My meaningless thoughts on the game...

[morasp]

If we keep playing like this Romo won't have to worry about not winning a playoff game because we won't even be in the playoffs. The bottom line was the cardinals palyed like their pants were on fire and we didn't. They wanted it more.

 

[BIGDen]

Pretty flawless post Rich. Nice job. Until that nightmare of an ending, wasn't last season SO MUCH mor fun to watch? Now it's just disappointment - even when we win at times. How sad.

 

[noletime95]

Good stuff.......couple other things that are very much related.....

Dallas needed a young ILB a couple drafts ago. Zach Thomas is just another expensive stop gap.

Dallas has needed a young WR for some time now. TO and Glenn were both old a couple years ago. Glenn is gone. TO isn't getting younger. Yet no replacement. Only Stanback was drafted to provide some effort here.....but he was always a gamble.

Dallas has missed on several OL in the draft. That's why the Boys traded for Holland. And he hasn't done much yet. Peterson, Marten, Rogers all gone. Mcquinston, who we all thought was a player, can't crack an OL with an injury. Free I guess is a good prospect. Maybe he'd be better than Flo in a few months with PT. Another tough call a GM has to make at times.

Dallas really hasn't addressed saftey in several years, besides Watkins in the 5th. The middle of the field hasn't been reinforced for some time.

It's all about the draft.

 

[dbair1967]

We held a high scoring team to 17 points on offense. Giving our defense no credit for the turnovers seem a bit insane. Who exactly recovered them? The offense? Hustle does mean something in this game you know. That is exactly why TO was mouthing off to Gurode, who happened to miss a ball laying right in front of him.

The defense kept us in this game in the 1st half, while Romo was busy fumbling 5 TIMES through the course of the game, not even including the INT he threw that Crayton managed to knock loose.

There is plenty of blame to go around after this loss, but calling the defense AWFUL seems a bit much. Special teams on the other hand......

And we will make he playoffs. Feel free to put your money where your mouth is if you disagree. It's a long season, we have time to improve.

There absolutely is plenty of blame to go around. The defense is bad, th special teams are horrible and the offense is stuck in the mud.

We'll see about the playoffs. We havent played the Giants once and still have to go to Washington, Philly and Pittsburgh. Today, we dont look anything even remotely close to a playoff team, let alone a real contender. This team wasnt supposed to be a team that barely got in the playoffs, they were supposed to be a focused, hungry bunch that knew they had to finish games, finish the season and have success in the playoffs. I dont see this team accomplishing any of that.

 

[Smith22]

There absolutely is plenty of blame to go around. The defense is bad, th special teams are horrible and the offense is stuck in the mud.

We'll see about the playoffs. We havent played the Giants once and still have to go to Washington, Philly and Pittsburgh. Today, we dont look anything even remotely close to a playoff team, let alone a real contender. This team wasnt supposed to be a team that barely got in the playoffs, they were supposed to be a focused, hungry bunch that knew they had to finish games, finish the season and have success in the playoffs. I dont see this team accomplishing any of that.

I'm as disappointed as you are, trust me. I was yelling at the TV the entire game, especially the last 10 minutes or so. Romo can and will play better. We will get TNew back at some point. I believe the defense can play better, especially IF Spencer can stay healthy.

My main concern is special teams play, Kosier coming back, and hearing an update on Adams, because he got destroyed the entire 2nd half.

All that said, there is plenty of time left in this season to work things out and be ready come playoff time.

 

[jimmy40]

There absolutely is plenty of blame to go around. The defense is bad, th special teams are horrible and the offense is stuck in the mud.

We'll see about the playoffs. We havent played the Giants once and still have to go to Washington, Philly and Pittsburgh. Today, we dont look anything even remotely close to a playoff team, let alone a real contender. This team wasnt supposed to be a team that barely got in the playoffs, they were supposed to be a focused, hungry bunch that knew they had to finish games, finish the season and have success in the playoffs. I dont see this team accomplishing any of that.

Ok, now I'm not used to being a ray of sunshine here but looks to me like we're an NBA team, waiting for the playoffs, AND WE WILL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS.

 

[Cbz40]

Ya know Rich, I really wished you waited until Mon, so you're "meaningless" thoughts aren't lost in the postgame aftermath...

ditto...

 

[Smith22]

AND WE WILL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS.

Now you're talking.starspinstarspin

 

[big dog cowboy]

- I can't blame the defense too much, but it just seems like they rarely step it up when we need it or could really use it. The offense will put the team up by 7 points and it seems like the opposing team is almost guaranteed to score a touchdown on the next possession.

Another great "meaningless thoughts" thread as usual Rich.

The above point you make is so correct and is so irratating.

 

[jobberone]

My meaningless thoughts on the game...
by Yakuza Rich
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com

BTW, I'm not sure I have ever seen a post by you be meaningless.


- That's how you lose a game. You constantly make mistakes and it's fair to say they lost the game in the trenches.

Pretty much. The problems with the majority of the mistakes lies partly with Romo of course. But I blame Wade and mostly Jason for not giving Flo help. He puts a TE or RB to help and we aren't looking for balls on the ground for the most part. Colombo didn't have a great game either but Flo was outmatched all night.


- The ugliness of the special teams in preseason is starting to rear its ugly head.

Yep.


- There were some other problems on offense, but Romo has to do a better job of taking care of the ball. If he wants to be known as the guy that can't win a playoff game, just keep on doing what he's been doing.

See above. Jason never gave any help to Adams. Sure that takes away a play maker but if you need a TE then you just need one. And not enough change to defeat a pass rush otherwise although another blocker would have mostly taken care of it.


- That being said, Colombo and Flo were pretty bad today. In fact, Flo was lousy. They managed to make Travis Laboy look like Deacon Jones. The Cardinals DE's would just line up out wide and use the speed rush (and sprinkle a few inside rushes just to keep them off balance).

Yep.


- I can't blame the defense too much, but it just seems like they rarely step it up when we need it or could really use it. The offense will put the team up by 7 points and it seems like the opposing team is almost guaranteed to score a touchdown on the next possession.

No confusion with this defense and Doomsday. Ratliff and Ware can only do so much. When they blitzed it worked for the most part. If you're going to blitz make sure you send enough to do the job. They obviously don't trust the safeties nor the team speed.

- Yes, we lack team speed. One of the things I've noticed in the first 5 games is not that we miss tackles, but usually the opposing player can break a tackle and then make a play. If you watch the rest of the league that usually doesn't happen because their defense is fast enough that if they miss a tackle at least that slows the ballcarrier down and somebody else can make the tackle. They didn't miss a tackle on the 3rd and 17 play, but the ball was tipped and we should have enough speed on defense to make a stop after something like that happens. Instead we didn't.

I can buy that as part of it but there are too many missed tackles and that has to be some coaching problem. I seriously doubt if Wade had them lining up against each other in camp. Or tackling drills. Some of this is on Wade and Stewart. You have to have some contact in camp Wade. If I'm wrong some one point out we actually did this in camp. I wasn't there but it sure appears to have been omitted.


- I'm still awaiting to see where the Greg Ellis Jerry Jones paid for and who complains every offseason is.

He's there. He could do more. Again Ratliff and Ware can only do so much. Where was Canty tonite? I saw Spears but not enough. A lot of that is 3-4 but great players make great plays. Ware makes them. Every game he makes a play when needed.


- Anthony Henry is pretty much done with. We need to go Jones and Newman (when he's back healthy) in the starting lineup.

Henry needs to go to safety. I finally see it for certain. He's lost something. I don't trust myself to discuss the safeties.


- Folk will probably get knocked, but I give him credit for nailing the 52 yarder with the game on the line. We've come a long ways since the Parcells days of me being legitimately nervous on extra point attempts and thinking anything made over 40 yards was pure, unadulterated luck.

Folk = MONEY. Jerry gets more bang for the buck with this guy than any other player on this team. 54 yarder. NP. I KNEW he would make that kick.


- Hey, at least we didn't lose to the Rams....at home.

No comment. The humor is lost on me at my age and health.


- I predicted the Cowboys to win, basically because they've been so strong on the road with Romo...but this game just had a bad feeling to it. We're still in good position to make the playoffs, but as much as I hate to say it, it's noticeable to me that unless they get hot in the end like the Giants did, this team isn't a Super Bowl team. The defense doesn't give you the stops that championship defenses give and Romo is too turnover prone and the offense revolves too much around getting Owens going. And with this week's distractions and an owner that I like, but who also likes the spotlight and putting his team in the spotlight which leads to distractions, it's just a recipe for underachievement and disappointment to me.

agree. Defense isn't a championship one. Jerry is paying for not having another WR. TO makes a difference. Fitzgerald shows that even more. Having something on the other side would make this team scary the right kind of way.






YAKUZA

Good post as usual. All over it. Add directed intensity. They have intensity. It's just not focused properly. That's a coaching problem for the most part.

I always enjoy your posts. I wish you'd post more often.

 

[morasp]

YAKUZA

Thanks for posting it today, it was a good read. I'm finding myself less and less interested in the Coyboys through the week.

 

[dmq]

Boy am I glad I was at a reunion and didn't watch the game. Although from watching previous games this season I am starting to see a patern here. I already admitted to a Giant fan from work last week that this team doesn't seem to have a backbone. Looks like it proved itself again. I think Parcells saw this 2 years ago and cut his loses.

 

[cowboyz]

just rewatched the game. cowboys offense had a ton of chances to win that game, 3 times deep in cardinals terroritory and came back with 0 pts. it's amazing how the loss of the worst player on this oline has made such a difference. goes back to the draft and the failure to build depth.

to stay positive i'm only talking about what to look forward to.

ratliff is a monster. when he was in the arizona offense did nothing. just abused the center/guard and even allowed wade to start using his inside blitzes effectively.

spencer is looking like the future, just needs to stay on the field.

bennett for his blocking. the guy will soon be the best blocker on the team.

garrett. really liked what he did. he really tried. went to the 3TE set with TO split out. quick 3 step drops. stayed with the run game. but sometimes no matter what you do. the players have to execute.

you're right though the team lacks speed. the patriots made up for it with smarts. but besides zach thomas, this defense is dumb. they also have no idea how to tackle.

offensively, besides felix they have no quick guys either. that lack of explosiveness is really killing the passing offense because only witten can get open consistently.