My Meaningless Thoughts On The Game...

[YosemiteSam]

I wouldn't be so sure about that at his age and sticker price.




YAKUZA

What about the sticker price of a broken $68M QB? Your LT is second only to your QB in importance to a team's offense. Without a great LT, your QB is roadkill.

Flozell is a great LT, Free on the other hand is not. The quality between the two isn't even comparable.

 

[dmq]

On a lighter note for Flo, he is at least playing well besides the penalties. Last year he was commiting the penalties, but wasn't playing well (possibly injury related). I honestly think he is playing the best he has since he signed his extension.
About Denver, I just can't just go in expecting Dallas to win. We shoot ourselves in the foot way too often for those expectations.

 

[CowboyWay]

It will be one hell of a feat if Free can be half as dominating as Flo has been. Sure, you can ring him up for one false start a game, but the man shuts down the best pass rushers in the league on a daily bases and is a bruising run blocker to boot.

Yeah, lets get him out of here as fast as possible...

I have to agree with NYC, Rich. Yes, Flo can get on my nerves, but I have zero faith in Doug Free, and Flo can flat out shut some great pass rushers down.

I also agree with another poster who said he wouldn't be unemployed for more than 24 hours if we let him go.

But I pretty much agree with everything else you wrote.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

He's way too inconsistent in his run blocking. He'll look great one play, then get bowled over or whiff on the next.

There's no doubt that Martellus has an abundance of talent and I honestly believe he could play the TE position quite like nobody ever has before with his deep pass ability, open field ability, pass protection and run blocking. But he makes a ton of mistakes out there.

And if I'm going to give somebody credit on the success of the running game in the last 2 games, I look at Kosier, Cricket, Roy Williams, Witten, and the rest of the O-Line wayyy before I talk about Bennett.

I haven’t seen any of this. Please provide video of Bennett getting “bowled” over. Love to see it, i will forward to him on twitter. He has a large role for a second year player and i think he has done well. And as long as Witten is here, he will never get alot of passes thrown his way.

 

[burmafrd]

You blew your credibility Yakuza on that BS about FREE being able to replace Flo and do well. THERE is NO evidence that you can show that supports that at all.

 

[RS12]

- He gets booed a lot here, but I love Roy E. Williams' play and the next mediot who uses the snide moniker of 'coachable' Roy Williams should be thrown down a flight of stairs. Roy plays hard EVERY DOWN. He blocks like a mother. He's doing everything he's been told to do.

I want alot more out of him then what I've seen so far. He's a nice blocker, but he needs to do more for the price they paid. When I look at him I dont see a legitimate number one reciever.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I disagree here. When you see the replay, there is no one within 15 yards of Choice. And there was a reward of a first down. I thought this was a good play by Romo.

I have to agree strongly with Rich here. It doesn't matter if there is anybody around or not. That is a dangerous past at best and it will most certainly cost you 6 points if it is picked. You just don't make that throw, no matter what. In a situation like that, where your vision is not on the defense but back across the field, you can't know who is breaking on the ball or who might be lurking behind the OL. Who is peeling back etc. It's a bad pass and I wish Romo would figure out that it's not worth the risk. The only way to gain the discipline needed to really take good care of the ball is to drive a stake in the ground and say to yourself, I'm not going to take those kinds of chances with the football. Until you do that, you will always be a risk waiting to happen IMO.

 

[Vintage]

I thought Romo was "D-O-N-E" Yakuza?

Are you backtracking?

Or do you stand by that comment?

 

[theebs]

Interesting, you want romo and flo removed.

I bet we would win alot of games with doug free and jon kitna.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I thought Romo was "D-O-N-E" Yakuza?

Are you backtracking?

Or do you stand by that comment?

Yes, I stand by that comment until he proves me otherwise. If he does, I'll freely admit that I was wrong.

But I still think we need to look into replacing him after this season if they can feasibly do so. Seriously, let's say Romo puts in another December performance like he did last year, would you still be convinced that he can get it done in the postseason? I think the opposite would be the case in that fans would be more convinced that he couldn't get it done.

Personally, I still see a lot of the same old Romo out there. I'm glad we won. I'm glad Romo played pretty well in this game. I believe that Garrett can learn something about Romo from this game. But even still, the G-Men game convinced me that when things are not going well for him, he'll be reckless with the ball and kill the team.

Furthermore, I think this victory against the Panthers shows the type of football the Cowboys need to play on a consistent basis. Make the other team really earn every point they get. If they want to score points, then they'll need to drive 60-90 yards to get it.

Lots a positive, but still lots of room for concern, especially at QB.





YAKUZA

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Interesting, you want romo and flo removed.

I bet we would win alot of games with doug free and jon kitna.

Interesting that you take my comments out of context.

I want them replaced come next season. I think Free can come in and do a solid job for us without killing drives. Furthermore, you had better get used to living without Flo soon because penalties aside, you have to wonder how much he has left in the tank. I'm very happy with Free's progress and apparently so is Hudson Houck, who knows a thing or seven about O-Linemen.

Romo I want replaced (unless he proves me wrong) with a suitable trade. Trading him away for peanuts or outright releasing him is a dumb move. But a trade that reasonably meets his trade value is something I'm interested in given the upcoming QB draft class and the fact that I still see too much of the same old Romo.

I really am interested to see what the reactions are if Romo has another December like he had last year. We supposedly gave him a 'Tony Romo friendly offense', we've given him the running game, the O-Line, the WR's, the TE's, etc. He has shown nothing so far that says he can turn it around come December. So if I was Jerry Jones, I'd try to find a suitable trade for him unless the scouts tell me the upcoming QB draft class is junk and I have no takers.





YAKUZA

 

[burmafrd]

Still waiting for any REAL evidence that Free can even carry the Hotels Jock let alone competently replace him.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Why in the world would anyone want to trade Tony Romo?

Look at the last 6 Super Bowl winners, all Quarterbacks were drafted or spent most of their careers with their teams.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I must say Rich, I've always considered you one of the most level-headed people on this board... But your sudden GROR (Get Rid Of Romo) has left me puzzled.

Yeah, the guy has "warts", but from where I'm standing I do not see any QB out there who doesn't have a weakness or two.

I honestly can't see it being very easy to find another QB with the production capability of Romo. Not when you combine his accuracy numbers with his elusiveness in the pocket with his eagerness to look for the "big throw" (yeah, I consider that to be a positive). The fact is the guy is going to be in the top-5 of all QB's when it comes to passer rating very, very shortly.

Yeah, I can understand how you would want a QB who makes less mistakes, but I'm betting you're going to get one with much less production. You just don't find guys who can maintain a 95 passer rating under a log.

And to think that's going to take a single 1st round draft pick QB to replace Romo-- well, I think the odds are stacked against it. Heck, this team could go through 2 or 3 or 5 drafted QB's until it found one that could maintain an 85 passer rating.

I'm a business guy. An entrepreneur if you will. And contrary to popular opinion, entrepreneurs-- at least the successful ones aren't risk takers. And giving up on Romo in order to give the "keys" over to an unproven rookie scares my entrepreneurial bones to the core.

 

[dbair1967]

-

Somebody in the local Dallas media insinuated to Wade that the PI on Muhammad was a bad call. There are some people who cannot fathom seeing Dallas have one iota of success.

Yeah I dont get that at all. Muhammad was only able to catch the ball because he pushed Jenkins forward. Thats pretty much what PI is. I think Jenkins at the least would have deflecetd it, and maybe had a pick otherwise.

- I don't hate the guy, but I am looking forward to the end of the Flozell era. Too frustrating. He was a good to great 2nd round pick, had a nice career with us, but it would be nice if Doug Free can step right in come 2010. I think you keep Flo around for the rest of the year and release him. If Free gets hurt, then maybe bring Flo back.

As long as he does what he has been doing run and pass blocking, I dont see why anyone cares. Maybe you guys would prefer a Torrin Tucker type again, somebody who doesnt get many flags but couldnt block to save his arse.

- To be negative, Garrett had a rough game. He impressed me the last 6 quarters before this game and I didn't like what I saw today.

Big headscratcher here. He's done a fantastic job. We didnt get the pts we would have all liked to see yesterday, but we controlled the ball and didnt force things downfield either. Having 400+ yds and 37 mins TOP is doing a great job.

- Gotta give Hudson Houck credit, he made pass protection adjustments in the second half and the run blocking was great.

I've said since day one he was a great hire. He's made them all better players, but Kosier's development is a massive leap. He went from being a decent starter to what appears to be a borderline probowler.

- Victor Butler was impressive out there. He blew right by Jeff Otah, considered easily the best RT in the '08 draft. And he did it twice.

Butler's PT is definitely going to be going up. Only had 5 snaps last night.

- Another great job by the run defense.

It was pretty good, but they still had some lapses. Gotta tighten up a few things still. Having a guy run for a first down on a give up 3rd and 16 draw play is ridiculous.

- I don't know why Carpenter gets this much playing time. If you want to conserve Brooking, then okay. But come crucial games I'm giving Brooking the nickel backer spot because Carpenter blows.

I havent rewatched the game yet, but I am pretty sure I saw Brooking out there on some 3rd downs last night.

- He gets booed a lot here, but I love Roy E. Williams' play and the next mediot who uses the snide moniker of 'coachable' Roy Williams should be thrown down a flight of stairs. Roy plays hard EVERY DOWN. He blocks like a mother. He's doing everything he's been told to do.

We might have the best pair of blocking WR's in football. Roy's gonna get his receptions too. But he's gotta make that catch on the GL.

- Martellus needs to step up his play, he's been putrid so far. Perhaps more time working on the jugs machine and less time making stupid YouTube videos would help. Nobody should want to be known as being famous for being famous. That's not what a football player is, that's Paris Hilton.

Huh? He's hardly been thrown too, and the one's he has have been little short dink and dunk things. I havent seen anything negative out of him at all, and his blocking has been outstanding.

- Great job by Newman and Mike Jenkins. Newman has some tackling problems early on, but pretty much shut down Steve Smith...AGAIN. Jenkins looked downright good tonight. Big turnaround from the corners, but Hamlin's play is problematic.

Yep.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I must say Rich, I've always considered you one of the most level-headed people on this board... But your sudden GROR (Get Rid Of Romo) has left me puzzled.

Yeah, the guy has "warts", but from where I'm standing I do not see any QB out there who doesn't have a weakness or two.

I honestly can't see it being very easy to find another QB with the production capability of Romo. Not when you combine his accuracy numbers with his elusiveness in the pocket with his eagerness to look for the "big throw" (yeah, I consider that to be a positive). The fact is the guy is going to be in the top-5 of all QB's when it comes to passer rating very, very shortly.

Yeah, I can understand how you would want a QB who makes less mistakes, but I'm betting you're going to get one with much less production. You just don't find guys who can maintain a 95 passer rating under a log.

And to think that's going to take a single 1st round draft pick QB to replace Romo-- well, I think the odds are stacked against it. Heck, this team could go through 2 or 3 or 5 drafted QB's until it found one that could maintain an 85 passer rating.

I'm a business guy. An entrepreneur if you will. And contrary to popular opinion, entrepreneurs-- at least the successful ones aren't risk takers. And giving up on Romo in order to give the "keys" over to an unproven rookie scares my entrepreneurial bones to the core.

I will note that I don't want Jerry making the decision on a QB. That's not a 'Jerry ruins everything' criticism. I think Jerry has played a big role in basically drafting other players (and some FA's) that have worked out well. Newman, Bigg Davis, Ware before Spears, Felix, etc.

But evaluating a QB seems to be Jerry's biggest weakness. Since '01 he pretty much pulled the trigger on Quincy, Hutchinson and Henson. When Bledsoe was done with, he wanted to still keep him as the starter despite Romo being clearly the better QB.

But, I believe the scouts can draft a quality QB. Especially in this draft class of Tebow, McCoy and Bradford.

Anyway, entrepreneurs...at least good ones...are risk takers. But there's a difference between a risk taker and a gambler. A risk taker calculates the risk and reward and when the odds are in their favor, they take the risk. A gambler doesn't really calculate the risk and reward and when he comes up good, he looks like a genius. But he's more likely to fail since the odds are not his favor. That's part of Jerry's problem over the years...too much gambling, not enough risk/reward calculation.

I look at Romo and any player as you have to give them some chances, but you have to realize sooner or later whether they can reach the goals you want them to achieve.

I'm not saying that he's nearly as good as Romo, but the same could be said for Kyle Boller. He did show some flashes, but after awhile the Ravens realized that he just didn't have it and they looked elsewhere. Now they have Flacco who is looking pretty darn good.

Again, if Romo really struggles in December again...and all indications are that he will over than he won't....I really wonder where people will stand on this.





YAKUZA

 

[theogt]

Again, if Romo really struggles in December again...and all indications are that he will over than he won't....I really wonder where people will stand on this.

Oh, I'm sure most fans would be calling for his head.

But that doesn't mean it's not an incredibly stupid position. The idea that you would compare Romo's first few seasons to Boller's is completely beyond me.

 

[Zaxor]

Getting rid of Romo....hmmm nope not a good idea.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Flozell has held Osi U and Peppers to a combined 2 tackles without much help and people are still down on him?? My goodness!

Finding a good LT is almost as hard as finding a good starting QB.
Dude, you're kidding yourself if you think you can release Flozell Adams and expect him to be unemployed for more than 24 hours.

I kinda agree with you on his journeyman work on Monday night.
Having said that, I and a lot of fans just don't like Flo because he is generally stupid, that's all.
And I know stuped because I am from Farmers Branch.

 

[Ken]

Yes, I stand by that comment until he proves me otherwise. If he does, I'll freely admit that I was wrong.

But I still think we need to look into replacing him after this season if they can feasibly do so. Seriously, let's say Romo puts in another December performance like he did last year, would you still be convinced that he can get it done in the postseason? I think the opposite would be the case in that fans would be more convinced that he couldn't get it done.

Personally, I still see a lot of the same old Romo out there. I'm glad we won. I'm glad Romo played pretty well in this game. I believe that Garrett can learn something about Romo from this game. But even still, the G-Men game convinced me that when things are not going well for him, he'll be reckless with the ball and kill the team.

Furthermore, I think this victory against the Panthers shows the type of football the Cowboys need to play on a consistent basis. Make the other team really earn every point they get. If they want to score points, then they'll need to drive 60-90 yards to get it.

Lots a positive, but still lots of room for concern, especially at QB.





YAKUZA

Hmmm....last year's December had the toughest defenses in the league to play against all in one month.

I can't say I was surprised he didn't put up 150 qb ratings in those games, are you?

Especially when the OC is employing a pass first approach to attacking those teams.

I think to NOT acknowledge that Romo has made serious improvements in regards to protecting the ball in the pocket (and taking sacks he normally would have tried to do something crazy with) and on the run, is just plain silly.

He has 0 fumbles this year.