My Meaningless Thoughts On The Game...

[Yakuza Rich]

- I'm not sure what was worse, the refereeing, the NBC coverage or listening to Chris Collinsworth tonight.

- I actually thought McNabb got the first down, but the Cowboys were getting hosed all game long. The Eagles probably should have had at least 15 penalties against them as it seemed like they held on every other passing play and yet never got called for a holding call. There was a PI on Roy that they missed and a bad block in the back that they missed. But the missed holding calls really puzzle me since last year in Week 2 the Eagles O-Line was holding like crazy and the refs missed it again. On one hand I felt like the McNabb sneak play was justice for the Cowboys, but I knew that it was going to be used as a weak excuse as the refs being bad against the Eagles, which really wasn't the case.

- NBC seems to not understand that fans don't care about some highlight from some other game or whatever and actually like to see every play and replays of close plays as well. Tough concept to understand and believe, I guess.

- My LORD, did Collinsworth have his Eagles pom poms and underwear tonight, with a pic of Harold Carmichael in the front and a picture of Bill Bergy in the back.

I talked to a friend that is in the sports broadcasting business and awhile ago he was talking about how revered of a football announcer Collinsworth is. It really surprised me back then and after watching tonight, I find that impossible to be true...or the Sports Broadcasting industry is filled with morons. I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh and I thought he served no purpose on ESPN, but he may just be right. The apologizing for McNabb in the media is just relentless. Even still, CC just gushed about the Eagles all game long.

- Well, I figured it out. The Cowboys must have less stars than the Eagles. That's why we won, according to Jon Harbaugh logic.

- David Akers will not miss against us. I think he'd split the uprights from 50 yards if the ball was made out of wood.

- Give it up to Victor Butler, he made a H-U-G-E play tonight. I was disappointed a bit in Spencer's play tonight. I get the feeling he might see less playing time or lose his starting job next season to Butler if everything keeps going the same way.

- THIS is much of what I saw when I charted the first few games or so of Roy Williams. The guy gets opens A LOT on those slant plays. Romo wasn't finding him before, but found him tonight. The extra practice paid off.

- Last year I took Garrett to task with that 'fake slant into a draw' running play. The big problem is that last season we simply did not run slant plays, so you weren't really fooling anybody. But this year we do run slant plays and that fake slant into a draw is now working. Gotta give Garrett a lot of credit here, the Eagles and the G-Men love to blitz, so he needed to find some plays to counter the blitz. The slant and the draw do that, and the fake slant into a draw gave the Eagles some problems.

- Hey, a safety got a pick tonight. So no more '1 pick in the last 29 games from our safeties.' Still, we need more picks from the safeties.

- Mike Jenkins is looking really, really good right now. He's got a beautiful combination of a size, speed, quickness, physicality, and having good hands and making plays on the ball. Most corners are usually fast, but small or physical, but slow. Or they don't have good hands. Jenkins looks like he has all of the tools.

- While I ranked on Collinsworth's commentary, he did make some thoughts that I agreed with about Romo in the end. Basically that when you play the Eagles you have to accept the fact that you are going to get sacked and not get those clean pockets. So you have to just eat some sacks and protect the ball. Romo did that for the most part tonight. Of course, we have a few weeks before December rolls around and he and the team will have to prove themselves. He seems to be taking the steps in the right direction and has regained his anticipation. I won't fall for him playing really well in November and then tanking in December, but like I said, he *seems* be taking the right steps.

- I thought Carp played really well tonight. Maybe he does have a spot on this team.

- Let's stop calling it the Wildcat, and we'll call it the 'Yellow Jacket.' Of course, when Vick is running it, they can call it the 'Kennel Club Formation.'

- He played pretty well today, but Jason Witten doesn't seem to be running quite like he used to.

- Well, where was DeSean 'Fraction' Jackson? I guess that nickname is fitting since he looked like a fraction of himself tonight.

- OGLETREE!

- I know it didn't feel like it, but Dallas went 7/15 on 3rd downs and the Eagles went 4/12 on 3rd downs. Big difference.

- FIRST PLACE! But I think this is the type of game that Dallas needed to win in this type of fashion. Decent offensive performance, solid defensive play, don't give up the big play, protect the ball and beat them on special teams. While it's nice to win those Seattle type games where you beat the opponent comfortably, that becomes rare as the season develops. I think weather and injuries are the biggest factors, so being able to play good defense, run the ball, protect the ball and play good special teams can make for a successful postseason team.

Still, we have to keep things in check because Green Bay won't be easy (even if they lost to TB today) and then the Commanders will likely give us a run for our money. I'd really like to see us win the next 3 games, but more importantly to protect the football and make opponents really earn every point they score, much like tonight.

Very happy with this performance because not only did we beat the stinking Eagles, but we had a team that BSPN ESPN tried to make controversy out of nothing and the team actually came together, spurred on by our QB who said that this TEAM is too strong to let frauds and opportunists in the media tear it apart.

For all of that talk of Roy taking some shot at Tony and Miles, all it led to was Roy and Tony spending time after practice to keep working on their game and it obviously showed tonight.

Way to go fellas. You made Cowboys fans proud.






YAKUZA

 

[Duane]

From my layman's point of view it looks like we finally got Williams to run plays where he didn't have to make many route decisions. This makes it easier for both he and Tony to be on the same page.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Last year I took Garrett to task with that 'fake slant into a draw' running play. The big problem is that last season we simply did not run slant plays, so you weren't really fooling anybody. But this year we do run slant plays and that fake slant into a draw is now working. Gotta give Garrett a lot of credit here, the Eagles and the G-Men love to blitz, so he needed to find some plays to counter the blitz. The slant and the draw do that, and the fake slant into a draw gave the Eagles some problems.

Why do you think that the CB bites on that situation? 3rd and 13 (I think), anyhow.....you can let him catch it....then tackle him short of the 1st down and we are punting.

However, I am glad he bit on the ROMO pump fake ;-)

 

[Temo]

- I like Cris Collinsworth, think he's one of the best out there.

- Slant/draw plays worked well last year as well.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Why do you think that the CB bites on that situation? 3rd and 13 (I think), anyhow.....you can let him catch it....then tackle him short of the 1st down and we are punting.

However, I am glad he bit on the ROMO pump fake ;-)

That was a poor play by the corner because the LB was helping out, but you can pick up a 3rd and 13 on a slant if the throw is pretty good.




YAKUZA

 

[Lifetimeboyzfan]

- I'm not sure what was worse, the refereeing, the NBC coverage or listening to Chris Collinsworth tonight.

- I actually thought McNabb got the first down, but the Cowboys were getting hosed all game long. The Eagles probably should have had at least 15 penalties against them as it seemed like they held on every other passing play and yet never got called for a holding call. There was a PI on Roy that they missed and a bad block in the back that they missed. But the missed holding calls really puzzle me since last year in Week 2 the Eagles O-Line was holding like crazy and the refs missed it again. On one hand I felt like the McNabb sneak play was justice for the Cowboys, but I knew that it was going to be used as a weak excuse as the refs being bad against the Eagles, which really wasn't the case.

- NBC seems to not understand that fans don't care about some highlight from some other game or whatever and actually like to see every play and replays of close plays as well. Tough concept to understand and believe, I guess.

- My LORD, did Collinsworth have his Eagles pom poms and underwear tonight, with a pic of Harold Carmichael in the front and a picture of Bill Bergy in the back.

I talked to a friend that is in the sports broadcasting business and awhile ago he was talking about how revered of a football announcer Collinsworth is. It really surprised me back then and after watching tonight, I find that impossible to be true...or the Sports Broadcasting industry is filled with morons. I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh and I thought he served no purpose on ESPN, but he may just be right. The apologizing for McNabb in the media is just relentless. Even still, CC just gushed about the Eagles all game long.

- Well, I figured it out. The Cowboys must have less stars than the Eagles. That's why we won, according to Jon Harbaugh logic.

- David Akers will not miss against us. I think he'd split the uprights from 50 yards if the ball was made out of wood.

- Give it up to Victor Butler, he made a H-U-G-E play tonight. I was disappointed a bit in Spencer's play tonight. I get the feeling he might see less playing time or lose his starting job next season to Butler if everything keeps going the same way.

- THIS is much of what I saw when I charted the first few games or so of Roy Williams. The guy gets opens A LOT on those slant plays. Romo wasn't finding him before, but found him tonight. The extra practice paid off.

- Last year I took Garrett to task with that 'fake slant into a draw' running play. The big problem is that last season we simply did not run slant plays, so you weren't really fooling anybody. But this year we do run slant plays and that fake slant into a draw is now working. Gotta give Garrett a lot of credit here, the Eagles and the G-Men love to blitz, so he needed to find some plays to counter the blitz. The slant and the draw do that, and the fake slant into a draw gave the Eagles some problems.

- Hey, a safety got a pick tonight. So no more '1 pick in the last 29 games from our safeties.' Still, we need more picks from the safeties.

- Mike Jenkins is looking really, really good right now. He's got a beautiful combination of a size, speed, quickness, physicality, and having good hands and making plays on the ball. Most corners are usually fast, but small or physical, but slow. Or they don't have good hands. Jenkins looks like he has all of the tools.

- While I ranked on Collinsworth's commentary, he did make some thoughts that I agreed with about Romo in the end. Basically that when you play the Eagles you have to accept the fact that you are going to get sacked and not get those clean pockets. So you have to just eat some sacks and protect the ball. Romo did that for the most part tonight. Of course, we have a few weeks before December rolls around and he and the team will have to prove themselves. He seems to be taking the steps in the right direction and has regained his anticipation. I won't fall for him playing really well in November and then tanking in December, but like I said, he *seems* be taking the right steps.

- I thought Carp played really well tonight. Maybe he does have a spot on this team.

- Let's stop calling it the Wildcat, and we'll call it the 'Yellow Jacket.' Of course, when Vick is running it, they can call it the 'Kennel Club Formation.'

- He played pretty well today, but Jason Witten doesn't seem to be running quite like he used to.

- Well, where was DeSean 'Fraction' Jackson? I guess that nickname is fitting since he looked like a fraction of himself tonight.

- OGLETREE!

- I know it didn't feel like it, but Dallas went 7/15 on 3rd downs and the Eagles went 4/12 on 3rd downs. Big difference.

- FIRST PLACE! But I think this is the type of game that Dallas needed to win in this type of fashion. Decent offensive performance, solid defensive play, don't give up the big play, protect the ball and beat them on special teams. While it's nice to win those Seattle type games where you beat the opponent comfortably, that becomes rare as the season develops. I think weather and injuries are the biggest factors, so being able to play good defense, run the ball, protect the ball and play good special teams can make for a successful postseason team.

Still, we have to keep things in check because Green Bay won't be easy (even if they lost to TB today) and then the Commanders will likely give us a run for our money. I'd really like to see us win the next 3 games, but more importantly to protect the football and make opponents really earn every point they score, much like tonight.

Very happy with this performance because not only did we beat the stinking Eagles, but we had a team that BSPN ESPN tried to make controversy out of nothing and the team actually came together, spurred on by our QB who said that this TEAM is too strong to let frauds and opportunists in the media tear it apart.

For all of that talk of Roy taking some shot at Tony and Miles, all it led to was Roy and Tony spending time after practice to keep working on their game and it obviously showed tonight.

Way to go fellas. You made Cowboys fans proud.






YAKUZA

Great post! Thank you for sharing... Are you serious with your sig though or being "tongue in cheek"?

 

[theebs]

We are the cowboys. ITs the razorback formation, they have called it that from day 1!!!!!!!!

 

[Yakuza Rich]

- I like Cris Collinsworth, think he's one of the best out there.

- Slant/draw plays worked well last year as well.

I just don't get CC's appeal. Forget about last night for a second, he seems to say some unbelievably stupid stuff compared to having keen insight. It's almost a 3:1 ratio.

The slant/draw plays worked pretty well at first last year, then stunk after awhile because Dallas didn't throw slant plays. Almost like Mike Martz calling play action when his Rams teams wouldn't run the ball. AFter awhile the defense isn't fooled.

Now we have some receivers that runs slants pretty well and we actually call those plays. The Eagles and G-Men have that same philosophy of stacking the LOS, then making the QB figure out who is coming and who is dropping back in the zone. But now that we run slant plays, we can fake the slant and cause the defenders to drop back in the zone while we run the ball to the RB.






YAKUZA

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Great post! Thank you for sharing... Are you serious with your sig though or being "tongue in cheeck"?

I still have to see it be done in December and beyond. I'm not demanding a SB, but good play in December and beyond.

I believe if you ask an unbiased NFL observer, who doesn't like nor hate the Cowboys, they would tell you that there is still question in their mind if Romo can get it done in December and beyond.

I think he's taking the right steps to do this. He's protecting the ball much better and his fumbles are less. He's eating sacks when he has to. He takes responsibility for INT's instead of blowing them off like a punt.

Hey, that's really great. Gives me optimism. But let's see what he can do in December and beyond. Because if he doesn't, then something has to give IMO.





YAKUZA

 

[ShiningStar]

I have to agree expect for Butler, lets let him learn the game first and take his time before he creates constant mistakes while learning the speed of the game. I remember when people wanted Hatcher all the time. A couple plays out of playing the whole game doesnt make you an instant starter.

Its good hes making of his opportunities but lets not forget its a play here and a play there.

Great post as always and who knows what happens in a few weeks, but since the Giants got to ride it high so will we.

So much for the less stars makes you a better organization.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

We are the cowboys. ITs the razorback formation, they have called it that from day 1!!!!!!!!

But when Choice is a GT YellowJacket, it should be called the Yellow Jacket formation.





YAKUZA

 

[Lifetimeboyzfan]

I still have to see it be done in December and beyond. I'm not demanding a SB, but good play in December and beyond.

I believe if you ask an unbiased NFL observer, who doesn't like nor hate the Cowboys, they would tell you that there is still question in their mind if Romo can get it done in December and beyond.

I think he's taking the right steps to do this. He's protecting the ball much better and his fumbles are less. He's eating sacks when he has to. He takes responsibility for INT's instead of blowing them off like a punt.

Hey, that's really great. Gives me optimism. But let's see what he can do in December and beyond. Because if he doesn't, then something has to give IMO.





YAKUZA

Fair enough I suppose, I just don't buy the whole "he forgets how to play or coach in December and beyond" line of thinking. Romo can play ball any month of the year, I also believe Wade is a good coach anytime he is coaching, regardless of the month... I guess to me, you can play or you can't, you can coach or you can't.

 

[LeonDixson]

Rich, I agree with your comment on Witten looking slow. He's never been "fast" per se, but he looks like he's plodding most of the time now.

He did look good on one route up the middle and again in the endzone but didn't get the ball either time. Maybe it's just my perception that is off kilter.

 

[Screw The Hall]

If we are going to talk about the refereeing then don't forget about the worst no-call of the game. Celek clearly pushed off on Sensabaugh for what was as obvious an offensive pass interference call as you are ever going to see on the Philly TD.

I was dumbfounded when Michaels nor Collinsworth pointed it out when the play was challenged by Phillips since the replay showed it clearly. But then a far less obvious OPI call was caught by the officials against Witten.

BTW I disagree with your take on Collinsworth. I think he's one of the best in the business.

 

[TNCowboy]

- I actually thought McNabb got the first down, but the Cowboys were getting hosed all game long. The Eagles probably should have had at least 15 penalties against them as it seemed like they held on every other passing play and yet never got called for a holding call. There was a PI on Roy that they missed and a bad block in the back that they missed. But the missed holding calls really puzzle me since last year in Week 2 the Eagles O-Line was holding like crazy and the refs missed it again. On one hand I felt like the McNabb sneak play was justice for the Cowboys, but I knew that it was going to be used as a weak excuse as the refs being bad against the Eagles, which really wasn't the case.
YAKUZA

My take on that spot was this: judging from the logo, the ball was spotted about 6 inches short of where it should have been spotted. McNabb made the claim half his body was across the line, which was ridiculous.

Much of his momentum falling down his teammate's back on that play was going sideways. It looked to me like that the ball should've been spotted closer to the first down marker, instead of 6 or 7 inches short. Perhaps they'd have had a 1st down by a nose, or perhaps they'd have been an inch short. Either way, it's not a slam dunk that the refs blew the replay. I believe I've heard before that refs have been told not to change a spot that doesn't change possession in a case like that.

Regardless, there are plenty of bad calls that went against the Cowboys. As usual, McNabb is the same classless baby who refuses to give credit to the team that beat him.

Romo and the offensive line didn't play very well. Romo was hurried all night because the OL struggled with their blitz, but if he makes a few of the throws that he missed - like the one to Austin he threw way too late - then the game isn't even close at the end. At least he didn't make a bunch of mistakes and only had the one turnover. He did do enough to win, which is a vast improvement over the last game up there.

You can't complain about a win in Philly, no matter how ugly. Road wins against the Giants or Eagles are precious. They just can't revert to the form we've seen most of the last 5 years and choke one away to GB now.

 

[FCBarca]

I just don't get CC's appeal. Forget about last night for a second, he seems to say some unbelievably stupid stuff compared to having keen insight. It's almost a 3:1 ratio.

Some games I like him more than others...The thing that routinely bothers me with some of these commentators is how 'cute' they think they have to be and CC certainly has a penchant for trying to be cute.

Al Michaels is definitely a hater, there's no disguising that...Which is fine if that's how you feel but if you're going to cover an event, isn't it appropriate to check that at the door?...Yet somehow he's routinely referred to as some legend and legends, IMHO, leave bias at the door

 

[casmith07]

My responses to your thoughts:

1. Just stop with the December comments. Enjoy this win for once.

2. Limbaugh's comments were racially based, not simply east-coast bias. The Patriots and Giants also get a pass from the media when they play horrendously (especially the Giants backsliding 0-4 into their bye), but Limbaugh's comments were inexcusable.

3. Carp still doesn't deserve a spot until he learns how to not whiff completely against running backs and set up touchdowns.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Some games I like him more than others...The thing that routinely bothers me with some of these commentators is how 'cute' they think they have to be and CC certainly has a penchant for trying to be cute.

Al Michaels is definitely a hater, there's no disguising that...Which is fine if that's how you feel but if you're going to cover an event, isn't it appropriate to check that at the door?...Yet somehow he's routinely referred to as some legend and legends, IMHO, leave bias at the door

I agree, but with today's sports broadcasting and journalism, having a bias seems to be encouraged.

If anything, I thought CC was horrendous last night.






YAKUZA

 

[CATCH17]

- I like Cris Collinsworth, think he's one of the best out there.
- Slant/draw plays worked well last year as well.

He is absolutely terrible.

 

[Doomsday]

I'm not sure what was worse, the refereeing, the NBC coverage or listening to Chris Collinsworth tonight.

Amen!

I actually thought McNabb got the first down, but the Cowboys were getting hosed all game long.

I really dont think he made it. At first I thought he had the first down, but then I noticed the logo on the field and he clearly did not make it to the point of the logo which he needed to do in order to get the first down.

Mike Jenkins is looking really, really good right now. He's got a beautiful combination of a size, speed, quickness, physicality, and having good hands and making plays on the ball. Most corners are usually fast, but small or physical, but slow. Or they don't have good hands. Jenkins looks like he has all of the tools.

He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. Its been a while since we had a ball hawk at corner.