My Meaningless Thoughts On the Game
Yakuza Rich Blog
- I think we've already seen a huge improvement in the special teams. A blocked kick, solid coverage on returns and Buehler was really booming them. Even the ones Buehler didn't get deep into the endzone were into a fierce wind. Even though the defense looked uninspired today, you could see this make a difference because essentially the Bucs needed one more down to get into field goal range and we wound up blocking one of their field goals and seeing Nugent miss the other field.
- Horribly disappointed in the coaching except for the job Joe DeCamillis did. Yep, Romo had a really great day and we scored 34 points. But Garrett still doesn't get how to keep the defense off balance when it comes to running the ball and too often, particularly in the first half, we looked extremely confused, disorganized and undisciplined.
- The same could be said for the defense where the only guys that played well seemed to be Sensabaugh and Ratliff (who had tough duty today against Faine and Joseph). To the offense's credit, they seemed to make adjustments in the second half, in particular getting the plays off more quickly instead of waiting until there was :01 on the play clock every time. The defense just seems to get confused and not set. In the 4th quarter they started knocking Leftwich around pretty good, but it was too late. I don't think the Cowboys can get away with this against good teams and I think we'll see another year where the pass rush gets off to a slow start and comes on at the end and then disappears in crucial games.
- I really loved what I saw out of Sensabaugh today. Gets downhill well, rangy, and closes like a mutha. If he's healthy, we'll love him in Dallas.
- The offensive passing game has now become much more 'slant oriented.' I like this in part because I like the slant and now when we run that dumb 'fake slant into a draw play' at least it makes sense. Why we didn't want to run slants with Owens last year still puzzles me, but we are a slant running offense now. We are also noticeably better at not dropping passes with Roy, Crayton, Martellus and Witten (also Austin who made a great play today).
- Uh, for those who may care (or at least the Cowboys critics), Fasano had 2 lost fumbles today against the Falcons.
- It appears Choice will be our short yardage back. Which I like.
- Would it kill us to run a screen with Felix? Y'know, like how the Eagles use Westbrook and how the Jaguars use Jones-Drew.
- My grade on the refs is probably in the 'D' range. They missed 1 running into the punter. Missed a very obvious face mask. Missed at least 3 noticeable holds in the first half, 2 of which where Ratliff was the victim and the illegal contact call against Sensabaugh that negated an INT was garbage. I'm amazed how the league tries to ignore the quality of refereeing year after year.
- A win is a win in the NFL, especially when it's on the road. I don't think the Bucs will be that good this year and there's some cause for concern, but we saw a team that was better with field position given the improvement in special teams and a QB that didn't turn the ball over once. In fact, I thought Romo limited his poor decisions quite well today. That and the offense does seem to be geared to playing to the WR's strengths. Still, this is a team that needs to get off to better and more disciplined starts and stop focusing their efforts towards making halftime adjustments. We get the G-Men next week at Cowboys Stadium, so the defense, particularly the run defense will have to step up and we'll need more discipline all around. But obviously I think we have a chance. If so, then we could possibly start the season 5-0 going into the bye (Carolina, @ Denver, @ KC). But just like the players, we all need to take it one game at a time.
YAKUZA
