Mickey Spagnola on The Fan

[jazzcat22]

Some stuff from Mickey. I know he is not popular on here. But he still knows more than most that think they know more...LOL...
On his normal 9:30 CST time slot.

On coverage of Julio Jones. Carr or Mo. Depends on how they want to cover him. If press coverage, then Carr as he is more physical. If going to give him some space, then Mo, as the has the speed to close that gap and keep up with him. However, they still should roll a s over the top either way.
They both been playing very well, but this is the first time they go against multiple WR sets, actyally 3 WR's. Jones, White and Hankerson been playing well also.

So DL needs to apply pressure. They have been doing that, just haven't got the sacks. Said Bradford had a lot of pressure and was probably seeing ghosts out there. as to getting hit and sacked. If ryan has time in pocket he will pick you apart.

Better WR, Julio or Dez. Can be argued as 1/2 or 2/1either way as top. Dez more physical after the catch. Jones can get by you in the blink of an eye, runs great routes and gets open quick.

Michael coming in at RB, how many questions he gets when. Fisher gets a lot, so does Mickey. He said well, who would you sit, and from what he has seen so far, he has not seen evidence Michael could make that big of a difference. Said most of the questions about Michael coming from Aggie fans over and over. LOL.

They brought up some Vegas odds. Eagles & Cowboys at 3/2 to win the East, Cowboys at 20/1 and Eagles at 22/1 odds to win SB. Seattle at 10/1. Cowboys now at over / under wins at 8. Mickey said probably about right, as many think 9 or 10 wins still possible, but the pessimists will go the under.

Weeden at over / under for 250 yards and 1-1/2 TD's this week. Mickey said if he gets over 250 yards, Cowboys win, if he throws 2 TD's, Cowboys win.
Need to remember, last year against a great Arizona D. 12 of his 33 passes were in the last 6 minutes when behind. The D could just go after him. Leary was out that game, and Free was out half of the game. Murray had 79 yards. And it's easy for fans to say, just run the ball, and control the game. well that is bogus, because defensive coordinators would just say, they will run, so gear up for that. so need to throw the ball down the field. Can't just run and throw short.

Also, said look to the D. In Sean lee you trust.

 

[xwalker]

On coverage of Julio Jones. Carr or Mo. Depends on how they want to cover him. If press coverage, then Carr as he is more physical. If going to give him some space, then Mo, as the has the speed to close that gap and keep up with him. However, they still should roll a s over the top either way.
They both been playing very well, but this is the first time they go against multiple WR sets, actyally 3 WR's. Jones, White and Hankerson been playing well also.

Carr and Claiborne generally play right and left. The coverage will depend on which side Jones lines up on.

 

[YosemiteSam]

They have to bracket Jones. I think I put Mo on White and Carr on Jones and bracket him with a safety.

I would put Mo on him, but I think we need Carr's strength to jam Jones and then the safety to keep him from blowing right by Carr on the jam.

Then just hope Mo can keep White from having a big day. White is slowing down as he gets older. Hopefully what we've seen from Mo this season is true growth and not just the rest of the defense making his job easier to do. (though I want that too)

 

[JohnsKey19]

We'll see.. To be fair, Arizona was probably the most aggressive and stingiest D we faced all season last year. Atlanta simply does not pose that type of threat defensively. We should be able to run which will make the passing game easier to execute for Weeden. I'm expecting a relatively clean and effective game from Weeden this week.

Julio will get bracketed similar to Beckham. Atlanta on paper should not be able to run the ball, which makes it easier to sit back deep in pass coverage.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Carr and Claiborne generally play right and left. The coverage will depend on which side Jones lines up on.

Yeah, but do you really want Mo on Jones? I think he will toss Mo around like a ragdoll.

 

[erod]

Man, I would load up on the over for the Cowboys wins at 8. They could quite reasonably be 4-0 soon.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Best way to defend Julio? Keep Ryan on his back.

 

[jazzcat22]

After Mickey, I changed stations to The Ticket. David Moore was just finishing up his slot there.
They were talking about the running game, said they need to get the rns to 4 yards, not hte 1 and 2 yard runs. Not sure what the question or actual deal was for that comment.
Said the defense is on the verge of being a top defense, from what he seen the first 2 weeks.

Witten limited in practice, thinks he will be out there. But how will he be used, and for how much.
The morning guys think they will struggle, especially on road games. Moore predicts win 20-17, George win 13-10 [the ticket AM station number 1310] and Craig thinks they go 2-5 and this is ne of the winnable games, at 24-23 Dallas.

 

[conner01]

I don't think they will put a guy on jones
If he goes to Mo's side he will cover him and if he goes to the other Carr will
They will keep a guy over the top
The two main keys on defense to me in beating the Falcons is stop the run with the front 7 and pressure the QB
On offense get the run game going and protect Weeden while not shooting yourself in the foot with penalties and turnovers

 

[jazzcat22]

On Norm and Donnie on the Ticket. Being their usual pessimistic selves.
Didn't take notes, as they didn't really say anything good. As usual. Neither know who to pick, flip a coin. Donnie went with Dallas, Norm with Atlanta.
Donnie brought up a useless stat. Said of 29 games Weeden started, he has been sacked 56 times. The dumb arse didn't say, just about all of those were in the train wreck of Cleveland. He was trying to say how immobile he is. Well, he looked pretty mobile from Sunday.

Leary practicing, but no determination on if he plays, as they may want to be cautious there.
Hanna at practice but his status a bit iffy also.

 

[mldardy]

On Norm and Donnie on the Ticket. Being their usual pessimistic selves.
Didn't take notes, as they didn't really say anything good. As usual. Neither know who to pick, flip a coin. Donnie went with Dallas, Norm with Atlanta.
Donnie brought up a useless stat. Said of 29 games Weeden started, he has been sacked 56 times. The dumb arse didn't say, just about all of those were in the train wreck of Cleveland. He was trying to say how immobile he is. Well, he looked pretty mobile from Sunday.

Leary practicing, but no determination on if he plays, as they may want to be cautious there.
Hanna at practice but his status a bit iffy also.

They really are man. On the postgame show they do especially after a Cowboy win you would think the Cowboys lost by 30. Everything the Cowboys did in the game was not good or lucky or the opponent let it happen not anything the Cowboys did. I don't expect them to be cheerleaders but after a win I'd like to see a little more positive remarks and not what the opponent didn't do but what the Cowboys did well to win the game. There is a lack of that with those two.

 

[Idgit]

It would have been interesting to see Romo play against that AZ defense last season. I bet it would have been one of those frustrating grind-it-out games with him, too, though maybe we wouldn't have been as far behind at the end of the game. There is just no way you're putting a game like that on Weeden's shoulders and getting a result you can live with. I do think he's got a chance to be productive if the team can make it easy on him, though. Protect him well, and catch the balls that hit you in the hands. Don't turn it over trying to do too much downfield. Run hard like we did against a good front in PHI.

 

[Stash]

Mickey is fond of flipping questions back at those asking, so I'll give him a taste of his own medicine regarding his Christine Michael comment of "who would you sit?":

Who is so valuable that you couldn't sit them? Are any of the other running backs lighting it up so well that they couldn't be inactive? Are they so invaluable or untouchable? Not based on the early results.

And consider this, what have Lucky Whitehead's contributions been over these first two weeks? Would they miss those contributions vs a possible improvement from the running game?

What about Jeff Heath's contributions? If it makes the running game of a now quarterback-challenged team better, isn't it worth it?

If you're so hesitant to play this guy, maybe the real mistake was in trading for him at all?

 

[Idgit]

Mickey is fond of flipping questions back at those asking, so I'll give him a taste of his own medicine regarding his Christine Michael comment of "who would you sit?":

Who is so valuable that you couldn't sit them? Are any of the other running backs lighting it up so well that they couldn't be inactive? Are they so invaluable or untouchable? Not based on the early results.

And consider this, what have Lucky Whitehead's contributions been over these first two weeks? Would they miss those contributions vs a possible improvement from the running game?

What about Jeff Heath's contributions? If it makes the running game of a now quarterback-challenged team better, isn't it worth it?

If you're so hesitant to play this guy, maybe the real mistake was in trading for him at all?

Whitehead's an obvious choice. If you're bringing up a back and sitting one, then it'd be McFadden for a game, though I imagine one of the RBs is going to get a ding sooner or later. When they do, they might end up in the same position Michael's in now.

 

[jazzcat22]

Mickey is fond of flipping questions back at those asking, so I'll give him a taste of his own medicine regarding his Christine Michael comment of "who would you sit?":

Who is so valuable that you couldn't sit them? Are any of the other running backs lighting it up so well that they couldn't be inactive? Are they so invaluable or untouchable? Not based on the early results.

And consider this, what have Lucky Whitehead's contributions been over these first two weeks? Would they miss those contributions vs a possible improvement from the running game?

What about Jeff Heath's contributions? If it makes the running game of a now quarterback-challenged team better, isn't it worth it?

If you're so hesitant to play this guy, maybe the real mistake was in trading for him at all?

He wasn't asked who would sit. He was asked if Michael would get some time to play and how many questions he gets about it.
His answer was with 4 RB's and a FB, who would you sit, as he has not seen anything from Michael in practice that says he would be better than who has been active.

 

[Stash]

Whitehead's an obvious choice. If you're bringing up a back and sitting one, then it'd be McFadden for a game, though I imagine one of the RBs is going to get a ding sooner or later. When they do, they might end up in the same position Michael's in now.

That was my thinking as well. Of the active three, I think Randle and Dunbar look to have defined roles, whereas McFadden seems to just 'be there' fir lack of a better term. He would be my 'sit' choice of the three as well.

And uc Whitehead isn't handling returns, I see little use gir him on the roster, much less active.

 

[Stash]

He wasn't asked who would sit. He was asked if Michael would get some time to play and how many questions he gets about it.
His answer was with 4 RB's and a FB, who would you sit, as he has not seen anything from Michael in practice that says he would be better than who has been active.

And I answered that. None of the three active backs are indispensable and Whitehead is doing nothing.

He was asked a question and instead of answering it, asked one instead. It's a common refrain from a staunch defender like him.

 

[Idgit]

That was my thinking as well. Of the active three, I think Randle and Dunbar look to have defined roles, whereas McFadden seems to just 'be there' fir lack of a better term. He would be my 'sit' choice of the three as well.

And uc Whitehead isn't handling returns, I see little use gir him on the roster, much less active.

Yeah, with the acquisition of Butler, I'm not sure what Whitehead's doing just now.

 

[Cowboysfan1975]

You don't need elite QB play to beat a team like Atlanta. Just manage the game. If you play good D win the time of possession and turnovers. You will win. The one thing that can kill us this week is field postion. We can't make Weeden have to drive 80 yard every series. That is going to cause a lot of short fields for Matt Ryan. He will score a lot if that happens.

 

[Hoofbite]

Michael coming in at RB, how many questions he gets when. Fisher gets a lot, so does Mickey. He said well, who would you sit, and from what he has seen so far, he has not seen evidence Michael could make that big of a difference. Said most of the questions about Michael coming from Aggie fans over and over. LOL.

This is quickly becoming a tired argument. It's obvious the running game is struggling relative to expections and that Dallas has no "lead back" in any true sense of the term, but we're going to sit here and suggest that each of these guys is so invaluable that it's impossible for one of them to be inactive for a week?

Draw from a hat, or maybe the guy with the least amount of playing time sits. In this case it would be McFadden. Is the team really going to be any worse off without his 4 snaps/quarter?