. OTOH, Melton struggled to hold on against blocks in the run game and was not a factor.
The starting DE played well. Selvie is a force on the strongside and was able to collapse the RT. This in turn helped Hayden getting washed out and a manageable hole inside for the lb to try and fill. Spencer was out there as I saw 93 moving around but he never seemed to be in on any plays. His rush from the 2 point stance is not good at all. My eyes were drawn to it because the look stands out. He was not productive at all. When Selvie got dinged in the 3rd quarter Jack Crawford took over for a bit versus giving Spencer 40 snaps. He was not good and got blown off the ball on the strongside.
On the other end, Mincey took advantage of Crawfords extra attention and got a lot of penetration. While he did not show up on the stat sheet I felt that he was very disruptive. His play in OT was inspiring and one can see why they elected him a team captain. Jack Crawford's awareness is improving. He is adjusting as people try to run him upfield to run by him but he is still a step late. Unless he gets a bit more power to press the gap, it's going to be a struggle for him. He still has good burst upfield but was not as productive as he was last game.
Overall the second line performed poorly whereas the starters played well. All of them seem to have better awareness on things like screens and swings but they are not where they need to be yet. The short zones they drop into are working better as well.
Durant continues his determined, intelligent play but the other two left a bit to be desired. Hitchens is much better in the nickel and in pass coverage. He was getting destroyed taking on blocks. He needs to turn some of that pudge into muscle to anchor and stack. As it was i saw him driven 3+ yards off the ball multiple times. The coaches noticed too because I saw 51 out there in base at times and at least he wasn't getting pushed around quite so bad. McClain just doesn't look healthy and although he practiced he looked like the tin man waddling out there. He is not moving laterally well at all and you can see him swing off his hip rather than push off the groin. Trainers need to reevaluate what they are doing. If he has to practice to play then shutting him down a week or two to let the leg heal up a bit might be in order.
As a whole, the group is doing a very good job getting into their drops and threatening routes. We do miss Carter's instinctive play underneath though.
Carr is giving up the in still but he is at least now reacting to it better and driving on the football. He got there once. Quickness is not his game but he is getting better at his reads and cues in zones. The plays over the top were not a problem. Fitzpatrick never really threatened downfield. This allowed Scandrick and Moore to drive on the football. They are going to get burned by a double move one of these days but for now it is working. Moore in particular is impressive. He is built like a fire hydrant and looks bigger than his listed size when he fighting through the trash on stretches, screens and other plays on the perimeter. I don't know what his contract status is but at this point I would rather see us keep him over Carr especially at their relative price tags. Moore continues to play his best football.
Wilcox also had a very good game. His open field tackling is tremendous and he exhibits excellent body control moving in space. The early overruns are gone. Fitzpatrick wasn't throwing downfield which is a nod to S play but i would like to see some plays on balls in the air. Bottom line though is his recognition is getting over the hump. Church OTOH struggled a bit and missed some tackles which is very uncharacteristic. Foster made him looks silly a couple times with broken ankles. Compare that to Wilcox and Moore who say similar moves but were able to maintain body control to make the stop even if it was from their knees. Foster looked very good particularly in the second half.
We saw good Romo and bad Romo. On the one hand he was very accurate outside of those underneath ducks and had good velocity on his throws. Those completions on 15 yard outs that he was making look easy are anything but. Things looked well for two and a half quarters but after that first TD he completely missed the middle S and threw a bad interception on our own side of the field setting up an easy score. If he is going to take 20+ seconds each down at the line making checks and the like then that is inexcusable. The delay of game out of a time out with two minutes to go made me very angry. It was obvious that he was pressing and I was waiting for another bad check and another throw into coverage. Luckily, it never came. Dez bailed him out at the end. He needs to play better than that from a mental standpoint.
JJ Watt gave the oline fits. I watched Witten, Free, Martin, Leary and even Tyron whiff on single block attempts at various points. His swim move is pretty spectacular. In the second half our hubris was over and we started sending double teams to try and slow him down and even run at him. It was inconsistent success but at least it was success. I was out of sorts and emotional at the end so my focus waned a bit but the pass protection was breaking down and while Romo needs to play better, he wasn't getting a lot of help. Romo was not given time to throw. I know this section is short but i didn't pay good enough attention to make informed comments here so I will refrain for now.
Witten was very good when he wasn't assigned to cut off Watt. Three of his catches were big first downs. Hanna and Escobar might as well not have been out there for as much impact they had from my view.
Dez had 9 catches but he had to work for each one of them. The Texans were all over him typically with two guys playing over the top of him. He made his money working underneath and it was tough sledding. I know people complain about his not breaking tackles but two guys are not easy to split. Finding single coverage on him there at the end redeemed Romo more than a little and a nice throw on the fade gave him a TD. The Texans clearly respected our run.
Williams was pretty bad. I saw two passes that he failed to catch when he needed to extend. His catch radius remains a work in progress after making strides last week. The long completion was a body catch but it wasn't all bad. He needs to step up.
With the Texans determined to keep a lid on the field, I thought Linehan did a good job working underneath with Beasley, Harris and Murray. Beasley had a stretch in the heart of the game where his seperation helped move the chains and set up manageable downs and distances. Harris was very effective when he had his number called on hooks and screen and was able to make people miss. Murray was instrumental making checkdown catches in getting into long FG range at the end of regulation after a poor Harris return.
Murray racked up a lot of yards and was certainly effective but at this point the fumbling has to be a problem. I think his workload is part of the cause. He looked like he had heavy legs out the gate. The coaching staff seems a bit myopic in only giving Randle a series. While he is not Murray, nor is he a liability. They need to give him and/or Dunbar an additional series or two and try and build up a rotation or I fear we are going to hit Winter and he is going to be more banged up than effective.
On a final note, this may be the worst special teams performance of the Bissacia era. it seemed like the usual suspects out there but between the spotty punt coverage, ill advised decisions to take the ball out of the end zone, and a parade of holding penalties turning good returns into awful field position, I was fairly disgusted. One good return and Bailey's game winner were the sole bright spots.
Overall it was an ugly game that we managed to win but expecting to overcome 3 TO over any team is not sustainable. i don't think the coaches are going to have much issue finding mistakes to point out. OTOH, this is obviously a very talented football team but in the words of Jason Garrett: "It was a great win but, we need to play better. Now bring it in fellas and Cowboys on 3. make it loud!" ONE TWO THREE COWBOYS!
